| Unit name | City of Nature: Environmental Humanities Summer Programme |
|---|---|
| Unit code | HUMS10017 |
| Credit points | 10 |
| Level of study | C/4 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Academic Year (weeks 1 - 52) |
| Unit director | Dr. Andy Flack |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units) |
None |
| Units you must take alongside this one (co-requisite units) |
None |
| Units you may not take alongside this one |
None |
| School/department | School of Humanities |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
Bristol – gateway to the Southwest of England, built on the river Avon and close to the rolling Mendip hills to its south, the River Severn to the west and the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty to the north – is a place where nature is present not only just beyond the boundaries of the city itself, but also within the urban fabric. Bristol holds nature reserves, parklands, underground rivers, and thriving night-time ecologies. These diverse natures make Bristol the perfect case study through which to examine the global realities and significance of relationships between people and the rest of the natural world at a time of frightening environmental crisis. Approaches drawn from across the humanities – from history to literature and beyond - are vital tools for us as individuals, communities, and societies as we reshape our world. How can the environmental humanities confront the dangerous realities of environmental change, and how can they help us generate new ways of building hopefulness in the face of such a challenge? By the end of their studies, students will have gained an acute sense of nature’s place in the city of Bristol, the environmental challenges facing the world today, and the critical ways in which the environmental humanities can help us understand and develop new kinds of relationships between people and the wider natural world.
An overview of content:
Across this three-week programme, students will work with world-leading environmental humanities scholars, community partners, and each other to explore important ways of thinking about, and engaging with, nature within and beyond the context of the city. Drawing on ideas at the heart of the environmental humanities, they will think about the importance of places and times, materials and objects, stories and narratives as they build an understanding of people’s relationships with the rest of the natural world.
Your studies will focus on the interface of city and nature, taking in subjects which may range from geology, wildlife, extinctions, nature on display, eco-literature, and film. In the process, they will engage both with very general methodological and conceptual approaches to the study of human-nature relationships, and with more specific case studies firmly rooted in the histories, cultures, and communities of Bristol.
How will students, personally, be different as a result of the unit?
Students will understand a wide range of concepts and methods at the heart of the environmental humanities and be able to apply these to the urban context. They will be able to explore environmental issues through a diverse range of humanities-based disciplinary lenses and will have a strong sense of why the environmental humanities are absolutely vital to our engagement with the planet and its more-than-human inhabitants in an age of environmental crisis. They will be able to work within humanities-based disciplinary frames to communicate and illustrate this significance.
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this unit students will be able to:
1. discuss critically the significance of the environmental humanities to the diversity of human relationships with the rest of the natural world.
2. evaluate conceptual and methodological approaches encompassed by the environmental humanities.
3. apply their knowledge and understanding to key issues associated with the environmental humanities.
4. construct a coherent argument, and to present this orally.
Seminars, small group discussions, individual exercises, field trips facilitated by external partners, virtual learning environment.
Tasks which count towards your unit mark (summative):
10-minute Oral Presentation + 5 minutes for questions (100%) [ILOs 1-4]
Students will be prepared for this via a series of guided workshops scheduled across the three-week programme. This will include opportunities to practice and receive feedback on emerging presentations.
When assessment does not go to plan
If the assessment cannot be undertaken: When required by the Board of Examiners, you will normally be required to complete reassessments in the same formats as those outlined above. In this case, students will be required to submit presentations in digital form shortly after the end of the summer school period.
If a student is unable – for whatever reason – to present ‘live’ in the classroom: there will be two options available, which will be discussed with the student. The first will be to present to the two assessors, outside of the class context. The second will be to pre-record the presentation which will then be played in class.
If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.
If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. HUMS10017).
How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours
of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks,
independent learning and assessment activity.
See the Faculty workload statement relating to this unit for more information.
Assessment
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit.
The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. If you have self-certificated your absence from an
assessment, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (this is usually in the next assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any extenuating circumstances and operates
within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.
