Course description
This course introduces students to the environmental humanities from the vantage point of Venice. This cross-disciplinary and rapidly expanding field explores the role that humanistic knowledge, in interaction with the natural and social sciences, can play in interpreting and transforming a world challenged by an unprecedented planetary environmental crisis. We will survey the history of the Environmental Humanities, its main theories, debates, and key terminology (Anthropocene, blue humanities, ecocriticism, ecofeminism, nature/culture, posthumanism, etc.). We will address various forms of political ecology, activism, and public impact, along with examples of intellectual and artistic intervention, environmental discourse, and rhetoric. Many of our examples will be drawn from the cultural history and present condition of Venice and its unique ecosystem, showing how this microcosm encapsulates many global issues at stake. Venice is one of the hotspots of climate change, a globally renowned and celebrated city that is simultaneously unique and emblematic of the challenges faced by many coastal areas around the world. We will read Venice as a material text and examine its role from multiple perspectives, and through many languages, including science, fiction, non-fiction, film, visual arts, foodways, etc. We will look both backward and forward, using the complementary perspectives and representations of insiders and outsiders. In summary, we will address the role of the imagination in facing the planetary environmental crisis, taking full advantage of Venice as a “thinking machine” (in Salvatore Settis’ definition). Our main guide will be Amitav Ghosh, the Indian intellectual who has written a seminal essay on the shortcomings of literature in addressing climate change, along with a compelling novel set partly in Venice, which seems to be his response to his own critique. Gun Island takes readers on a journey through Venice, India, Bangladesh, and the United States, showing how climate change and migration are intertwined in the present, while also unfolding a mystery and an enigmatic character from the past. We will then follow the scholars, activists, and artists from the Anthropocene Campus who have contributed to the ecocritical guide Venice and the Anthropocene. Two recent documentaries will allow us to analyze the ways in which the Venice lagoon, a "natural" environment modified by humans for centuries, is central to any analysis of the city and deeply entangled with global migration dynamics. An essential part of the course will be outings, starting from San Servolo and then exploring other islands in the lagoon, as well as relevant places in the historic city where art engages with the environment. In particular, we will consider how two major art centers, Ocean Space and the Biennale, address ecological issues and relate to the city where they are based. Students are expected to be active participants, both individually and through teamwork, in class discussions and other forms of experiential learning. We will also welcome guest speakers to the classroom, who will share their insights into various forms of scholarship, activism, and engagement, ultimately making Venice a vital laboratory in times of climate crisis.

Learning outcomes of the course
The general goal is to enable students to address cultural issues related to the planetary environmental crisis from a theoretical and practical perspective in a largely autonomous manner and to read the Venetian text.

Teaching and evaluation method
Lectures, class discussions, fieldtrips, experiential learning.
Every student will have to produce a final individual research project (a written and illustrated essay or a multimedia text) dedicate to a specific Venetian site, examined from an Environmental Humanities perspective. A midterm in-class written exam will focus on class readings.

Evaluation
10% attendance
20% participation in class discussion
20% written midterm
20% oral presentation in class
30% written final research project

Bibliography

Primary readings
Venice and the Anthropocene. An Ecocritical Guide, eds. Cristina Baldacci, Shaul Bassi, Lucio De Capitani, Daniel Pietro Omodeo, Venice: wetlands 2023.
Ghosh, Amitav, Gun Island, London: John Murray 2019.
Iovino, Serenella, “Cognitive Justice and the Truth of Biology Death. (and Life) in Venice'” in Ecocriticism and Italy. Ecology, Resistance, and Liberation, London: Bloomsbury, 2016.

Secondary readings
Baldacci, Cristina. “An Archipelago of Ecological Care: Venice, Its Lagoon, and Contemporary Art.” Lagoonscapes 3.2 (2023): 1-14.
Bassi, Shaul, “’None of that shit matters to the Swedes’: Venice, Bangladesh, and the Postcolonial Anthropocene” in: de Medeiros, Paulo, and Sandra Ponzanesi, eds. Postcolonial Theory and Crisis, Berlin-Boston: Walter de Gruyter, 2024, pp. 105-122.
Codato, Petra “Lagoon Wanderings: Boat hydro-perspectivism in the aquapelagic assemblage of the Venetian Lagoon.” Shima 17.2 (2023).
da Mosto Jane, Mencini Gianandrea, Acqua in piazza. Livelli d'acqua a Venezia. Tendenze e adattamenti-Water levels in Venice. Trends and adaptations, Venice: Linea d’acqua, 2016.
Gentilcore, David G, “The cistern-system of early modern Venice: technology, politics and culture in a hydraulic society.” Water History 13.3 (2021): 375-406.
Giupponi, C., Bidoia, M., Breil, M. et al. Boon and burden: economic performance and future perspectives of the Venice flood protection system. Reg Environ Change 24, 44 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-024-02193-9
Scarpa, Tiziano, Venice is a Fish: A Cultural Guide, London: Serpent's Tail, 2009 (excerpts).
Settis Salvatore, If Venice Dies, Toronto: New Vessel Press, 2016 (excerpts)
van Amelsvoort, Jesse (2023) “The Postcolonial Anthropocene” in: de Medeiros, Paulo, and Sandra Ponzanesi, eds., Postcolonial Theory and Crisis, Berlin-Boston: Walter de Gruyter, 2024, pp. 83-104.

Film
Banglavenice (2022) Dir. Emanuele Confortin (Confortin & Guidolin), www.banglavenice.com
Lagunaria (2022) Dir. Giovanni Pellegrini https://www.ginkofilm.it/film/venezia-liquida/

Last updated: January 29, 2025