CRWT30150

Learning Outcomes:

On successful completion of this module, participants will be able to:
1. Engage with both critical and creative texts on nature and the environment
2. Produce their own poems and prose (fiction and non-fiction) inspired by, and about the environment
3. Position their own writing within the tradition of nature and environmental writing
4. Identify some of the problems facing the environment, locally and globally
5. Reflect on ways in which their writing can be a form of activism.

Indicative Module Content:

Student Effort Hours:

Approaches to Teaching and Learning:

Participants of this module will will have the opportunity to explore the island and to meet and engage with scientists and reserve management in Weeks 2, 6, and 10. They will engage with both creative and critical texts and will learn to position their writing within nature and environmental writing traditions. They will consider aspects of craft such as image, symbolism, character and voice through the lens of environmental writing. They will explore problems and ask questions that matter in the context of the current crisis, including the who’s, what’s, why’s, when’s and how’s of activism. And they will respond through stories, essays and poems.

Teaching strategies include lectures/talks, 'walkshops', discussion, and writing. Peer- and tutor-led feedback will be delivered throughout the semester. Tutor feedback will be available post-assessment. There will also be an opportunity for individual consultations. These will take place during office hours or by appointment.

As parts of the course will take place on the island, often outdoors, in a variety of weather conditions, participants are advised to dress in weather-appropriate clothing and footwear.

Bull Island can be reached from the city centre via bus (various) or DART (Raheny Station). The island can be accessed on foot or bike. There is a free beach wheelchair service on Dollymount Strand which gives enhanced access to the beach for those who have mobility restrictions, details at this link https://www.dublincity.ie/residential/parks/dublin-city-parks/visit-park/north-bull-island

Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.

Module Requisites and Incompatibles

Not applicable to this module.
 

Assessment Strategy

 

Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 

Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, on an activity or draft prior to summative assessment
• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment
• Peer review activities
• Self-assessment activities

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Feedback individually to students on an activity or draft prior to summative assessment. Self-assessment activities throughout semester. Peer review activities throughout semester.

All required reading will be posted to Brightspace or available in the library.

Indicative list:

Creative:
Paolo Bacigalupi, 'A Full Life' (2019) - short story
Ian Davidson, From a Council House in Connacht (2021) - prose-poetry hybrid
John Green, 'Penguins of Madagascar' (from The Anthropocene Reviewed, 2021) - creative non-fiction
Ursula K. Le Guin, The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction (1986) - essay
Helen Phillips, 'The Disaster Store' (2019) - short story
Pitchaya Sudbanthad, 'Floating' (2019) - short story
Excerpts from Tim Robinson's Connemara trilogy; Nan Shepherd's The Living Mountain; Henry David Thoreau's Walden; John Muir's Nature Writings; Rachel Carson's Silent Spring

Critical:
Connolly, Claire. 'Too Rough for Verse? Sea Crossings in Irish Culture', from Parnell and his Times, edited by Joep Leerssen. Cambridge University Press, 2020.

Sean Prentiss and Joe Wilkins. 'Short History of Nature and Environmental Writing' (from Environmental and Nature Writing, pp16-34), Bloomsbury, 2016.

Schneider-Mayerson, 'The Influence of Climate Fiction: An Empirical Study' (2018)

Tomas Buitendijk, 'Sand patterns: distributed agency and the idea of ‘working with nature’ in coastal environments'. Cultural Geographies, 2024.

Grace Cott et al., Blue Carbon and Marine Carbon Sequestration in Irish Waters and Coastal Habitats, Marine INstitute, Ireland, 2021.

Ute Eberle, 'Why Scientists Are Sticking Microphones Underground', The Atlantic, 2022

Nicola Jones. Nature-The Quest for Quieter Seas", Nature, 2019

Trish Morgan, 'Sounding the Unheard River: Reflections on an Ecological Sound Art Praxis as a Response to Ecosystem Distress'. Irish University Review, 2019.

Timetabling information is displayed only for guidance purposes, relates to the current Academic Year only and is subject to change.