Narrating the Anthropocene: Understanding a Multi-Species Universe

Examines human concern about the planet and how that fixation shapes concepts of time & space, knowledge-production, understandings of what it means to be human and non-human, as well as trends in scholarship, art, culture & politics. Indexes the way numerous actors and institutions came to understand, debate & narrate the Anthropocene, a geological epoch defined by human-induced climate change. Explores how it as a concept has opened up new ways of understanding relations within the planet, including care, accountability & multi-species mutualism. Considers narrative registers as well, how scholars, writers, artists & working people narrate the Anthropocene. Students undertake an original project in research &/or experimental narrative forms inspired by the reading. Limited to 12.

Related Subjects

Offered Spring 2025

Catalog	Subject	Faculty	Level	HASS	Category
21H.106 24.912 21L.008 21W.741 CMS.150 WGS.190	Black Matters: Introduction to Black Studies T 2-5, E15-335	Michel DeGraff D. Fox Harrell Danielle Wood	Introductory	HASS-H HASS-A	CI-H
21H.165	A Survey of Modern African History TR 9:30-11, 1-273	Kenda Mutongi	Introductory	HASS-H
21H.201	The American Revolution T 2-5, E51-393	Marjoleine Kars	Intermediate	HASS-H
21H.217 11.013	American Urban History T 2-4, 8-205	Ezra Glenn	Seminar	HASS-H	CI-H
21H.220 11.150	Metropolis: A Comparative History of New York City MW 2:30-4, 1-273	Craig Steven Wilder	Seminar	HASS-H
21H.241 21G.054	France and Haiti: Enlightenment, Slavery, and Revolution TR 11-12:30, E51-285	Malick W. Ghachem	Intermediate	HASS-H
21H.263 WGS.220	Women and Gender in the Middle East and North Africa F 10-1, 2-103	Lerna Ekmekcioglu	Seminar	HASS-H
21H.266	South Africa and Apartheid TR 1-2:30, 56-154	Kenda Mutongi	Intermediate	HASS-H
21H.284	South Asia, the United States, and MIT: Transformative Connections W 11-1, E51-285	Sana Aiyar	Intermediate	HASS-H
21H.289	History Near and Dear: Writing Yourself into History TR 11-12:30, 1-273	Marjoleine Kars	Intermediate	HASS-H	CI-H
21H.352 21G.042	Three Kingdoms: From History to Fiction, Comic, Film, and Game TR 1-2:30, 14E-310	Emma Teng	Seminar	HASS-H
21H.358 U 21H.958 G WGS.315 G	Colonialism in South Asia and Africa: Race, Gender, Resistance T 11-1, E51-390	Sana Aiyar	Graduate Seminar	HASS-H
21H.984 STS.414	Risk, Fortune, and Futurity W 2-5, 2-103	Caley Horan Will Deringer	Graduate
21H.S02	Special Subject: Medicine, Health, and Healing in the Global South MW 2:30-4, 4-261	Tanalís Padilla	Intermediate	HASS-S
21H.S05	Special Subject: Modern Germany MW 11-12:30, 2-103	Elena Kempf	Intermediate	HASS-H

