Bridging the Gap: Surveying Interdisciplinarity in the Environmental Literature Classroom

Despite the call for ecocriticism to be “demandingly interdisciplinary,” especially regarding “engagement with the biological sciences” (Garrard 5–6), it remains challenging to manifest a comprehensive interdisciplinarity, especially in the classroom. Environmental studies within the field of biology are unlikely to include the critical study of literature in their traditional courses, and while literary scholars may be less resistant to the inclusion of facets of biology, it can be challenging for an individual trained in the study and pedagogy of literature to have a firm grounding in a completely distinct discipline. Yet, because environmental issues are linked so closely to “values, beliefs, and ideas about the proper relations between human beings and nature” (Tallmadge 4), it is essential that more courses integrate both the study of environmental literature and biological science/environmental studies.

The objective of this essay is to discuss and summarize professional attitudes regarding the importance of environmental literacy and the role that collaborative and interdisciplinary teaching and field experiences play in the classroom. Additionally, this manuscript provides a synthesis of how scholar-teachers in the field of environmental literature approach these courses while providing a theoretical framework for an immersive field-based environmental literature course that effectively blends two classically disparate disciplines, English and biology, in a student-centered, collaboratively taught course.