About/Info

COURSE DESCRIPTION


The official description and goal of this course: Environmental thought and consciousness as expressed in literature, emergence of modern and contemporary environmental thought, and impacts of literature on environmental awareness.

The specific class description you are taking to fulfill these goals:

The mermaid is a hybrid beast, half human and half animal, a border crosser of land and sea. She is one of our most ancient monsters from global literature, and she has reemerged in the twenty-first century to share messages about climate change.  Everywhere you look—from literature to film, social media to fashion, digital art to commodity kitsch—mermaids are omnipresent. These contemporary tales reflect our culture’s most pressing anxieties and concerns— about climate change, racial and social justice, global capitalism, genetic science, algorithmic culture.

This class recognizes the contemporary mermaid craze as an important cultural phenomenon that can tell us something about the ongoing relationship between literature and the environment. We use the mermaid as a focal point, a metaphor and lens, for exploring cultural and historical views of the environment, through literature. In particular, we read diverse mermaid literature from across history and cultures in order to ask two central questions: 1) What does our contemporary mermaid renaissance say about our world and, especially, our understanding of the environment? 2) What does mermaid literature tell us about the role, power, and effects of literature and literary study? We explore these questions while learning about the scholarly fields of Environmental Humanities and Blue Humanities, as well as how to read, write and think in a critical and analytical manner.

Learning Outcomes

In this class, you will

  • Learn specific aspects and theories of “Environmental thought and consciousness” as is central to the Environmental Humanities and, in particular, the emergent Blue Humanities subfield, which represent the “emergence of modern and contemporary environmental thought.”
  • Examine specific examples of “impacts of literature on environmental awareness” by way of a focus on narratives that depict the mermaid as natural beast, environmental refuge, and symbol and signifier of environmental awareness.
  • Trace a longer history of contemporary issues, including but not constrained to, environmental thought and consciousness, via engagement with the long history of mermaid narrative.
  • Hone your skills as a critical thinker, listener, and writer by focusing on the development of a thesis statement and the ability to prove it through textual explication

Administrative Information

Email: [email protected] *Do not expect a response within 24 hoursCourse Website: https://fall2025-ecl305.jessicapressman.com/  
Office: AL 261
Office hours: Thursdays 11-12 AND Additional times and dates by appointment; email me for an additional appointment (in-person or on Zoom) out of the regular office hours timeslot.   Zoom meeting room: 943 624 7815 https://SDSU.zoom.us/my/jpressman		Course Meetings:
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 3:30-4:45pm
Room: GMCS 325

English Subject Librarian: Markel Tumlin
[email protected]    

READINGS

** I prefer students to have a physical copy of the book or the PDF in class, rather than a cell phone or computer.**

Required Reading (available at SDSU bookstore)
-Cristina Bacchilega and Marie Alohalani Brown, eds. The Penguin Book of Mermaids (Penguin, 2019)
-Rivers Solomon, The Deep (Saga, Gallery Press, 2019)
Optional: Vaughn Scribner, Merpeople: A Human History (University of Chicago Press, 2020) (also available online through SDSU library)

NOTE: This syllabus is subject to change… and probably will change!

OTHER IMPORTANT INFORMATION

Communication

Students are provided with an SDSU Gmail account, and this SDSU email address will be used for all communications. University Senate policy notes that students are responsible for checking their official university email once per day during the academic term. For more information, please see Student Official Email Address Use Policy here.

Medical-related absences

University policy instructs students to contact their professor/instructor/coach in the event they need to miss class due to an illness, injury, or emergency. Please inform me as soon as possible if you are missing class due to an illness or a Covid-related situation.

Finding Help on Campus 

Need help finding an advisor, tutor, counselor, or require emergency economic assistance? The SDSU Student Success Help Desk is here for you. Student assistants are available via Zoom Monday through Friday, 9:00 AM to 4:30 PM to help you find the office or service that can best assist with your particular questions or concerns.

Other important resources:

Accommodations

SDSU via the Student Ability Success Center (SASC) provides accommodations for students with documented disabilities or medical conditions covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). In keeping with current public health guidance, I cannot provide arrangements to students without an ADA-qualified disability or medical condition.

If you are a student with a disability and are in need of accommodations for this class, please contact the Student Ability Success Center at [email protected] (or go to sdsu.edu/sasc) as soon as possible. Please know accommodations are not retroactive, and I cannot provide accommodations based upon disability until I have received an accommodation letter from the Student Ability Success Center. SASC registration and accommodation approvals may take up to 10-14 business days, so please plan accordingly.

SDSU as “safe space”

The CSU has affirmed its commitment to ‘protecting access, affordability, intellectual freedom, inclusivity, and diversity for all students . . . including supporting DACA students.’  Discrimination, harassment, or retaliation against students, faculty, and staff on the basis of race, religion, gender, sexuality, disability, nationality, immigration status and other categories of identity is prohibited.  If you have concerns about your status at the university, please visit http://studentaffairs.sdsu.edu/EOP/ for information or contact the Dean of Students or the Assistant Dean for Student Affairs in your College.”

Mandated Reporting

Please note that as an instructor, I am a mandated reporter and required to share information involving sex discrimination and sexual violence on campus with the SDSU Title IX coordinator, Gail Mendez. If you or someone you know has experienced sex discrimination and/or sexual violence, there are various Title IX officers, offices, and contacts on campus that you can reach out to. For more information about campus contacts and resources, please visit: https://titleix.sdsu.edu/.


Academic Honesty (especially in the age of Chat GBT)

I take teaching seriously, and I expect you to take your work seriously as a student. That means that academic dishonesty will not be tolerated. Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to: (a) using assignments that you wrote for another class, (b) representing work done by someone else as your own (i.e., plagiarism), and (c) copying someone else’s work on an assignment, basic cheating (d) using AI to write your content. Plagiarism and Cheating of any kind will result at least in an “F” for that assignment (and may, depending on the severity of the case, lead to an “F” for the entire course) and may be referred to the Center for Student Rights and Responsibilities for further action. If you have questions at all, you should consult me immediately.