Admission requirements
None, but it will be helpful if students come to the course having taken at least one research methods course at LUC. While this is a CHS/WP course, it pairs well with the themes and knowledge base of the EES major.
Description
This is a course about researching and writing —in a creative, informed, and engaging way—about the natural world, and specifically about the natural world to be found here in the Netherlands. In an age when communication about the environment often takes the form of an “ecological information data-dump” (to borrow a phrase from philosopher Timothy Morton), we will seek another path. Through carefully crafted pieces of non-fiction, we will balance scholarly research with narrative creativity, speaking to a readership that craves storytelling and emotional engagement as well as reasoned arguments and verifiable data. And we will ground this practice in our local landscape—in the soil beneath our feet.
One the one hand, the course offers an introduction to Dutch environmental history with a focus on landscapes deliberately shaped (and often repeatedly REshaped!) by human hands—a phenomenon for which this country is, of course, famous. In that respect, we will study not only “nature,” but also the political arrangements, cultural artifacts, and collective memories with which it has been entangled.
However, our objective goes beyond this. Unlike the course on Historical Research Methods (upon which this course builds), there will be no requirement to prepare a traditional research proposal or essay aimed at specialist readers. Instead, we will be connecting our scholarly research (about topics ranging from city parks and botanical gardens, to engineered canals and polders, to “rewilded” riverbanks and marine ecosystems of the North Sea, to land art and cultural monuments) to “public-facing” writing in the mode of creative non-fiction.
As such, alongside traditional academic books and articles, we will also read handbooks on the art and craft of nature writing—as well as popular essays about Dutch (and other) landscapes by writers such as Elizabeth Kolbert, Mark Doty, Noreen Masud, Robert MacFarlane, Dorthe Nors, Rebecca Solnit, and Bathsheba Demuth. (If you read Dutch, you’ll also be pointed toward texts in that language; but if you do not read the language, you will still have plenty of opportunity to learn and write about the land beneath your feet.)
Perhaps most importantly, we will do a substantial amount of our writing “in the field”: outdoors, in sun and wind and sometimes rain, with pencils and notebooks (and our five senses!) as our main “tech.” Later, through revision, we will connect our “writing in place” to the research we have done in more traditional academic spaces.
Course Objectives
Upon completing the course, you can expect to have learned about the broad outlines of Dutch environmental history, and to have developed more specialist knowledge in a sub-topic of your choosing. (This could mean a focus on a particular region or landscape, or a particular set of individuals or organizations, or a particular set of cultural forms.) In addition, you will grow more acquainted with the links and differences between scholarly writing aimed at specialist and general audiences. (For a hint at what this entails, you might compare this New Yorker piece by Elizabeth Kolbert to this research article by Helen Kopnina, Simon Leadbeater, and Paul Cryer. Both examine the Oostvaardersplassen, but in very different ways.) As a writer, you will develop your skills in using storytelling techniques such as dialogue, metaphor, and dramatic tension. And finally, as a group we will identify the intersections between “public humanities” and “science communication.”
Timetable
Timetables for courses offered at Leiden University College in 2024-2025 will be published on this page of the e-Prospectus.
Mode of instruction
As noted above, we will divide our time between our traditional classroom (where we will discuss the readings and workshop our writing in small groups), and various destinations beyond our college building. These excursions are still in the planning but will likely include trips to the Leiden Hortus, the Panorama Mesdag, Zuiderpark, and perhaps one (Saturday) journey to a destination beyond The Hague and Leiden. You will need a bike for some of these trips. If this (or writing by hand) poses a challenge, please reach out to Ann regarding possible accommodations.
Assessment Method
Participation (including contributions to your peer-review group): 15%
Writing Portfolio, including field notes and one revised short essay: 45%
Final Essay: 40%
Reading list
In addition to scholarly and popular works on (Dutch) landscape history, we will also draw readings from Sachs and Demos, eds., Artful History: A Practical Anthology; Prentiss and Wilkins, Environmental and Nature Writing: A Writer’s Guide and Anthology; and Perl and Schwartz, Writing True: The Art and Craft of Creative Nonfiction.
Registration
Courses offered at Leiden University College (LUC) are usually only open to LUC students and LUC exchange students. Leiden University students who participate in one of the university’s Honours tracks or programmes may register for one LUC course, if availability permits. Registration is coordinated by the Education Coordinator, course.administration@luc.leidenuniv.nl.
Contact
Dr. Ann Marie Wilson, a.m.wilson@luc.leidenuniv.nl
Remarks
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