220224 Environmental Protest and Imagination: How American environmental movements set out to save species, places and the planet (S) (SoSe 2025)

Modernity in the United States has seen the emergence of various environmental movements, such as: the conservation, the ecocentrist, the environmental justice, the climate justice and the animal rights movements. Looking at them together is interesting for two reasons: Firstly, they provide plenty of interesting cases of protest actions, political bargaining and policy-making. Secondly, “images” played an increasingly instrumental role in most of them. Since the 19th century, literary texts – for example by “nature-writers” – have informed Americans` environmental imagination. During the 20th century, photography – with pictures ranging from the planet in space, threatened species to spectacular protest actions – became another important source of inspiration for people`s imagination.

This class will focus on the question how environmental activists tried to bring about change. We will closely study forms of protest and participation in policy-making. A special focus will be on the role of “images” (literary metraphors to photography) in environmental protest. In one session, wildlife and street photographer Dima Gesehengorin (https://www.dima-photos.de/), who has won many international awards, will provide us insight into the practical side as well as the (inter-)national scene of nature photography.

We will – first of all – put together an overview of environmental movements by comparing them along common categories: Who are are the protesters? How are they organized? What are their objectives? What is their underlying understanding of “environment”/ “nature“? What are their tactics? We will - then - study in detail how "images" contributed to shaping and advocating environmental agendas.

The class will study diverse groups and movements – students wishes are always welcome: Since the 1880s, the conservation movement has brought forward often charismatic writers such as John Muir, Mabel Osgood Wright and later Aldo Leopold who fought to protect wild lands and animals. They both published literary and philosophical texts that shaped thinking about nature and founded political organizations such as the “Sierra Club” and “The Wilderness Society” that would soon negotiate with politicians in Washington D.C. eye to eye.

By the late 1970s, the radical ecocentrists – such as Earth First! or the Sea Shepherds – had grown disillusioned with compromising in Washington D.C. Earth First! represented an interesting case of interplay between literature and protest: The group modelled itself after the fictional “Monkey Wrench Gang” from novels by anarchist writer Edward Abbey. They used protests forms such as eco-sabotage, tree-sitting and tree-spiking. Their creative publicity stunts captured the media´s attention and produced effective pictures of protest. Today, Greenpeace is probably the best-known example of “rainbow warriors” catching the the public`s attention with impressive images of risky protests. As an example for an effective, decades-long use of pictures and mass media, Greenpeace will be a key case study.

In 1982, the predominately African American citizens of Warren County birthed the environmental justice movement, when they fought against a planned landfill for PCB-contaminated soil: Having defined “environment” as the place “where we live, work, play, learn, and worship [...]”, they merged protests tactics from the Civil Rights Movement with environmentalism. In the age of the climate crisis the idea of “justice and environmentalism” has taken on a global scale: Native American protests at Standing Rock in 2014, for instance, drew global attention and produced images of Native Americans on horseback fighting off intruders that tapped into established motives and images of oppression and resistance. Campaigns like the “International Day of Climate Action” (2009) or “Connect the Dots” (2012) by the international climate organization 350.org (founded by the writer-activist Bill McKibben) are examples how the environmental movement uses diverse forms of action and pictures to rally global support to protect the planet.

Requirements: A good command of English in reading and speaking is required, as all the sources and research literature will be in English. Also, English will be used throughout the class and you have to give a presentation in English. The module modernity is completed with a term paper.

Bibliography

Bibliography
Keith Makoto Woodhouse. The Ecocentrists. A History of Radial Environmentalism. Columbia University Press: 2018.
Environmental Justice in Postwar America. A Documentary Reader. Ed.by Christopher W. Wells. University of Washington Press: 2018.
Robert Gottlieb. Forcing the Spring. The Transformation of the American Environmental Movement. Island Press: 2005.
Daniel J. Philippon. Conserving Words. How American Nature Writers Shaped the Environmental Movement. University of Georiga Press: 2004.
Michelle Nijhuis. Beloved Beasts. Fighting for Life in an Age of Extinction. W.W. Norton & Company: 2021.
Confronting Environmental Racism. Voices from the Grassroots. Ed. By Robert D. Bullard. South End Press: 1993.
Rik Scarce. Eco-Warriors. Understanding the Radical Environmental Movement. Updated edition. Left Coast Press: 2006.
Dave Foreman. Confessions of an Eco-Warrior. Crown Trade Paperbacks: 1991.
Captain Paul Watson. Earth Force! An Earth Warrior`s Guide to Strategy. Chaco Press 1993.
American Earth. Environmental Writing Since Thoreau. Edited by Bill McKibben. Library of America: 2008.
Scott Slovic. Seeking Awareness in American Nature Writing. Henry Thoreau. Annie Dillard. Edward Abbey. Wendell Berry. Barry Lopez. University of Utah Press: 1992.
Finis Dunaway. Natural Visions: The Power of Images in American Environmental Reform. University of Chicago Press:2008.
Finis Dunaway. Seeing Green. The Use and Abuse of American Environmental Images. University of Chicago Press: 2015.
Picture Ecology. Art and Ecocriticism in Planetary Perspective. Ed. By Karl Kusserow. Princeton University Press: 2021.
Rex Weyler. Greenpeace: How a Group of Ecologists, Journalists and Visionaries Changed the World. Rodale: 2004.
Frank Zelko. Make it a Green Peace. The Rise of Countercultural Environmentalism. Oxford University Press: 2013.
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