Course Syllabus

OLE 2040 Wild America

Course Description

This course addresses wildlands (national parks, wilderness, and special places), through the lenses of the humanities and the associated social movements and historical contexts, institutions, and cultural implications of the conservation and preservation of wild America.

Justification

This course helps students see the application of the philosophy and the human
construct associated with wildlands and places. This course will primarily serve students
in the OLE program, but may serve other programs. This course will be taught primarily
as part of the OLE Immersion Experience, which will provide students first-hand
experience regarding issues related to the preservation and conservation of America's
wildlands. National Parks and federally designated Wilderness areas are an expression
of thoughts and values that define individuals and the "American" culture. It is especially
salient considering that ~67% of Utah is federally managed land. Additionally, it has five
national parks, several national monuments, and numerous federally designated
wilderness areas. The course fulfills the Humanities GE requirement. This course is
similar to SUU's ORPT 2040 Americans in the Outdoors and USU's ENVS 2040 Natural
Resources and Society. Consult the articulation agreement for possible articulation with
SUU's ORPT 2040.

The Humanities are a group of academic disciplines that study the many ways by which humans have attempted to understand themselves and their world. At Snow College, the Humanities focus on cultural traditions that are expressed largely through text or which have a strong textual component: languages, literature, and philosophy. The methods by which the Humanities study culture are at once analytical and interpretive, objective and subjective, historical and aesthetic.

General Education Outcomes

1. A student who completes the GE curriculum has a fundamental knowledge of human cultures and the natural world. Students will be able to identify the impact, relationship, and function of wildlands and wilderness in the humanities, primarily in literature and through art and digital media. By studying wildlands through a humanities focus, students will be able to understand better the human perceptions associated with wildlands and wild places as it intersects issues along social, political, economic, artistic, and ethnic lines, with these intersections illustrating disparities in and markers of power, efficacy, privilege, hierarchy, and opportunity.
   
   Students will demonstrate their knowledge of the human dimension of wildlands through discussion, written responses, a final exam, and/or projects.
2. A student who completes the GE curriculum can read and research effectively within disciplines. Students will access and engage in various literature, academic texts, and historical accounts regarding wildlands. These works will vary: theory, primary texts, academic essays, film, and art. Students will not only be able to read, understand, and engage with these works, but they will also evaluate, respond, and work to apply relevant approaches to further their understanding and application. By reading a variety of ethical arguments for and against wildland preservation, students will discuss their understanding of the reading material and offer challenges to these arguments.
   
   Students will demonstrate their knowledge through discussion, projects, and/or research paper.
3. A student who completes the GE curriculum can draw from multiple disciplines to address complex problems. Students will use insights and prior learning from a variety of other disciplines, including the humanities, life science, American institutions, and the social and behavioral sciences, to explore the complex area of the human dimension of wildlands.
   
   Students will demonstrate their knowledge through discussion, written assignments, a final exam, and/or projects.
4. A student who completes the GE curriculum can reason analytically, critically, and creatively. Students will be able to reason and question critically, analytically, and creatively about wildlands as they are manifested in areas such as culture, science, values, ethics, and civic policy. Students will be able to read and critically analyze arguments for and against wildlands, understand its place, and make connections within the larger realm of "W"ilderness as a symbol of American culture and associated movements.
   
   Students will demonstrate their ability to identify and engage with wildlands as manifested throughout various contexts through written assignments, assigned readings, and/or various additional application assignments.
5. A student who completes the GE curriculum can communicate effectively through writing and speaking. Students will write in an effective, convincing, and informed manner concerning various humanistic approaches to wildlands based on interest and relevance. Students will also demonstrate the ability to incorporate self-directed and instructor-directed revisions, utilizing the writing process to create a polished draft.
   
   Students will have the opportunity to demonstrate these skills through discussion, various written assignments, projects, application assignments throughout the semester, and/or written components on the final exam.

General Education Knowledge Area Outcomes

1. Students will engage in a selection of theoretical and philosophical readings in which the humanistic approaches to wildlands are applied to a broad spectrum of human thought, philosophy, and experience. For example, it is one thing to read Abbey, even better while sitting in Arches, but it is another to drive the old entrance road into the park and have the students develop the argument for or against if National Parks are genuinely preserving or conserving the nation's wildlands. Or developing arguments for or against if federally designated wilderness is culturally biased or even racist legislation after spending some time there.
   
