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TI 250  - a Critical introduction to nature, power and society

Course Co-ordinator:		Dr. Anna Stanley
Office:		105, Geography Department
Email:		anna.stanleynuigalway.ie
Phone:		00 353 91 493897 ext 3897
Lectures		Monday 10-11 AC 202
		Monday 1 - 2 AC 202

Outline available here.

Course Description

The purpose of this course is to provide students with a critical introduction to the study of environment-society relations, as well as exposure to contemporary themes and debates in the field of environmental geography.  In addition to examining some of the main concepts used by geographers to understand and theorize the relationships between society and nature, the course will review the ways in which these relationships have been conceptualized by geographers over the past century.  Focus will be placed on critical and analytical engagement environmental problems and issues, and students will be encouraged to understand the connections between environmental change and the broader political, economic, and social contexts which give rise to it.  In particular, a critical approach to environment-society relations based on the intellectual tradition of political ecology will be stressed.  Course content will be considered through lectures, tutorial discussions, assignments, video presentations and other methods.  Participation and regular class attendance are mandatory. 

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Course Objectives

Upon fulfillment of the course, students are expected to:

• gain an understanding of the major concepts used and research themes pursued in environmental geography, as well as an awareness of the history of intellectual inquiry in environmental geography;
• develop a critically informed, analytical understanding of contemporary society-environment relations and environmental change;
• gain the ability to critically interrogate and undertake research about environmental problems and issues; 
• develop a critical awareness of the various frameworks through which ’environment’ is understood and made meaningful.

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Course Format

This course is a second year, lecture-based class with by-weekly lectures.  It is however, designed to benefit from the participation of students by deliberately integrating discussion, in-class participation, and various activities directly into the delivery of the course.   The course will be structured around a combination of lectures, tutorials, video presentations, class discussions, and other activities.  Students will be expected to attend and actively participate in class discussion and activities, and to come to class prepared. Attendance at lectures is required; attendance at tutorials is mandatory. 

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Required Readings:

Robbins, Paul.  2004.  Political Ecology:  A Critical Introduction.  Malden:  Blackwell.

This is the course’s core text.  We will draw heavily from it throughout the progression of the course.  It is available for purchase through the university bookstore.  for students who do not wish to purchase the book 5 copies of this text have been put on restricted loan in the James Hardman Library.  There may be used copies of the text available from last year.

Baaker, K.  2005.  Guest Editorial.  Bakker, Karen.  2005.  Guest Editorial.  Katrina:  the public transcript of ’disaster’.  Environment and Planning D:  Society and Space.  23: 795-801.

Mitchell, D. 2000. Chapter 4 “The Work of Landscape: Producing and Representing the Cultural Scene”, and Chapter 5 “Metaphors to Live by: Landscapes as Systems of Social Reproduction”. In, Cultural Geography: A Critical Introduction.  Oxford: Blackwell  Pp 89-144

Nash, K.  2005.  Landscapes.  In Cloke, P., P.  Crang, &  M. Goodman.  2004.  Introducing Human Geographies.  Second Edition.  London:  Hodder Arnold.  P: 8-17

Whatmore, S.  2005.  culture-Nature.  In Cloke, P., P.  Crang, &  M. Goodman.  2004.  Introducing Human Geographies.  Second Edition.  London:  Hodder Arnold.  P: 8-17

Wynne, B.  1989.  Sheepfarming After Chernobyl.  Environment 31(2):10-39

Note: additional required readings for tutorials may be added as the course progresses.  Details about these materials will be announced in class and posted on blackboard.   

