Seth Peabody - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Seth Peabody
Boydell and Brewer eBooks, Dec 20, 2023
Boydell and Brewer eBooks, Dec 31, 2020
The German Quarterly, Aug 31, 2023
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY
Die Unterrichtspraxis/Teaching German
De Gruyter eBooks, Feb 6, 2023
Die Unterrichtspraxis/Teaching German
Humanities
The German mountain film (Bergfilm) has received extensive critical attention for its political, ... more The German mountain film (Bergfilm) has received extensive critical attention for its political, social, and aesthetic implications, but has received remarkably little attention for its role in the environmental history of the Alps. This article considers the Bergfilm within the long history of depictions of the Alps and the growth of Alpine tourism in order to ask how the role of media in environmental change shifts with the advent of film. The argument builds on Verena Winiwarter and Martin Knoll’s model of social-ecological interaction, Adrian Ivakhiv’s theoretical framework for the environmental implications of film, and Laura Frahm’s theories of filmic space. Through an analysis of Arnold Fanck’s films Der heilige Berg [The Holy Mountain, Fanck 1926] and Der große Sprung [The Great Leap, Fanck 1927], which are compared with Gustav Renker’s novel Heilige Berge [Holy Mountains, Renker 1921] and set into the context of the environmental history of the Alpine regions where the film...
Colloquia Germanica, 2021
Die Unterrichtspraxis/Teaching German, 2021
Die Unterrichtspraxis/Teaching German, 2021
Christopher Schliephake's 2015 book Urban Ecologies: City Space, Material Agency, and Environment... more Christopher Schliephake's 2015 book Urban Ecologies: City Space, Material Agency, and Environmental Politics in Contemporary Culture carries out a broad-ranging analysis of books, television series, and films that contribute to what Schliephake calls a "cultural urban ecology" (xli). The book aims to fill two gaps: a lack of attention to urban environments within ecocriticism, and a neglect of culture among studies of urban ecology. Schliephake's work will prove especially useful for readers interested in urban environments, television and film, material ecocriticism, and cultural ecology. The book's introduction provides an overview of key terms, offers literature reviews for related discussions in various disciplines, and gives a concise preview of the texts and arguments discussed in the following chapters. It begins by developing a notion of urban ecology based on ideas of Lewis Mumford, who sees the city as a "conscious work of art" (xi), and Gregory Bateson, who describes ecology as "a metaphor for the interconnection of all matter" and redefines "mind" as "a principle that is 'immanent' to all structures and objects, be they natural or cultural" (xii). Schliephake endorses this view that urban spaces harbor "minds" and are made up of "manifold and complex material interrelationships" (xii) with their respective natural environments. Against this background, he emphasizes the role of culture within the urban system: "I argue that an urban ecology which only takes into account the socio-spatial or material processes that frame urban life is incomplete, since manifestations of the cultural imagination have to be seen as integral parts of what we refer to as the 'environment.' I want to show that it is through the imagination that meaning is attached to urban space" (xii). He suggests that cultural works not only ascribe meaning to spaces and reflect on the relationships between natural and cultural systems, but also-following Hubert Zapf's ideas about literature as cultural ecology-create a forum for imagining alternate possibilities (xviii). The middle portion of the introduction situates Schliephake's argument within related discussions from literary studies, social sciences (especially environmental history and political science), and natural sciences. Throughout, Schliephake praises the ways in which the natural and social sciences have recognized "space, materiality, and politics [...] as integral dimensions of urban environments," but suggests that "the cultural imagination has largely been missing from their conceptual framework" (xli). The final portion of the introduction gives an overview of the ensuing chapters that seek to fill this gap. Drawing on ideas from Ursula Heise and others, Chapter One argues that certain works of creative nonfiction create a sense of "eco-cosmopolitanism" that recognizes
Seminar: A Journal of Germanic Studies, 2018
Goethe occupies a prominent but conflicted position within recent discussions of global inequalit... more Goethe occupies a prominent but conflicted position within recent discussions of global inequalities embedded into the notion of “world literature.” Scholars have also debated Goethe’s environmental thought. Some critics describe him as a progressive environmental thinker, while others paint him as a staunch conservative resistant to changing views of nature. The present study claims that merging these two fields yields a better understanding of both political power and environmental change in Goethe’s writings. Drawing on theories of world literature, postcolonial studies, and environmental humanities, the present essay argues that Goethe’s texts display ambivalence with regards to both political power and environmental change. The argument is developed, in dialogue with past environmental interpretations of Goethe’s work, through an analysis of Die Wahlverwandtschaften. The essay proposes that Die Wahlverwandtschaften can serve as a key text for understanding the tensions in Goeth...
