Asian Environmental Humanities: Landscapes in Transition

Go to Course: https://www.coursera.org/learn/asian-environmental-humanities

Introduction

Title: Course Review: Asian Environmental Humanities: Landscapes in Transition on Coursera Are you interested in the intersection of culture, philosophy, and environmentalism in Asia? If so, the "Asian Environmental Humanities: Landscapes in Transition" course on Coursera might just be the perfect fit for you. This course, presented by esteemed researchers from the University of Zurich and other international institutions, delves deeply into how landscapes are perceived, appreciated, degraded, and rehabilitated across various Asian cultures. ### Course Overview The course offers a comprehensive overview of vibrant cultural trends tied to environmental issues in Asia, with a keen focus on China, India, and Japan. Through this course, learners will engage with various concepts surrounding landscape appreciation as explored through the lenses of religion, philosophy, social sciences, history, and the arts. If you are seeking a robust understanding of how cultural narratives shape environmental practices in Asia, this course provides the necessary theoretical grounding and practical case studies. ### Syllabus Breakdown **1. The Roots and Routes of Asian Environmental Thought** The course kicks off with an exploration of historical environmental philosophies in China. It juxtaposes traditional Chinese concepts of nature and landscape with modern Western paradigms, providing a rich context for understanding landscape aesthetics (shanshui) and the profound implications of viewing human bodies in correspondence with landscapes. This introduction establishes a foundational knowledge that will resonate throughout the course. **2. Entangled Landscapes - Chinese Garden Concepts and Global Environments** Next, the focus shifts to the concept of entangled landscapes, where the influence of Chinese gardening aesthetics on urban design and politics is examined. The discussions surrounding nostalgia for "imaginary gardens" and successful rural reconstruction projects encourage critical thinking about cultural heritage in the face of modernity. **3. Indian Religious Approaches: Two Communities** The course effectively highlights innovative environmental projects such as Auroville in India—a living experiment in ecological and social harmony based on Sri Aurobindo’s philosophy. The exploration of Zoroastrian rituals in Mumbai further illustrates how spiritual practices intertwine with environmental conditions, offering learners a nuanced perspective on the cultural dimensions of ecology. **4. Environment in India: Concepts and Socio-Economic Conditions** Focusing on pressing issues like waste management, the course critiques India's rapid economic development while acknowledging the challenges this transformation brings. This module thoughtfully examines the dichotomy of “bourgeois environmentalism” and the plight of marginalized communities adversely affected by urbanization and industrialization. **5. East Asian Environmentalism** In the final module, participants are encouraged to reflect on the role of humanity in the context of the Anthropocene and contest the assumption of human dominance over nature. This section questions reductive narratives of progress and engages with varied forms of ecological activism, igniting discussions about sustainability and social responsibility. ### Course Experience The course is structured to be accessible for learners from a variety of backgrounds, ensuring that both novices and those with prior knowledge of environmental studies can engage with the content meaningfully. The blend of video lectures, readings, and case studies provides a multi-dimensional learning experience. Additionally, the collaborative aspects of the course, such as peer discussions and assignments, foster community engagement and broaden perspectives. ### Recommendation I highly recommend the **Asian Environmental Humanities: Landscapes in Transition** course for anyone interested in environmental studies, Asian culture, or interdisciplinary approaches to sustainability. The depth and breadth of the material, coupled with expert insights, create a valuable educational experience. Whether you’re a student, a professional in the environmental field, or simply an avid learner, this course offers profound insights into the relationship between human culture and the environment in Asia today. Enroll today to embark on an enlightening journey that promises to enhance your understanding of the intricate ties between culture, philosophy, and environmental stewardship in the Asian context!

Syllabus

The Roots and Routes of Asian Environmental Thought

We will begin this course by tracing historical ways of thinking about the environment in China. Through a range of examples, traditional notions of “nature” and “landscape“ will be introduced. These will be compared with modern transcultural and Western concepts. After studying a selection of key concepts pertaining to the construction of landscape (shanshui) as an aesthetic category, we will visit two sites in Switzerland where ancient and modern landscape art works from China are collected and made accessible to a wider public. Finally, we will look more closely into one historically and culturally formative theme in Chinese eco-aesthetic practice, namely the representation of human bodies as landscapes and vice versa. We will argue that the tradition of imagining, and mapping, bodies as structurally and materially embedded in the cosmic body has inspired ancient and modern artists to reflect critically upon the place and role of human beings in the world at large.

