Fellowship Curriculum

As a holistic fellowship program, we spend part of our time reading and discussing the work of prominent thinkers in three areas:

• Seed, Soil, and Story: Imagining A Time Beyond Our Own
• Modernity vs. Integration: Barriers to Ecological Thinking
• Structural Power in the American West: Settler Colonialism, Water, & Public Lands

This more academic component of the fellowship is designed to promote thoughtful discussion, and we shy away from lectures. Typically, fellows like to structure this piece as a weekly reading and discussion, and we choose readings that build on each other to create a deep understanding of the issues at hand.

Seed, Soil, and Story: Imagining A Time Beyond Our Own

Where should we begin when imagining an emergent culture that might help create a just and livable future? Visions of a techno-utopian future aren’t realistic, and don’t fully address the problems facing our world. In this focus area, we’ll examine thinkers asking questions about deeper time and a future generations in the making. What could we set in motion that would make us worthy ancestors?

Readings and source materials include:

Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing. 2015. The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins
John Hausdoerffer et al. (editors). 2021. What Kind of Ancestor Do You Want to Be?
Wendell Berry. 1977. The Unsettling of America
Gary Paul Nabhan. 2001. Coming Home To Eat: The Pleasures and Politics of Local Food
Dr. Vandana Shiva. 2016. Who Really Feeds The World?
Dr. Vandana Shiva. 2013. Making Peace with the Earth
Robin Wall Kimmerer. 2013. Braiding Sweetgrass
Gary Snyder. 1990. The Practice of the Wild
Martín Prechtel. 2012. The Unlikely Peace at Cuchumaquic
Helena Norberg-Hodge, 1991. Ancient Futures: Learning from Ladakh
adrienne marie brown. 2017. Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds
Ursula Le Guin, 1986. “The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction”
bell hooks. 1994. Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom
bell hooks. 2004.Teaching Community: A Pedagogy of Hope

Modernity vs. Integration: Barriers to Ecological Thinking

What can social science tell us about contemporary civilization’s inability to confront ecological disaster and climate change? We’ll survey theories of modernity, and begin to see modernity not as a time period, but as an ideological project that makes confronting the anthropocene troublesome and contradictory. Thinkers we include in this focus area help us to reorient ourselves through feminist, post-colonial, and indigenous perspectives.

Readings and source materials include:
Arturo Escobar. 2016. “Thinking-feeling with the Earth: Territorial Struggles and the Ontological Dimension of the Epistemologies of the South”
Gabrielle Hecht. 2018. “The African Anthropocene – The Anthropocene feels different
depending on where you are – too often, the ‘we’ of the world is white and Western”
Kyle Powys Whyte. 2018. “Indigenous climate change studies: indigenizing futures, decolonizing the
anthropocene”
Kyle Powys Whyte. 2016. “Our Ancestors’ Dystopia Now: Indigenous Conservation and the Anthropocene”
Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing. Friction
Max Ajl. “The Hypertrophic City Versus the Planet of Fields”
Donna Haraway. “Otherworldly Conversations: Terran Topics, Local Terms”
Naomi Klein. Shock Doctrine; No Logo; No is Not Enough
Tim Mitchell. “Can the Mosquito Speak?” From Rule of Experts
Arturo Escobar. 1994. Encountering Development
E.F. Schumacher. 1973. Small is Beautiful: Economics As If People Mattered
Ramachandra Guha. 2006. How Much Should A Person Consume?
Amartya Sen. 1999. Development as Freedom
Giogos, Kallis. Limits
Robin Wall Kimmerer. 2013. Braiding Sweetgrass
Aldo Leopold. 1949. A Sand County Almanac
White, Lynn. 1967. “Historical Roots of Our Environmental Crisis”
Eduardo Galeano. 1971. Open Veins of Latin America
Donella H. Meadows (et al). 1972. The Limits to Growth
Tim Jackson. 2009. Prosperity Without Growth
Howard Richards and Joanna Swanger. 2013. Gandhi and the Future of Economics

Structural Power in the American West: Settler Colonialism, Water, & Public Lands

All environmental issues in the American West, from climate change to overgrazing, timber sales to air pollution, all boil down to two things: who controls the land and water. Power in the West has been a battle over structures: public lands systems, displacements of indigenous peoples and designation of reservations, and water infrastructure (both physical and legal).

Readings and source materials include:

• “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House” by Audre Lorde, 1979.
• An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, 2014.
• The Legacy of Conquest: The Unbroken Past of the American West by Patricia Nelson Limerick, 1987.
• Nation to Nation: Treaties Between the United States and American Indians, edited by Suzan Shown Harjo, 2014.
• Custer Died For Your Sins by Vine Deloria, Jr., 1969.
• Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water by Marc Reisner, 1986.
• Where The Water Goes: Life and Death Along the Colorado River by David Owen, 2017.

