Environmental Humanities (EnHu) is a cross-disciplinary approach that brings skills, methods, and theories from several humanities disciplines to the analysis of problems and issues of high relevance for society in the context of new science and technology developments.

The central goal of the Environmental Humanities and Arts Network project is to develop an online and in-person network that connects Duke faculty, students (undergraduate and graduate), and researchers interested in interdisciplinary environmental humanities, environmental justice, environmental law, and the role of arts and culture in environmental studies and science. 

The online component—The Environmental Arts & Humanities Network website—will be an active meeting place where humanists can productively partner with earth and ocean scientists, geologists, biologists, climate scientists, energy modelers, environmental law professionals, public policy makers, sustainability experts, and environmental engineers to produce Environmental Humanities projects and programs.

The in-person network will convene a series of conversations, workshops, and working meetings that will allow students and faculty across the university to share resources and exchange ideas. In particular, it will give undergraduate and graduate students a chance to stitch together interdisciplinary work across schools and institutes, including Arts & Sciences, the Graduate School, Pratt, Sanford, Law, Nicholas School and Institute, etc.

A major focus of the network events will be to develop a series of courses taught by core and affiliated participants. The Spring 2016 course Environment in Literature, Law & Science (ENGLISH 490), co-taught by Priscilla Wald, Jedediah Purdy, Daniel Richter, and Saskia Cornes, will be a cornerstone of the project. Events during Spring 2016 include:

• a networking retreat
• the regional THATCamp Critical DH, which will explore the intersections of digital humanities, public digital communication, and environmental rhetoric
• the Global Brazil Lab conference on Culture, Nature, and Politics
• a public event entitled Narrating the Environment, that will celebrate the release of a series of white papers through Duke’s Humanities Futures website.

This preliminary stage of activity will allow participants to concretize partnerships with collaborating faculty, staff, and students. The project will be in full swing during the 2016-17 academic year, offering a diverse selection of courses and events. Planned courses include:

Spring 2017

• Life Cycle Assessment and Social tools for Environmental Sustainability — Dalia Patino and Miguel Rojas-Sotelo
• Community-Based Marine Conservation in the Gulf of California — Xavier Basurto

The courses will interlink with a series of events.  At the end of the two-semester project, in addition to the Environmental Arts & Humanities Network website, the effort will produce a series of reports on the state of the sub-field that will complement the white papers already posted on the Humanities Futures website. A two-day symposium will highlight the work done by students, faculty, and collaborating staff.

The symposium, reports, and website will lay the foundation for another round of courses in the following academic year.