Oct 10, 2024  
2023-2024 Catalog 
    
2023-2024 Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Literatures in English, Literature and the Environment Emphasis, B.A.


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Students take courses that build a critical framework for understanding environmental injustice and environmental racism, as well as ecocritical theories, including indigenous, queer, and feminist ecologies, and literary movements like Afro-futurism. Courses may focus on literature representing or imagining effects of biodiversity loss, climate change, pollution, and displacement on both the human and non-human. There is a particular focus on how literature, writing, and media can convey both scientific research and political realities in order to urge systemic change. This track enables students to ethically examine the possibilities and limits of literature and literary studies as tools to address ecological catastrophe and imagine pathways towards creating a habitable planet for all.

Graduates of this emphasis track may pursue careers as science writers, not-for-profit leaders, public relations and communications staff for environmental agencies, environmental lawyers, environmental lobbyists, political advisors and politicians, interpretive rangers, environmental consultants and business workers, novelists, screenwriters, poets, and songwriters who tell ecocritical stories. Students pursuing this track may wish to minor in Environmental Science and Sustainability, Environmental Sustainability and Justice, Cognitive Science, Public Health, or Sociology depending on their interests and goals.

In addition to adhering to General Education  and School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts Requirements  the Literatures in English major requires 48 units (some of which simultaneously meet general education requirements). Courses in the major must be taken for a letter grade and may not be taken on a pass/no pass basis unless the course is only offered on a pass/no pass basis. Students must complete all major course prerequisites with a C- or better.

Literatures in English, Literature and the Environment Emphasis, B.A. Four-Year Course Plan  

Lower Division Literature and the Environment Emphasis Requirements [16 Units]


Introductory Requirement [4 units]


Complete the following course:

Seminar Requirement [4 units]


Complete one lower division seminar course chosen from ENG 050-090.

Additional Lower Division Requirement [4 units]


Complete one additional lower division course chosen from ENG 011-090. One course may be substituted with a course chosen from ENG 105-189, or WRI 025, or GASP 041A. Consult a SSHA Academic Advisor for more information.

Upper Division Literature and the Environment Emphasis Requirements [32 Units]


Upper Division Major Core Requirement [16 units]


Complete the following courses. Students may substitute one of these survey courses with another course that teaches literature of a similar period. Please see a SSHA Academic Advisor for more information and a list of pre-approved courses.

Additional Upper Division Requirement [8 units]


Complete two additional upper division seminar courses chosen from the following:

Senior Thesis Requirement [4 units]


Complete the following course:

Transfer Students


Transfer students who wish to major in Literatures in English should complete the Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum (IGETC) at their community college. Transfer students may not be admitted to the Literatures in English major without specific major preparation. Below are the Transfer Admission Criteria for the Literatures in English Major.

Transfer Selection Criteria


To be admitted to the Literatures in English major transfer students must meet the following requirements. Applicants will, at the time of admission have completed at minimum the following courses (or their equivalent) with a “C-” or better:

  • At least two UC-Transferable courses in English, Literature or English Literature

Literatures in English Honors Program


UC Merced Literatures in English majors may petition to join the English Honors Program, which will have additional requirements beyond the standard Literatures in English major. Undergraduate majors who are accepted and successfully complete the Honors Program will receive a notation to that effect on their diploma and on their undergraduate transcript thereafter.

Students apply to join the Honors Program in the Spring of their third year. To be eligible for the Honors Program, a Literatures in English major must achieve an overall GPA of 3.3 and a minimum GPA of 3.7 in the major. A student with a GPA in the major between 3.5 and 3.69 must petition the Honors Committee for an exemption. Students admitted to the English Honors Program will be required to enroll in the two semester Honors Senior Thesis sequence, ENG 193H  and ENG 194H . These courses will count as two of the four upper division seminars required of all Literatures in English majors, with one of the courses replacing ENG 190. Students doing a Literature and Social Justice or Literature and the Environment emphasis track who wish to complete the honors program will need to complete an honors thesis related to their emphasis, and ENG 193 and 194 will count as two of the four upper division required seminars, with one of the courses replacing ENG 190S or 190E. Please contact a SSHA Academic Advisorfor more information.

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