What is “nature” and how should humans live in relation to the non-human? Can artists, filmmakers, musicians, philosophers, and writers help us imagine a more just and livable world? How do the arts and humanities deepen our understanding of our complex, evolving relationships to the planet we inhabit?

In the Environmental Arts and Humanities, we bring together disciplines from across the liberal arts curriculum to help us understand and respond to today’s most pressing environmental challenges.

Why study Environmental Arts and Humanities at Sewanee?

This major examines environmental issues by integrating diverse perspectives offered by fields such as anthropology, art, art history, film, history, literature, performing arts, philosophy, political theory, and religious studies.

You will be empowered to craft your own path through the major, focusing on the areas of most interest to you, while also sharing three core courses that all majors take: Introduction to Environmental Studies, Introduction to Environmental Arts and Humanities, and the Senior Capstone. In your Senior Capstone course, you will complete an interdisciplinary research project on an environmental topic of your choice, enabling you to integrate and showcase your multifaceted knowledge and skills gained through your studies at Sewanee.

First Destinations: Environmental Arts & Humanities Majors

Sewanee graduates secure positions in a variety of fields. Some you would expect, others are a bit of a surprise. Sewanee prepares you for your profession and your passion. Below is a sampling of recent graduates' first jobs.

  • Research editorial staff in marketing & communications, Bonefish Tarpon Trust, Coral Gables, Florida.
  • Outdoor adventure program staff, City Kids Wilderness Project, Jackson, Wyoming.
  • Logistics analyst, Bellhops, Chattanooga, Tennessee.
  • Future Leaders Program associate for the Environment Health, Safety, and Sustainability Program, GlaxoSmithKline, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.
  • Education Director, Wild Bird Fund, Manhattan, New York
GRADUATE SCHOOL & PRE-PROFESSIONAL PROGRAMS: ENVIRONMENTAL ARTS & HUMANITIES MAJORS

Sewanee graduates enjoy extraordinary acceptance rates to top graduate and pre-professional programs–about 95 percent to law school and over 85 percent to medical school. Below is a sampling of where Sewanee grads continue their education.

  • M.S. in environmental science and management, Johns Hopkins University.
  • M.S. in environmental policy, University of Cambridge.

A Sampling of Courses

Introduction to Environmental Arts & Humanities
Environmental Studies

This course acquaints students with the diverse perspectives on ecology and environmental issues through the lenses of literature, history, art history, classical studies, folklore, music, philosophy, anthropology, and religion. Students bridge three or more of these fields in an original research project that develops a novel approach to understanding an environmental topic or that offers a route to mediating a particular environmental concern.

ENST 200
The Lens and the Landscape: Documentary Studies and the Environment
Art

This course studies the human, ecological, and environmental histories of the region through the lens and practice of documentary production. In collaboration with historians, archaeologists, and biologists, students develop individual and group projects to create short documentaries about a range of topics focused on the past and present environmental conditions of the Domain and its surroundings.

ART 242
Environmental and Biological Nonfiction
Environmental Studies

An examination of contemporary intersections among literature, journalism, biological science, and the study of the environment, supplemented by readings of 19th- and 20th-century antecedents. Assignments allow students to develop their own writing abilities in these areas. Consideration is also given to the relationships among nonfiction, fiction, and other forms of creative expression.

ENST 250
Anthropology and Environmental Justice
Anthropology

This course considers the ways in which ethnicity, race, religion, gender, class and culture shape differential access to natural resources and a healthy living environment. Drawing on anthropological studies of local ecological knowledge, political economies and city and regional planning, the class asks how disproportionate experiences of environmental benefits and burdens can be redressed in societies around the globe. Students consider culturally-informed routes to food and water security and socioecological resilience in the wake of climate change.

ANTH 285
Environmental Arts and Humanities Capstone
Capstone

A flexible, student-driven capstone experience for Environmental Arts and Humanities majors. Each student crafts their own project, usually on a topic that builds on past experience and looks toward future opportunities to address environmental issues. Cooperative and substantive peer discussion and critique are central processes in the class, drawing on the strength of the community to help each student deepen their work.

