What would Ishmael say to Rukeyser's 'The world is made of stories, not atoms'?
The famous nature historian and University of Madison professor William Cronon's article "A Place for Stories" poses a similar question. He seems to believe they matter, but mostly for how they affect us, or, as Ishmael would say, how we enact them. He starts with two historical conclusions about the dust bowl. Read these two closing paragraphs on the first page of the essay and come back. I'll wait... Yep, I'm waiting. Go click on title link above, please....
Ok. So, Cronon notes that each author observes the history of the dust bowl, but one sees human perseverance and victory over nature as challenger and the other sees human failure to understand nature as a larger disaster. The same facts can be read differently. Later, Cronon notes, "In the act of separating story from non story, we wield the most powerful yet dangerous tool of the narrative form." Here he means inclusion- what is told and what is withheld. Sometimes, information isn't withheld as much as it's inaccessible. In the climate change debate, for example, the data have been difficult to comprehend because of magnitude. We struggle to understand or accept the problem because it's too large to comprehend. This new NASA video shows global warming over time in a visual way. Of course if we accept climate change, it also falls easily into the declensionist narrative, the view that we always destroy paradise because it's somehow who we are- and both denial and shoulder shrugging acceptance yield the same result- passive inaction.
So returning to Rukeyser, is there a story about our relationship to the world that can save both?
Assignments for the next two weeks:
The famous nature historian and University of Madison professor William Cronon's article "A Place for Stories" poses a similar question. He seems to believe they matter, but mostly for how they affect us, or, as Ishmael would say, how we enact them. He starts with two historical conclusions about the dust bowl. Read these two closing paragraphs on the first page of the essay and come back. I'll wait... Yep, I'm waiting. Go click on title link above, please....
Ok. So, Cronon notes that each author observes the history of the dust bowl, but one sees human perseverance and victory over nature as challenger and the other sees human failure to understand nature as a larger disaster. The same facts can be read differently. Later, Cronon notes, "In the act of separating story from non story, we wield the most powerful yet dangerous tool of the narrative form." Here he means inclusion- what is told and what is withheld. Sometimes, information isn't withheld as much as it's inaccessible. In the climate change debate, for example, the data have been difficult to comprehend because of magnitude. We struggle to understand or accept the problem because it's too large to comprehend. This new NASA video shows global warming over time in a visual way. Of course if we accept climate change, it also falls easily into the declensionist narrative, the view that we always destroy paradise because it's somehow who we are- and both denial and shoulder shrugging acceptance yield the same result- passive inaction.
So returning to Rukeyser, is there a story about our relationship to the world that can save both?
Assignments for the next two weeks:
- Finish Ishmael for final discussion on 2/19. Please go online here to participate in the prediscussion forum.
Please sign into your school google email when you post.Please you your personal gmail account as the school accounts seem to be blocked. - Write 2nd blog post on an Ishmael related subject. Follow the same approach w/ a couple of visual elements, a couple of outside texts that fit your idea, and a thoughtful, edited reflection with closure if not conclusion in a lively, personal voice. Possible topics- Malthus, noble savage, Peter Farber's ideas, Biblical revisionism, the declensionist narrative of Genesis, Socratic dialogue or reflections on Quinn's argument or the novel itself. Here's a video 'inspired' by the book, and a web community devoted to it. You could also compare Quinn's message to another book or movie. Due 2/21
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