Having assessed China’s ancient and modern conceptions of landscapes, and how they moved between cultures, social groups and societies, we will turn to the concept of entangled landscapes in the second module. Here, we will evaluate representations and narratives that explore the agency, conundrums and possibilities of applied transcultural aesthetic (and functional) paradigms in national politics of garden and park design. In a first step, the traveling concept of the Chinese garden will help us to evaluate the cultural and geopolitical affordances of gardens between Asia and Europe that are very often intimately connected to utopian visions of the ideal community. Next, we will encounter two different examples of a Chinese garden that bespeak their original sociopolitical functionality and conceptual underpinnings as much as the changes of these same when travelling across time and space. Our third theme of hometown nostalgia will study the turn of artists and intellectuals towards imaginary gardens of the past in view of large-scale heritage demolition in China. Finally, we will probe into the history of rural reconstruction and encounter two successful approaches towards the re-/creation of sustainable landscapes.

When actually implemented in experimental contexts, utopian ideas and projects draw on alternative visions of human interaction with (existing or imaginary) landscapes. Auroville, for example, is a project based on the foundations of Sri Aurobindo's philosophy of religion. The community was established in 1968 next to the Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry (Tamil Nadu, India) by Mira Alfassa, one of the closest disciples of Sri Aurobindo. In that same year, Auroville was declared a project in congruence with the targets and ideals of UNESCO, who aims “to bring together in close juxtaposition the values and ideals of different civilizations and cultures …”. Both UNESCO and the Indian State officially support Auroville. Moreover, architects across the globe participated in the construction of, and were inspired by the social and ecological visions that characterize Auroville. When exploring this community's approach to landscape and ecology, we will tackle the underlying historical legacies and connectivities between India and Europe and listen to cultural voices engaging with the experiment. In a similar vein, religious practice is intimately connected with the particular features of regional topographies, landscapes and ecologies. For example, Zoroastric rituals in Mumbai were linked to the local population of vultures. The practical consequences of the extinction of the latter will be analysed in a next step, thematizing death and the spiritual/ritual processes that accompany the “natural“ transformation of living bodies into matter. While studying the Zoroastrian community in Mumbai, we will take a close look at the question of how their rituals are adapted to changing environmental conditions.

Waste and its disposal is another important issue heavily impacting on landscapes and their local inhabitants. It challenges conventional political approaches, mobilises the public/private spheres, and can inspire pathbreaking scientific and social experiments as well as innovative literary, arts and design projects. High rates of economic growth are radically transforming Indian society and the Indian environment. The winners in this process have attained middle class status, and live increasingly consumerist lifestyles. However, growth has also produced losers: millions have lost their land and livelihoods to expanding mining concerns in the forests of central India, and to sprawling real estate developments in and around urban centres. Moreover, domestic and industrial waste, input intensive agriculture, and growing traffic have all radically undermined the quality of both urban and rural environments. We will examine the contradictions and the limitations inherent in contemporary forms of ‘bourgeois environmentalism’, but also critically assess the suggestion that civil society and environmental concerns are indeed the preserve of ‘bourgeois’ elites.

In the last module of this course, we will look at how, in the age of the Anthropocene, the role of humans came to be conceptualized in opposition to nature, and assert the validity of certain traditional Asian ideas suggesting that we are not at the centre, nor in control of the environment. Furthermore, we will examine some of the ways in which the natural world has been “remade” within the planetary scope both discursively and materially - for instance, by way of a largely materialistic concept of historical progress encouraging industrialized resource extraction, colonial patterns of wealth accumulation, and unsustainable models of economic growth - which led to the transformation of entire ecosystems. We will moreover explore how political and economic stakeholders, activists and intellectuals in Asia get productively involved with these processes.