Place Studies Concentration

For Undergraduate English Majors

As an English major, you design your own concentration — a program of study based on your areas of interest, organized around a controlling theme or topic — with the help of your advisor. Below are some recommendations for students interested in this area.

Recommended Courses

  • ENGL 211: Literature of Place
  • ENGL 242: Global Literatures since 1850
  • ENGL 243: National Literatures
  • ENGL 244A: Introduction to African Literature
  • ENGL 245N: Intro Native American Literature
  • ENGL 251: Introduction to Creative Nonfiction Writing
  • ENGL 254: Writing and Communities
  • ENGL 317: Literature and the Environment
  • ENGL 347: Humanities on the Plains
  • ENGL 411: Plains Literature
  • ENGL 417: Topics in Place Studies and Environmental Humanities
  • ENGL 445B: Topics in African American Literature
  • ENGL 445N: Topics in Native American Literature
  • ENGL 451: Advanced Writing of Creative Nonfiction
  • ENGL 454: Advanced Writing Projects
  • ENGL 482: Literacy Issues and Community

Recommended Reading

Journals, Blogs, Books, etc.

  • Milkweed Editions blog
  • The Orion Magazine blog
  • Terrain.org blog
  • Local Wonders by Ted Kooser
  • Dwellings by Linda Hogan
  • Ecocriticism by Greg Garrard
  • Composition and Sustainability by Derek Owen
  • The Immense Journey by Loren Eiseley
  • Place-Based Education by David Sobel
  • Community Literacy and the Rhetoric of Public Engagement by Linda Flower
  • Black Nature by Camile Dungy

Career Opportunities

  • Environmental Education
  • Writing for Environmental organizations
  • Local, state, and federal government
  • Environmental law
  • State and national parks
  • Environmental/travel journalism
  • Grant writing
  • Environmental activism