Environmental Humanities Minor
The Environmental Humanities minor invites students to explore how stories, arts, and cultures shape the way people understand and respond to environmental change. Through ethnography, history, literature, and art, students will see the environment not just as an object for scientific analysis but as a source of meaning, inspiration, and multispecies connections. This minor draws on UNC’s longstanding strengths in the humanities while connecting them to urgent environmental challenges. Unlike programs that approach the environment primarily through science or policy, this minor turns to cultural perspectives and human experiences, giving students a holistic lens for understanding and addressing past, present, and future planetary problems. By completing the minor, students develop a foundation in the interdisciplinary field of Environmental Humanities as well as sharpen their writing and communication skills and gain experience in research and analysis. These strengths prepare students for careers in science communication, policy and advocacy, education, nonprofit work, and beyond, as well as for graduate study in the humanities or environmental fields.
Requirements
In addition to the program requirements listed below, students must:
- take at least nine hours of their minor "core" requirements at UNC–Chapel Hill
- earn a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.000 in the minor core requirements. Some programs may require higher standards for minor or specific courses.
For more information, please consult the degree requirements section of the catalog.
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Core Requirements | ||
| ENEC/FOLK 205 |  Environmental Humanities | 3 |
| Select two elective courses from List 1 (see below) | 6 | |
| Select two elective courses from List 2 (see below) | 6 | |
| Total Hours | 15 | |
List 1: Ethnographic and Historical Approaches
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| ENEC/ANTH 237 | Food, Environment, and Sustainability | 3 |
| ENEC 309 | Environmental Values and Valuation | 3 |
| ENEC 325 | Water Resource Management for Food, Energy, and Health H | 3-4 |
| ENEC/PHIL 368 | Living Things, Wilderness, and Ecosystems: An Introduction to Environmental Ethics H | 3 |
| ENEC/COMM 375 | Environmental Advocacy | 3 |
| ENEC 421 | Textiles: Environmental Impacts, Issues, and Innovations | 3 |
| AAAD 239 | Disaster, Recovery, Resistance in Southern Black History | 3 |
| AMST 275 | Food and American Culture | 3 |
| AMST 277 | America's Role in the Global Environment | 3 |
| AMST 489 | Writing Material Culture | 3 |
| ANTH 123 | Habitat and Humanity | 3 |
| ANTH 125 | Canine Cultures H | 3 |
| ANTH 238 | Human Ecology of Africa | 3 |
| ANTH 439 | Political Ecology | 3 |
| ANTH 540 | Planetary Crises and Ecological and Cultural Transitions | 3 |
| COMM 82 | First-Year Seminar: Food Politics from an Organizational Communication Perspective | 3 |
| FREN 369 | Environment, Society, and Public Policy in Southern France | 3 |
| GEOG 125 | Cultural Landscapes | 3 |
| GEOG 240 | Introduction to Environmental Justice | 3 |
| GEOG 281 | Ethnographies of Globalization: From 'Culture' to Decolonization | 3 |
| GEOG 435 | Global Environmental Justice | 3 |
| GEOG 470 | Political Ecology: Geographical Perspectives | 3 |
| HIST 204 | Global Environmental Histories: People, Climate, and Landscapes | 3 |
| HIST/CHIN 439 | Environmental China: Premodern Political Ecology | 3 |
| RELI 73 | First-Year Seminar: From Dragons to Pokemon: Animals in Japanese Myth, Folklore, and Religion H | 3 |
| RELI 79 | First-Year Seminar: Human Animals in Religion and Ethics | 3 |
| or RELI 226 | Human Animals in Religion and Ethics | |
| RELI 184 | East Asian Religions | 3 |
| RELI 438 | Religion, Nature, and Environment H | 3 |
| RELI 489 | Animals in Japanese Religion | 3 |
| H | Honors version available. An honors course fulfills the same requirements as the nonhonors version of that course. Enrollment and GPA restrictions may apply. |
List 2: Artistic and Literary Approaches
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| AAAD 388 | Black Feminist Thought & the Speculative Imagination | 3 |
| AMST 211 | Approaches to Southern Studies: The Creative and Cultural Worlds of the American South | 3 |
| ANTH 334 | Art, Nature, and Climate Change | 3 |
| ARTH 64 | First-Year Seminar: Picturing Nature | 3 |
| ARTS 363 | At the Radical Edge of Life: Art, Space, and Ecology | 3 |
| ARTS 364 | The Walking Seminar: A Territorial Investigation | 3 |
| CHIN 356 | Chinese Environmental Literature | 3 |
| CHIN/CMPL 545 | Chinese Science Fiction | 3 |
| CMPL 260 | Landscape: Re-Imagining the Natural World | 3 |
| COMM 378 | Environmental Filmmaking: Creative Production and Social Impact | 3 |
| ENGL 221 | American Literature, 1900-2000 H | 3 |
| ENGL 266 | Science and Literature H | 3 |
| ENGL 666 | Queer Latina/o Photography and Literature | 3 |
| ENGL 687 | Queer LatinX Environmentalisms | 3 |
| FREN 150 | Globalization and the French-Speaking World | 3 |
| FREN 515 | Social Networks: Technology and Community in Modern France 1 | 3 |
| GSLL 52 | First-Year Seminar: Nature and Death: Ecological Crises in German Literature and Film | 3 |
| GSLL 481 | Grand Hotels and Empty Fields: Inventing Central Europe through Culture | 3 |
| ITAL 320 | Italian Cities and Cultures: History, Power, and Ecology 1 | 3 |
| ITAL 374 | Italian Ecofiction in Global Perspective | 3 |
| ITAL 385 | Italian Landscapes: Italy in the UNESCO World Heritage List | 3 |
| ITAL 388 | Environmental Issues in Italian Literature and Film 1 | 3 |
| PORT 520 | Climate Change and the Cultural Imagination: Lusophone Interpretations 1 | 3 |
| H | Honors version available. An honors course fulfills the same requirements as the nonhonors version of that course. Enrollment and GPA restrictions may apply. |
- 1
Language prerequisite required.
Graduate School and Career Opportunities
The Environmental Humanities minor, in combination with a student’s major, prepares students for careers and opportunities that bridge the humanities, arts, and environmental fields, including public scholarship and advocacy, arts and museum work, journalism and media, law, policy, and research. Students may also engage with nationally and regionally prominent institutions conveniently based in the area, such as the National Humanities Center or the publication Southern Cultures, gaining exposure to networks and experiences that support both professional development and postgraduate study. See the program page here for additional special opportunities.
Department Programs
Majors
- Environmental Studies Major, B.A.
- Environmental Science Major, B.S.
- Dual Bachelor's-Master's Degree Programs
Minors
- Environmental Humanities Minor
- Environmental Science and Studies Minor
- Food Studies Minor
- Sustainability Studies Minor
Graduate Programs
Courses
Environment, Ecology, and Energy Program
3202 Murray Hall, CB# 3275
(919) 962-1270
