Nature, Society and Social Power

GEOG21242 Nature, Society and Social Power 20 Semester 2 Undergraduate Level 2 Erik Swyngedouw Unit coordinator Mark Usher Unit coordinator 1 FHEQ level (Framework for Higher Education Qualifications) ' Middle part of Bachelors ' European Credit Transfer & Accumulation System Rating : 10.0 The course examines the interrelationship between humans and nature, with a particular emphasis on the how social power relations produce and change socio-physical conditions. The course starts from the premise that nature and society are not separate, but intimately interwoven. They are mutually intertwined and co-evolving. The course will draw on a variety of critical theoretical perspectives (Marxist, post-Marxist, feminist, post-colonial) and illustrate the argument with a series of case studies. The course will consist of 10 two-hour lectures and 10 one-hour seminars, each adapted to online teaching as required. This includes using documentary film, presentations, and break-out group discussions. The course examines the interrelationship between humans and nature, with a particular emphasis on the how social power relations produce and change socio-physical conditions. The course starts from the premise that nature and society are not separate, but intimately interwoven. They are mutually intertwined and co-evolving. The course will draw on a variety of critical theoretical perspectives (Marxist, post-Marxist, feminist, post-colonial) and illustrate the argument with a series of case studies. The course will consist of 10 two-hour lectures and 10 one-hour seminars, each adapted to online teaching as required. This includes using documentary film, presentations, and break-out group discussions The unit aims :To theorize how the social and physical world interact;To understand critically the entanglements of social and physical conditions under capitalism through the framework of political ecology;To provide a critical review of the socio-ecological dynamics of capitalism;To offer insight into the processes through which particular environmental conditions come about and are changed;To explore the key actors that shape environmental activities and their spatial configurations and outcomes;To demonstrate how socio-environmental processes are also political processes;To illustrate these processes by means of concrete historical-geographical examp Critically assess a range of perspectives related to the question of nature, society and social powerCritically assess how nature and society are mutually constituted through a range of social power relations Think critically about and reflect on questions of socio-ecological changeTo assess the merits of contrasting theoretical explanationsTo back-up theoretical arguments with empirical evidence, including the construction of theoretically informed explanations of real-life dynamics as uncovered in research literature and ongoing social dynamics To translate theory into politicsTo asses and formulate socio-ecological policies and practices Motivation and self-directed learningAwareness of responsibility as a global citizen The course is delivered through a range of lectures, seminars, and student reading. Each week will comprise of 2 hr lectures and 1 hr seminar. All teaching material will be available on the VLE. Both lectures and seminars will be on-line and available as pod-casts after the lectures/events for those who could not attend the live lecture/seminar. 0 Other 100% <figure class="table"><table class="Table" style="border-collapse:collapse;" width="640"><tbody><tr><td style="border:1px solid black;padding:0cm 7px;vertical-align:top;width:291px;"> One Open-Book Examination with essay-style questions (to be chosen from a total of 6 question). Students will have one week to complete the examination. Maximum length of each answer is 1500 words  </td><td style="border-bottom:1px solid black;border-left-style:none;border-right:1px solid black;border-top:1px solid black;padding:0cm 7px;vertical-align:top;width:104px;"> Maximum of 1500 words for each question</td><td style="border-bottom:1px solid black;border-left-style:none;border-right:1px solid black;border-top:1px solid black;padding:0cm 7px;vertical-align:top;width:151px;"> Written feedback offered within two weeks after submission of the exam through the VLE</td><td style="border-bottom:1px solid black;border-left-style:none;border-right:1px solid black;border-top:1px solid black;padding:0cm 7px;vertical-align:top;width:95px;"> 50%</td></tr><tr><td style="border-bottom:1px solid black;border-left:1px solid black;border-right:1px solid black;border-top-style:none;padding:0cm 7px;vertical-align:top;width:291px;"> Students prepare a Course Essay on a theme to be chosen from a list of titles that will be made available at the beginning of the Semester. The title will relate to the course material and permit students to explore specific themes either more theoretically or by means of exploring a specific case study (50%).    </td><td style="border-bottom:1px solid black;border-left-style:none;border-right:1px solid black;border-top-style:none;padding:0cm 7px;vertical-align:top;width:104px;"> 2500 Words (excluding bibliography)</td><td style="border-bottom:1px solid black;border-left-style:none;border-right:1px solid black;border-top-style:none;padding:0cm 7px;vertical-align:top;width:151px;"> Oral feedback or written feedback over email (voluntary) is provided on outline proposal. Written feedback is offered within two weeks after submission of the course work</td><td style="border-bottom:1px solid black;border-left-style:none;border-right:1px solid black;border-top-style:none;padding:0cm 7px;vertical-align:top;width:95px;"> 50%</td></tr></tbody></table></figure> <figure class="table"><table class="Table" style="border-collapse:collapse;" width="640"><tbody><tr><td style="border-bottom:1px solid black;border-left-style:none;border-right:1px solid black;border-top-style:none;padding:0cm 7px;vertical-align:top;width:151px;"> </td></tr></tbody></table></figure> BA(Hons) Geography BA(Hons) Geography Second Year Optional BSc(Hons) Geography BSc(Hons) Geography Second Year Optional BA (Hons) Geog w Int Study BA (Hons) Geog w Int Study Second Year Optional BA Geography w Placement BA Geography with Placement Second Year Optional BSc Geography w Placement BSc Geography w Placement Second Year Optional Y Braun B., Castree N (Eds.) (1998) Remaking Reality. Routledge, London.Bryant, R. (Ed.) (2015) The International Handbook of Political Ecology. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham.rnstson H., and Swyngedouw E. (Eds.) (2019) Urban Political Ecology in the Anthropo-obscene: Interruptions and Possibilities. London: Routledge.Harvey, D. (1985). The Geo-Politics of Capitalism. In D. Gregory & J. Urry (Eds.), Social Relations and Spatial Structures (pp. 128-163). London: Macmillan.Harvey D. (1981) Limits to Capital. Blackwell, OxfordHarvey D. (1996). Justice, Nature and the Geography of Difference. Oxford: Blackwell.Heynen N., Kaika M., and Swyngedouw E. (2006) (Eds.) In the Nature of Cities – Urban Political Ecology and the Politics of Urban Metabolism. Routledge, London and New YorkPerreault, T., Bridge G. and McCarthy J. (Eds.) (2015) The Routledge Handbook of Political Ecology. Routledge, LondonRobins Paul (2011) Political Ecology – A Critical Introduction. Wiley-Blackwell.Smith N. (1984). Uneven Development: Nature, Capital and the Production of Space. Oxford: Blackwell.Swyngedouw E (2000) “The Marxian Alternative – Historical Geographical Materialism and the Political Economy of Capitalism”, in Barnes T., Sheppard E. (Eds.) Reader in Economic Geography, Blackwell, Oxford, pp. 41-59.Swyngedouw E. (2004) Flows of Power – Water and the Political Ecology of Urbanisation in Guayaquil, Ecuador. Oxford: University Press.Swyngedouw E (2004) “Scaled Geographies. Nature, Place, and the Politics of Scale”, in McMaster R., Sheppard E. (Eds.) Scale and Geographic Inquiry: Nature, Society and Method. Blackwell Publishers, Oxford and Cambridge, Mass., pp. 129-153.Swyngedouw E. (2010) “Trouble with Nature – Ecology as the New Opium for the People”, in Hillier, J. and P. Healey (Eds.) Conceptual Challenges for Planning Theory. Ashgate, Farnham, pp. 299-320.Swyngedouw E. (2012) (with Ian Cook) “Cities, social cohesion and the environment: towards a future research agenda”, Urban Studies 49(9), pp. 1938 - 1958Swyngedouw E. (2015) Liquid Power: Contested Hydro-Modernities in 20th Century Spain. MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass.Swyngedouw E. (2015) “Depoliticized Environments and the Promises of the Anthropocene”, in Bryant R. (ed.) International Handbook of Political Ecology. E. Elgar, London, pp. 131-145.Wittfogel K. (1957) Oriental Despotism. Yale University Press/Oxford University PressKey Journals AntipodeEnvironment and Planning AEnvironment and Planning E Capitalism, Nature, SocialismAnnals of the American Association of GeographersTransactions of the IBGGeoforumEcological EconomicsSingapore Tropical Journal of GeographyOther Resources• NETFLIX Documentary series: ROTTEN, including the episode on “The Avocado War”• ENTITLE website, http://www.politicalecology.eu. See especially: Introduction to political ecology by Professor Maria Kaika, https://youtu.be/Z5PRfxNUBao• Situated UPE website, http://www.situatedupe.net. See for instance the Video resources focusing on political ecologies of global South cities, http://www.situatedupe.net/learning/audio-visual-resources/• EJOLT on environmental justice http://www.ejolt.org and their Environmental Justice Atlas, EJAtlas, , https://ejatlas.org Lectures 20 Seminars 10 0 170