Academic Year:
2022/23
3391 - Bachelor's degree in Political and Administration Sciences
25033 - Environment, Society and Politics
Teaching Plan Information
Academic Course:
2022/23
Academic Center:
339 - Faculty of Political and Social Sciences
Study:
3391 - Bachelor's degree in Political and Administration Sciences
Subject:
25033 - Environment, Society and Politics
Ambit:
---
Credits:
4.0
Course:
4 and 3
Teaching languages:
Teachers:
Christos Zografos
Teaching Period:
Third quarter
Schedule:
Presentation
The course explores ways in which power relations shape environmental change and governance from a critical environmental social science perspective. In this course, we will discuss how the environments in which we live have been produced by major forces such as capitalism, as well as how race, class, and gender are relevant categories for analysing environmental change and conflict, and how those categories intersect. We will also consider the relevance and limits of the concept of environmental justice for analysing environmental change and conflict, and how environmental activism tries to influence the governance of environmental change.
The classes draw on knowledge from interdisciplinary fields such as political ecology, environmental history, ecological economics, environmental philosophy, and gender studies, presenting various conceptual devices and methodological tools to study how environmental change is produced and what are its social implications.
The aim of the course is to help students develop a critical understanding of environmental change and of the relevance of power and politics for producing or shaping nature. After the end of the course, students should be in a position to mobilise specific concepts and analytical tools presented in the class in order to analyse environmental transformation, and embark on mini-projects (e.g. for their final year dissertations) in the area of environmental social science.
Associated skills
This course is part of the optional courses itinerary “citizenship and government” that together, develops the following competencies:
BASIC SKILLS:
CB2. That students can apply their knowledge to their work or vocation in a professional manner and have competences typically demonstrated through devising and sustaining arguments and solving problems within their field of study.
1
CB3. That students have the ability to gather and interpret relevant data (usually within their field of study) to inform judgments that include reflection on relevant social, scientific or ethical.
CB4. That students can communicate information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialist and non-specialist audiences.
CB5. That students have developed those skills needed to undertake further studies with a high degree of autonomy.
GENERAL SKILLS:
CG1. Capacity for analysis and synthesis.
CG3. Knowledge of a second language.
CG4. Basic computer skills.
CG6. Interpersonal skills.
CG7. Ability to work in an interdisciplinary team.
CG10. Research skills.
CG12. Ability to generate new ideas (creativity).
CG13. Leadership.
CG15. Project design and management.
TRANSVERSAL SKILLS:
CT1. Identify and analyze critically gender inequality and its intersection with other axes of inequality.
SPECIFIC SKILLS:
CE2. Analyze the structure and functioning of political systems.
CE6. Identify citizen behavior and democratic values.
CE7. Analyze the functioning of electoral processes.
CE17. Apply the methods and techniques of political and social research. CE18. Analyze quantitative and qualitative data.
CE19. Examine the techniques of political communication.
CE20. Categorize information and communication technologies (ICT) and analyze their impact on the political system.
Sustainable Development Goals
ODS 5: Igualtat de gènere / Gender equality
ODS 7: Energia assequible i no contaminant / Affordable and clean energy
ODS 10: Reducció de les desigualtats / Reduced inequalities
ODS 11: Ciutats i comunitats sostenibles / Sustainable cities and communities
ODS 12: Consum i producció responsables / Responsible consumption and production
ODS 13: Acció climàtica / Climate action
ODS 15: Vida Terrestre / Life on land
ODS 16: Pau, Justícia i institucions sòlides / Peace, justice and strong institutions
Contents
Section 1: Introduction: Linking environment, society and politics
- Environmental governance
- Politics and power
- Political economy
Section 2: Racialised natures
- Environmental racism
- Environmental justice
- Critical environmental justice
Section 3: Environmental conflict and justice
- Material flows
- Extractivism
- Commodity chain and conflicts
Section 4: Capitalist natures
- Capital accumulation and environmental degradation
- Second contradiction of capitalism
- Commodity frontiers
Section 5: Feminist natures
- Gendered environments
- Feminist political ecology
- Intersectionality
Section 6: Health and nature
- Homeostasis
- Diversity (immunological, biological, microbiome…)
- Socio-exposome
Section 7: Environmental activism
- Nonviolent, radical and violent forms of protest
- Climate change activism
- Civil disobedience, direct action, ecological sabotage, eco terrorism
Section 8: Low-carbon transitions
- Ecological transition
- Green sacrifice
Seminars
This course includes two seminars. Attendance to all seminar sessions is compulsory. Students failing to attend a seminar without providing a (written) proof of serious (e.g. medical) reasons why they did not attend, will get a “0” (zero) mark for the group essay component of their evaluation (which corresponds to 70% of the evaluation mark).
