Environmental (In)Equalities

1 Course Unit

This seminar focuses on the interrelations of equity, justice, and environmental crisis. Beginning with a discussion of the emergence of climate justice as a critical term in international negotiations, we will consider several dimensions of substantive and historical inequality and the framing of justice as an environmental right as they arise from these settings. Broadening the discussion to include a larger framework of environmental issues in relation to inequality, the course will draw on considerations of geographies of vulnerability, environments as inhabited risk, and ecological debt in relation to “natural disaster” or environmental crisis. Moving from an historical account of structural inequalities in socio-natural systems to contemporary environmental politics, we will then discuss the disjuncture in environmental movements and aspirations between the global south and north, and particularly, how justice and equity figure into environmentalism(s) on a global basis. Finally, we discuss emerging frameworks including Just Transition movements, ecological sovereignty and rights discourses, and flourishing and capabilities approaches. Mutually Exclusive: ANTH 3137 1 Course Unit