Postgraduate Course: Understanding Environment and Development (PGGE11187)
Course Outline
| School | School of Geosciences |
College | College of Science and Engineering |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course aims to introduce students to the relationships between the environment (nature, biodiversity, natural resources, ecosystem services etc.) and international development, and the ways in which we might understand these relations and intervene in them. It takes a critical perspective when reflecting on mainstreamed approaches to sustainable development and draws on current academic debate in considering the contested, political and ideological nature of environment and development issues. It views society and nature as inherently linked, historical contexts as highly relevant to current debates, and global capitalism as an underlying force of change. Issues of access, justice, distributions of costs and benefits, power, and (in)equalities are foregrounded in our considerations, as are the roles and responsibilities of a range of actors (state, international agencies and organisations, civil society and local communities).
The course aims not to teach students how to do environment/development work, but rather how to critically think about what it is that environment/development work does, for whom, and with what consequences. It therefore focuses on the contribution of academic theory, critique and debate to on-going practices in environment and development. We engage directly with a range of practitioners to ensure this 'real-world' connection.
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| Course description |
The course considers core concepts and theories within the field of environment and development. It explains and explores these through a range of case-study and empirical material, drawn from both published literature and current University of Edinburgh research. We are also joined by a range of practitioners within the field of environment and development, as a way to link into 'real-world' practice and to students' future careers.
Week Theme
1 UNDERSTANDING ENVIRONMENT & DEVELOPMENT
What are we dealing with?
2 CONTEXTUAL JUSTICE
Why is history and context so important?
3 NATURE-SOCIETY RELATIONS
Why and how might we think about societies' relationships with nature?
4 POLITICAL ECOLOGIES
What has politics got to do with the environment?
5 RESOURCES & WASTE
What count as 'resources' and 'waste' and how to deal with them?
6 COMMUNITIES & THE COMMONS
What¿s a 'community' and how do they work together?
7 - GROUP PRESENTATIONS- (Assessment 1)
8 - VULNERABILITY & ADAPTATION
Who is vulnerable to what, and what does 'adaptation' look like?
9 VALUING NATURE
What does paying for nature do?
10 GOVERNING THE ENVIRONMENT
Who is involved and what are their responsibilities?
11 PRAXIS & POSITIONALITY
What comes next??
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2019/20, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: 40 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 33,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
163 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
The course assessment will involve two tasks:
(1) Group presentation (40% of total course marks) due week 7
(2) Individual essay (60% of the total course mark), due week 11
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| Feedback |
Not entered |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Learn to appreciate the interrelated and contested nature of environment and development issues;
- Learn to use key academic theory and debate to engage with environment and development issues;
- Learn to critically reflect upon current practices and approaches in environment and development;
- Learn to build and convey sophisticated arguments drawing on complex evidence through writing and the spoken word.
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Reading List
Each week a series of journal articles or book chapters are recommended for reading (2 are compulsory for the seminar and must be read in advance). In addition there are the following general course readings, which between them include key authors in the field and cover the range of issues and topics covered in the course:
- Castree, N. and Braun, B. (eds.). (2001) Social Nature: Theory, Practice and Politics. John Wiley & Sons: Oxford.
- Cleaver, F. (2010) Development through Bricolage. Rethinking Institutions for Natural Resource Management. Earthscan, Routledge.
- Cronon, W. (ed.). (1995) Uncommon Ground: Rethinking the Human Place in Nature. North & Company: New York.
- Harvey, D. (1996) Justice, Nature and the Geography of Difference. Blackwell: Cambridge, MA.
- Martinez-Alier, J. (2002) Environmentalism of the Poor. Edward Elgar: Cheltenham.
- Murray-Li, T. (2007) The Will To Improve. Governmentality, Development, and the Practices of Politics. Duke University Press.
- Ostrom, E. (1990) Governing the Commons. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.
- Peet, R. and Watts, M.J. (2004) Liberation Ecologies: Environment, Development and Social Movements. 2nd edition. Routledge: London.
- Peet, R., Robbins, P. and Watts, M.J. (2011) Global Political Ecology. Routledge: London.
- Robbins, P. (2004/2012) Political Ecology: A Critical Introduction. Blackwell: Oxford.
- Rocheleau, D., Thomas-Slayter, B. & Wangari, E. (1996/2013) Feminist Political Ecology: Global Issues and Local Experience. Routledge.
- Tuhiwai Smith, L. (2012) Decolonizing Methodologies. Research and Indigenous Peoples. Second Edition. Zed Books.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Environment,Development,Society |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Samantha Staddon
Tel:
Email: Sam.Staddon@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mrs Paula Escobar
Tel: (0131 6)50 2543
Email: paula.escobar@ed.ac.uk |
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