This course approaches the connections between life, land, and waterways in Michigan from a range of disciplines, including indigenous studies, cartography, ecology, and literary analysis. In addition to learning the significance of the Great Lakes watershed both historically and in the present, we will seek to create pathways from, between, and across the featured methods of study. We will ask, for instance: what role have the Great Lakes played in national and international history, as well as in a range of social movements? How, amidst climate crisis, might we not only learn about the Great Lakes but from them? And how can a worldview and language that sees the world as animate, such as that of the Anishanaabeg people native to the region, change our modes of studying and stewarding this land and water? Course requirements include frequent, low-stakes writing assignments as well as two longer research essays. This course also serves as excellent preparation for students interested in the GLACE (Great Lakes Arts, Cultures, and Environments) spring-term humanities program at Michigan’s Biological Field Station.