Postgraduate Course: Land, Community, Power (Online) (EFIE11547)
Course Outline
| School | Edinburgh Futures Institute |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
| Course type | Online Distance Learning |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | What are the social, political and ethical foundations of sustainability in lands and cities? This course introduces students to new and diverse ways of organising communities and societies through land ownership and management models, explaining the relevance of cultural, political and legal dimensions of land governance. It will provide a foundational understanding of key legal and development frameworks and explore a diversity of case studies in rural and urban contexts. |
| Course description |
The course offers students an opportunity to engage with key legal and philosophical concepts relating to property and ownership, and to think creatively about solutions to climate change, resource scarcity and conflict.
Discussions will focus on case studies where innovation in land governance has brought benefits for sustainability and sustainable communities, for example smart city innovation in Medellín, Colombia, rights of nature in rural Maori Lands, New Zealand or collective ownership in rural and urban Scotland.
Students will be encouraged to visit community-owned places in Edinburgh (e.g., Bellefield Church in Portobello, or Bridgend Community Farm), or to identify and visit ones in their own locality. This will enable students to see the impacts of theory in practice and to understand the relevance of their studies to society.
Edinburgh Futures Institute (EFI) - Online Hybrid Course Delivery Information:
The Edinburgh Futures Institute will teach this course in a way that enables online and on-campus students to study together. To enable this, the course will use technologies to record and live-stream student and staff participation during their teaching and learning activities. Students should note that their interactions may be recorded and live-streamed (see the Lecture Recording and Virtual Classroom policies for more details). There will, however, be options to control whether or not your video and audio are enabled.
You will need access to a personal computing device for this course. Most activities will take place in a web browser, unless otherwise stated. We recommend using a device with a screen, a physical keyboard, and internet access.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2026/27, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 0 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 10,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 10,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
176 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
|
| Additional Information (Assessment) |
The course will be assessed by means of the following components:
1) Case Study (75%)
A case study of a community ownership opportunity. 2,500 word Individual assignment.
Learning Outcomes Assessed by Component: 1, 2, 3
2) Community Engagement Plan (25%)
A community engagement plan. 1,500 word individual assignment.
Learning Outcomes Assessed by Component: 4 |
| Feedback |
Feedback on any formative assessment may be provided in various formats, for example, to include written, oral, video, face-to-face, whole class, or individual. The Course Organiser will decide which format is most appropriate in relation to the nature of the assessment.
Feedback on both formative and summative in-course assessed work will be provided in time to be of use in subsequent assessments within the course.
Feedback on the summative assessment(s) will be provided in written form via Learn, the University of Edinburgh's Virtual Learning Environment (VLE).
Formative Feedback Opportunity:
Formative feedback is ongoing feedback which monitors learning and is intended to improve performance in the same course, in future courses, and also beyond study.
Students will have the opportunity to receive formative feedback on their draft assessment prior to submission. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate a critical understanding of the key theories and narratives in discourses in land ownership.
- Relate knowledge, skills and understanding to new contexts and challenges.
- Undertake critical analysis, evaluation and/or synthesis of ideas, concepts, information and issues that are within the common understandings in land governance.
- Convey complex ideas in well-structured and coherent form.
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Reading List
Essential Reading:
Joshua Bennett. 2020. Being Property Once Myself. Harvard U Press.
Jessica Shoemaker, 2020. An Introduction to American Indian Land Tenure: Mapping the Legal Landscape. Online: https://d91411d8-2c5b-4839-a396-c24315f30454.usrfiles.com/ugd/d91411_b8bfaee662f1470881dbb016bc26db7d.pdf
Michael Watts. 2004. Antinomies of community: some thoughts on geography, resources and empire.
Katherine Sanders. 2017. Beyond Human Ownership.
Robinson. 2020. Charter of the Forest.
Alastair Parvin. 2020. A New Land Contract. https://medium.com/@AlastairParvin/a-new-land-contract-684c3ba1f1b3
Jim Hunter. 1976. The Making of the Crofting Community.
Shields, 'Dances with Lairds' in The Social Life of Land, Wendy Wolford and Nancy Peluso eds. Cornell pub. 2022.
https://ourworldindata.org/land-use
https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/common-lands/
Recommended Reading:
Madeleine Fairbairn, 2020. Fields of Gold. Online: https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501750083/fields-of-gold/#bookTabs=1
Andro Linklater, 2013. Owning the Earth. Bloomsbury pubs.
Simon Fairlie. 2009. A Short History of Enclosure in Britain. https://www.thelandmagazine.org.uk/articles/short-history-enclosure-britain
Brett Cristophers, 2018. The New Enclosure: The Appropriation of Public Land in Neo-Liberal Britain.
Alastair McIntosh, 2020. Rekindling Community: Connecting People, Environment and Spirituality.
Alastair McIntosh, 2020. Riders on the Storm: The Climate Crisis and the Survival of Being https://birlinn.co.uk/product/riders-on-the-storm/
A. Fiona. D. Mackenzie. 2012. Places of Possibility: Property, Nature and Community Land Ownership: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Places-Possibility-Property-Community-Ownership/dp/1405191716
Wendy Wolford. 2010. This Land is Ours Now.
Michael Watts. 2004. The Sinister Political Life of Community: Economies of Violence and Governable Spaces in the Niger Delta. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Land,Community,Power,Ownership,Reform,Justice,Equality,Decolonisation |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Kirsteen Shields
Tel:
Email: Kirsteen.Shields@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Yasmine Lewis
Tel:
Email: yasmine.lewis@ed.ac.uk |
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