The Rhetoric of Climate Change
Professor: Karen Shaup
Course Description:
From the iconic image of a stranded polar bear on floating ice to photographs of bleached coral reefs, visual representations of climate change have captured our attention. What stories are these images telling about the environment and why are they compelling? As importantly, what stories do these images leave out? In this class, we will take a deep dive into the rhetoric of climate change as we examine landmark essays in environmentalism, public awareness projects, and visual and sound art. Our discussions will focus on the way language, images, and sounds mediate our relationship to the environment and we will explore the values, assumptions, and histories that we bring to definitions of “nature” in the contemporary context of climate change.
