COURSE SYLLABUS. ENVS 6900 Special Topics: Natural Resources and Environmental Justice Spring 2011

Transcription

1 COURSE SYLLABUS ENVS 6900 Special Topics: Natural Resources and Environmental Justice Spring 2011 Instructor: Claudia Radel (NR 232, office, home, Office Hours: W, 10:00-11:30, NR232 Meeting Time: Tuesdays, 1:30-4:30 Meeting Location: NR 213 Course Overview In this graduate-level seminar course, we will cover the development of an environmental justice (EJ) framework and its application to a variety of natural resource and environmental issues, both domestic and international. I have designed the course in seminar format, with participants meeting once weekly to discuss readings. We will begin with a brief overview of EJ history within the U.S., in research and scholarship as well as in politics and policy, and its expansion into new areas. We will then explore key theoretical threads within the EJ framework, including those central to EJ theory as currently articulated; feminist theory; concepts of justice and social difference; and theories of science and knowledge production. In the second half of the course, we will examine the newly emerged concept of climate justice and explore the intersection of EJ with sustainability discourses and movements. We will conclude the semester with four weeks tailored to the specific interests of students in the course. Possible topics include (among others): biodiversity conservation, forestry management, and protected areas; agricultural and resource development; the international toxics trade; race, ethnicity, and public lands; the case of Hurricane Katrina; case studies drawn from Utah and the West/Southwest; recreation resources, open space access, and public lands; and water resources. Learning Objectives Become familiar with the history of the environmental justice movement and its translation into state policy; Be exposed to a breadth of literature on environmental justice in the 21 st century, with particular attention to literature in the discipline of geography; Become conversant with key theories pertaining to and intersecting with environmental justice; Further develop critical reading skills; Further develop communication skills, both oral and written; Improve facility in the formation and communication of theoretical arguments; Reflect upon the relevance of environmental justice literature and theory to one s own research 1

2 Assignments Students primary responsibility is to arrive to class meetings with readings completed and prepared for discussion. I will distribute these readings to you directly, via . In addition, I have arranged for the USU Bookstore to make one text available for student purchase. Holifield, R, M. Porter, and G. Walker, eds Spaces of Environmental Justice. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. We will read roughly one half of this text. Purchase is optional, as the chapters we will read were originally published in the journal, Antipode (2009; Vol. 41, issue 4) and can be accessed through the journal instead ( 4/issuetoc). You may want to consider purchasing other texts of which we will read multiple chapters: 1. Agyeman, Julian Sustainable Communities and the Challenge of Environmental Justice. NY: New York University Press. 2. Forsyth, Tim Critical Political Ecology: The Politics of Environmental Science. NY: Routledge. 3. Pellow, David Resisting Global Toxics: Transnational Movements for Environmental Justice. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. 4. Smith, David Geography and Social Justice: Social Justice in a Changing World. Wiley-Blackwell. 5. Soja, Edward Seeking Spatial Justice. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. 6. Sturgeon, Noel Environmentalism in Popular Culture: Gender, Race, Sexuality and the Politics of the Natural. Tucson: University of Arizona Press. Each class you will come prepared with reading notes for your own benefit (these notes will not be collected). Additionally, you will prepare a single written page for submission to me, in which you summarize the arguments of each article/chapter, much as you would do for a literature review. This summary will include an identification of strengths and/or weaknesses in the arguments, as well as an identification of what, if anything, this particular article/chapter contributes to the academic literature on environmental justice. The final assignment will be an essay (approximately pages, double-spaced) in which you apply the readings and concepts of the course to your own current or likely future research. We will discuss this assignment later in the semester. Your essay is due to me by 5 pm, on 6 May

3 Course Evaluation Students will be evaluated as follows: General Class Preparation and Participation 40 % Reading Summary Submissions 30 % Final Essay Paper 30 % Qualified students with disabilities may be eligible for reasonable accommodations. All accommodations are coordinated through the Disability Resource Center (DRC) in Room 101 of the University Inn, voice, TTY, or toll free at Please contact the DRC as early in the semester as possible. Alternate format materials (Braille, large print or digital) are available with advance notice. 3

4 Course Schedule Week 1 (1/11): Introductions, Course Overview, EJ Intersections with our Research and Practice 1. Bullard, Robert D., Paul Mohai, Robin Saha, and Beverly Wright Toxic Wastes and Race at Twenty : Grassroots Struggles to Dismantle Environmental Racism in the United States. Cleveland OH: United Church of Christ Justice and Witness Ministry. Chapters 1, 3, and 8 (skim recommendations in Ch. 8); skim Ch Principles of Environmental Justice (People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit, 1991) hand out and read together in class? Week 2 (1/18): Environmental Justice Overview, History, and Expansion 1. Taylor, D The Rise of the Environmental Justice Paradigm: Injustice Framing and the Social Construction of Environmental Discourses. American Behavioral Scientist 43(4): Pellow, D. and R. Brulle Power, Justice, and the Environment: Toward Critical Environmental Justice Studies. In Power, Justice, and the Environment: A Critical Appraisal of the Environmental Justice Movement, eds. D. Pellow and R. Brulle (Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press), Roberts, J. Timmons Globalizing Environmental Justice. In Environmental Justice and Environmentalism: The Social Justice Challenge to the Environmental Movement, eds. R. Sandler and P. Pezzullo (Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press), Carruthers, David The Globalization of Environmental Justice: Lessons from the U.S.-Mexico Border Society and Natural Resources 21(7): Weeks 3 and 4 (1/25 and 2/1): Frameworks 1-- Theorizing EJ (Inequalities and Social Movement/s) Part 1 1. Pellow, David Resisting Global Toxics: Transnational Movements for Environmental Justice. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. (Chapters 2 and 7) 2. Faber, Daniel Capitalizing on Environmental Injustice: The Polluter-Industrial Complex in the Age of Globalization. Boulder: Rowman & Littlefield. (Intro and Ch. 1) Part 2 3. Pulido, Laura Rethinking Environmental Racism : White Privilege and Urban Development in Southern California Annals of the Association of American Geographers 4

