Political Ecology
24.05.2019 – 01.06.2019
- with Claire Lagier and Claudio de Majo -
How do power-relations relate with ecological systems, environmental crisis and representations of nature? This seminar will introduce the interdisciplinary corpus of scholarship often referred to as political ecology, adopting critical readings, class discussions and film screenings. Attempting to break from mainstream, asociological and apolitical perspectives, we will discuss and examine major concepts such as ‘(sustainable) development’, ‘economic growth’, ‘land grabbing’, ‘nature/wilderness conservation’ and ‘climate solutions’, among others.
Ways in which gender, race and class intersect with ecological conflicts will also be an important reflection thread of our lectures. The final part of the seminar will be dedicated to addressing concepts and actors claiming to counter apolitical ecologies, such as land rights and environmental movements, Indigenous movements, commons, environmental justice and degrowth. Limits and critiques of political ecology approaches will also be discussed.
Expect creative assignments!
The seminar will be condensed over two long weekend sessions in May and June 2019 (24.-25.05. and 31.05-01.06.).
For more information, please contact Claire Lagier (claire.lagier@rcc.lmu.de) and Claudio de Majo (cldemajo@gmail.com).