Both seminars will be used to help students develop their final essays. Seminar 1 will provide student groups with the opportunity to start collecting data for their final essay and coordinate their work with the assistance and support of course lecturers during the session. Course lecturers will be present to help students with questions about data collection and presentation, case structure as well as critical reflection and overall work coordination. For Seminar 2, students will send a draft of their group’s final essay (EJ Index Card) before the seminar, for lectures to assess progress in collecting material and advancing their final essay assignment. During the seminar, lecturers will provide student groups with feedback on their progress and ways of improving their work.
Student performance in the seminars is not evaluated.
Teaching Methods
This course combines lectures, flipped classrooms, and seminars. All formats require active student participation, in the form of contribution to classroom debates and activities. Some lectures are given by invited lecturers, specialists in specific topics.
All sessions require students to do preparation before the class in the form of reading academic articles or book chapters, watching videos, or listening to a pre-recorded lecture (for flipped classrooms). Some sessions require students to answer a question related to pre-recorded lectures and/or readings before the class, upload their answers at UPF’s intranet system (Aula Global) or send them by email, and then discuss their answers in class. Classroom activities are used to go deeper into course concepts, and further clarify complex points.
Before each class, you must look at the course’s webpage at UPF’s intranet system (Aula Global) to find the details concerning those requirements and formats, including which sessions involve a lecturing, flipped classroom, or seminar format, as well as which sessions require you to answer pre-recorded lecture and/or reading related questions before the class.
Evaluation
Students will be evaluated via two types of evaluation tools:
- Performance on a final course group essay
- Performance on an individual assessment of student knowledge (podcast)
Classroom participation, including response to weekly assignments (for those weeks that this is required) will also form part of the individual work evaluation.
In order to get a mark for this course, students must participate in all the seminars and write the final essay.
The following table outlines the contribution of each evaluation to student final mark.
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Evaluation tool
|
% of final mark
|
|
Final Essay
|
60%
|
|
Podcast and classroom participation
|
40%
|
Group evaluation: Final Essay (EJAtlas case)
60% of the mark for this course is allocated to student performance in the Final Essay. This is a group essay, which means that an overall mark will be given for performance to the whole of the group and the same mark will be assigned to each student individually. The essay will involve generating material necessary for mapping one environmental conflict, along the lines of the information used in the cases included in the Global Atlas of Environmental Justice (https://ejatlas.org/). Cases in the Atlas are recorded through the use of an index card that documents certain aspects of a conflict, such as conflict actors, forms of mobilisation, environmental impacts, conflict outcomes, etc. Each team will choose a conflict of its own (from a list of cases that will be provided by the course organiser), and will then collect data used in the Atlas for generating an index card for their conflict. Data will be collected primarily from online resources (e.g. media news items, reports, government documents, published scientific literature, etc.), and – depending on the conflict – through approaching NGOs, activists, other actors in the conflict, etc. that could be contacted either in the form of a remote or face-to-face interview, or via other means such as email, etc.
Students should form groups and decide which environmental conflict they will document for the Final Essay by registering their names before Class 3 in the link titled ‘Student groups for Environment, Society and Politics Final Essay’ at the top of the webpage for this course in Aula Global. Students not registering their names will not be evaluated.
One session will involve an invited lecture by Dr Mariana Walter (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona), who is an expert in environmental conflicts and has coordinated research for the Environmental Justice Atlas. Dr Walter will explain basic concepts related to collecting data for the Environmental Justice Atlas and the challenges of documenting environmental justice conflicts.
