Annotation
In this course we explore the entanglements of gender, nature and culture that have been at the heart of feminist theory and activism. These concerns have gained renewed feminist attention in the era some call the Anthropocene where human activities irreparably have impacted on geological, biotic and climatic processes. What does it mean to live in the ruins of capitalism and what life and specifically feminist and queer politics can be generated when there is no simple cure or going back to pre-industrial times? These questions will take us to theories of racism and colonialism as much as gender and queer studies and human animal studies. How do we have to rethink sexed gendered and racialized embodiment, affect and intelligence from the perspective of plants, nonhuman animals or other bodies of water? What do feminist research practices look like that are not restricted to humanist concerns, or rather understand the very concerns of gender and feminist research as irretrievably intertwined with the more-than-human world of which we are part?
The course will proceed through engaging case studies, as well as an exercise of creative ‘energy writing’ that will take us out of the classroom to expand our always more than human sensorium, train our writing skills and attune us the weather.
A detailed and updated course syllabus will be provided at the start of the semester. Please contact the course tutor if you have further questions (d.lorenzmeyer@gmail.com).