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Course Schedule

I.  FOUNDATIONS OF CRITICAL ENVIRONMENTAL THOUGHT
September 13	Lectures 1 & 2 : Political Ecology Thinking Critically About Nature and Environment (Political and a-political ecology; Outlining political ecology; Environmental narratives) Readings:  Robbins (2004) Chapter 1
September 20	Lectures 3 & 4 : Conceptual Foundations of Political Ecology (Theoretical assumptions and perspectives upon which a political ecology is built; Critical tools for framing environment-society relations; Theoretical contributions to political ecology) Readings:  Robbins (2004) Chapter 3 *Essay introduction— political ecology of food assignment
September 27	Lectures 5 & 6 :  A Framework for Political Ecology (Ways to approach environmental issues; Scale; Political and economic contexts of environmental problems; Marginalization) Readings:  Robbins (2004) Chapter 4
October 4	Lectures 7 & 8:  Placing Political Ecology A Conceptual History of Environment- Society Relations ( Environmental determinism; Cultural ecology; Behavioural/Hazards geography; The political-economy critique) Readings:  Robbins (2004) Chapter 2; Emel & Peet (1989)
II.  CONCEPTS AND THEMES IN CRITICAL ENVIRONMENTAL INQUIRY
October 11	Lectures 9 & 10:  Destruction of Nature (Problems and politics of measuring and determining environmental decline; Defining environmental degradation; The importance of attention to environmental degradation; Putting environmental change in a political and economic context; A political ecology approach to determining environmental change) Readings:  Robbins (2004) Chapter 5
October 18	Lectures 11 &12: Construction of Nature and Production of Landscape (Social nature; Social construction; Power; Exclusion; Construction of nature) Readings:  Robbins (2004) Chapter 6; Whatmore (2005); Nash (2005); Mitchell (2000) Chapters 4&5
October 25	Bank Holiday no classes
November 1	Lectures 13 & 14: Environmental Knowledge (Knowledge, Authority; Challenging and contextualizing “expert” and scientific knowledge; Production of knowledge; Situated knowledge; Social exclusion; Politics of knowledge production) Readings: Robbins (2004) Chapter 6; Case study:  ’Sheep Farming After Chernobyl’, Wynn (1989) *Friday November 5:   Political Ecology of food Essay Due*
November 8	Lectures 15 & 16:  Environmental Management and Conservation (Challenging command and control narratives; Management of contested spaces; Indigenous lands and rights; Challenging conceptions of “pure” nature; Dynamics of environment society relations) Readings:  Robbins (2004) Chapter 8
November 15	Lectures  19 & 20: Unnatural Disasters (Uneven geographies of environmental development; Marginalization through environment-society relations; Social exclusion; Political economy of environmental use, Development, and management) Readings: Baaker (2005)
November 22	Lecture 21:  Using Political Ecology: Putting Environmental Problems Into ContextLecture 22:  Course Wrap up & Exam Review (seen ahead exam to be distributed and discussed in class)

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Course Assignments:

Assignments must be signed in to the Department’s Assistant Administrator (Room 106) by 12pm (noon) on the day they are due.  Assignments not signed will be treated as late and late marks deducted according to departmental policy.

1. Essay: Political Ecology of food—group assignment:  50 %.  Due: Friday, November 5. 
2. Final Examination:  50%  

It is expected that assignments demonstrate appropriate attention to writing style, grammar, and spelling. Proofread your work.  Marks will be deducted for substandard writing skills. 

Some basic expectations for written work include:  

• assignments are to be written in essay style, using proper grammatical constructions. 
• Ideas must be expressed clearly, and in complete sentences organized logically into paragraphs.  
• Subtitles or question headings may be used to organize assignments or to enhance clarity if desired.  
• It is expected that students at this level of academic accomplishment proofread their work for clarity, structure, grammar, and spelling, before submitting it for grading.  
• Assignments must include a reference list and follow accepted referencing procedure.  
• Note that at university level, references from Wikipedia, and similar sources are not accepted. 
  

Essay:  Political Ecology of Food — group assignment

Word count:  2500 words (must include a word count), double spaced, 12 point font.

Due date:  Monday 5 November, 12.30pm to the Department Administrative Assistant, Room 106

Worth:  50% final course grade

This is a group assignment: each group is to submit one assignment; all members receive the same grade.  It is expected that you complete this assignment and write this essay together and not in separate sections. 

