FEMGEN 81: Gender in the Wild: Performance, Freedom, and the Outdoors

Course Description

From "conquering" peaks to "finding oneself" in nature, dominant outdoor narratives have been shaped by gendered ideas of freedom, heroism, and risk. This course explores alternative ways of thinking about and being in nature. We draw on feminist texts, performances, Indigenous knowledge, Black environmental thought, memoirs, and archival photographs to ask: How have gendered notions shaped our perceptions of wilderness? What alternative ways of being in nature exist? What can the act of noticing teach us about nature on a warming planet? Together, we'll explore freedom of movement as a feminist question and experiment with counter-narratives of risk, reciprocity, and belonging - rethinking what it means to be "in the wild."