About me
My name is Chad Weidner, and I teach a wide range of film, media, and rhetoric courses with a broad focus on the liberal arts. My academic training is in the environmental humanities, and I write and give research talks on the intersections of the creative arts, drama, film, literature, and rhetoric. I believe in the idea of the Renaissance Human, a moral, well-rounded person with diverse interests, humility, and perseverance. In my teaching, I emphasize the importance of asking big questions, encouraging students to “think like a mountain” by understanding the interconnectedness of everything. This starts on the first day of class.
Selected Papers and Book Chapters
- “Turning the Blue Key” (2022), in Harold Norse: Poet Maverick, Gay Laureate, edited by Robert A. Lee and Douglas Field (Clemson University Press).
- “Reaching Towards the Light” (2021), in Ruth Weiss: Beat Poetry, Jazz, Art, edited by Estíbaliz Encarnación-Pinedo and Thomas Antonic (De Gruyter), with ruth weiss.
- “Deliberate Poetry as Ecological Survival Technique” (2020), in Fractured Ecologies (EyeCorner Press).
- “The Emergent Environmental Humanities” (2019), in Connotations – A Journal for Critical Debate, with Rosi Braidotti and Goda Klumbyte.
Books, Anthologies, and Edited Volumes
- Fractured Ecologies (2020), an edited anthology published by EyeCorner Press.
- The Green Ghost: William Burroughs and the Ecological Mind (2016), a monograph published by Southern Illinois University Press.
- “The Beat Generation and Europe” (2013), an edited collection co-edited with Polina Mackay and published in Comparative American Studies 11.