On a warm November day, University of Chicago students took to Jackson Park in Chicago, engaging their senses beyond the classroom. The sounds of bird calls mixed with urban noises as part of the course "Sensing the Anthropocene," co-taught by UChicago scholars Amber Ginsburg and Jennifer Scappettone. This course aimed to make students aware of how human activities have transformed natural environments.
"The premise of the course is that human beings have radically changed environmental cycles and ecologies—and that we have naturalized this experience. We almost don’t know how to sense it," explained Scappettone, an associate professor in the Department of English.
Students participated in various outdoor activities like wading into Lake Michigan and foraging in Washington Park. They were tasked with creating experimental "daybooks" as homework, documenting their sensory experiences.
Emma Zhu, a fourth-year student majoring in Environmental and Urban Studies, said, "The class forced us to really consider how our bodies physically interact with the space around us."
In one session, students entered Lake Michigan using makeshift "floating desks." Despite challenging conditions due to a hurricane hitting Florida at that time, Henie Zhang found value in participating: "I was scared going into it, but I’m glad I did it."
Zhang appreciated the course's experimental approach and its relevance to her thesis on cartography’s relationship to the body. She wanted to observe how her body navigated open spaces and interacted with surrounding objects.
Ginsburg and Scappettone designed this Big Problems course with a focus on art as research. Students explored Chicago's parks and waterways while engaging with guest lecturers such as filmmaker Rebecca Snedeker and artist Lize Mogel.
"Art practice constitutes a species of research," noted Scappettone. "We’re trying to learn to produce our own methods out of a direct engagement with nature and the built environment."
On Halloween, students traveled by water taxi along the Chicago River, discussing its history from being heavily polluted during industrialization to supporting wildlife today due to clean-up efforts. Ginsburg highlighted infrastructure aspects like pumps used by buildings along the river.
In November, students visited Jackson Park's Garden of the Phoenix. They mapped park sounds amidst construction noise from nearby developments like the Obama Center.
"We are listening to the sounds...thinking that it is constructed...this garden is nature," Ginsburg remarked. "But actually, this is as constructed as that is."
Scappettone hopes these sensory experiences will influence students' studies across various disciplines. Zhang reflected on feeling small compared to her surroundings: "This class makes you aware of...things around you...part of my learning is feeling myself as an insignificant part in this great symphony."