Mountains and the German Mind, 2020
The first scholarly English translations of thirteen vital texts that elucidate the central role ... more The first scholarly English translations of thirteen vital texts that elucidate the central role mountains have played across nearly five centuries of Germanophone cultural history.
Ecozon@. European Journal of Literature, Culture and Environment, Oct 28, 2015
Christopher Schliephake's 2015 book Urban Ecologies: City Space, Material Agency, and Environment... more Christopher Schliephake's 2015 book Urban Ecologies: City Space, Material Agency, and Environmental Politics in Contemporary Culture carries out a broad-ranging analysis of books, television series, and films that contribute to what Schliephake calls a "cultural urban ecology" (xli). The book aims to fill two gaps: a lack of attention to urban environments within ecocriticism, and a neglect of culture among studies of urban ecology. Schliephake's work will prove especially useful for readers interested in urban environments, television and film, material ecocriticism, and cultural ecology. The book's introduction provides an overview of key terms, offers literature reviews for related discussions in various disciplines, and gives a concise preview of the texts and arguments discussed in the following chapters. It begins by developing a notion of urban ecology based on ideas of Lewis Mumford, who sees the city as a "conscious work of art" (xi), and Gregory Bateson, who describes ecology as "a metaphor for the interconnection of all matter" and redefines "mind" as "a principle that is 'immanent' to all structures and objects, be they natural or cultural" (xii). Schliephake endorses this view that urban spaces harbor "minds" and are made up of "manifold and complex material interrelationships" (xii) with their respective natural environments. Against this background, he emphasizes the role of culture within the urban system: "I argue that an urban ecology which only takes into account the socio-spatial or material processes that frame urban life is incomplete, since manifestations of the cultural imagination have to be seen as integral parts of what we refer to as the 'environment.' I want to show that it is through the imagination that meaning is attached to urban space" (xii). He suggests that cultural works not only ascribe meaning to spaces and reflect on the relationships between natural and cultural systems, but also-following Hubert Zapf's ideas about literature as cultural ecology-create a forum for imagining alternate possibilities (xviii). The middle portion of the introduction situates Schliephake's argument within related discussions from literary studies, social sciences (especially environmental history and political science), and natural sciences. Throughout, Schliephake praises the ways in which the natural and social sciences have recognized "space, materiality, and politics [...] as integral dimensions of urban environments," but suggests that "the cultural imagination has largely been missing from their conceptual framework" (xli). The final portion of the introduction gives an overview of the ensuing chapters that seek to fill this gap. Drawing on ideas from Ursula Heise and others, Chapter One argues that certain works of creative nonfiction create a sense of "eco-cosmopolitanism" that recognizes
German Studies Review, 2020
Growing interest in the intersection of German studies and environmental sustainability has recen... more Growing interest in the intersection of German studies and environmental sustainability has recently generated a significant number of publications and curriculum development projects. These new curricular and cocurricular projects build on previous work on German environmental(ist) culture by including relationship-building with sustainability stakeholders on campus and in surrounding communities. Additionally, work in the environmental humanities continues to provide motivation for expanding the reach of course activities, both by engaging with broader communities and by developing service-learning projects as part of a well-articulated larger push to implement high-impact practices. Yet connecting cultural analysis to engagement with sustainability-focused local organizations can prove challenging in unexpected ways, and for many scholars and educators in German studies, past teaching experience and pedagogy training may not provide sufficient preparation for building partnerships outside the classroom. Full file: https://muse.jhu.edu/issue/42353
German Studies Review, 2020
Die Unterrichtspraxis/Teaching German, 2019
Boydell and Brewer eBooks, Dec 20, 2023
Boydell and Brewer eBooks, Dec 31, 2020
The German Quarterly, Aug 31, 2023
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY
Die Unterrichtspraxis/Teaching German
De Gruyter eBooks, Feb 6, 2023
Die Unterrichtspraxis/Teaching German
Humanities
The German mountain film (Bergfilm) has received extensive critical attention for its political, ... more The German mountain film (Bergfilm) has received extensive critical attention for its political, social, and aesthetic implications, but has received remarkably little attention for its role in the environmental history of the Alps. This article considers the Bergfilm within the long history of depictions of the Alps and the growth of Alpine tourism in order to ask how the role of media in environmental change shifts with the advent of film. The argument builds on Verena Winiwarter and Martin Knoll’s model of social-ecological interaction, Adrian Ivakhiv’s theoretical framework for the environmental implications of film, and Laura Frahm’s theories of filmic space. Through an analysis of Arnold Fanck’s films Der heilige Berg [The Holy Mountain, Fanck 1926] and Der große Sprung [The Great Leap, Fanck 1927], which are compared with Gustav Renker’s novel Heilige Berge [Holy Mountains, Renker 1921] and set into the context of the environmental history of the Alpine regions where the film...
