Entry requirements

A Bachelor's degree, equivalent to a Swedish Kandidatexamen, from an internationally recognised university

Learning outcomes

The purpose of the course is to examine how the understanding of ecology and people's relationship to their environment varies in a cross-cultural perspective.

After completing the course, the student is expected to:

Knowledge and understanding

• Have knowledge of the field of Political Ecology, its history, theoretical foundations, main topics, and future directions
• Have an in-depth understanding of how people's relationships to their environment are articulated in different contexts 

Competence and skills

• Be able to use analytical and conceptual tools for analysing society-environment relations from a political ecology perspective
• Be able to discuss the interaction of local, national and global processes through specific case-studies

Judgment and approach

• Become aware of the purposive biases which shape our understandings of what we conceive of as human society, nature, and scientific knowledge 
• Reflect on the ethical implications of human interactions and interferences in nature

Content

This course introduces students to the research practice field of Political Ecology, which has huge potential in identifying, analyzing, and offering solutions to environmental and societal challenges in the current area of climate change, anthropogenic degradation of the environment, increasing exploitation of natural resources, disasters, and political crises. Political Ecology fuses theories and methods from human ecology, geography, political economy, science and technology studies, political science, history, and anthropology to grasp the interactions between society and nature in all their complexity. The course is structured around some of the major problem areas to which Political Ecology has contributed important insights, understanding, and theory building, like environmental degradation, resource scarcity, and property relations; urbanization and fair distribution of resources; extractivism and social justice; nature conservation and environmental activism; climate change resilience, scientific and local knowledges; green economy and the commoditization of nature; environmental justice and nature's rights; waste and militarization of the environment; health and disease; and queer ecologies. Students read about and discuss contemporary empirical cases and use a mixture of classical and current theoretical approaches to analyze them. Subarctic regions and cultures will often be used to discuss generic topics, but they will be complemented with field material from all over the world, in order to show the wide applicability of Political Ecology.

Instruction

The teaching will be conducted through lectures, seminars and counselling. Attendance at seminars is obligatory. The language of instruction is English.

Assessment

The course grade will be based on active participation in seminars and a written assignment. The grades are pass with distinction (VG), pass (G), fail (U).