Political Ecology

Module Leaders: : Giorgos Kallis

This course explains the interdisciplinary field of Political Ecology, i.e. the study of socio-ecological systems that focuses on conflict, power and the uneven distribution of environmental costs and benefits. This course will familiarize students with the key concepts and tools used by political ecologists. At the end of the course students should be able to do political ecology research themselves. They will also be introduced to profoundly new, critical, ways of looking at and understanding environmental problems and policies.

The class follows the main themes of political ecology as identified in the textbook by Robbins (environmental degradation; construction of nature; environmental conflicts; conservation and control; marginalization and degradation; social movements and identity), and looks also into the use by political ecologists of the theories of accumulation by dispossession and governmentality.