Geography
4742-002: Political Ecology
Fall 2003, Tuesdays and Thursdays:
Instructor: Emily Yeh, Guggenheim 103A, 492-5438; Emily.Yeh@Colorado.edu
Office Hours: Tuesday and Thursday
2-3:30 or by appointment
CLASS SCHEDULE
Schedule of class readings, revised October 20, including links to articles available on-line
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Course description and objectives
This critical thinking seminar explores the political nature of environmental problems through a powerful set of conceptual tools known as "political ecology." Variously referred to as an approach, a theory, a field, and a tool-kit, political ecology questions conventional, simplistic explanations of environmental problems, such as overpopulation and poverty. Differing ways of explaining environmental problems are important insofar as they form the basis for the formulation of solutions, and thus for how these solutions affect livelihoods and the distribution of resources.
We will spend some time at the beginning and end of the semester examining debates over definitions of political ecology itself. This will include tracing its intellectual origins and early definitions, and later examining how new work reflects engagements with more sophisticated understandings of culture and power. For most of the semester, however, we will focus on a series of key themes in the field, including an emphasis on the politics of access to and control over natural resources, attention to the poor and marginalized, an examination of the environment through attention to social relations and history, the implications of different ideas of nature, and the consequences of colonialism and uneven development. We will consider how these themes relate to other ways of understanding the environment, such as neo-Malthusian notions of the environmental effects of population growth and environment, and the emerging field of "environmental security." The goals of this class are to challenge you to think about nature and the environment in new ways, and to develop new frameworks for critique and analysis. For this reason, you may find some of the readings to be provocative or controversial. We will use class time to discuss and evaluate these challenges and controversies in greater depth.
The bulk of the readings in this class will focus on "developing" countries. However, we will also spend a few weeks reading specifically about political ecology in the "first world," and we will frequently discuss how the ideas and theories developed in other contexts do or do not apply to issues of environment and resources that you are familiar with in the U.S.
Class structure
Class will be run as a discussion, with lecture interspersed. Completion of assigned readings before class meetings and participation in class discussion are required. Note that readings are to be done before the day they will be discussed. We will sometimes break up into small groups to discuss the readings.
Texts
There is one required book and a course
reader for this class. The book is available for purchase at the CU Bookstore.
The required book is: Davis, Mike. 2001. Late Victorian Holocausts: El Niņo
famines and the making of the
All other class readings will be in the reader, except for six readings which
are available online. See link to class schedule for links to on-line articles.
In addition, as one of the assignments, you will choose one of the following 6 books to write a critical review. They are available as "optional" texts at the CU bookstore, and one copy (in some cases, two) of each will be on reserve at Norlin Library:
Book review choices:
Course requirements, assignments and grading
Assignments:
Participation
The purpose for critical thinking seminars is to encourage critical reasoning and discussion, by providing more opportunities for participation than is usually possibly in lecture classes. Participation, which includes contributing to class discussion and attending class, is thus a very important part of your grade.
In addition, for each day of class, you should write one of the following:
These should range from 1-2 sentences to one
paragraph in length.
There are several purposes for doing this. First, it gives you a chance to
think about the readings in a structured way, which will greatly facilitates
discussion. Second, you will find them to be useful references when writing
your papers.
I will not usually collect these, but I will frequently call on students in the
class to read their questions or comments for a particular day. Not having done
one when asked will hurt your participation grade. Finally, if you are a
student who feels particularly uncomfortable participating in class discussion,
you have the option of turning these in to me on a regular basis as part of
your participation grade.
Written assignments:
The purpose of these assignments is to engage with readings and ideas discussed in class, as well as to practice the art of writing clearly and persuasively. Grades will be based both on content and on correct spelling and grammar.
Paper 1: Film review; 3-5 double-spaced pages.
For this assignment, you will choose one of two films to be shown on September 9 and 11, and read the accompanying article for that film (see course outline for readings). Your paper should include a brief summary of the main argument raised by the film and reading; how the film and article related to each other, which was more effective and why; and how and why the film fits into political ecology framework. The latter part should connect the argument of the film to one or more of the readings from the first three classes. You may also raise other questions you had about the arguments in the film and/or article, comment on which was more convincing, and make suggestions about what ways of making the film more effective for different audiences, etc.
Paper 2: Critical reflection; 4-6 double-spaced pages
This paper will be similar to an extended version of the questions and comments on readings that you prepare for each class. You can choose one of the following sets of topics covered up through October 30 (famine, IPAT/population, degradation discourses, environmental security, and property). Choose one or two articles on one of these topics, and write a critical reflection that summarizes the argument or highlights the main points, and then raise a question or set of questions based on the article and discussion in class, that either supports, extends, or disagrees with the point of the article(s).
Paper 3: Book review; 4-6 double-spaced pages.
For this assignment, you will choose one of the six books listed above and write a critical review. (If you want, you may also choose to use a book that is not on the list, in consultation with the instructor). This critical review should include a brief summary of the main arguments, the methods used by the author, the audience, and a discussion of the theoretical and empirical debates that the author of the book is engaging in. In addition, the review should draw upon the readings and discussions covered in class. You may also use the review to point out flaws in the methods or theory of the book, parts that were unconvincing, etc. Examples of other book reviews will be passed out in class a few weeks before the assignment is due.
Paper 4: Application of political ecology ;5-7 double-spaced pages.
For the last paper, you can choose one of the two following topics:
(A) Discuss how and why you think that the political ecology framework we have discussed in class does, or does not, work for analyzing environmental problems in the United States. This will include a summary of what you think the main concepts and themes of political ecology are, based on our class readings and discussions; and their application to what you have learned in this or other classes about environmental issues or problems in the U.S.
(B) Pick a specific environmental problem that you are familiar with, either here in Colorado, somewhere else in the US, or in another country. This may be something that you are already familiar with from another research project, from personal experience, or something you have read about in the newspaper. Use one or more of the theories and themes that we have discussed in the class to write about this problem from a political ecology approach.
Note that both options will require you to make reference to the readings discussed in class. If you are unsure about a topic, please come talk to me in office hours.
Policies
You are expected to attend class, be on time, participate in class discussions, and do the assigned readings. Assignments are due at the beginning of class, unless otherwise noted. You will lose a full letter grade off of your grade for every class meeting that a paper is late.
Plagiarism and other forms of academic dishonesty will result in an F in the class. Please refer to the campus honor code for questions about academic dishonesty. Plagiarism refers to the presentation of someone else's ideas, work, or words as your own, without attribution. If you use someone else's exact words, then you must use quotation marks in addition to a citation; simply naming the source is not enough. If you completely paraphrase someone else's ideas in your own words, then you still have to cite the source, but you do not have to use quotations. When in doubt, cite the source. If you have questions about whether you have provided adequate citation for a paper, consult with me before the assignment is due.
Other campus policies: