HEN618a Power, politics and environmental change (Zahraniční expert)

Faculty of Social Studies
Spring 2015
Extent and Intensity
0/0. 4 credit(s). Type of Completion: z (credit).
Teacher(s)
Dr. Christos Zografos (lecturer)
PhDr. Jan Krajhanzl, Ph.D. (assistant)
RNDr. Naděžda Vlašín Johanisová, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Mgr. Zdeňka Lechnerová (assistant)
Guaranteed by
doc. Mgr. Bohuslav Binka, Ph.D.
Department of Environmental Studies – Faculty of Social Studies
Contact Person: RNDr. Naděžda Vlašín Johanisová, Ph.D.
Supplier department: Department of Environmental Studies – Faculty of Social Studies
Timetable
Thu 12. 3. 17:00–18:30 exP52, Fri 13. 3. 9:45–11:15 exP52, Mon 16. 3. 18:45–20:15 U34, Tue 17. 3. 18:45–20:15 U34, Wed 18. 3. 17:00–20:15 U34, Thu 19. 3. 18:45–20:15 U34, Fri 20. 3. 15:15–16:45 M117, Mon 23. 3. 18:45–20:15 U34, Tue 24. 3. 8:00–11:15 exP52
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
The capacity limit for the course is 20 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/20, only registered: 0/20, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/20
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 7 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives
The course will be taught, in English, by Christos Zografos, PhD, Institute of Environmental Science & Technology, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB), Spain.

The main topic of the course will be Environmental Change and Governance.

The course explores some key ways in which power influences environmental change and governance, from an environmental social science perspective. The classes draw on the disciplines of political ecology, ecological economics, and environmental history that explain how environmental change is produced and what are its social implications. The purpose is to develop a critical understanding of environmental change and the relevance of power and politics in incurring this.

Learning outcomes:
After the end of the module, students should be in a position to: 1. Explain how power and politics are useful for understanding and studying environmental change
2. Use several models of how power operates to explain the role politics play in producing environmental change
Syllabus
  • Course structure:
  • Most classes, i.e. classes 2, 4, and 5, are based on one reading (i.e. journal article or book chapter) done by students before the class. Students will answer a question (max. 500 words) based on the reading, email their answers to the course tutor until 2 hours before the class, and bring their answer in class where some of them will be 2 asked to present their answers. This will be followed by a 15-20 minutes class discussion on the question, the topics it touches upon and the issues it raises, which will be based on student answers to the question. The class is complemented by either a classroom activity or a more ‘traditional’ lecture format in which the tutor explains further points related to the topic and concludes with a summary of main points raised with the class.
  • Class 1 is an introductory class, Class 2 is a conventional lecture given by the course instructor, and Class 9 involves watching a documentary in the classroom and then discussing it; students are not required to read a reading and answer an assignment question for any of those two classes. Class 5 is a student ‘open clinic’ session, during which the course instructor will provide feedback to students (for details see ‘Class 5’ below).
  • The following is a programme of class sessions:
  • Introduction
  • Ecological distribution conflicts
  • Green materialism
  • The power of structures
  • ‘Open clinic’ session
  • The power from within
  • Incomplete dominations: post-structuralism
  • The agency of nature
  • The force of nature
Literature
    recommended literature
  • Adger, W. N. 2006. Vulnerability. Global Environmental Change 16(3), pp. 268-281
  • Manhire, T. 2011. Tuvalu drought could be dry run for dealing with climate change. The Guardian, Monday 17 October 2011
  • Zografos, C., Howarth, R.B. 2010. Deliberative ecological economics for sustainability governance. Sustainability 2, pp. 3399-3417
  • Barry, J. and Proops, J. 1999. Seeking sustainability discourses with Q methodology. Ecological Economics 28, pp. 337-345
  • Schroeder, R.A., St. Martin, K., Albert, K.E. 2006. Political ecology in North America: discovering the Thrid World within? Geoforum 37, pp. 163-168
  • Robbins, P. 2004. Political Ecology. Malden: Blackwell Publishing
  • YIN, Robert K. Case study research : design and methods. 3rd ed. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, 2003, xvi,181 s. ISBN 0761925538. info
Teaching methods
lectures, projections, class discussion, student assignments, simulation game
Assessment methods
1. The main student evaluation tool – 75% of final mark – will be a short essay of a maximum length of 3,000 words (excluding references), which students will hand in (via email to the course lecturer) by Friday 24 April 2015. You can either write an individual essay or form a group of a maximum of two students who will write one essay. In the case of a group (i.e. two students) essay, the students will equally share the overall mark of the essay. This means that if, for example the essay is marked as ‘c’ in the ECTS scheme, then both students who have written the essay will be awarded a ‘c’ mark for that essay. Students who plan to write a group essay should notify me by Class 7, i.e. by Friday 20 March the latest. 2. 25% of the final mark will be awarded on the basis of student participation in the classes. This will mainly involve student commitment and performance in answering the class assignments for classes 3, 4, 6, 7, and 8 (see ‘Course outline’ below), but other factors such as eagerness to participate and constructive comments during the class will also be taken into account. Performance in each assignment amounts to 5% of the overall mark.
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course is taught last offered.
General note: Předmět bude znouvu vyučován na podzim 2016. The course will be taught in Autumn 2016.
Information on course enrolment limitations: Nelze zapsat poté, co již student absolvoval předmět HEN611
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2012, Autumn 2013, Autumn 2016, Spring 2018, Autumn 2018, Autumn 2019.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2015, recent)
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