In the past decade, scholarship in the humanities has directed heightened attention to the relationships between cultural life (including the arts and literature) and the increasingly precarious biological and geophysical systems of our planet. The field of environmental humanities brings the methods of humanistic research and critical analysis to bear on such topics as energy consumption and extraction; fossil-fueled power regimes; species extinction; habitat degradation; endangerment of oceans, rivers, and marine life; and the use of captive animals for food and research. More broadly, this field excavates the histories and speculates on the futures of a climate-changed world. Although it is sponsored by the Department of Environmental Studies and the Faculty of Arts and Science (FAS), the Environmental Humanities minor is a cross-departmental and cross-disciplinary initiative that integrates the curricular offerings of the home department with those of FAS humanities departments, Gallatin, Steinhardt, Tisch, Tandon, and NYU Global sites.
Students who declare the minor are paired with a faculty adviser and are given access to extensive job, internship, and career resources and events, both during their time at NYU and after graduation.
To complete a minor in Environmental Humanities, students must receive a grade of C (2.0) or better (courses graded Pass/Fail do not count) in four of the eligible 4-credit courses (16 credits) from a preapproved list, as outlined below.
Students must pass at least one introductory course before fulfilling the remaining minor requirements.
At least two of the courses counting toward the minor must be taken at the advanced level.
With a minor adviser's prior approval, students may be able to take other relevant courses in the participating departments and programs (including topics courses) and count them toward the minor. The list of preapproved courses will be expanded from time to time.
Minors may take graduate-level environmental humanities courses with permission of the instructors, but at least two of the four courses for this minor must be taken at the undergraduate level in Arts and Science (-UA).
No more than one course may be double-counted between the minor and any other degree, major, or second minor requirement.
Courses taken Pass/Fail do not count toward the minor.
Courses for the minor taken outside of CAS count against CAS students' 24-credit allowance of (non-UA) courses taken in the other units of NYU. In addition, non-CAS credits do not count toward the 64-credit UA residency requirement that internal and external transfers to the College must meet.