TI 701

Conceptualising Environment, Society and Development

Dr Mary Cawley and Dr Aaron Potito  

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Please click below for various module details:

• Module rationale
• Key learning outcomes
• Assessment
• Readings
• Full module outline

Module rationale

Conceptualising Environment, Society and Development is designed as the core introductory module for the MA; its goal is to provide a broad basis for the many topics that inform, influence and structure the relationships between humankind, its actions and forms of organisation and what is customarily referred to as ’the environment’. In other words, we will aim to better understand the myriad of ways in which the environment is socially constructed while remaining materially present. The module is organised around a series of themes that are at once geographically resonant while brining into a sharper focus the historical legacies, political structures and discursive strategies that attach to different ways of conceptualising the key themes of the overall MA course.

Key learning outcomes

• Develop an understanding of the history of environmental thought and action.
  
• Appreciate and critically engage with the discursive nature of environmental debates.
  
• Develop an ability to navigate complex constellations of interests, legacies and affects in the analysis of locally resonant environmental issues.
  
• Analyse the many linkages that materialse locally between a globalising economy and sustainable social and environmental practices.
  
• Becoming cognizant about ways to navigate national interests with global environmental concerns.

Assessment (10 ECTS)

Continuous Assessment (100%)

2 x 3000 word term papers

Some key readings

Castree, N. and Braun, B. (eds) (2001) Social Nature: Theory, Practice and Politics. Oxford: Blackwell

Cronon, W. (1991) Nature’s Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West, New York: Norton

Gandy, M. (2002) Concrete and Clay: Reworking Nature in New York City, Cambridge MA, MIT Press

Peet, R. and Watts, M. (eds) (2004) Liberation Ecologies: Environment, Development, Social Movements (2nd edn). New York: Routledge

Pellow, D.N. (2004) Garbage Wars: The Struggle for Environmental Justice in Chicago. Cambridge MA: MIT Press

Radkau, J. (2008) Nature and Power: A Global History of the Environment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

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