Politics of the anthropocene
Etablissement : ESPOL European School of Political and Social Sciences
Langue : Anglais
Formation(s) dans laquelle/lesquelles le cours apparait :
- Licence de Relations Internationales [ECTS : 3,00]
Période : S6
This course was originally called ‘Social Movements and the Environment’ and offered in the L2. It is the same course. If you have attended the ‘Social Movements and the Environment’ course last year, please choose another optional course.
Over the last 40 years, the growing awareness of the profound impact of human activities on the planet, its ecosystems and its climate has given rise to a wide range of ‘social movements’ calling for the protection, conservation, and/or sustainable use of the environment and its resources. While many consider environmental issues – and their solutions – to be apolitical, championed by actors on different ends of the political spectrum and indistinctively cutting through class, race, gender and ethnicity (“We are all in this together”), this undergraduate course helps students unveil the different (and often conflicting) ethical positions and values underpinning the ‘environmental turn’ in contemporary political claim-making.
Following a broad introduction on the current state of the global environment, we will be drawing on political ecology, social movement theory and environmental ethics to critically explore some of the most vocal claims, theories and ideas surrounding ecological and environmental issues, including ‘deep ecology’, ‘ecomodernism’, ‘environmental justice’, ‘ecofeminism’, and the recent ‘transition movements’. Where do these movements come from? What are their conceptual and political roots? What influences have shaped the way they have emerged? What ethical and epistemological positions can we find in their discourses and narratives?
Learning objectives
- To build student’s knowledge of the key ‘social movements’ for the environment and the political claims emerging from them
- Understanding that environmental issues are anything but apolitical and learning how to unveil the values underlying claims for the environment
- Discover and critically appraise some of the seminal texts, theories and legal tools forming the basis of the environmentalist movement
- To develop students’ understanding of compelling critiques of scientific inquiry related to the environment without, at the same time, playing into the hands of deliberate anti-science agendas
- To give students the understanding and analytical skills they require to study and work further in the field
