Mail Code CSI
Malgorzata (Margret) Grebowicz
Franklin Patterson Hall 213
413.559.5402
Visiting Assistant Professor of Political Theory Malgorzata (Margret) Grebowicz received her Ph.D. and M.A. in philosophy from Emory University and her B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin in philosophy and German.
Professor Grebowicz is a continental philosopher, researching environmental imagination and desire. She is especially interested in wilderness, public lands, wild animals, and pet-keeping. For the past two years she has been conducting field research on the southern U.S. border, writing about migration and conservation.
She is deeply committed to public-facing research and writing, both in her own work — she has written articles for the Atlantic, LA Review of Books, and Slate — and in promoting the work of others. She founded and edits the Practices series for Duke University Press, which features public-facing writing by a wide range of scholars and practitioners. Her own beloved practices include foraging for mushrooms, taking preposterously long road trips, and cuddling her dogs. She lives with two old ones: a basenji named Abba and a chihuahua named Waffles.
She has authored the following books: Rescue Me: On Dogs and Their Humans (2021), Mountains and Desire: Climbing vs. The End of the World (2020), Whale Song (2017), The National Park to Come (2015), Beyond the Cyborg: Adventures with Donna Haraway (2015, co-authored with Helen Merrick), and Why Internet Porn Matters (2013). She also co-edited Lyotard and Critical Practice (2021) and Still Seeking an Attitude: Critical Reflections on the Work of June Jordan (2004), and edited Gender After Lyotard (2007) and SciFi in the Mind's Eye: Reading Science Through Science Fiction (2007).
Her current writing projects include Foraging, a book on mushroom foraging, and another book about the national parks on the border, titled The Border Sublime.
She is a native of Poland and is currently affiliated with the University of Silesia in Poland. Prior to that, she taught in Siberia. Prior to that, she held tenure at two American colleges, Goucher College and University of Houston-Downtown. During this time, she also worked as a jazz singer for about a decade, in Texas and New York City. She was a Leverhulme Trust Visiting Scholar at University of Dundee, the inaugural Resident in Situated Philosophy at Arizona State University, and a Marc Sanders Foundation Philosophy in the Media Fellow.
In this noisy world with its surplus of words, does it matter what one says? This course introduces students to the linguistic turn in 20th Century French philosophy, with particular attention to the role of language in what it means to be a person among others. We will read primary texts by Emmanuel Levinas, Jacques Lacan, Maurice Blanchot, Jean Baudrillard, Jean-Francois Lyotard, Luce Irigaray, and Jacques Derrida. Among the first to explore the ethical impact of language, these works provide tools for thinking about today's most pressing questions. How is it that words can harm, and what is the nature of this harm? Is there a human right to speak? Can animals speak? Why write? Should we give voice to traumas? Is there really a right to remain silent, and if so, what does this right tell us about the kinds of creatures we are?
Canidae are the most abundant and adaptive mammals on earth. There are more dogs alive, both wild and domesticated, than ever in history. More American families own dogs than ever, and all of the associated markets--food, gear, vet care, boarding, training-are experiencing dramatic growth. The bond between humans and dogs is like no other interspecies relationship. What special philosophical challenges does it pose? We will study the dog-human dyad at the intersection of the most pressing problems of existence today, including friendship, food, discipline, family, reproductive freedom, social health, communication, and end of life care. We will study pet ownership as a site where specific formations of race, class, and gender emerge and are reinforced. We will consider various arguments for pet abolition. And we will interrogate the poetics and aesthetics of our own everyday practices with and around dogs--and maybe even cats.
Ecofeminism begins from the assumption that the environmental crisis and patriarchy are inextricably linked and must be studied and addressed together. This course introduces students to the classic arguments in ecofeminism. We will study its roots in feminist critiques of colonialism and development, as well as feminist critiques of the natural sciences and technoscience. We will discuss meat-eating, pet-keeping, having children, among other practices, and the role of patriarchy in the environmental movement and conservation. We will also consider arguments in queer ecology, to determine where queer and feminist ecologies are in agreement, and where they are at odds. Readings include Vandana Shiva, Val Plumwood, Anna Tsing, Carol Adams, Colin Dayan, Donna Haraway, and Timothy Morton.Keywords:gender,ecology,vegetarian,queer,power
The posthuman is not a kind of being, but a way of being, a tectonic shift in the conditions of life on Earth. This class traces the posthuman through texts in science, philosophy, and science fiction, with the goal of imagining and creating new environments and practices. What is a posthuman planet like? How about a posthuman society? Are there posthuman feelings? What does posthuman music sound like? Readings include John C. Lilly, Gregory Bateson, Donna Haraway, Vilem Flusser, and Jean Baudrillard, as well as fiction by H. P. Lovecraft, Stanislaw Lem, J.G. Ballard, Octavia Butler, and Marlen Haushofer. Students should be prepared to read one book per week, or the equivalent in essay form. The course includes an experimental writing component.
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In defense of the Wilderness Act of 1964, American novelist Wallace Stegner described wild spaces "a part of the geography of hope." But during the more than fifty years since, scholars, activists, and scientists have criticized wilderness policy from various perspectives-as utopian, ahistorical, unsustainable, socially unjust, and environmentally irresponsible. The New York Times declared that the Act was having a "midlife crisis." Still, in recent years wilderness has come to be seen as our best tool for mitigating climate change. Why does the wilderness idea persist, how does it affect imagination, and what exactly is its place in the dynamics of what it means to be alive today? We will examine the history of American wilderness; the role of photography in the creation and maintenance of wilderness; critiques of wilderness conservation focused on racial justice, environmental justice, and access; Indigenous conservation methods; and our affective comportments towards wild animals. Keywords: Indigenous, biodiversity, public lands, conservation
In this noisy world with its surplus of words, does it matter what one says? This course introduces students to the linguistic turn in 20th Century French philosophy, with particular attention to the role of language in what it means to be a person among others. It is grounded in close readings of texts by Emmanuel Levinas, Maurice Blanchot, Jean-Francois Lyotard, and Jacques Derrida. Among the first to explore the ethical impact of language, these works provide tools for thinking about today's most pressing questions. How is it that words can harm, and what is the nature of this harm? Is there a human right to speak? Can animals speak? Can writing faithfully reflect reality, and if not, why write? Should we give voice to traumas? Is there really a right to remain silent, and if so, what does this right tell us about the kinds of creatures we are? Keywords: communication, justice, truth, meaning, inner life
