Ecological Arts and Justice: The Sea Around Us
We proposed to co-teach an interdisciplinary literature, arts, and science course in spring 2026 entitled “The Sea Around Us,” which will include an art exhibition at the Hammer Museum on DDT barrel dumping off of Catalina Island and will foreground Indigenous and more-than-human knowledges and practices of the Pacific Ocean. The course will include a symposium that will bring together marine sciences, ocean humanities, the visual arts, and the Pacific Marine Mammal Center; visiting lecturers from our departments of Geography and Atmospheric and Ocean Sciences as well as outside lecturers on book design; and culminate in a collaborative student book project which will have a hardcopy and online open-access component.
We are currently collaborating (spring 2025) in teaching two interlinked courses bridging art, design, literature, and environmental justice, particularly in relation to militarism, which is supported by a TLC Tier 2 grant. We hope to build on this collaboration to develop interdisciplinary pedagogical tools and resources to create vital conversations about the ecological histories of the Pacific Ocean, connecting UC and broader Los Angeles communities. We also expect to offer students the tools to articulate and design their own responses to these ecological histories through arts, literature, and other media. Our co-designed courses speak directly to UCLA’s strategic plan by foregrounding the vital histories of Indigenous and more-than-human approaches to our local ocean, integrating community engagement, collaboration, and broader global networks.