UT-403 Political Ecology (Autumn 2025)
- ECTS Credits:
- 10
- Responsible department:
- Faculty of Social Sciences
- Course Leader:
- Vito Laterza
- Lecture Semester:
- Autumn
- Teaching language:
- English
- Duration:
- ½ year
Table of contents
The course is connected to the following study programs
- Master's Programme in Global Development, Crisis and Change
- Master’s Programme in Planning, Place and Process
Teaching language
Learning outcomes
On completion of the course the students should:
- have a thorough knowledge of political ecology as a field, its emergence, theories and concepts
- have an understanding of actors involved and be able to critically analyse how they act and relate to each other
- be able to recognise and critically analyse environmental discourses and their practical consequences in relation to society and culture
- be able to discuss the connection and interaction of local, national and global process through case studies
Contents
The aim of this course is to provide the students with a good understanding of the complex human-environment relationship and how understandings of ecology and relationship of people to their environment also vary cross-culturally. Through the lens of political ecology, the students will through a variety of case studies and literature explore how environmental management is a field vested with power and powerful actors. This course will consist of several modules which will highlight the complex intersections of power, economy and ecology, and provide knowledge about the variety of actors at the local and the global level. Empirical examples from climate change mitigation and adaptation, land, forests, energy & extractive industries, and smart cities, will be given, linking this to poverty and social and economic inequalities. Moreover, the course will discuss what dominant discourses of sustainable development may entail, and how power relations are reinforced or contested through such discourses. As such the course will also discuss how certain common frameworks, discourses and narratives influence the field of environmental governance and management, e.g. through the Sustainable Development Goal (sDGs).
Teaching and learning methods
Netbased teaching through Canvas. Estimated workload, 27 hours per credit.
Examinations
Portfolio assessment 100%. The assessment is divided into three components:
1) individual participation in group discussions (pass/fail)
2) a group essay (graded A-F, ECTS grading scale)
3) an individual essay (graded A-F, ECTS gradig scale)
It will not be possible to postpone the exam.
Student evaluation
Reduction of Credits
This course’s contents overlap with the following courses. A reduction of credits will occur if one of these courses is taken in addition:
| Course | Reduction of Credits |
|---|---|
| UT-400 – Environment Issues. | 7.5 |