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Students in the honors course River Stories visited 溏心vlog免费B站 geoscientist Soni Pradhanang’s river simulation table.

Professor Heather Johnson’s students examine rivers through history, culture, literature, and ecology. And they gain firsthand knowledge of rivers by going straight to the source.

Students in Heather Johnson鈥檚 honors class, River Stories (HPR 412), learn about rivers not only from books, but by paddling them in kayaks and taking riverboat tours. They walk along riverbanks and learn from conservationists, scientists, and others.

Lessons From the Field

Field experiences are essential. 鈥淲e need to be on the river, to feel its tidal pulls and touch the cold water, so that we are not learning about the idea of a river but about a tangible life force,鈥� Johnson says. 鈥淥ne of the best moments last semester was on a kayak trip to the Pettaquamscutt River (also known as Narrow River). The sun was setting, and everyone grew quiet. Being on the river fosters that kind of connection.鈥�

Johnson takes her students to Rhode Island sites to experience physical and visceral connections to rivers, but the course also provides national and global perspectives. Students also learn from guest teachers like Lor茅n Spears 鈥�89, Hon. 鈥�17, director of the Tomaquag Museum in Exeter, R.I.

鈥淚n documentaries about U.S. rivers, students learn about the impacts of 20th-century power projects,鈥� says Johnson. 鈥淎nd on guided walks with Lor茅n Spears, they learn about the significance of rivers for the Wampanoag and Narragansett, from pre-colonization to the present day. Her stories of respecting all life in rivers contrasts with industrial-age narratives of 鈥榠mprovement鈥� with their casual disregard for the cultural histories and environmental well-being of rivers.鈥�

Rivers Hold Memories

鈥淭he idea that rivers have memory guides this course,鈥� Johnson says. 鈥淲e read a piece (鈥淢ississippi Drift,鈥� see the self-study guide, right) about the Mississippi River and the tension between romant-icizing rivers and seeking to know the reality, which is not always a pastoral, pretty scene.

鈥淭oni Morrison wrote about the memories held in rivers, and we see this in stories of towns flooded by dam projects across the U.S.,鈥� Johnson says. 鈥淚 visited just such a man-made lake in California this past summer: A power company diverted a river to flood the land, displacing the Maidu inhabitants. The lake today may, at first glance, seem appealing as a place for recreational boating, but its depths tell a story of loss and injustice.鈥�

Active Learning

鈥淚n this class,鈥� says Johnson, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 lecture. We walk, kayak, read, and discuss.鈥�

Students in Johnson鈥檚 fall 2023 class even became activists, placing more than 3,000 plastic bottles on the Kingston Campus Quad to call attention to the impact of plastics on rivers as part of a petition drive to support a Rhode Island bottle bill. The students collected more than 500 signatures.

The Takeaway

鈥淭his course helped me improve my creative writing,鈥� says Livi Donatelli 鈥�23, a neuroscience and psychology major. 鈥淚 never had a class that had such interesting excursions. We kayaked and walked the Wood and Saugatucket rivers.鈥�

English major Jack Wholey 鈥�23 says, 鈥淭he class was imaginative and tied together effectively. On the first day of class, Professor Johnson said, 鈥榃hen you drive over a bridge spanning a river, don鈥檛 just notice the glint of light reflected off the water. Take time to learn about the river鈥檚 culture, its history, the culture of the people who have lived along its banks, its ecology, and stories.鈥欌��

鈥擠ave Lavallee 鈥�79, M.P.A. 鈥�87

Photos: Nora Lewis

Rivers: A Self-Study Guide

Read

• Dart, by Alice Oswald
  鈥淚 love this book of poetry,鈥� says Johnson. 鈥淚t is devoted to a single river in England and captures all of the voices, human and nonhuman, that make up the riverscape.鈥�

• 鈥淢ississippi Drift: River vagrants in the age of Wal-Mart,鈥�
  by Matthew Power, Harper鈥檚 Magazine, March 2008.
  

Watch

• DamNation: The Problem with Hydropower, by Patagonia Films explores the history of dams in the U.S. Watch at

Go

• 鈥淰isit your local rivers and spend time slow-looking,鈥� Johnson says. 鈥淢any New England towns have a 鈥榝riends of鈥� the rivers association, and that鈥檚 a great way to get involved in river stewardship.鈥� In Rhode Island, the Rhode Island Rivers Council, , is the umbrella organization for the state鈥檚 11 river councils.

• Participate in a river cleanup.