Class taught in English.

How do we think about the environment in the face of climate catastrophe? How do ecological questions intersect with those of race, gender, sexuality, and class? How might we turn to the past to understand our contemporary condition? In this course, we’ll trace the representation of the environment in French-speaking spaces from the Middle Ages to the present, considering its many entanglements in literary, artistic, and cinematic production. We’ll consider how, why, and when “nature” becomes separable from “culture” and the role aesthetic objects play in this separation. We’ll examine poems, novels, and films in French that reflect on pressing ecological concerns. The final weeks of the course will be devoted to understanding recent theory (Latour’s Gaia, ecofeminism, queer and decolonial ecologies), as well as climate activism taking place in France and its political objectives (Les Soulèvements de la Terre, “pirate” ecology, the anti-nuclear movement).