ENST 400
Ethics and the Anthropocene
RELG 135

This course examines the ethical dilemmas related to anthropogenic alterations to the climate and biosphere including mass human migrations, species loss, and the quandaries posed by end-stage global capitalism.

View All

Environmental Arts & Humanities

Programs of Study & Related Programs

Requirements for the Major in Environmental Arts & Humanities

Requirements for the Major in Environment & Sustainability | Website

Requirements for the Minor in Environmental Studies | Website

Requirements for the Major & Minor in Forestry | Website

Requirements for the Major & Minor in Geology | Website

Requirements for the Major in Natural Resources & the Environment | Website

Requirements for the Minor in Religion & Environment | Website

Meet some professors

Celeste Ray
cray@sewanee.edu

Celeste Ray's courses engage students in researching biocultural diversity and considering the relevance of traditional ecological knowledge in addressing contemporary environmental issues. A two-time National Geographic Explorer, Ray's current fieldwork considers holy wells and sacred springs, particularly in Ireland. She trained in Ecological Anthropology and Iron Age Archaeology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Edinburgh, Scotland and the University of Florida. Some of her eight books have considered Historical Ecology, Sacred Waters and landscapes linked to ethnic and national identities.

Professor of Environmental Arts and Humanities and Anthropology
Lisa Burner
lrburner@sewanee.edu

Dr. Burner specializes in 19th and 20th century Latin American cultural production, with a focus on Peru and Chile. Her research and teaching work at the intersection of literature, natural resource extraction, feminism, indigeneity, economics, and labor. Dr. Burner’s upper-level courses include Latin American Literature and the Environment, Indigeneity and Race in Peru, and Women’s Voices in Latin America.

Associate Professor of Spanish; Director of Environmental Arts and Humanities; EAH Steering Committee
James R. Peters
jpeters@sewanee.edu

James Peters' interest in philosophy began when his family left the predictable suburbs of Chicago and moved out into the country. There, he fell in love with the rural landscape and began a lifelong passionate interest in the natural world. Out of a love of natural things emerged a love of asking fundamental questions. It was during explorations of local woodlots and fields that Peters experienced his first sense of philosophical wonder. His interests are ancient and medieval philosophy, environmental ethics, and philosophical theology.

Professor of Philosophy
Jennifer Michael
jmichael@sewanee.edu

After graduating from Sewanee, Jennifer Davis Michael proceeded to Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship and then to Northwestern University where she completed her doctorate. Her dissertation on William Blake developed into her first book, Blake and the City (Bucknell University Press, 2006). While her teaching and research interests tend to focus on late eighteenth-century and Romantic poetry, her current book project, Poetry at the Edge of Silence, is heavily informed by her participation in Environmental Arts and Humanities and particularly her course Poetry, Nature, and Contemplation, which draws on contemplative practice as a way to engage both with the environment and with language.

Professor of English; EAH Steering Committee
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Contact

Lisa Burner

director of Environmental Arts & Humanities program, Associate Professor of Spanish

Gailor 230

LRBURNER@SEWANEE.EDU

 

The Domain: An Immersive Experience

Integrated Program in the Environment
6 Majors, 6 Minors, 13,000 Acres

Sewanee's Integrated Program in the Environment is one of the premier collections of environmental offerings in the country. A working farm, a 13,000-acre forest, and well-funded internships offer opportunities to apply your classroom learning. An expansive curriculum—including natural and social sciences as well as the humanities and fine arts—offers students multiple pathways for gaining an understanding of the ecological complexity and wonder of the earth we inhabit.

Explore Your Options
Stewardship & Sustainability
Hands-on Experience

The Office of Environmental Stewardship and Sustainability offers students myriad opportunities to engage with the outdoors. Whether your passions are natural resources management, food production, animal care, field research, or sustainability, there's a place for you to get your hands dirty on the Domain!

Get Involved
The University Farm
Where Growth Happens

The University Farm offers students a transformative experience through the immersive and intimate practice of restorative agriculture. At the farm you'll find many opportunities to enhance your education and connect with the history of agriculture. And if you’re lucky, there will be some baby goats around during finals.

Yes, I love baby goats