Overview

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

Examines the relationship between nature and society, covering the dominant geographical approaches to human-environment interaction, and their social, spatial, and political economic effects. Writing.

COURSE DETAILS:

The human-environment relationship is a high-stakes one. Humans depend inescapably on ecological systems, but economies today grow by degrading these ecologies. From escalating extinction levels to climate change, humans – some more than others – are modifying environments at a rapid pace with devastating consequences for many species’ lives and ways of living. Humans, too, bear these consequences – but not equally. For a long time, some people have profited from ecological change while others have lost out. As a result, the relationships between society and nature, or humans and the world beyond humans, are sites of intense political struggle. To explore these relationships and struggles, in this course we draw on geographical and critical approaches, including political ecology, environmental justice, and Indigenous and ecofeminist thought. Through academic and popular readings, writing-focused assignments, lectures, films, and class discussion, the course stages conversation between students and 1) cultural commentaries on nature-society relations, 2) academic ideas about ecological issues, and 3) people struggling to institute more equitable relations with nature. Students will thus refine their ability to contribute to public debate over key nature-related issues, and to make connections between these issues by situating them in shared systems and histories.

No required course textbook

*There will be no tutorials during the first week of class

Grading