Undergraduate Course: Responding to sustainability challenges: critical debates (SCIL10082)
Course Outline
| School | School of Social and Political Science |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course explores contemporary sustainability challenges and key debates from a critical sociological perspective. It considers the historical and colonial context in which sustainability challenges arise and explores the factors shaping their definition and negotiation at different societal scales (local-global) and across a range of societal actors (e.g. communities, states, the media). We approach sustainability as underpinned by contextually specific nature-culture relationships and as requiring critical attention to power relationships and agency-structure dynamics. We apply this to examine proposed and actual responses to sustainability challenges. We will cover topics such as climate change, food systems, nature conservation, land rights, alternative economies and just transitions. We will use an interdisciplinary, and international academic literature, and engage significantly with research, policy and practice in Scotland. The course uses peer learning and debate to enrich understanding of theory, concepts and empirical data, encouraging students to apply these in reflections about sustainability challenges in their own lives. |
| Course description |
THIS COURSE IS ONLY AVAILABLE TO STUDENTS TAKING THE MA IN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND VISITING STUDENTS FROM LEUPHANA UNIVERSITY ON THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT EXCHANGE PROGRAMME.
Example debates and questions include: the contested nature of the state as an environmental actor; communities as key actors for social change; To what extent is a decolonial approach to sustainability possible? Which actors, at which scales are most responsible for advancing sustainability action? The contested nature of veganism; Is the global capitalist system compatible with more just and sustainable futures?
Course delivery involves weekly classroom seminars with prior independent learning required. Students will do preparatory work each week such as key reading, researching, and preparing for presentations and online quizzes.
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Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2024/25, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 5,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 15,
Online Activities 5,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
171 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
70 %,
Coursework
30 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Reflective Essay (30%)
Students will be asked to write critically and reflexively about a sustainability challenge, bringing together academic evidence and their own lives.
In-Person Exam (70%)
Students will answer written exam questions on the topics covered in the course with a focus on using academic theory and concepts to critically discuss sustainability issues.
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| Feedback |
Assignments will be returned with feedback within 15 working days of submission. |
| Exam Information |
| Exam Diet |
Paper Name |
Hours & Minutes |
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| Main Exam Diet S2 (April/May) | Responding to Sustainability Challenges Exam | :120 | |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Explain the historical and contemporary context for the sustainability challenges of the 21st century
- Discuss factors shaping how sustainability challenges are defined, understood and negotiated by different actors and across different scales
- Assess competing claims and make informed judgments about proposed and actual responses to sustainability challenges
- Compare and contrast different perspectives on sustainability challenges engaging with critical debates
- Write reflectively about sustainability challenges and potential responses connecting them to everyday life
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Reading List
A list of weekly readings will be provided. Some example readings include:
Kothari, A., Demaria F. and Acosta A. (2014) Buen Vivir, degrowth and ecological swaraj: alternatives to sustainable development and the green economy. Development, 57 (3-4): 362-375.
Longo, S. et al. (2021) Sociology for sustainability science, Discover Sustainability, 2: 47.
Stuart, D. (2016) Crossing the ¿great divide¿ in practice: theoretical approaches for sociology in interdisciplinary environmental research, Environmental Sociology, 2(2): 118¿131.
Rea, C.M. and Frickel, S. (2023) ¿The Environmental State: Nature and the Politics of Environmental Protection¿, Sociological Theory, 41(3), pp. 255¿281.
Williams, L., Bunda, T., Claxton, N., & MacKinnon, I. (2018). A Global De-colonial Praxis of Sustainability ¿ Undoing Epistemic Violence between Indigenous peoples and those no longer Indigenous to Place. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 47(1): 41-53.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
The course will encourage students to strengthen their ability to:
- find, evaluate, and use information to support a line of reasoning
- communicate clearly
- work effectively individually and with others
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| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Zoe Malcolm
Tel:
Email: Zoe.Malcolm@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mr Brodie Hamilton
Tel: (0131 6)51 3139
Email: Brodie.Hamilton@ed.ac.uk |
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