5 90(1): Spaces of Environmental Justice. Ch. 1 (Walker) beyond proximity and distribution 5. Spaces of Environmental Justice. Ch. 2 (Holifield) actor-network theory 6. Spaces of Environmental Justice. Ch. 4 (Kurtz) critical race theory Week 5 (2/8): Frameworks 2 Feminist Theory and EJ 1. Spaces of Environmental Justice. Ch. 3 (Buckingham and Kulcur) gender theory 2. Verchick, R Feminist Theory and Environmental Justice. In New Perspectives on Environmental Justice, ed. R. Stein (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press), Sturgeon, Noel Environmentalism in Popular Culture: Gender, Race, Sexuality and the Politics of the Natural. Tucson: University of Arizona Press. (Introduction only) 4. Tarter, Jim Some Live More Downstream Than Others: Cancer, Gender, and Environmental Justice. In The Environmental Justice Reader: Politics, Poetics, & Pedagogy, ed. by Joni Adamson, Mei Mei Evans, and Rachel Stein (Tucson: The University of Arizona Press), pp Haraway, Donna Simians, Cyborgs and Women: The Reinvention of Nature. NY: Routledge. (Ch. 9: Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective ) plus accompanying excerpt from Donna Haraway: Live Theory Weeks 6 and 7 (2/15 and TBD): Frameworks 3-- Theorizing Justice and Difference Note: Tuesday 2/22 follows a Monday class schedule, so we may need to reschedule our week 7 meeting. 1. Anderson, Kay The Racialization of Difference: Enlarging the Story Field. The Professional Geographer 54(1): Smith, David Geography and Social Justice: Social Justice in a Changing World. Wiley-Blackwell. Chapters 2 & 3 3. Young, Iris Marion Structural Injustice and the Politics of Difference. In Social Justice and Public Policy: Seeking Fairness in Diverse Societies. Eds. GG. Craig, T. Burchardt, and D. Gordon (Bristol, UK: The Policy Press), Soja, Edward Seeking Spatial Justice. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. (Intro and Chs. 2 & 3) 5. Fraser, Nancy Reframing Justice in a Globalizing World. New Left Review 36:

6 Week 8 (3/1): Epistemology and Methodology 1. Forsyth, Tim Critical Political Ecology: The Politics of Environmental Science. NY: Routledge. Chapters TBD. Note: Spring Break falls 3/7-3/11, so we miss class on 3/8. Week 9 (3/15): Climate Justice 1. Roberts, J. T. and B. Parks Ecologically Unequal Exchange, Ecological Debt, and Climate Justice: The History and Implications of Three Related Ideas for a New Social Movement. International Journal of Comparative Sociology 50(3 4): Kasperson, R. and J. Kasperson Climate Change, Vulnerability, and Social Justice. Stockholm: Stockholm Environment Institute. Excerpt on social justice principles 3. Thomas, D. and C. Twyman Equity and Justice in Climate Change Adaptation Amongst Natural-Resource-Dependent Societies. Global Environmental Change 15: Roberts, J. T The International Dimension of Climate Justice and the Need for International Adaptation Funding Environmental Justice 2(4): Terry, G No Climate Justice without Gender Justice: An Overview of the Issues. Gender & Development 17(1): Adger, W. N. et al, eds Fairness in Adaptation to Climate Change. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. (available through MCL electronic books) excerpts 7. Mearns, R. and A. Norton, eds The Social Dimensions of Climate Change: Equity and Vulnerability in a Warming World. Washington, DC: World Bank Publications. Excerpts 8. Phelps, J., E. Webb, and A. Agrawal Does REDD+ Threaten to Recentralize Forest Governance? Science 328(5976): Week 10 (3/22): Intersections with Sustainability 1. Agyeman, Julian Sustainable Communities and the Challenge of Environmental Justice. NY: NY Univ. Press. (Chapters TBA) 2. Sturgeon, Noel Environmentalism in Popular Culture: Gender, Race, Sexuality and the Politics of the Natural. (Ch. 7 Purity and Privilege or Justice and Sustainability? Natural Consumers in the Global Economy ) 3. Dobson, Andrew Social Justice and Environmental Sustainability: Ne er the Twain Shall Meet? In Just Sustainabilities: Development in an Unequal World, eds. Agyeman, Bullard, Evans (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press), Boone, C Environmental Justice, Sustainability and Vulnerability. International Journal of Urban Sustainable Development 2(1):

7 Week 11 (3/29): Grad Student Topical Exploration 1 Week 12 (4/5): Grad Student Topical Exploration 2 Note: This week Paul Mohai will be visiting USU. Please attend the Monday, 4/4 ENVS seminar (4 pm). We will also try to arrange other interactions with Dr. Mohai. Week 13 (4/12): No class meeting. AAG Meetings in Seattle Note: Use this week to work on your final papers. Week 14 (4/19): Grad Student Topical Exploration 3 Week 15 (4/26): Grad Student Topical Exploration 4 Friday, 5/6 Final Essays Due 7