Robert Oxford

Description:

The term “environmental justice” denotes an ongoing civil rights struggle based
upon the fact that certain groups are marginalized by bearing the greatest social and cultural
burdens from ecological changes and circumstances based on race, gender, and class. This
discussion and reading seminar will allow students to use these lenses and develop a vocabulary
to deepen their understanding of a variety of environmental issues like climate change and
environmental racism in order to understand humans’ relationships to and definitions of nature,
modernity, and pollution, as well as to recognize those most at risk from environmental
degradation and destruction. This class will engage with a variety of cultural texts like
photography, film, ethnography, public policy, environmental justice advocacy, and testimonials.
The goal of the course is to recognize the intersectional ways in which we come to understand the
environment and how people work at different times and contexts toward a more equitable,
sustainable, and social centered approach to ecological problems.

Possible texts:
Keywords in Environmental Studies
Andrew Ross, Bird On Fire: Lessons from the World’s Least Sustainable City
Naomi Klein, This Changes Everything
Flow (2008)
Rachel Carson, Silent Spring
William Cronon ed., Uncommon Ground
Robert Bullard, Dumping in Dixie
Rob Nixon, Slow Violence and Environmentalism of the Poor
Carl Zimring, Clean and White; Race, Nature, and the Politics of Difference
Eben Kirksey, Ed., The Multispecies Salon
et al.

Assignments (include % of grade):

Participation 10%

Reading Responses 15%

Mid-Term Paper 25%

Archive Report 25%

Final paper 25%

Description:

The term “environmental justice” denotes an ongoing civil rights struggle based
upon the fact that certain groups are marginalized by bearing the greatest social and cultural
burdens from ecological changes and circumstances based on race, gender, and class. This
discussion and reading seminar will allow students to use these lenses and develop a vocabulary
to deepen their understanding of a variety of environmental issues like climate change and
environmental racism in order to understand humans’ relationships to and definitions of nature,
modernity, and pollution, as well as to recognize those most at risk from environmental
degradation and destruction. This class will engage with a variety of cultural texts like
photography, film, ethnography, public policy, environmental justice advocacy, and testimonials.
The goal of the course is to recognize the intersectional ways in which we come to understand the
environment and how people work at different times and contexts toward a more equitable,
sustainable, and social centered approach to ecological problems.

Possible texts:
Keywords in Environmental Studies
Andrew Ross, Bird On Fire: Lessons from the World’s Least Sustainable City
Naomi Klein, This Changes Everything
Flow (2008)
Rachel Carson, Silent Spring
William Cronon ed., Uncommon Ground
Robert Bullard, Dumping in Dixie
Rob Nixon, Slow Violence and Environmentalism of the Poor
Carl Zimring, Clean and White; Race, Nature, and the Politics of Difference
Eben Kirksey, Ed., The Multispecies Salon
et al.

Assignments (include % of grade):

Participation 10%

Reading Responses 15%

Mid-Term Paper 25%

Archive Report 25%

Final paper 25%

How do we define sustainability? How do we decide whether a commodity is sustainable or not? From coffee shops to global energy, sustainability has become a frequent and important rhetorical signifier of the twenty-first century. This class will read texts from corporations, cooperatives, activists and governments to explore the different rhetorical claims for sustainable resources. Students will also observe how the University of Texas adopts the rhetoric of sustainability in fulfilling its education mission on campus. Throughout the class, the goal is to question how sustainability influences our life, work and community and to note how various institutions and groups use this phrase to advance their own goals and agendas.

Assignments and Grading

• Minor Writing Assignments - 15%
• (Reading/Viewing Responses, Research Reports)          
• Unit I Essay - 5%
• Unit I Revision - 5%
• Unit II Essay - 15%
• Unit II Revision - 15%
• Unit III Position Paper - 15%
• Unit III Position Paper Revision - 20%
• Peer Reviews - Mandatory
• Participation - Invaluable

Required Texts and Course Readings

They Say/I Say: The Moves that Matter in Academic Writing, Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein.

Easy Writer: A Pocket Reference, Andrea A. Lunsford.

All other readings will be uploaded to Canvas as a reading packet. These include:

• Excerpts from Onward: How Starbucks Fought for its Life Without Losing Its Soul (Howard Shultz, 2012)
• Excerpt chapter from New Paradigms in Global Supply and Demand: Coffee Markets (World Bank, 2004)
• Seeking Sustainability: COSA Preliminary Analysis of Sustainability Initiatives in the Coffee Sector (Daniele Giovannucci, Jason Potts et al., 2008)
• Coffee Worker Justice Initiative: US Labor Education in the Americas Project
• Excerpts from Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation: Special Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 
• Excerpts from 2011 Corporate Citizenship Report (ExxonMobile)
• Bill McKibben, “Global Warming’s Terrifying New Math,” Rolling Stone (July 19, 2012)

**THIS TOPIC HAS BEEN CHANGED TO Rhetoric of Sustainability**

How do we define sustainability? How do we decide whether a commodity is sustainable or not? From coffee shops to global energy, sustainability has become a frequent and important rhetorical signifier of the twenty-first century. This class will read texts from corporations, cooperatives, activists and governments to explore the different rhetorical claims for sustainable resources. Students will also observe how the University of Texas adopts the rhetoric of sustainability in fulfilling its education mission on campus. Throughout the class, the goal is to question how sustainability influences our life, work and community and to note how various institutions and groups use this phrase to advance their own goals and agendas.

