Event

The Literatures in English Section, Department of Liberal Arts, hosts guest lecturer, Professor George Handley, on Thursday 10^th February, 2011, at 12:30 pm, at Room SB1 and SB2, Faculty of Humanities and Education.  Professor Handley, professor of Humanities at Brigham Young University (BYU), Utah, will speak on the topic  “Environmental Degradation and the Hope of Literature.”   

This event is free and open to all staff and post grad students.                                      

Abstract

Prof. George Handley will examine the various forms of cultural criticism that have been proffered by environmental thinkers as a way of identifying the root causes of the environmental crisis. These arguments range from criticisms of the inherent anthropocentrism of religion, the destructiveness of global capitalism, our growing dependency on technology and science, obsessions with and omissions of historical memory, and the increasing urbanization and mechanization of modern life. These are important arguments that are not always in agreement with one another. But they help ecocritics to develop a workable ethical orientation for their critical work. Prof. Handley will look at writings from the Spanish, French and English Caribbean traditions in order to suggest directions that researchers might take in treating with this global problem.  

About Professor George Handley

George Handley is a professor of Humanities at Brigham Young University, Utah. He has been writing, teaching and lecturing throughout Utah and internationally on the intersections between religion, literature and the environment for the past decade. As an activist, he has argued for the protection of wilderness, legislation to mitigate climate change and smart growth in Utah. He is the author of two books of literary criticism, Postslavery Literatures of the Americas and New World Poetics: Nature and the Adamic Imagination of  Whitman, Neruda, and Walcott. His book, Home Waters, published by the University of Utah Press, is a creative non-fiction narrative that argues for a sustainable sense of place in the West by exploring the environmental history of the Provo River watershed, Mormon theology, and his  own pioneer and family history in Utah Valley.