List of References

In constructing the curriculum we have used in our fellowship program, we referenced and used pieces of the following works:

Abbey, Edward. 1968. “Polemic: Industrial Tourism and the National Parks
Ajl, Max. “The Hypertrophic City Versus the Planet of the Fields
Ajl, Max. 2018. “Degrowth Considered”
Anand, Nikhil. 2017. Hydraulic City – Water and the infrastructures of politics in Mumbai
Anderson, M. Kat. 2005. Tending the Wild – Native American Knowledge and the Management of
California’s Natural Resources
Berry, Wendell. 1977. The Unsettling of America
brown, adrienne maree. 2017. Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds
Carter, Christopher. 2017. “Blood in the Soil: The Racial, Racist, and Religious Dimensions of
Environmentalism”
Combahee River Collective. “Combahee River Collective Statement” in How We Get Free:
Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective
Codjoe, Ama. 2021. “This land was made: considering the soil that bears witness to
America”
Chakrabarty, Dipesh. 2009. “The Climate of History – Four Theses”
Davis, Heather and Zoe Todd. 2016. “On the Importance of a Date, or Decolonizing the
Anthropocene”
Davis, Angela. 1981. Women, Race, Class
Davis, Angela. 2003. Are Prisons Obsolete?
Deloria Jr., Vine. 1969. Custer Died for your Sins: An Indian Manifesto
Dunbar-Ortiz, Roxanne. 2014. Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States
Dungy, Camille T. 2018. “From Dirt”
Ehrenreich, Ben. 2020. Desert Notebooks: A Road Map for the End of Time
Escobar, Arturo. 1994. Encountering Development: The Making and Unmaking of the Third
World
Escobar, Arturo. 2016. “Thinking-feeling with the Earth: Territorial Struggles and the
Ontological Dimension of the Epistemologies of the South”
Escobar, Arturo. 2015. “Degrowth, postdevelopment, and transitions – a preliminary
conversation”
Escobar, Arturo. 2018. Designs for the Pluriverse: Radical Interdependence, Autonomy, and the
Making of Worlds
Federici, Silvia. 2018. Re-enchanting the world – Feminism and the politics of the Commons
Finney, Carolyn. 2014. Black Faces, White Spaces – Reimagining the Relationship of African
Americans to the Great Outdoors
Galeano, Eduardo. 1971. Open Veins of Latin America
Garcia, Angela. 2010. The Pastoral Clinic – Addiction and Dispossession Along the Rio Grande
Ghosh, Amitav. 2016. The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable
Gonzalez, Juan. 2011. Harvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in America.
Guha, Ramachandra. 2006. How Much Should A Person Consume?
Graeber, David. 2020. “After the Pandemic, We Can’t Go Back to Sleep”
Guthman, Julie. 2004. Agrarian Dream – The Paradox of Organic Farming in California
Haraway, Donna. 1985. A Cyborg Manifesto
Haraway, Donna. 2003. The Companion Species Manifesto: Dogs, People, and
Significant-otherness
Haraway, Donna. 1992. Otherworldly Conversations: Terran Topics, Local Terms
Hecht, Gabrielle. 2018. “The African Anthropocene – The Anthropocene feels different
depending on where you are – too often, the ‘we’ of the world is white and Western”
Holmes, Seth. 2013. Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies – Migrant Farmworkers in the United States
hooks, bell. 1994. Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom
hooks, bell. 2004. Teaching Community: A Pedagogy of Hope
Jackson, Tim. 2009. Prosperity Without Growth: Foundations for the Economy of Tomorrow
Kaba, Mariame. 2020. This is How We Free Us: Abolitionist Organizing and Transforming Justice
Kallis, Giorgos. 2019. Limits: Why Malthus was wrong and why environmentalists should care
Kimmerer, Robin Wall. 2013. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge,
and the Teachings of Plants
Klein, Naomi. 2007. Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism
Klein, Naomi. 1999. No Logo: No Space, No Choice, No Jobs
Leopold, Aldo. 1949. Sand County Almanac: And Sketches Here and There
Livingston, Julie. 2019. Self-Devouring Growth – A Planetary Parable as told from Southern
Africa
Le Guin, Ursula. 1986. “The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction”
Lorde, Audre. 1984. “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House” in Sister
Outsider
Meadows, Donella. 1972. The Limits to Growth
Mitchell, Timothy. 2002. “Can the Mosquito Speak?” in Rule of Experts: Egypt, Technopolitics,
Modernity
Mortimer-Sandilands, Catriona. 2010. “Melancholy Natures, Queer Ecologies” in Queer
Ecologies: Sex, Nature, Politics, Desire
Murphy, Michelle. 2017. “Alterlife and Decolonial Chemical Relations”
Norberg-Hodge, Helena. 1991. Ancient Futures: Learning from Ladakh
Owen, David. 2017. Where The Water Goes: Life and Death Along the Colorado River
Reisner, Marc. 1986. Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water
Schumacher, E.F. 1973. Small is Beautiful: Economics As If People Mattered
Sen, Amartya. 1999. Development as Freedom
Simpson, Audra. 2014. Mohawk Interruptus: Political Life Across the Borders of Settler States
Tallbear, Kim. 2013. Native American DNA: Tribal Belonging and the False Promise of Genetic
Science
Todd, Zoe. Twitter Thread on Braiding Sweetgrass and decolonizing feminist citational
practices
Tola, Miriam. 2019. “Planetary Lovers – On Annie Sprinkle and Beth Stephens’s Water Makes
Us Wet”
Treuer, David. 2021 “Return the National Parks to the Tribes”
Tsing, Anna. 2004. Friction: An Ethnography of Global Connection
Vuong, Ocean. 2019. On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous: A Novel
White, Lynn. 1967. “Historical Roots of Our Environmental Crisis”
Whyte, Kyle. 2016 “Our Ancestors’ Dystopia Now: Indigenous Conservation and the
Anthropocene”
Whyte, Kyle. 2018. “Settler Colonialism, Ecology, and Environmental Justice”
Whyte, Kyle. 2017. “Way beyond the lifeboat – an indigenous allegory of climate justice”
Whyte, Kyle. 2017. “Indigenous climate change studies – indigenizing futures, decolonizing
the anthropocene”
Williams, Terry Tempest. 2016. Erosion: Essays of Undoing