POLITICAL ECOLOGY

This is the first introductory course of Political Ecology within the Master's of Environmental Humanities. Political Ecology is a highly interdisciplinary area of research and knowledge that looks at and acts upon uneven power relations and their consequences over the environment(s). This includes the study of socio-ecological (or socio-environmental) conflicts over megaprojects, extractivist activities, ecological disruptions, and ecocide. It has been defined as both an academic field and a way of inhabiting the world, being knowledge and research inseparable from the way we treat ourselves and the environment, or territory, that supports us. The strong focus of Political Ecology on power relations, political engagement, and transformative efforts makes this course an important addition to the Environmental Humanities program. The course offers a space for learning through unconventional tools and practices grounded in engaged pedagogy. It is designed to overcome and deconstruct conventional hierarchical roles between instructors and students, as well as among students.
The course opens up to a variety of perspectives and approaches, both academic and not strictly academic, to the study and analysis of contemporary socioenvironmental issues. It adopts a global perspective and includes literature and debates from European and Anglo-Saxon academia as well as from Indian and Latin American academia in particular. It goes beyond binary language that usually separates nature and society as disparate variables of analysis, but rather understands them as mutually constitutive notions and experiences. A strong component of this course is the human and non-human pluriverse, including the diversity of Indigenous environmental theories and practices.
No prior knowledge is required for this course. However, openness to new angles and perspectives, which help us confront our own biases, is required.

Understand the origins, development, and contemporary debates in the field of political ecology.
Reflect on the specific contribution Political Ecology can provide to the Environmental Humanities
Understand and apply analytical tools from political ecology to past and contemporary socio-environmental challenges.
Develop critical tools to analyse socio-environmental conflicts and disasters
Understand political, economic, cultural and epistemological dimensions of the current ecological crisis
Learn critical feminist and Indigenous political ecology to identify colonial, hetero-patriarchal and racist structures and drivers of societal injustice
Map and learn from local, small-scale, diverse and Indigenous led knowledge production and alternatives
Apply engaged methodology for data gathering, data processing, writing, and disseminating of results

No prior knowledge is required for this course. However, openness to new angles and perspectives which help us confront our own biases is required.

Introduction to Political Ecology
Socio Environmental conflicts and Environmental Justice
Decoloniality, feminisms, and Indigenous perspectives
Science, knowledge and activism

Letture obbligatorie:
Robbins, Paul. 2012 Political Ecology. A Critical Introduction. Wiley-Blackwell
Perreault, T.A., Bridge, G. and McCarthy, J.P. eds., 2015. The Routledge handbook of political ecology. London: Routledge. (Part 1. Introduction; Chapter 4: The power-full distribution of knowledge in political ecology: a view from the South by Enrique Leff; Chapter 24: Environment and development: reflections from Latin America by Astrid Ulloa; Chapter 40: Feminist political ecology by Rebecca Elmhirst; Chapter 45: Environmental justice and political ecology by Ryan Holifield)
Martinez-Alier, J., 2002. The Environmentalism of the poor: a study of ecological conflicts and valuation. Edward Elgar Publishing. (Preface 1. Currents of Environmentalism; Chapter 4. Political Ecology: The Study of Ecological Distribution Conflicts)



Letture consigliate e complementarie:
Armiero, Marco. Wasteocene Stories from the Global Dump. Cambridge University Press, 2021.
Oppermann, S. and Iovino, S. eds., 2016. Environmental humanities: Voices from the anthropocene. Bloomsbury Publishing PLC.
McGregor, D., 2004. Traditional ecological knowledge and sustainable development: Towards coexistence. In the way of development: Indigenous peoples, life projects and globalization, pp.72-91.
Ferdinand, M., 2021. Decolonial ecology: Thinking from the Caribbean world. John Wiley & Sons.
Kothari, A., Salleh, A., Escobar, A., Demaria, F. and Acosta, A., 2019. pluriverse. A Post-Development Dictionary. New Dehli: Tulika Books.
Escobar, A., 1998. Whose knowledge, whose nature? Biodiversity, conservation, and the political ecology of social movements. Journal of political ecology, 5(1), pp.53-82.
Escobar, A., 1996. Construction nature: Elements for a post-structuralist political ecology. Futures, 28(4), pp.325-343.
Escobar, A., 2019. Thinking-feeling with the Earth: Territorial Struggles and the Ontological Dimension of the Epistemologies of the South. In Knowledges born in the struggle (pp. 41-57). Routledge.
Martinez-Alier, J., 2002. The Environmentalism of the poor: a study of ecological conflicts and valuation. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Baviskar, A., 1999. In the belly of the river: tribal conflicts over development in the Narmada Valley (pp. xiv+-286).
Kimmerer, R. 2015 Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants. Penguin Books Ltd.

Students will be evaluated on the basis of an individual assignment and a group class presentation (e.g. a case report, an essay, a blog, a podcast, or an art piece).

written and oral

Individual assignment (50%)
Presentation of group assignment (50%)

The course will include lectures and pre-class reading of foundational texts. There will be classroom discussions and smaller exercises. When possible, at least one class will be arranged off-campus, and guest lecturers will be invited. The course will also include training for a group presentation to foster collaboration, collective thinking, and creativity.

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Climate change and energy" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development