The essay should be between 7-10 pages. Check the course’s webpage in UPF’s intranet tool (Aula Global) to find the deadline for submitting your final essay.
|
Evaluation criteria
|
Description
|
|
Technical competence
|
0% - 40%
Uses material from new data sources, i.e. sources other than the those provided by the course organiser as an initial presentation of the case
Integrates that material correctly and with rigour as part of the case’s information as concerns the relevant environmental conflict and its justice implications
Comments given as feedback to the first draft in the seminar are properly addressed and/or integrated in the final essay
|
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Critical reflection
|
0% - 10%
Answers and develops a sound argument as concerns whether the case represents an environmental justice success, and if environmental justice has been served (see specific section of the index card)
|
|
Structure and communication
|
0% - 10%
All sections of the EJAtlas index card are sufficiently developed (information is not unjustifiably missing from any section)
Clear and correct use of terms and language (e.g. explanation of abbreviations, absence of non-self-explanatory terms, correct application of concepts learned in the class to describe the conflict that is presented, etc.)
Correct referencing, using the EJAtlas referencing style
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*Note on final essay material: course tutors may propose to the students who have put together highly marked essays, to include them as an index card in the actual EJAtlas website. This will be done only if there is student interest and consent with doing this. In case of publication, students’ names will appear as co-authors in the EJAtlas and they can include that information in their curriculum vitae.
Individual evaluation: podcast and classroom participation
Make a maximum 3-min long recording of yourself (podcast) explaining IN YOUR OWN WORDS one of the following terms presented during the course
- Environmental justice
- Second contradiction of capitalism
- Commodity frontiers
- Intersectionality
Check the course’s webpage in UPF’s intranet tool (Aula Global) to find the deadline for submitting your podcast.
|
Evaluation criteria
|
Description
|
|
Technical competence
|
0% - 10%
Explains the concept correctly and in the student’s own words, building upon knowledge presented in the lectures (pre-recorded, or taught in class) but without copy-pasting class material
0% - 10%
Correctly uses an example – can be one presented during the course, or an example outside the course (e.g. one from the student’s personal knowledge or experience) – to support explanation of the concept by showing its real-life relevance and/or application
|
|
Critical reflection
|
0% - 5%
Explicitly states student’s evaluation of the argument, pointing at the argument’s potential and/or limits
|
|
Communication
|
0% - 5%
Fluid communication of arguments and examples presented, using terminology adequately while avoiding use of jargon (e.g. use of terms that are not self-explanatory)
|
10% of the final mark will go to classroom participation, including student answers to weekly assignments (for those classes where this is required). Performance will be evaluated by how well students explain relevant concepts and bring knowledge imparted during the course, and by the quality and constructiveness of their participation in classroom discussions.
Retest
Those failing the course will be given a second (and final) chance to pass the course by taking a resit exam (retest). Only those who have attended all seminars and have handed in both a final essay and an individual evaluation (podcast) will be able to resit to pass the course. Resit will involve writing a long essay that will require you to draw on knowledge from the whole of the course.
Bibliography and information resources
Key readings
Blaikie, Piers. 1985. The Political Economy of Soil Erosion in Developing Countries. London: Longman.
Elmhirst, Rebecca. 2011. Introducing New Feminist Political Ecologies. Geoforum, 42(2), 129-132
Martínez-Alier, Joan. 2003. The environmentalism of the poor: a study of ecological conflicts and valuation. Edward Elgar Publishing
Ollitraut, Sylvie, 2022. “Environmental Movements in Western Europe”. In: Maria Grasso and Marco Giugni (Eds.): The Routledge Handbook of Environmental Movements. London: Routledge, 19–31.
Paulson, Susan, and Geezon, Lisa. (eds.). 2005. Political Ecology across Spaces, Scales, and Social Groups. New Jersey: Rutgers
Peet, Richard, Robbins, Paul, and Watts, Michael (Eds.). 2011. Global political ecology. London & New York: Routledge
Pellow, D.N., 2017. What is critical environmental justice? John Wiley & Sons
Robbins, P., 2019. Political ecology: A critical introduction (3rd edition). John Wiley & Sons
Temper Leah, Del Bene Daniela, Martinez-Alier Joan. 2015 Mapping the frontiers and front lines of global environmental justice: the EJAtlas. Journal of Political Ecology, vol. 22, p. 255-278
Zografos, Christos, and Robbins, Paul, 2020. Green Sacrifice Zones, or Why a Green New Deal Cannot Ignore the Cost Shifts of Just Transitions. One Earth, 3(5), pp.543-546
Recommended readings
Agrawal, Arun. 2005. Environmentality: technologies of government and the making of subjects. Durham, NC: Duke University Press
Agarwal, Bina. 2001. Participatory Exclusions, Community Forestry, and Gender: An Analysis for South Asia and a Conceptual Framework. World Development, 29(10), 1623-1648.
