Motivation to Teach Social Action:
Create a more actionable syllabus where students can directly put into practice the theoretical concepts they learn on social and environmental justice
Course Description:
Through an interdisciplinary approach to environmental science, this course examines the relationships between power, institutions, environmental conservation, and environmental justice and explores how issues are defined as problems. The course will cover the theoretical and practical methods used in environmental policy to assist government agencies and frontline communities, from the local to the global, in addressing immediate and long-term environmental sustainability challenges.
Particular attention will be focused on power asymmetries among diverse actors, the formal and informal institutions that facilitate or impede environmental sustainability and environmental justice, and how race, class, and gender impact recognition, participation, and the distribution of natural resource benefits and harms. Students will examine social theories of “nature”, as well as, a range of policy responses to address environmental inequities. Emphasis is placed on disadvantaged communities in the United States and the Global South. Theory will be complemented by real-world environmental controversies that will require group collaboration to produce a practical project that engage students critically with the course material.
Taught By:
Linda Mendez-Barrientos
Assistant Professor
Josef Korbel School of Global and Public Affairs
University of Denver
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