Exploring Critical Theory, Environmental Advocacy, and Popular Culture by Crafting Multiauthored Humanities Scholarship: A First Draft

Faculty Advisor Name

Dr. Matt Brigham

Department

School of Communication Studies

Description

In the Fall 2023 semester, the six graduate students included as authors on this Grad Expo presentation, as well as our faculty member, Dr. Matt Brigham, discussed and decided that we would, rather than six individual graduate student papers, write one seven-authored essay with the aim of presenting it at an academic conference and/or advancing the project toward publication in a scholarly venue. The graduate seminar, SCOM 653: Critical Perspectives: Environment, Advocacy, and Public Culture, is part of the environmental communication concentration in the JMU School of Communication Studies’ MA Program in Communication and Advocacy, and the students in the seminar included both first- and second-year students in the program, as well as an additional student taking the class as an employee of the university. Our faculty member Dr. Brigham first suggested this scholarly model early in the semester, and we examined readings that reflected on both pragmatic and philosophical questions, such as author-order, what ought to serve as a bare minimum for any individual to be classified as a co-author. After electing to try this experiment, we each offered ideas of possible artifacts for analysis and topics for the paper, and after extensive deliberation, we selected a song/video by the band The 1975. This song (and the corresponding official video released by the band) was the opening track of their 2019 album, and in a departure from their own style, lyrics, and sounds, the band asked Greta Thunberg to write a script that she could speak on top of subtle instrumental music. Once we decided on the artifact/text for the analysis, we next worked to figure out an appropriate critical approach/method, which ended up being Kenneth Burke’s notion of perspective by incongruity (the most obvious evidence of which was found in the glaring contrast between Thunberg’s jarring words, about the end of the world as we know it due to climate change, and the soothing, soft music, as well as the gentle colors and shapes that accompanied the words and sounds. Ultimately, we were able to submit a proposal for this work to be included in an edited book volume on Eco-Horrors. We have been given notice that our contribution has been selected to prepare a full essay for consideration to the volume’s editors. While this presentation offers an opportunity for us to discuss the work itself, we also use this space, first and foremost, as an opportunity to reflect on the lessons (including challenges and possibilities) that we gained from this first draft of our own foray into multi-authored scholarly writing in the humanities and critical studies. [429 words]

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Exploring Critical Theory, Environmental Advocacy, and Popular Culture by Crafting Multiauthored Humanities Scholarship: A First Draft

In the Fall 2023 semester, the six graduate students included as authors on this Grad Expo presentation, as well as our faculty member, Dr. Matt Brigham, discussed and decided that we would, rather than six individual graduate student papers, write one seven-authored essay with the aim of presenting it at an academic conference and/or advancing the project toward publication in a scholarly venue. The graduate seminar, SCOM 653: Critical Perspectives: Environment, Advocacy, and Public Culture, is part of the environmental communication concentration in the JMU School of Communication Studies’ MA Program in Communication and Advocacy, and the students in the seminar included both first- and second-year students in the program, as well as an additional student taking the class as an employee of the university. Our faculty member Dr. Brigham first suggested this scholarly model early in the semester, and we examined readings that reflected on both pragmatic and philosophical questions, such as author-order, what ought to serve as a bare minimum for any individual to be classified as a co-author. After electing to try this experiment, we each offered ideas of possible artifacts for analysis and topics for the paper, and after extensive deliberation, we selected a song/video by the band The 1975. This song (and the corresponding official video released by the band) was the opening track of their 2019 album, and in a departure from their own style, lyrics, and sounds, the band asked Greta Thunberg to write a script that she could speak on top of subtle instrumental music. Once we decided on the artifact/text for the analysis, we next worked to figure out an appropriate critical approach/method, which ended up being Kenneth Burke’s notion of perspective by incongruity (the most obvious evidence of which was found in the glaring contrast between Thunberg’s jarring words, about the end of the world as we know it due to climate change, and the soothing, soft music, as well as the gentle colors and shapes that accompanied the words and sounds. Ultimately, we were able to submit a proposal for this work to be included in an edited book volume on Eco-Horrors. We have been given notice that our contribution has been selected to prepare a full essay for consideration to the volume’s editors. While this presentation offers an opportunity for us to discuss the work itself, we also use this space, first and foremost, as an opportunity to reflect on the lessons (including challenges and possibilities) that we gained from this first draft of our own foray into multi-authored scholarly writing in the humanities and critical studies. [429 words]