"Green Reading" - a new course at Dalhousie

From: cvdawson@IS.Dal.Ca
To: Sust-mar@chebucto.ns.ca
Date: Fri, 8 Dec 2000 11:16:41 -0400
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Friends, 

I thought that some of you might be interested in the following 
course that I am offering through the Dalhousie English department 
in January 2001.

EN 4005: "Green Reading: Canadian Literatures of the Environment"

"The real Canada is an ideal with nobody in it."
		-- Northrop Frye, The Modern Century

"There's only one way we're going to be able to build the golf 
course," the mayor told John Ciacca. "That's with the army."
		-- Jean Oullette, quoted in People of the Pines: The 		
		Warriors and the Legacy of Oka

Although the content and context of these statements are radically 
different, they raise related issues that might serve as starting for 
our consideration of the interconnections between nature and 
culture in Canada. For example, to what extent do myths of the 
empty continent continue to shape our understanding of Canada? 
What are the spatial forms and fantasies that influence decisions 
about land use and land rights in this country? How does our 
representation of the land influence the way that we treat it?

Beginning with an introduction to the central premises of 
ecocriticism, this course aims to develop what might be called 
"green readings" of selected twentieth-century Canadian texts. 
Paying special attention to the relationship between environmental 
response and cultural difference, we will explore literary and 
theoretical constructions of ideas like "wilderness," "nature," and 
"north."

The primary texts include: Margaret Atwood's Wilderness Tips; 
Marian Engel's Bear; Tom King's Green Grass, Running Water; 
Thomas Wharton's Icefields; and Alanis Obomsawin's Kanesatake 
(movie). Secondary readings will be taken from a course-reader, 
which will be available from Ekonocopy in early January.

Hope to see you there!

Carrie Dawson
Assistant Professor
Dept. of English
Dalhousie University 



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