Curriculum

Dr. Courtney Ryan is a full time lecturer for the Writing and Critical Inquiry Program. This semester, she is sharing some of her passions with students through a course titled Environmental Justice in Arts: TUNI250

What are some of the topics that you cover in your course?

We begin by thinking about who has historically been excluded from US nature writing and why, before transitioning to environmental justice scholarship and art today. We examine artworks, plays, poetry, documentaries, TikToks, and music videos that creatively respond to ongoing environmental injustices related to climate change, food access, air quality, and fracking.

Dr. Courtney Ryan

Do you have any specific sustainability learning objectives for this course?

The major objective in this course is for students to examine how environmental challenges intersect with issues of race, gender, sexuality, and class and how art can illuminate environmental intersectionality. By meeting this objective, students can approach sustainability issues in a more well-rounded way: rather than take a single-issue approach to a sustainability goal, they can think more holistically about who benefits from a particular sustainability initiative and who does not, and whether the initiative has long-term as well as short-term benefits.

Environmental Justice in the Arts EJ in the Arts (continued)

How do you measure if students have increased their knowledge with regards to sustainability literacy?

Each student has the opportunity to research an environmental injustice in or near their hometown; then, they write an environmental justice memoir and create an art piece that reflects on the researched injustice. This project acts as an applied learning capstone, whereby each student can engage with interconnected environmental issues directly related to their own life. Building on that experience and on what they have learned in the course, students work together in small groups on a project of their choosing that addresses a current environmental injustice with a well-rounded and thoughtful approach.

Which of the UN Sustainable Development Goals do you feel are addressed most in your course?

This course is most aligned with Goal 2: Zero Hunger and Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities. Students learn about artists and activists actively addressing these goals through urban foraging, community gardens, and protests.

Is there anything else you want students to know about this course?

You do not have to be an artist or an environmentalist to take this course! Environmental Justice and the Arts is about exploring, inquiring, and creating together.