One phenomenon that characterises our times is an ever increasing displacement of people due to environmental causes. Migration processes induced by environmental factors (desertification and water scarcity, environmental destruction through natural catastrophes, sea level rise, etc.) are covered and addressed in a variety of media. In this seminar, we will look at the figure of the environmental refugee and explore how it is represented in different media. We will read non-fiction as well as fiction; discuss representational strategies in documentary film and fiction film; and take a look at poetry performance as a form of political activism. In our engagement with the figure of the environmental refugee we will also address its discursive embeddedness and critically assess who uses the figure of the environmental refugee, in which way, and to what political ends.
Participants in the seminar are required to purchase the following texts as a hard copy (digital versions are not accepted). Please buy the exact edition given here. Check with the CvO Bookshop - they ordered copies:

Bacigalupi, Paolo. The Water Knife. Vintage, 2015. ISBN: 978-0-8041-7153-3
Habila, Helon. Oil on Water. Penguin, 2011. ISBN: 978-0-141-04684-6

To earn credit points, every participant needs to fulfil the Prüfungsleistung (Referat + Ausarbeitung ODER Hausarbeit) AND is expected to actively participate in the seminar. This includes regular attendance; the preparation of the reading/viewing materials for each session; and the submission of two response papers during the semester!