SOCI 2998
Variable Topics: "Human Societies and the Living Earth"
Fall 2023, Storrs campus, MCHU 201
TuTh 3:30-4:45pm
Prof. Phoebe Godfrey
This course is open to any student who is a rising sophomore or higher. It can count as a POLS related.
TIMELY NEW COURSE TOPIC!
- Are you concerned about species extinction?
- Are you interested in the links between animal habitat destruction and the increase in human pandemics?
- Are you interested in what can be learned from plants, animals, and fungi in terms of our place on the planet?
- Have you ever wondered how other societies understand and connect to non-human life on this Earth?
If so, then consider taking SOCI 2998 Variable Topics: Human Societies and the Living Earth!
This course explores multi-cultural perspectives- in particular Western / Industrial Cultures versus Indigenous cultures- on the 'Living Earth', as in non-human animals, plants, trees, fungi ..etc.
The course is divided into the following topics:
- Religion / Spirituality
- Labor / Human Production
- Medicine / Science
- Art / Entertainment
- Environmental Destruction / Species Extinction
- Sustainability / Ecological Diversity
All these topics are explored to understand how differencing human cultures have engaged with themselves and the 'living earth'.
The course practices student centered teaching and uses reflective journals (including drawing) and group projects to enable you to gain a deeper understanding of what it means to be both human and at the same time members of Western Industrial culture, which is causing so much planetary destruction. The course invites you to think more deeply about all the life on this Earth that is being lost and what needs to be done to change this, including changing ourselves.
For more information, contact: Phoebe Godfrey at phoebe.godfrey@uconn.edu