Political ecology is an interdisciplinary field within the humanistic social sciences (e.g., human geography, socio-cultural anthropology, sociology) that explores the social, political, economic, and ecological processes underlying the production, circulation, and application of knowledge about resources, resource users (broadly defined), and management practices. One of the central arguments of political ecologists is that these processes are far from neutral and apolitical. Rather, these processes and decisions are fundamentally about power—who has it, who does not; and how it patterns whether and how people embodying different and intersecting social positions are able to access, manage, and/or control the use of vital resources.
By adopting political ecology as an explanatory framework, we will unpack how knowledge and power interact to shape resource access, use, control, and management. We will draw on the peer-reviewed literature and specific case studies of resource conflicts to explore coupled, human-environment problems or “conflicts” including, but not limited to: conservation and development; resource governance, access, and rights; extraction, capitalism, and environmental injustice; immigration and climate change; just energy transitions, development, and indigenous livelihoods; and poverty, population, and environmental degradation to ground our readings and discussions. Case studies and readings will be drawn from both the Global North and South to emphasize that these processes are far from peculiar to certain people or geographies.
This course takes a fundamentally different approach to knowledge practices about nature and the environment. Rather than treat ecological science as apolitical, political ecologists understand that “nature” (as a concept)--how we know and experience it and how we make decisions about it--is both constructed and enmeshed in relations of power and difference. Hence, political ecology. Throughout the semester, we will return to the following, enduring questions of the field: What is a political ecology? What are the implications of understanding ecology as explicitly political? How do common assumptions about the nature of nature shape how we interact with and make decisions about the environment? And how do power and difference shape how and who can access, use, and control resources, and to what effect? How do we deploy the contributions of political ecologists to meaningfully shape resource management and work towards sustainable and just policies and practices?
This course fulfills JEC and Ways of Knowing (Social Science) graduation credits and ENV major and minor requirements for the ENV-Social Science track.
Required Text:
Please see course schedule below for required readings. All of the readings can be found linked below AND through Davidson College Library. If there is a broken link, please do let me know so that I can fix it. However, you can ALWAYS find the readings through Davidson College libraries with a simple search. Therefore, a broken link is NOT an excuse for not doing the reading.
If you would like a hardcopy (which I highly recommend), you may print the readings for free from any of the campus printers.
Quick Links:
· Google Doc Discussion Folder
· Crowdsourced Class Notes Folder
- Teacher: Jessica Worl