Syllabus for Political Ecology
ANTH 424A/524A (also POL 424A/524A)
Tad Park: Haury 315, email: tpark@u.rizona.edu
Office Hours: T: 10-12, MW 2-4, phone: 621-2632.
Class Meets: Rm. 215 Haury MW 11-12:15
Course Description: This course introduces a variety of environmental thought linking the political sphere and the biosphere. It examines environmental ethics, environmental justice, BioPiracy, ecofeminism, socialist environmentalism, environmental history, ecological economics, theoretical ecology, and political ecology.
Course Requirements:
A) 40% of the grade will be derived from eight two page written responses to required readings. Evidence of thought, diligence, and preparation will be sufficient for an A on this part of the course (e.g. you will receive between a 90 and a 100% if satisfactory). Response papers must be emailed to me by Sunday evening prior to the relevant class discussion. You will be asked to participate in the class discussion of the materials you select.
B) 30% of the grade will be from a take-home midterm (handed out Monday 29 October and due Monday 5 November by email - rtf attachment).
C) For undergrads, the remainder of the grade (30%) will be based on either a short paper (8 pages) due November 19 or a take-home final (handed out Monday 26 November and due Friday 7 December by email - rtf attachment). Grads will have to do both the paper and the take-home final and two of their response papers will need to be professional book reviews which, if excellent, will be published in the Journal of Political Ecology.
Attendance: Attendance will be taken irregularly and can lower the grade by up to 10%. Students may miss four days with no penalty, additional missing days will require persuasive documentation or will lower grade: one percent for each missed day.
Required Books
Jennifer Clapp and Peter Dauvergne. Paths to a Green World: The Political Economy of the Global Environment. MIT Press, 2005.
Leopold, Aldo
A Sand County Almanac: And Sketches Here and There.
Oxford University Press, 1989.
Dennis Pirages, and Ken Cousins, editors. From Resource Scarcity to Ecological Security: Exploring New Limits to Growth. MIT Press, 2005.
Russell, Emily W.
People and the Land Through Time: Linking Ecology and History.
Yale University Press, 1998.
For Grads:
Bowers, C. A. et al.
Re-Thinking Freire: Globalization and the Environmental Crisis.
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Incorporated, 2004.
Note that the course has required articles and optional but recommended articles . The former are mentiioned by author in the Required Readings section. Students will be instructed how to access these and optional readings in the first class.
Required Readings by week
1. Environmental Ethics
20-22 August
CD Articles by Goodpaster, Singer, Regan (3 articles). On Reserve in Zimmerman.
2. Environmental Ethics
27-29 August
Leopold, Aldo: A Sand County Almanac: And Sketches Here and There.
On Reserve in Zimmerman, Chapters by Callicott, Berry, Naess (3 articles).
3. Environmental Justice
(3 September Labor Day, no class)
5 September
CD Articles by Summers, Buell, Capek, Field, Sterba.
4. Environmental Justice
10-12 September
CD Articles by: Beamish, Cless, Grant, Karen , Jahiel, Stewart, Viscusi.
5. BioPiracy
17-19 September
CD Articles: Vandana Shiva: Biotech, Coke, Water, WTO (2 articles)
Optional: Shiva, Vandana: Biopiracy: The Plunder of Nature and Knowledge.
6. Ecofeminism
24-26 September
CD Articles by: Alaimo, Merchant. Shiva
Zimmerman Section on Ecofeminism.
7. Political Economy and Global Environment
1-3 October
Clapp and Dauvergen, Chapters 1 and 2.
CD Articles by:Cosgrove, Foster, Matley, Peet (Social Orig)
8. Political Economy and Global Environment
8-10 October
Clapp and Dauvergen, Chapters 3 & 4.
Articles by: Bassin (2), Carter, Chappell, Peet (critique). Pickvance.
9. Environmental History
15-17 October
Russell, Emily W. People and the Land Through Time: Linking Ecology and History.
Chapters 1-7
10. 22-24 October
Russell, Emily W. People and the Land Through Time: Linking Ecology and History.
Chapters 8-13
CD Articles by: Cleary, Elvin, Hoffman, Huntley, van Andel, Swetnam, Worster
11. Environmental Economics
29-31 October
Clapp and Dauvergen, Chapters 5 & 6.
CD Articles on ecological economics.
Midterm due 5 November
12. Environmental Economics
5-7 November
Clapp and Dauvergen, Chapters 7 & 8.
CD Articles by: Costanza (2), Daly (2), Hardin, Ostrom (1999)
(12 November Veteran’s Day no class)
13. Theoretical Ecology and Resource Scarcity
14 November
Pirages and Cousins, Chapters 1-4
CD Articles by: Angerbjorn, Bronstein, Hastings, Lovelock, Yodzis.
14. 19-21 November
Pirages and Cousins, Chapters 5 & 7
CD Articles by: Humphries, Robert May, Ulanowicz.
(22-25 November Thanksgiving recess)
15. Political Ecology and Ecological Security
26-28 November
Pirages and Cousins, Chapters 6, 8-12
Grads Bowers, C. A. et al. Re-Thinking Freire: Globalization and the Environmental Crisis.
CD Articles by: Brown, Basett, Greenberg & Park, Escobar, Kirkpatrick, Song.
16. 3-5 December
Discussions, optional presentations of selected papers, Evaluations.
Final Exam Due Friday Dec 7th
Class and University Rules for Anth 424/524
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is of course forbidden and will certainly net you a zero for an assignment. Repeat offenders will be referred to university disciplinary committees who will decide what action is appropriate. All quotations need to be properly referenced and included within quotation marks. You may use any style that includes at least author, title, year, page number and publisher or journal issue. Paraphrases need references. It has been known in the past for students to show their work to others who then copy it (especially among boy/girl friends). You are responsible for preventing this from happening just as much as you are responsible for not copying from someone else. You may discuss questions verbally as you read the material but you are strongly advised not to loan your written work to each other for you risk getting zero if you do – as well as incurring other disciplinary measures.
Classroom behavior
Students attend class to hear the lectures (or the majority do) and since they pay good money to go to the U of A they have the right to peace and quiet in the lecture hall. I, in addition, do not think anyone should be in attendance merely to show up on the attendance sheets so people will be asked to leave the lecture or discussion section for infringing class rules which prohibit:
a)reading of newspapers or popular magazines
b)use of headphones or earbuds
c)playing of video games, talking on phones, text-messaging
d)interruptions of the lecture: including through conversations with other students or any form of disruptive behavior.
Note: I am not a timid person and have no inhibitions about asking students to leave the lecture but this does not mean you will receive any further punishment – once you have quietly left your slate is clean though you will not get credit for attendance that day. If someone is disturbing your concentration you are encouraged to bring this to my attention.
Implicit and Explicit Treatment of other students
The University of Arizona does not tolerate racist or sexist remarks and you are expected to avoid disparaging personal remarks about other students. You are explicitly forbidden from making sexist or racist remarks. You will be asked to leave the lecture or discussion section if you do and may well face further disciplinary action at the discretion of the U of A administration.