Course Summary
Ocean as Myth and Memory – Spring 2022
Through an interdisciplinary approach to environmental humanities and migration, this course links transoceanic diasporic communities, with a focus on Caribbean and Transpacific Studies. With the ocean and its diverse currents serving as both principal metaphor and method, the course will utilize historical, literary, and artistic analyses, engage with guest speakers, and take field trips to water-related projects and diasporic communities in New York City. Participants are encouraged to bring their own special skills and passions (art, design, literature, technology, etc.) to the table to create innovative methodologies for writing on and conceptualizing migration in its manifold dimensions. While the lab draws from models across the sciences, social sciences, and the humanities, there is also an equally strong interest in how writers and artists engage with these ideas, and how the arts might serve as another equally valuable lens through which to consider the idea of the ocean as myth and method.