Power, Knowledge, and the Environment: Social Science Theory and Method

Graduate / Professional

Introductory graduate course on the social science of contemporary environmental and natural resource challenges, paying special attention to issues involving power and knowledge, first via the ethnographic method—the global connections of a tribal longhouse in Borneo, the political ecology of water in Mumbai, and micro vs macro views of irrigation in Egypt; next the question of perspective—the view from within development projects, the concept of “slow violence,” and waste politics in Beijing; and finally representation—of indigenous people, of the poor, and of the development discourse. The goal of the course is to develop analytic distance from current conservation and development debates and discourse. Enrollment capped. 3 Course cr M 1pm-3:55pm