Political Ecology

Political Ecology is a course designed for students in sociology, geography, economics, anthropology, urban planning, history, and anyone else interested in an interdisciplinary approach to the study of the relation between human societies, Nature, economies, and the state across geographical and institutional scales. We will take the perspective that Political Ecology is less an academic discipline, and more a community of practice that has come to encompass specific intellectual emphases, while simultaneously embracing activism. “Doing political ecology” therefore means not only reading and writing theory, or publishing, but encourages sustained engagement with interlocutors, and collaborations with publics. This class has been designed to be accessible to undergraduates with some training in theory and methods, but also graduate students. As such, the course adopts a dialogic seminar/workshop mode of presentation as opposed to a series of lectures and assignments. 

Political ecology has gained a strong foothold in a variety of disciplines since the turn of the 21st century, being most easily adopted in the field of geography, because of its emphasis on space. Nevertheless, as we will discover, many other scholars effectively operate within this community and intellectual tradition, the strength of which, is that it seamlessly draws on a variety of fields to attempt to answer a broad set of questions about the role of the state, social domination, colonialism, discourse, culture, the economy, and the production/contestation of space. As we will see, one interesting aspect of political ecology is that it is a means towards embracing the interlocking nature of these facets of society/culture. In this class, we will not focus on the U.S. context alone, but we will utilize examples and make comparisons across a range of nations and contexts in the World-system. 

You will leave this class with a strong background in the literature and ongoing debates in this community of practice, the ability to apply the methodologies political ecology offers to a variety of situations, and importantly, you will develop a unique analysis of your own. Ideally, undergrads will be using this course towards the completion of their capstone or thesis research, and graduate students will be using the skills and knowledge gained to develop an article for publication, an exam, or a dissertation proposal.

The course begins by discussing the intellectual history of political ecology, then moving into methodology and contemporary issues. We will use several recent books and articles as examples throughout the class to guide our investigations into the strengths and weaknesses each has on offer. Concluding the course, we will dive into emerging debates about eco-socialism as an alternative to capitalism as well as the literature on the Anthropocene, which have pragmatic professional, actionable, and epistemological implications.