Assignments and Grading

Minor Writing Assignments - 15%

(Reading/Viewing Responses, Research Reports)          

Unit I Essay - 5%

Unit I Revision - 5%

Unit II Essay - 15%

Unit II Revision - 15%

Unit III Position Paper - 15%

Unit III Position Paper Revision - 20%

Peer Reviews - Mandatory

Participation - Invaluable

Required Texts and Course Readings

They Say/I Say: The Moves that Matter in Academic Writing, Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein.

Easy Writer: A Pocket Reference, Andrea A. Lunsford.

All other readings will be uploaded to Canvas as a reading packet. These include:

• Excerpts from Onward: How Starbucks Fought for its Life Without Losing Its Soul (Howard Shultz, 2012)
• Excerpt chapter from New Paradigms in Global Supply and Demand: Coffee Markets (World Bank, 2004)
• Seeking Sustainability: COSA Preliminary Analysis of Sustainability Initiatives in the Coffee Sector (Daniele Giovannucci, Jason Potts et al., 2008)
• Coffee Worker Justice Initiative: US Labor Education in the Americas Project
• Excerpts from Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation: Special Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 
• Excerpts from 2011 Corporate Citizenship Report (ExxonMobile)
• Bill McKibben, “Global Warming’s Terrifying New Math,” Rolling Stone (July 19, 2012)

How do we define sustainability? How do we decide whether a commodity is sustainable or not? From coffee shops to global energy, sustainability has become a frequent and important rhetorical signifier of the twenty-first century. This class will read texts from corporations, cooperatives, activists and governments to explore the different rhetorical claims for sustainable resources. Students will also observe how the University of Texas adopts the rhetoric of sustainability in fulfilling its education mission on campus. Throughout the class, the goal is to question how sustainability influences our life, work and community and to note how various institutions and groups use this phrase to advance their own goals and agendas.

Assignments and Grading

Minor Writing Assignments: 15%

(Reading/Viewing Responses, Research 

Reports)            

Unit I Essay: 5%

Unit I Revision: 15%

Unit II Essay: 15%

Unit II Revision: 15%

Unit III Position Paper: 15%

Unit III Position Paper Revision: 20%

Peer Reviews: Mandatory

Participation: Invaluable

Required Texts and Course Readings

They Say/I Say: The Moves that Matter in Academic Writing, Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein.

Easy Writer: A Pocket Reference, Andrea A. Lunsford.

All other readings will be uploaded to Canvas as a reading packet. These include:

Excerpts from Onward: How Starbucks Fought for its Life Without Losing Its Soul (Howard Shultz, 2012)

Excerpt chapter from New Paradigms in Global Supply and Demand: Coffee Markets (World Bank, 2004)=

Seeking Sustainability: COSA Preliminary Analysis of Sustainability Initiatives in the Coffee Sector (Daniele Giovannucci, Jason Potts et al., 2008)

Coffee Worker Justice Initiative: US Labor Education in the Americas Project

Excerpts from Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation: Special Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 

Excerpts from 2011 Corporate Citizenship Report (ExxonMobile)

Bill McKibben, “Global Warming’s Terrifying New Math,” Rolling Stone (July 19, 2012)

How do we define sustainability? How do we decide whether a commodity is sustainable or not? From coffee shops to global energy, sustainability has become a frequent and important rhetorical signifier of the twenty-first century. This class will read texts from corporations, cooperatives, activists and governments to explore the different rhetorical claims for sustainable resources. Students will also observe how the University of Texas adopts the rhetoric of sustainability in fulfilling its education mission on campus. Throughout the class, the goal is to question how sustainability influences our life, work and community and to note how various institutions and groups use this phrase to advance their own goals and agendas.

Assignments and Grading

Minor Writing Assignments: 15%

(Reading/Viewing Responses, Research 

Reports)            

Unit I Essay: 5%

Unit I Revision: 15%

Unit II Essay: 15%

Unit II Revision: 15%

Unit III Position Paper: 15%

Unit III Position Paper Revision: 20%

Peer Reviews: Mandatory

Participation: Invaluable

Required Texts and Course Readings

They Say/I Say: The Moves that Matter in Academic Writing, Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein.

Easy Writer: A Pocket Reference, Andrea A. Lunsford.

All other readings will be uploaded to Canvas as a reading packet. These include:

Excerpts from Onward: How Starbucks Fought for its Life Without Losing Its Soul (Howard Shultz, 2012)

Excerpt chapter from New Paradigms in Global Supply and Demand: Coffee Markets (World Bank, 2004)=

Seeking Sustainability: COSA Preliminary Analysis of Sustainability Initiatives in the Coffee Sector (Daniele Giovannucci, Jason Potts et al., 2008)

Coffee Worker Justice Initiative: US Labor Education in the Americas Project

Excerpts from Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation: Special Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 

Excerpts from 2011 Corporate Citizenship Report (ExxonMobile)

Bill McKibben, “Global Warming’s Terrifying New Math,” Rolling Stone (July 19, 2012)

Multiple meeting times and sections. Please consult the Course Schedule for unique numbers.

This does NOT meet the Writing Flag requirement.

This composition course provides instruction in the gathering and evaluation of information and its presentation in well-organized expository prose. Students ordinarily write and revise four papers. The course includes instruction in invention, arrangement, logic, style, revision, and strategies of research.

Course centered around the First-Year Forum (FYF) book, What Money Can't Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets by Michael J. Sandel. Students focus on the foundational knowledge and skills needed for college writing. In addition, they are introduced to basic rhetoric terms and learn to rhetorically analyze positions within controversies surrounding the FYF book.

RHE 306 is required of all UT students. Contact the Measurement and Evaluation Center, 2616 Wichita (471-3032) to petition for RHE 306 credit.