Colloquia Germanica, 2021
Die Unterrichtspraxis/Teaching German, 2021
Die Unterrichtspraxis/Teaching German, 2021
Christopher Schliephake's 2015 book Urban Ecologies: City Space, Material Agency, and Environment... more Christopher Schliephake's 2015 book Urban Ecologies: City Space, Material Agency, and Environmental Politics in Contemporary Culture carries out a broad-ranging analysis of books, television series, and films that contribute to what Schliephake calls a "cultural urban ecology" (xli). The book aims to fill two gaps: a lack of attention to urban environments within ecocriticism, and a neglect of culture among studies of urban ecology. Schliephake's work will prove especially useful for readers interested in urban environments, television and film, material ecocriticism, and cultural ecology. The book's introduction provides an overview of key terms, offers literature reviews for related discussions in various disciplines, and gives a concise preview of the texts and arguments discussed in the following chapters. It begins by developing a notion of urban ecology based on ideas of Lewis Mumford, who sees the city as a "conscious work of art" (xi), and Gregory Bateson, who describes ecology as "a metaphor for the interconnection of all matter" and redefines "mind" as "a principle that is 'immanent' to all structures and objects, be they natural or cultural" (xii). Schliephake endorses this view that urban spaces harbor "minds" and are made up of "manifold and complex material interrelationships" (xii) with their respective natural environments. Against this background, he emphasizes the role of culture within the urban system: "I argue that an urban ecology which only takes into account the socio-spatial or material processes that frame urban life is incomplete, since manifestations of the cultural imagination have to be seen as integral parts of what we refer to as the 'environment.' I want to show that it is through the imagination that meaning is attached to urban space" (xii). He suggests that cultural works not only ascribe meaning to spaces and reflect on the relationships between natural and cultural systems, but also-following Hubert Zapf's ideas about literature as cultural ecology-create a forum for imagining alternate possibilities (xviii). The middle portion of the introduction situates Schliephake's argument within related discussions from literary studies, social sciences (especially environmental history and political science), and natural sciences. Throughout, Schliephake praises the ways in which the natural and social sciences have recognized "space, materiality, and politics [...] as integral dimensions of urban environments," but suggests that "the cultural imagination has largely been missing from their conceptual framework" (xli). The final portion of the introduction gives an overview of the ensuing chapters that seek to fill this gap. Drawing on ideas from Ursula Heise and others, Chapter One argues that certain works of creative nonfiction create a sense of "eco-cosmopolitanism" that recognizes
Seminar: A Journal of Germanic Studies, 2018
Goethe occupies a prominent but conflicted position within recent discussions of global inequalit... more Goethe occupies a prominent but conflicted position within recent discussions of global inequalities embedded into the notion of “world literature.” Scholars have also debated Goethe’s environmental thought. Some critics describe him as a progressive environmental thinker, while others paint him as a staunch conservative resistant to changing views of nature. The present study claims that merging these two fields yields a better understanding of both political power and environmental change in Goethe’s writings. Drawing on theories of world literature, postcolonial studies, and environmental humanities, the present essay argues that Goethe’s texts display ambivalence with regards to both political power and environmental change. The argument is developed, in dialogue with past environmental interpretations of Goethe’s work, through an analysis of Die Wahlverwandtschaften. The essay proposes that Die Wahlverwandtschaften can serve as a key text for understanding the tensions in Goeth...
Mountains and the German Mind, 2020
The first scholarly English translations of thirteen vital texts that elucidate the central role ... more The first scholarly English translations of thirteen vital texts that elucidate the central role mountains have played across nearly five centuries of Germanophone cultural history.
