Current active course description (last updated 2025/26)
Literature and Environmental Catastrophe
ENG2005
Current active course description (last updated 2025/26)
Literature and Environmental Catastrophe
ENG2005
Are you curious about the "end of the world," or even what life might look like afterwards? Join "Literature and Environmental Catastrophe" for a chance to discuss stories, poems, songs, and films about catastrophic events, both real and imagined!
In Literature and Environmental Catastrophe, students will read, analyze, discuss, and write about literary representations of natural disasters, environmental catastrophes, and extreme climatological phenomena. Engaging with accounts (both fiction and non-fiction) of these transformative events, students will develop an understanding not only of how narrative can articulate causation and agency, but also how stories can negotiate the (often violent) relationship between humankind and the natural world.
Acceptance into the English One-Year program with adequate course progression (at least 45 ECTS passed). The course is also open to international exchange students at Nord University.
KNOWLEDGE
The student
- has knowledge to dentify and analyze the role that literature has played in constructing and challenging established explanatory frameworks of environmental phenomena
- has knowledge to understand trends and patterns in the history of English literature, particularly in those works focused on the natural world
- has knowledge of a wide range of works of English literature from different periods and genres
SKILLS
The student
- can identify and interpret literary devices and rhetorical strategies that contribute to the larger aims of a literary work
- can contextualize and critique paradigms of causation, agency, and culpability
- can draw thematic and conceptual connections between literary texts
GENERAL COMPETENCE
The student
- can write coherently and persuasively about challenging topics
- can read dense texts attentively and thoughtfully
- can engage confidently and productively in discussion with colleagues
- can recognize the pervasive role that literature plays in our understanding of ourselves and our environment
No costs beyond semester fee and course books.
Elective
The teaching will be part lectures, part seminars, with follow-up activities on a digital platform.
Study programmes are evaluated annually and students participate in course evaluations (midterm and end-of-term). Evaluations occur as a part of the university's quality control system.
Compound assessment (SV)
- OD: Compulsory participation, minimum 80%, grade Approved / Not Approved. Compulsory participation must be approved to receive the final grade.
- HJ: Take-home exam at the end of the semester, grade A-F (70%)
- MA: Portfolio, consisting of seven short written assignments, counts for 30% of the total grade, assessed A-F.
All aids.
Generating an answer using ChatGPT or similar artificial intelligence and submitting it wholly or partially as one's own answer is considered cheating
Course language
English
Credits
10
Study location
Bodø
Responsible faculty
The Faculty of Education and Arts
Course coordinator
