Center for the Environment

SALISBURY — A West Virginia University professor will speak on the topic “Garbage Humanities: Environmental Thinking and the Future of the Humanities” on Feb. 1 at the Center for the Environment at Catawba College.

The lecture is co-hosted by the center and the Catawba College English department.

Stephanie Foote, the WVU Jackson and Nichols chairman and professor of English, researches and teaches American literature and culture from the 19th century to the present with a focus on environmental issues.

She is the author of “The Parvenu’s Plot: Gender, Class and Culture in the Age of Realism” and “Regional Fictions: Culture and Identity in 19th Century American Literature.”

She and Elizabeth Mazzolini co-edited “Histories of the Dustheap: Waste, Material Cultures, Social Justice.” Most recently, she edited and co-founded “Resilience: A Journal of the Environmental Humanities.”

Her new project, “The Art of Waste,” uses garbage to explore how American culture narrates its relationship to environmental crisis.

The presentation is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. in Room 300 of the Center for the Environment. It is free and open to the public, but registration is required. To register, visit centerfortheenvironment.org or call 704-637-4791.