Ecozon@. European Journal of Literature, Culture and Environment, Oct 28, 2015
Christopher Schliephake's 2015 book Urban Ecologies: City Space, Material Agency, and Environment... more Christopher Schliephake's 2015 book Urban Ecologies: City Space, Material Agency, and Environmental Politics in Contemporary Culture carries out a broad-ranging analysis of books, television series, and films that contribute to what Schliephake calls a "cultural urban ecology" (xli). The book aims to fill two gaps: a lack of attention to urban environments within ecocriticism, and a neglect of culture among studies of urban ecology. Schliephake's work will prove especially useful for readers interested in urban environments, television and film, material ecocriticism, and cultural ecology. The book's introduction provides an overview of key terms, offers literature reviews for related discussions in various disciplines, and gives a concise preview of the texts and arguments discussed in the following chapters. It begins by developing a notion of urban ecology based on ideas of Lewis Mumford, who sees the city as a "conscious work of art" (xi), and Gregory Bateson, who describes ecology as "a metaphor for the interconnection of all matter" and redefines "mind" as "a principle that is 'immanent' to all structures and objects, be they natural or cultural" (xii). Schliephake endorses this view that urban spaces harbor "minds" and are made up of "manifold and complex material interrelationships" (xii) with their respective natural environments. Against this background, he emphasizes the role of culture within the urban system: "I argue that an urban ecology which only takes into account the socio-spatial or material processes that frame urban life is incomplete, since manifestations of the cultural imagination have to be seen as integral parts of what we refer to as the 'environment.' I want to show that it is through the imagination that meaning is attached to urban space" (xii). He suggests that cultural works not only ascribe meaning to spaces and reflect on the relationships between natural and cultural systems, but also-following Hubert Zapf's ideas about literature as cultural ecology-create a forum for imagining alternate possibilities (xviii). The middle portion of the introduction situates Schliephake's argument within related discussions from literary studies, social sciences (especially environmental history and political science), and natural sciences. Throughout, Schliephake praises the ways in which the natural and social sciences have recognized "space, materiality, and politics [...] as integral dimensions of urban environments," but suggests that "the cultural imagination has largely been missing from their conceptual framework" (xli). The final portion of the introduction gives an overview of the ensuing chapters that seek to fill this gap. Drawing on ideas from Ursula Heise and others, Chapter One argues that certain works of creative nonfiction create a sense of "eco-cosmopolitanism" that recognizes
German Studies Review, 2020
Growing interest in the intersection of German studies and environmental sustainability has recen... more Growing interest in the intersection of German studies and environmental sustainability has recently generated a significant number of publications and curriculum development projects. These new curricular and cocurricular projects build on previous work on German environmental(ist) culture by including relationship-building with sustainability stakeholders on campus and in surrounding communities. Additionally, work in the environmental humanities continues to provide motivation for expanding the reach of course activities, both by engaging with broader communities and by developing service-learning projects as part of a well-articulated larger push to implement high-impact practices. Yet connecting cultural analysis to engagement with sustainability-focused local organizations can prove challenging in unexpected ways, and for many scholars and educators in German studies, past teaching experience and pedagogy training may not provide sufficient preparation for building partnerships outside the classroom. Full file: https://muse.jhu.edu/issue/42353
German Studies Review, 2020
Die Unterrichtspraxis/Teaching German, 2019
Film History for the Anthropocene: The Ecological Archive of German Cinema, 2023
From its beginnings, some of German film's most prominent genres and directors have focused on th... more From its beginnings, some of German film's most prominent genres and directors have focused on the natural world and its transformations by humans. Heimat films, "city symphonies," mountain films, and rubble films all blend the boundary between landscape documentary and fiction film. Yet German film studies has been slow to adopt an environmental focus, concentrating (understandably) on its subject matter's political implications. This book reveals critical connections between German film, sociopolitical context, and environment, showing it to have been a creative catalyst for the social and ecological transformation of the Anthropocene.
The book first considers the interplay between German film and environmental history in films and discourses of Heimat. Weimar-era films such as E. A. Dupont's Die Geierwally (1921), Carl Ludwig Achaz-Duisberg's Sprengbagger 1010 (1929), and Phil Jützi's Hunger in Waldenburg (1929) document and create a forum for discussing environmental change. The book then looks at film as a visual archive of and catalyst for infrastructure development, focusing on Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927), the mountain films of Arnold Fanck, and the Berlin films Stadt der Millionen (Adolf Trotz, 1925), Berlin: Die Sinfonie der Großstadt (Walter Ruttmann, 1927), and Menschen am Sonntag (1930). Nazi-era and postwar films are also examined. By exploring German film history alongside environmental history and theory, this book provides a case study of the power of film within processes of environmental transformation.