Coming to Terms with New Views of Nature
Materials:
Doyle’s “Joyas Voladoras”
Molvar’s “Redefining the Anthropocene”
Context
Your first two assignments asked you to define your own nature spaces and identify patterns and connections in the ways you and your peers’ spaces became familiar or unfamiliar based on differing experiences. After reading Solnit’s “Footwork” for the first assignment, we also began considering the ways nature spaces might be social and cultural or tell us something about how habits, knowledge and traditions impact that space and the ways we think about it.
Moving forward, we will further this examination of the relationships between people, other living creatures and nature spaces by engaging with two new texts, Doyle’s “Joyas Voladoras” and Molvar’s “Redefining the Anthropocene.” Previously, we primarily focused on how our individual experiences shaped our understandings of nature spaces. However, this assignment will ask us to think about the ways our larger social, economic and cultural contexts affect our understandings of ourselves and our impacts on and interactions with nature spaces.
Task
write an 850 to 1,200-word essay in which you respond to Doyle and Molvar using your own experiences, knowledge of and observations about nature spaces. From the following, choose one way that:
● Doyle and Molvar’s texts help you notice something important you didn’t notice before about how we move through and impact nature spaces; OR
● Doyle and Molvar’s texts help you explain something important about the ways we move through and impact nature spaces that you couldn’t explain before; OR
● Doyle and Molvar’s texts may not help you explain something you’ve experienced as you moved through nature spaces because you’re seeing something differently than the authors. (Note: This doesn’t mean spending your essay reacting negatively to their texts or claiming that they are wrong. Focus instead on the “why” what you’ve noticed and experienced different.)
Evaluative Criteria
● Situate yourself in response to Doyle and Molvar by describing how they help you think through your own experiences and observations in new ways
● Demonstrate an awareness of how your experiences affect how you engage with and understand Doyle and Molvar’s essays
● Ethical and thoughtful engagement with what Doyle and Molvar have written, including what might be their aims and materials
● At least 2 direct quotes must be included from each author to support claims. Use MLA format.
Due Dates
● First Draft of essay (800 words): TBD 11:59 PM
● Final draft of essay (850 -1200 words) TBD 11:59 PM
