The Caribbean includes more than 7,000 islands that together with islets, cays, and reefs, dot the Caribbean Sea southeast of the Gulf of Mexico, east of Central America and Mexico, and to the north of South America. In pre-colonial times, the islands were inhabited by Indigenous people, such as the Arawak, Carib, Tainos, and Ciboney. Today more than 44 million people populate this biodiverse region. They are descendants of these and other Indigenous peoples as well as African enslaved people; Spanish, British, French, and Dutch colonizers; and indentured laborers from India and China, among others. They live in thirteen sovereign island nations and islands that still remain under the control of the former colonizers, such as France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
This class introduces students to the study of the history of Caribbean island environments and their cultural representation between the United States and the Caribbean Sea. With the help of Caribbean Studies, Archipelagic American Studies, Blue Cultural Studies, and Eco-criticism, students study the diverse, intersecting histories of colonialism, slavery, military occupation, and multidirectional migration in conversation with select cultural products (e.g. maps, films, sculptures, paintings, or literary texts) and key cultural and political movements, such as abolitionism, decolonization, maroonage, the Harlem Renaissance, Négritude, and environmental struggles. Using discourse and cultural analysis, students explore the topics, concepts, and (trans)cultural practices that are involved when the environments of Caribbean islands are written into the cultural history of North America and when Caribbean islanders and their American descendants share their own perspectives on the islands, the United States, and the sea in-between. Key concerns are, among others, racial, ethnic, or national identities; cultural hybridity; sea migration and borders; and the cultural ecospheres of islands and their beaches, coastal seas, the Caribbean Sea, and the Atlantic Ocean.
The class is open to B.A. E-SC students studying the D1b, D1c, WD1b, and WD1c modules as well as international exchange students and students doing ‘Freiwillige Zusatzleistungen,’ general studies, or ‘Ersatzleistungen.’ To complete this class, students are required not only to regularly and actively participate in seminar sessions but also to actively contribute to our first ‘E-SC Literatures and Cultures Student Conference’ held at the beginning of February 2024. Ungraded assignments will be poster presentations at the conference; graded assignments include a project presentation at the conference and a term paper or portfolio submitted in the teaching-free period, depending on your module choice. Prior enrolment via Stud.IP is mandatory and admission is limited to a maximum of thirty-five students. Further information will be made available on Stud.IP. Please check Stud.IP regularly for updates.

Ecofeminism is a movement that connects environmental issues with intersectional feminist concerns. In this course we will study ecofeminist theories that deal with: 1) perceptions of nature, 2) interconnections between gender and nature, 3) Indigenous environmental perspectives, 4) perspectives on human-animal relations, 5) responses to capitalism, neoliberalism, and globalization and 6) queer ecologies. Students will examine definitions of ecofeminism, explore various branches within ecofeminist thought, and learn how ecological feminism differs from other branches of feminism.

This seminar will focus on three speculative fiction novels from North America/Turtle Island that delve into the violent histories of the continent: femicide of migrant workers from Mexico, the after-effects of trans-Atlantic slavery, and the governing of female bodies through settler-colonialism. All novels center the importance of ecofeminist theories and literatures in North America while interrogating histories that are often ignored.

Primary Texts:
Castro, V. Queen of the Cicadas/La Reina de las Chicharras. Flame Tree Press, 2021.
Erdrich, Louise. The Future Home of the Living God. Harper Press, 2017.
Solomon, Rivers. The Deep. Gallery, Saga Press, 2019.

Requirements:
• regular attendance
• active participation in class
• in-depth knowledge of the primary and secondary reading materials

PLEASE NOTE: Participation in our E-SC Student Conference held at the beginning of February is obligatory for completing this class with either a graded or ungraded assignment (project/poster presentation & term paper).

This lecture series is open to the university public, to general studies (1CP), the M.A. E-SC SusStu Module (1CP), and three specific B.A. E-SC classes taught by Kerstin Knopf, Paula von Gleich and Corina Wieser-Cox.
The lecture series ties together ideas and knowledges in the new burgeoning field of Blue Humanities, now also established at FB 10, U Bremen. This new research field studies oceans, rivers, and coastal areas in terms of (colonial) histories and modernities, migration and travel, sustainability and ecological issues, circulation of people and ideas, marine and Indigenous knowledges, literature and cultures, new geographies, extractivism, energy and economic issues, among others.
For this lecture series we invite experts in this field who will give talks on postcolonial sea fiction, Arab Blue Humanities, refugee literature, environmental destruction, lack of water, digital Black Atlantic, legal status of rivers, marine anthropology and more.

This specialized course responds to the United Nations' emphasis on sustainable development, revealing that sustainability encompasses various dimensions beyond the environment, notably gender equality. It recognizes the need for equitable, inclusive societies and the elimination of gender disparities, aligning these goals with the literary realm of Arab-American fiction. We explore narratives authored by Arab-American women, who play a pivotal role in offering unique perspectives on the intersection of gender, culture, identity, and environmental issues. By focusing on these diverse voices, the course delves into rich portrayals of women's experiences and resilience, emphasizing the importance of diversity within the global dialogue on sustainability and gender equality.

This class will be conducted within the theme teaching year on SUSTAINABILITY and within the research area Blue Humanities. Blue Humanities studies oceans, rivers, and coastal areas in terms of (colonial) histories, migration and travel, sustainability and ecological issues, circulation of people and ideas, marine and Indigenous knowledges, literature and cultures, new geographies, extractivism, energy and economic issues, among others.

Please note that the course will be conducted in connection with a lecture series in the Blue Humanities, which takes place Wednesdays 18.15-19.45 at the Cartesium on campus. You are cordially invited to come and listen to all lectures; however 4 lectures are mandatory for you to attend, which ones will be specified at the start of the course, the first one on 25 Oct.

As well, on 26 October we will do a short study excursion to the MARKK Museum in Hamburg and their exhibition “Wasserbotschaften” with a guided tour: https://markk-hamburg.de/veranstaltungen/wasser-botschaften-9/.
We will leave on a train around 11.30 and have the guided tour in the afternoon. After that you can explore the museum on your own. You will use your semester ticket to use regional trains to go to Hamburg and back for free. This study excursion is not mandatory. And yet all students are invited to join us; there is limited capacity for the tour. Those who wish to go to Hamburg, pls register on the Etherpad here on StudIP with your full name and email address by 3 October.

After discussing sustainability and the sustainable development goals of the UN in the class, we will read and discuss short stories from the collection The Imperiled Ocean: Human Stories from a Changing Sea by Laura Trethewey and the novel People of the Whale by Linda Hogan. The novel is ready for purchase at the University bookstore at the beginning of the semester: People of the Whale (17,50 €). The short story and other texts will be uploaded on StudIP.
Pls note that regular attendance and class participation and preparation are mandatory. You must register on StudIP for this class.