Jesse Oak Taylor: What ‘Environmental Humanities’ Teach Us: Cyclone Amphan, COVID-19, & Collectivity
University of Washington Scholar, Dr. Jesse Oak Taylor, discusses what studying literature in what's called "the environmental humanities" teaches us about collectivity during events from Cyclone Amphan to COVID-19.
Listen to the podcast version of this talk and more:
✔︎ https://anchor.fm/uwengl
We created a "further reading" list for you, which you can download using the link below:
✔︎ https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AUN6XiuqnMhcjli0jmLqVbDpTTx04Nv5NRu7mLLWddI/edit?usp=sharing
This episode was created and hosted by Public Scholarship Project Director, Dr. C. R. Grimmer, Project Manager, Jacob Huebsch, and Video Editor Richard Hugo.
Episode Content
0:35 Introductions
1:42 Part 1: What is the Anthropocene
2:46 Part 2: Why Historical Literature to Examine Contemporary Anthropocene Debates?
7:52 Part 3: What do these texts teach us about Contemporary Global Disasters, from Cyclone X to COVID-19?
14:03 Part 4: What Hope do you find your research that we can take with us during events such as Cyclone Amphan and COVID-19?
About the Series:
This video is the first in a public scholarship dialogue series from The University of Washington (Seattle Campus) Department of English: "Literature, Language, Culture." These video and podcast episodes share our innovative work in fostering intellectual vitality, inspiring enthusiasm for literature, honing critical insight into the ethical and creative uses of the English language, preparing future teachers, and crafting the stories that animate our world.
Whether you seek short-form discussions from experts in literature, language, teaching, and cultural studies, or are simply curious about our department’s community, you can subscribe to our channel here to make sure you stay up to date on the series:
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About Dr. Jesse Oak Taylor:
Explore his publications and courses by visiting here:
✔︎ https://english.washington.edu/people/jesse-oak-taylor
Professor Taylor's research focuses on industrialization and empire in the nineteenth century and their relevance for tracing the emergence of the Anthropocene, a proposed designation within the Geologic Time Scale (GTS) acknowledging human disruption of the Earth System. He teaches courses on Victorian Britain and the British Empire, especially centered on Darwin and evolutionary theory, and the environmental humanities.
His recent book, The Sky of Our Manufacture: The London Fog in British Fiction from Dickens to Woolf, traces the conceptual emergence of climate change the soot-laden London fog (i.e., "smog") of London in the late-19th and early 20th centuries. It argues that aesthetics, especially the novel, re-frame our perception in order to come to terms with an environment in which everything, including the weather, bears the imprint of human action.
About this episode's host, Dr. C. R. Grimmer:
Explore their publications and courses by visiting here:
✔︎ https://www.crgrimmer.com/
or, their own YouTube Channel, The Poetry Vlog (TPV), here:
✔︎ https://www.youtube.com/c/thepoetryvlog/
C. R. Grimmer, who also goes by Chelsea Grimmer and uses she/her and they/them pronouns interchangeably, is a poet, scholar, and lecturer at The University of Washington Seattle and Bothell campuses. Recently, they completed their Ph.D. in Literature and Cultural Studies and were supported by The Simpson Center for the Humanities' Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Public Humanities Fellowship. They currently are a Lecturer and Assistant Director of Digital Pedagogy in the UW Department of English. C. R. created and hosts The Poetry Vlog, has poems in journals such as Poetry Magazine, FENCE Magazine, and [PANK], and has published articles in journals such as The Comparatist. Their chapbook, O–(ezekiel's wife), is available from GASHER Journal and Press in collaboration with novelist and visual artist, Colleen Burner (for the print edition), and Digital Sound Artist Judy Twedt (for the audio edition). Their first full-length collection, The Lyme Letters, is forthcoming Fall 2020 from Texas Tech University Press as the Walt McDonald First Book Award Winner.
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Podcast Edition:
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More on the Department of English at The University of Washington:
✔︎ https://english.washington.edu/