Not Offered This Term

Catalog	Subject	Faculty	Level	HASS	Category
21H.001	How to Stage a Revolution	Staff	Introductory	HASS-H	CI-H
21H.009	World History and Its Fault Lines Since 1800	Sana Aiyar Hiromu Nagahara	Introductory	HASS-H	CI-H
21H.090	Digital Humanities Laboratory Not offered regularly; consult department	Catherine Clark	Introductory		LAB
21H.101	American History to 1865 Not offered regularly; consult department	Staff	Introductory	HASS-H
21H.102	American History since 1865	Staff	Introductory	HASS-H	CI-H
21H.107 21G.043	From Yellow Peril to Model Minority: Asian American History to 1968	Emma Teng	Introductory	HASS-H
21H.135	J.R.R. Tolkien: Scholar, Author, and Thinker	Eric J. Goldberg	Introductory	HASS-H	CI-H
21H.141	Renaissance to Revolution: Europe, 1300-1800 Not offered regularly; consult department	Staff	Introductory	HASS-H	CI-H
21H.143 21G.056	The “Making” of Modern Europe: 1789 – Present	Elena Kempf	Introductory	HASS-H
21H.144 21G.087	Introduction to Russian Studies	Elizabeth A. Wood Maria Khotimsky	Introductory	HASS-H
21H.145 21G.049 4.674	French Photography	Catherine Clark	Introductory	HASS-A	CI-H
21H.156 21G.045	Global Chinese Food: A Historical Overview Not offered regularly; consult department	Staff	Introductory	HASS-H
21H.157	Modern South Asia	Sana Aiyar	Introductory	HASS-S
21H.170 17.55 21A.130 21G.084	Introduction to Latin American Studies	Tanalís Padilla	Introductory	HASS-S	CI-H
21H.172 21G.078	Latin America Through Film Not offered regularly; consult department	Tanalís Padilla	Introductory	HASS-H
21H.173	Socialism in Latin America, from Che Guevara to Hugo Chavez	Tanalís Padilla	Introductory	HASS-H
21H.181 17.035	Libertarianism	Malick W. Ghachem	Introductory	HASS-H
21H.185 12.386 STS.031	Environment and History Not offered regularly; consult department	Staff	Introductory	HASS-S	CI-H
21H.186	Nature and Environment in China	Tristan Brown	Introductory	HASS-H
21H.187	US Environmental Governance: from National Parks to the Green New Deal	Megan A. Black	Introductory	HASS-H
21H.205 STS.427	The Civil War and the Emergence of Modern America: 1861-1890	Merritt Roe Smith	Intermediate	HASS-H
21H.211	The United States in the Cold War Era Not offered regularly; consult department	Caley Horan	Intermediate	HASS-H
21H.213 17.28	The War at Home: American Politics and Society in Wartime	Christopher Capozzola Adam Berinsky	Intermediate	HASS-S
21H.214	War and American Society Not offered regularly; consult department	Christopher Capozzola	Intermediate	HASS-H
21H.225	History of American Capitalism	Caley Horan	Intermediate	HASS-H
21H.226 11.015	Riots, Strikes, and Conspiracies in American History	Staff	Intermediate	HASS-H	CI-H
21H.228	American Classics Not offered regularly; consult department	Craig Steven Wilder	Intermediate	HASS-H	CI-H
21H.229	The Black Radical Tradition in America Not offered regularly; consult department	Craig Steven Wilder	Intermediate	HASS-H
21H.242 21G.322	Frenchness in and Era of Globalization Not offered regularly; consult department	Catherine Clark	Intermediate	HASS-H
21H.245 21G.086 17.57	Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Society: 1917 to the Present	Elizabeth A. Wood	Intermediate	HASS-S	CI-H
21H.247	Looking East/Looking West	Catherine Clark Hiromu Nagahara	Intermediate	HASS-H
21H.253 21G.075	Global Chinese Migration, 1567- Present Not offered regularly; consult department	Emma Teng	Intermediate	HASS-H
21H.260	Cities in the Middle East: History, Politics and Society Not offered regularly; consult department	Staff	Intermediate	HASS-S
21H.262	Palestine and the Arab-Israeli Conflict	Pouya Alimagham	Intermediate	HASS-H
21H.267	Atlantic Slave Revolts	Marjoleine Kars	Intermediate	HASS-H
21H.268	Urban History in Africa	Kenda Mutongi	Intermediate	HASS-H
21H.281	MIT and Slavery: Research	Craig Steven Wilder	Intermediate	HASS-H	CI-H
21H.282	MIT and Slavery: Publication Not offered regularly; consult department	Craig Steven Wilder	Intermediate	HASS-H
21H.283	The Indigenous History of MIT Not offered regularly; consult department	Staff	Intermediate	HASS-H
21H.285 STS.025	Making the Modern World: The Industrial Revolution in Global Perspective	Merritt Roe Smith	Intermediate	HASS-H
21H.315	American Consumer Culture	Caley Horan	Seminar	HASS-H
21H.319	Race, Crime, and Citizenship in American Law	Malick W. Ghachem	Seminar	HASS-S
21H.320	Gender and the Law in US History Not offered regularly; consult department	Christopher Capozzola	Seminar	HASS-H
21H.322	Christianity in America Not offered regularly; consult department	Craig Steven Wilder	Seminar	HASS-H
21H.363 WGS.330	Abortion: Global and Interdisciplinary Perspectives (NEW)		Seminar	HASS-H
21H.380 U 21A.411 U 21H.980 G 21A.419 G	People and Other Animals Not offered regularly; consult department	Staff	Graduate Seminar	HASS-S
21H.381 WGS.222	Women and War	Lerna Ekmekcioglu	Seminar	HASS-S
21H.385 11.152	The Ghetto: From Venice to Harlem Not offered regularly; consult department	Craig Steven Wilder	Seminar	HASS-S
21H.388 U 21H.988 G	Global Commodities, American Dreams	Megan A. Black	Graduate Seminar	HASS-H
21H.981	Seminar in Nature, Environment, and Empire Not offered regularly; consult department	Staff	Graduate
21H.989 G	Histories of Extraction and Mining	Megan A. Black	Graduate