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Political Ecology (Poli386)

Next up, Fall 2013: MW 2:30-4:00pm

MOI: Analyzing Arguments, Reasons & Values

Prerequisite: Poli218, Poli214 or any 300-level Politics class

This upper-division seminar explores social justice questions in the practice of conservation, focusing on the developing world. Students will critically assess epistemological, methodological, and practical issues in nature-society relations.

Pedagogy includes discussions, presentations and a semester-long case study, in which students write three short research papers examining different aspects of the politics of conservation in one case.

Texts include scholarly articles, documentary film, tv/youtube commercials, and books:

Nature: The Politics of Representation

We will begin by examining how representations of nature and human society shape our understanding of the world and call for environmental actions.

Food: The Politics of Distribution

This section takes on materialist perspectives in calls for social justice.

Conservation & Development

In this section, we will read an ethnography that looks at questions of power in the nitty-gritty work of conservation.

Liberating Ecology

At the end of the class, we'll examine social movements that bring together ideas of justice and environmentalism, looking for the potential of political change.