Course Details

This course sheds light on the hidden stories of Seattle’s neighborhoods, including the evolution of the physical landscape itself. The course will center the voices of displaced and marginalized cultures, and their interactions with the physical landscape, its resources, and socio-economic forces through time. We will examine structures of power, privilege, and colonialism in the history of America and the American environmental movement, and how these structures continue to play out today amidst changing demographics of Seattle’s neighborhoods. While much of the course is focused on uncovering the past, it is as much about the present and future. I aim to not only expose marginalization and oppression, but to highlight changing paradigms, as well as narratives of hope and empowerment. Discussions will be based around a variety of sources, including history scholarship, historical documents, environmental fiction and non-fiction, analysis of visual art and historical photos, and a number of guest lectures by community representatives. Students will produce writing and other creative work based on readings, interviews, and visits to neighborhoods and other spaces in Seattle. The course includes walking field trips with community members in various neighborhoods throughout the city. Past student projects for this class have explored Indigenous histories and cultures of Seattle, histories of change in Seattle’s International District and Central District, cultural conceptions of nature and urban greenspace, issues surrounding Seattle’s unhoused population, stories of farm workers and urban farming, the development of Seattle’s LGBTQ communities, and personal identity narratives. Tim Billo, the instructor, is a lecturer in Environmental Studies.