CTC214 | Introduction to Critical Environmental Studies

The course attempts to bring an intersectional lens to environmental studies. The climate crisis is playing out in myriad ways all over the world. The environmental risks to the natural world and the axes of human social matrix inform each other and cannot be looked at in isolation. Vulnerabilities are context-driven. The current popular discourse on sustainability, its predominantly hollow language, the complexities and contingencies of everyday activities, and the many realities of any human habitation are some facets of the climate crisis explored in the course. Poetry, fiction, films, and essays are used as texts along with academic papers and books to broaden the scope of approach and have different understandings in conversation with each other. The central aims of the course are to enable students to recognise the intersectional nature of the environmental crisis, develop an ability to critically assess current predicaments and future possibilities, and achieve ecological literacy.