English 206, Environmental Literature, Western Carolina University, Fall 2020
To quote Paul Bové in the chapter on “Discourse” in Critical Terms for Literary Study, discourses “produce knowledge about humans and their society,” and an analysis of discourse aims to “describe the surface linkages between power, knowledge, institutions, intellectuals, the control of populations, and the modern state” as these intersect in systems of thought, and as represented in texts (55–56). What does the above passage mean? We come to an understanding of specific circumstances, peoples, events, and cultures through the media and through art. The narrative that we construct — and that we challenge — is the result of multiple, often contradictory, ways of reading events.
After Dylann Roof shot and killed nine people in 2016, a group of a scholars/activists created the Charleston Syllabus as a way of compiling primary and secondary readings for educators and the general public in order to provide context and to shape the discourse surrounding the event. The syllabus has now become a book. Following the example of the Charleston Syllabus, the UVA Graduate Coalition put together a Charlottesville Syllabus.
For this project, students in English 206, Environmental Literature, constructed a syllabus about Covid-19 in order to analyze and contextualize the discourse generated by and about the pandemic. Each student was assigned a topic related to the event, tasked with researching that topic and finding two primary sources on that topic. Each wrote a brief summation and analysis of that topic.
Our goal was to examine the ways that our current pandemic is impacting and is impacted by environmental issues like climate change, species decimation, and pollution. According to a piece written for Greenpeace by Loujain Kurdi,
It is above all human hypermobility in our globalized world that favored the spread of the infectious coronavirus. Indeed, if humans moved less (and travelled less widely), the contagion would have been more limited. The physical distancing measures public health officials put in place is supposed to help with this.
Further, We know that climate change did not cause the emergence of COVID-19, but climate change could indirectly make the effects of future pandemics worse: “climate change undermines the environmental conditions we need for good health — access to water, clean air, food and shelter — and places additional stress on health systems,” according to Arthur Wyns, climate change advisor to the World Health Organization (WHO).
History
- Pandemics in history: Niki Nyberg
- The 1918 flu pandemic: Alma Nesbitt
- The history of mask wearing during pandemics: Charlie Andersen
- The history of Covid-19: Elexis Bryant
- The role of livestock animals in the spread of viruses: Addison Porter
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): Reid Hawkins
- Climate change and Covid-19: Bailey Jackson
- Positive environmental impacts from Covid: Nicholas Lovin
- The World Health Organization (WHO): Ansley Silas
- The development of medicines and vaccines for Covid-19: Lauren Keener
Discourse
- Covid and universities: Brayan Cruz
- Covid and Zoom: Alli Upchurch
- Covid on TikTok: Olivia Gemma
- Mainstream media coverage: Neil Ilenrey
- Covid and the 2020 election: Gretchen Thomas
- On shutting down and reopening the economy: Caroline Tomlin
- Popular culture: “Quar-horror”: Piper West