Reading the Arctic
Through a close reading of Barry Lopez’s landmark book Arctic Dreams, students will examine cultural representations of the far north from the “age of exploration” to the present. In this course we will challenge depictions of the region as an unchanging, sterile landscape and at the same time interrogate why such perceptions have been so persistent. Special attention will be paid to how resource extraction and economic development have shaped our ideas about the Arctic. Students will engage with works by Bathsheba Demuth, Tom Kizzia, and Thomas Berger. Films, photographs, and contemporary television series set in the Arctic will also be discussed as students, through short writings and group projects, gain a deeper understanding of this rich and varied landscape. This course counts as a humanities cognate for environmental studies majors.

Adam Federman is a reporting fellow with Type Investigations and an award winning environmental journalist whose work has appeared in the Washington Post, Wired, Politico Magazine and other publications. His first book, Fasting and Feasting: The Life of Visionary Food Writer Patience Gray, was a New York Times Notable Book of 2017 and a finalist for the LA Times Book Prize in biography./