Trailblazers
The Nature of the
BY JEFFREY DAY
20
T
hrough a rich and interwoven mix of the humanities — literature, human rights, ethnic studies, art — UC Davis faculty and students are deepening the world’s understanding of climate change and its lasting grip on the human experience. Recent graduate Jumana Esau (B.A., English, ’20), pictured above, combined her passions for literary scholarship and human rights to explore climate change and its impact on overlooked and vulnerable populations. Her honors thesis examines African futuristic works in climate fiction. “My professors demonstrated how literature is a viable tool for marginalized communities affected by climate change,” said Esau, who won the University Medal and the College of Letters and Science Herbert A. Young Award in June. She is continuing her studies in fiction and climate change
UC DAVIS COLLEGE OF LETTERS AND SCIENCE
at the University of Cambridge as a Gates-Cambridge Scholar. A student studying climate change and fiction isn’t a surprise to those familiar with the Department of English. At a university known globally for its environmental sciences, faculty across the humanities are also leaders in examining climate change in new ways. “One of the things literature, poetry, and art does is provide us with ways of imagining these changes and grappling with a response,” said Margaret Ronda, an associate professor of English. When he arrived in 2003, Associate Professor Michael Ziser was one of the first UC Davis English department faculty members to specialize in eco-criticism: the study of literature and the environment from an interdisciplinary point of view. The department has continued to add faculty with interests and expertise in eco-criticism and