Throughout this course we have learned to look at environmental issues and problems in context, and to appreciate the political, economic, and social relations through which they come about.  Using perspectives examined throughout the course, groups of students will be asked to outline the political ecology of a specific food (such as a tomato).

To begin, each student will keep a one week log of everything they eat and drink.  This log will be submitted with the essay on November 5.  In groups, students will then compare logs and choose one food item that either interests them, or is most prevalent across the logs of group members to focus on.

Each group will then do research into the “political ecology” of that food from production to consumption.  The group will then consider the food in its agricultural, political, economic, and ecological contexts to trace the social, environmental and political impacts of the food. Groups will identify and consider as many geographical dimensions of the food as possible, for instance: where the food is grown/produced and how and where it travels from “farm to plate”; the labour, social and environmental conditions under which it is produced; and the inputs and resources required to produce the food (e.g., chemical, machines, techniques, labour). In considering these and other aspects the group’s task is to identify and describe the web of social and environmental relations and effects connected to and constructed through the production and consumption of this food. 

The essay must contain the following elements:

a)		A description of the political ecology of the food item wherein you trace the journey of the food “from farm to plate”, documenting as many of the environmental and social relationships and effects involved in its production as possible, and documenting its geographical footprint (where does the food originate, where is it processed, where is it consumed).  Please feel free to include a diagram or chart.
(b)		A discussion of the significance of the political ecology of the food item.  Given what you have learned about the environmental, social, and economic dimensions and repercussions of this food, what are the implications of consuming and producing it? What environment-society relationships and environmental and social conditions are reproduced when you consume or buy the food?
(c)		Evidence of research:  your essay must contain evidence of the research your group did to uncover the political economy of the food.  owner or shopkeeper where you bought the food to find out where it was produced and by whom, then investigates the leads.

- at least 10 to 15 references (not including course material) are required, with no more than 3 from online sources.  You may not site from sources such as Wikipedia or Geography 123.   You must use a proper referencing style. 
  
Groups will be assigned by the lecturer by week 4.  It is your responsibility to ensure that you check which group you are in and work with your group members. 

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Extensions and Late Assignments:

Late assignments are accepted without penalty only if an extension has been granted in advance of a due date, or, in the event of an unforeseen emergency.  Proper documentation (medical note etc.,) will be required.  

Extensions:
Permission to hand an assignment in late without penalty will be granted only under extenuating circumstances, at the lecturer’s discretion.  Extensions must be requested in advance of the due date (not the day of).

Late Assignments:
Consistent with departmental policy, coursework that is handed to the Departmental Administrator after a particular deadline has expired will be penalized in the interest of fairness by the following percentages being subtracted from the grade awarded (as a percentage of the mark awarded):

3 days later (or one weekend)	5%
1 week	10%
2 weeks	20%
3 weeks	30%
up to a maximum of	40%

Non-submissions will be awarded a zero mark.  Extenuating circumstances such as illness, bereavement or other serious problems need to be communicated to the course convenor before the expiration of any deadline adversely affected.

Deferrals are not granted by the Department but can only be approved by the Dean of Arts. 

Special Needs

The Department recognizes that each student is an individual and that some students have special needs arising out of particular circumstances.  Every effort will be made to accommodate individual circumstances.  In the absence of a University-wide recognition of special needs, it is the responsibility of individual students properly to communicate their situation to the Head of Department or the lecturer. 

More information about departmental polices and regulations, including Academic misconduct, grading standards, and student responsibilities, can be found on the departmental website. 

Office Hours

Office hours will be posted on my door and announced in class.  During these times, my door is open.  If you have a question, require help on an assignment, wish to voice a concern, or wish to see me about anything related to the course, you are encouraged and welcome to come to my office.  If you are unable to come during my office hours, you can schedule an appointment at an alternative time. 

    

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