Overview
How, as humans, do we look beyond ourselves and learn to think with, and like, other living beings? This seminar explores relationships of respect and reciprocity between humans and more-than-humans, or “communities of life.” These relationships will inform discussions about political ecology, environmental justice, Indigenous environmental knowledge, environmental degradation and conservation, climate change, global networks, and human exceptionalism. Students will be exposed to a range of multispecies perspectives for understanding human relationships with the natural world and what this diverse land-based knowledge might offer for “staying with the trouble” and solving problems of living in the Anthropocene epoch.
Evaluation
To receive credit for this course, students must participate in the online activities, successfully complete the assignments, and achieve a final mark of at least 60 per cent. Students should be familiar with the Master of Arts—Interdisciplinary Studies grading system. Please note that it is students' responsibility to maintain their program status. Any student who receives a grade of "F" in one course, or a grade of "C" in more than one course, may be required to withdraw from the program.
The following table summarizes the evaluation activities and the credit weights associated with them.
| Activity | Weight |
| Online Participation | 20% |
| Case Study Proposal | 10% |
| Case Study Presentation | 25% |
| Case Study Paper | 45% |
| Total | 100% |
Materials
Physical course materials
The following course materials are included in a course package that will be shipped to your home prior to your course’s start date:
Smart, Alan, and Josephine Smart. Posthumanism: Anthropological Insights. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2017.
In addition to this print textbook, several online textbooks and articles will be assigned, all of which are available in the course’s Digital Reading Room.
Athabasca University Online Materials
All other material for the course, including a Course Information, a Study Guide, information about the assignments, as well as access to the Digital Reading Room and the discussion forums are found on the course home page.