Bakker, Karen, 2005. Neoliberalizing nature? Market environmentalism in water supply in England and Wales. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 95(3), pp.542-565.
Blaser, Mario, Feit, Harvey A, and McRae, Glenn. (Eds.) In the Way of Development: Indigenous Peoples, Life Projects and Globalisation. London: Zed Books, pp. 26-44
Celikates, Robin, 2016. Democratizing civil disobedience. Philosophy & Social Criticism, 42(10), 982–994.
Escobar, Arturo. 2011. Encountering development: The making and unmaking of the Third World. Princeton University Press.
Heywood, Andrew. 2002. Politics. 2nd edition. Hampshire: Palgrave MacMillan.
Hübinger, Julia, 2020. “Yes, we camp for Climate Action”. In: Nachhaltigkeit, Postwachstum, Transformation. Ulrich Roos (Ed.). Wiesbaden: Springer Fachmedien, 451–485.
Jespon, Wendy. 2007. Environmental Racism. In: Robbins, P. ed., 2007. Encyclopedia of Environment and Society. Sage Publications, pp: 588-590
Kaika, Maria. 2005. City of flows. Modernity, nature and the city. Routledge, New York/London
Klein, Naomi. 2016. Let Them Drown. The Violence of Othering in a Warming World. London Review of Books Vol. 38 No. 11 · 2 June 2016, pp: 11-14
Martinez-Alier, Joan, Kallis, Giorgos, Veuthey, Sandra, Walter, Mariana, and Temper, Leah. (2010). Social metabolism, ecological distribution conflicts, and valuation languages. Ecological Economics, 70(2), 153-158
Nash, Linda, 2005. The agency of nature or the nature of agency? Environmental History, 10(1), pp.67-69.
Nelson, Julie A., 2013. Ethics and the economist: What climate change demands of us. Ecological Economics, 85, pp.145-154
Peluso, Nancy L., and Watts, Michael, 2001. Violent environments. Cornell University Press
Riofrancos Thea. 2021. The rush to ‘go electric’ comes with a hidden cost: destructive lithium mining. The Guardian, 14 June 2021
Rodó-de-Zárate, Maria. 2014. Developing Geographies of Intersectionality with Relief Maps: Reflections from Youth Research in Manresa, Catalonia. Gender, Place & Culture, 21(8), 925- 944
Sultana, Farhana. 2011. Suffering For Water, Suffering From Water: Emotional Geographies of Resource Access, Control and Conflict. Geoforum, 42(2), 163-172
Urkidi, Leire, Walter, Mariana, 2011. Dimensions of environmental justice in anti-gold mining movements in Latin America. Geoforum, 42(6), pp.683-695.
Zografos, Christos, and Martínez-Alier, Joan. 2009. The politics of landscape value: a case study of wind farm conflict from rural Catalonia Environment & Planning A 41, pp. 1726-1744
Other resources
CNS Web: an online community of red-green activists. http://www.cnsjournal.org/
Edge Effects: a collaborative project of the Center for Culture, History, and the Environment at The University of Wisconsin–Madison. http://edgeeffects.net/
EJ Atlas: Mapping Environmenal Justice. https://ejatlas.org/
ENTITLE Marie Curie Initial Training Network in Political Ecology. http://www.politicalecology.eu/
Feminism(s) and Degrowth Alliance. https://www.degrowth.info/en/feminisms-and-degrowth-alliance-fada/
POLLEN Political Ecology Network. https://politicalecologynetwork.com/
Revista de Ecología Política. http://www.ecologiapolitica.info/
Undisciplined Environments blog. https://undisciplinedenvironments.org/
Uneven Earth. Website seeking to provide clear and thoughtful discussions about environmental and social justice conflicts. http://www.unevenearth.org
University of Kentucky Political Ecology Working Group (DOPE). https://www.facebook.com/ukpewg/