   Through required readings throughout the semester, students will demonstrate an understanding of how wildland experiences shape the overall human experience, making connections between wilderness and its influence on more significant concepts of human thought and experience. Students will respond to these texts, reflecting and applying ethical arguments through various possible assignments, such as written assignments, class discussions, research papers, and written exams. Students will engage in a selection of theoretical and philosophical readings in which the humanistic approaches to wildlands are applied to a broad spectrum of human thought, philosophy, and experience. For example, it is one thing to read Abbey, even better while sitting in Arches, but it is another to drive the old entrance road into the park and have the students develop the argument for or against if National Parks are genuinely preserving or conserving the nation's wildlands. Or developing arguments for or against if federally designated wilderness is culturally biased or even racist legislation after spending some time there.
   
   Through required readings throughout the semester, students will demonstrate an understanding of how wildland experiences shape the overall human experience, making connections between wilderness and its influence on more significant concepts of human thought and experience. Students will respond to these texts, reflecting and applying ethical arguments through various possible assignments, such as written assignments, class discussions, research papers, and written exams.
2. Understand how knowledge is created through the study of language systems, literature, and/or philosophy. Students will understand how language, literature, and philosophy work together to establish and maintain norms associated with wildlands in various contexts. They will see how language systems can be tied to values regarding landscapes. Students will also investigate how language, literature, and philosophy also work to disrupt these norms. By reading and considering various wildland concepts and applications from many perspectives, students will be able to differentiate between "W"ilderness and "w"ilderness and then work to identify and justify the two on a personal, local, state, and national scale.
   
   Students will respond to key questions of how wildland norms are defined, established, maintained, and disrupted throughout the semester in various written assignments, class discussions, projects, and written exams. Students will compose/develop a wilderness definition where they summarize their perception of
   wilderness in the form/medium of their choice. It will include: a personal definition of wilderness and accompanying criteria, beliefs about the purposes of wilderness, ideas regarding the need for wilderness, and thoughts on wilderness management.
3. Understand cultural traditions within an historical context and make connections with the present. A significant component of Wild America is an understanding of the cultural and historical context of federally designated National Parks and Wilderness and their relation to various movements. Students will study wilderness in light of this historical context and the cultural movements (preservation, conservation, historical government policy changes) based on literature, art, and digital media.
   
   Students will demonstrate an ability to understand key movements and the surrounding historical context through discussion, on exams and projects. In addition, class discussions will demonstrate students' ability to place wildlands on a continuum based on the human experience.
4. Critically read and respond to primary texts (original, uninterpreted) from a Humanities’ perspective. Students will engage with a variety of primary texts (50-150 pages/week) to objectively identify and consider human constructs regarding wilderness (cultural, moral, ethical, political, religious) and critically parse these accordingly. They will understand how these texts point to a different or new method of viewing wildlands.
   
   Students will demonstrate their ability to read and respond to these texts from a humanities perspective through written reflections, class discussion, and written exams. In addition, students will evidence their ability to critically read and respond to the texts by completing projects that require students to read and respond critically to the text, synthesize and analyze the issue, and apply its relation to themselves and others.
5. Write effectively within the Humanities discipline to analyze and form critical and aesthetic judgments. In conjunction with consistent engagement with texts and readings, students will be able to write in an effective, convincing, and informed manner concerning wild America based on interest and relevance.
   
   Students will demonstrate an ability to write effectively through frequent and varied writing assignments concerning a wide array of wildland issues. Students will demonstrate knowledge through various writing assignments (15-25 pages of informal writing like reflections, journals, in-class writings and 6-12 pages of formal writing such as research essays, class presentations, and final exam). Students will also demonstrate the ability to incorporate self-directed, peer-directed, and instructor-directed revisions, utilizing the writing process to create a polished draft.

Course Content

This course covers wildlands ethics and values (wilderness, special places, National Parks, and Wilderness), associated social movements and historical contexts, institutions, and cultural implications of wildlands in the United States. The course will focus on reading, theory, historical movements and thinkers and their influences, analysis and application, and critical thinking and writing, all within a balanced perspective regarding the human dimension of conservation and preservation of wild wildlands.Aspects of gender, race, and class in regards to the formation and attitudes towards wildlands will be studied.