Reading In Depth: Deep Time in Theory, Literature and Visual Art

What can the humanities teach us about deep time? Can human beings even conceive of the vast and unfathomable timescales presupposed by geology? The challenge that deep time poses to the human imagination - a challenge that has grown all the more urgent to address in light of our current environmental crisis - will be approached in this course 1. By considering how artists and writers create their own scales of measure in relation to deep time 2. By taking seriously claims of non-human animism in diverse cultural traditions 3. By examining how rhythms of human and non-human life are inscribed in specific literary and artistic works. Assignments in this seminar/arts practicum course will be creative and multimedia in kind. The course includes field trips to the Redwood forest and to the Hopkins Marine Station.