Multispecies Worldbuilding: The Chestnut Project
CHUM 309
Fall 2023
| Section:
01
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| This course may be repeated for credit. |
| Crosslisting:
SISP 309 |
How do forests think (Kohn)? Do rocks listen (Povinelli)? Can insects speak (Mitchell)? How do fungi make history (Tsing)? Should trees have rights (Stone)? These are some of the most exciting questions percolating in the humanities, arts, and social/natural sciences today. They disrupt Western colonial notions of what it means to be human, while also calling for methods, theories, and apparatuses that might imagine and build more livable multispecies worlds.
This course has two goals: (1) introduce students to key texts on more-than-human, more-than-Western ontologies, particularly from the fields of multispecies/cyborg anthropology, science and technology studies, biology, and environmental humanities; (2) engage students in transdisciplinary research on the American chestnut (Castanea dentata), a tree species once known as the "queen of forests" from the Appalachian mountains to the Mississippi river until fungi wiped them out in the early twentieth century. This course will lay the groundwork for students to participate in current debates and projects to restore a transgenic version of the American chestnut in the eastern United States within the next five years. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA CHUM |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Major Requirement for: None |
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Past Enrollment Probability: 50% - 74% |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
HOW FORESTS THINK (KOHN); GEONTOLOGIES (POVINELLI); COMPANION SPECIES MANIFESTO (HARAWAY); MUSHROOM AT THE END OF THE WORLD (TSING); NUTMEG'S CURSE (GHOSH); SHOULD TREES HAVE STANDING (STONE)
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Examinations and Assignments:
reading responses, field journal, midterm essay, final essay |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
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| Instructor(s): Gan,Elaine M. Times: .M..... 08:50AM-11:40AM; Location: CFH106; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 14 | | SR major: 4 | JR major: 4 | | |
| Seats Available: 7 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: 2 | JR non-major: 2 | SO: 2 | FR: 0 |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 0 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 0 |
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