Course summary

Environmental Humanities (EH) is an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary field of study and research which addresses urgent global environmental, ecological and social problems. It foregrounds the key contribution of arts and humanities methodologies to evolving scientific and political understandings of 21st Century global crises and challenges, including anthropogenic climate change, environmental injustice, oceanic and aerial pollution, and global resource depletion. The proposed BA in Environmental Humanities will offer a creative, agile, future-facing and innovative Humanities programme. This will be designed to harness the potential of Exeter Penryn’s established and emerging interdisciplinary and collaborative connections and to contribute to the impact and legacy of the Creative Industries in Cornwall through cross-sector working. In particular, the new EH programme will leverage the capacity of the Arts and Humanities to contribute centrally to the emphasis on sustainability and the environment at the Penryn Campus, taking advantage of the unique strengths of our location in Cornwall, and harnessing the soft power of our key partnerships with creative economies and SMEs in the region (building on our mutual investment in making the most of local culture, history and distinctiveness). The core programme would be taught by staff in Literature, Creative Writing and History. Additionally, EH students would be able to take optional modules from a tailored selection of environment-focused modules in Politics, Geography, Law, Business and Environmental Science (and vice versa). The programme will be connected to the university’s Centre for Environmental Arts and Humanities (CEAH). CEAH is a group of transdisciplinary scholars and students at UoE working on environmental issues from collaborative, global, and future-facing perspectives. Its work in teaching and research contributes to contemporary thinking about environment and sustainability by historicizing, contesting and problematizing the terms of environmental debate. This work is crucial in an area of urgent political action and public engagement, where an awareness of arts and humanities perspectives has the potential to change present understanding, policy and activism.