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Semester 2

Environmental Justice (GEGR10123)

Subject

Geography

College

SCE

Credits

20

Normal Year Taken

4

Delivery Session Year

2023/2024

Pre-requisites

Course Summary

Environmental justice has risen in prominence around the world in the language of environmental activism, politics and policy-making. Environmental justice scholarship asks questions about why for some, the environment is part of the good life a source of health, well-being and prosperity, and why for others, it is a source of risk and harm.

Course Description

This course starts by examining the history of the environmental justice movement, and key concepts and debates in environmental justice scholarship. The module then progresses to apply these concepts to case studies with diverse themes and geographies, in which a variety of claims are made regarding environmental justice. This course will develop students critical thinking about the environment as a site of political contestation.The introductory (5 week) section of the course will examine the growth of the environmental justice (EJ) movement from its origins in the United States, and the broadening out of this movement to different scales and geographies. It will introduce key concepts from the work of Rawls (1972), Sen (2009), Nussbaum (2000), and highlight in particular Schlosberg's (2004; 2007) trivalent conception of EJ, incorporating distribution, participation and recognition. These dimensions and the interplay between them will form a continual theme throughout the course.This introductory part will also consider different disciplinary perspectives on EJ (for instance from Geography and Ecological Economics), and intersections between EJ and environmental ethics. The course then develops to set up a framework of local and global EJ issues, discussing key concepts for these different scales of analysis. With these conceptual foundations, the course then moves forward to consider a number of cases in which EJ claims are made, from the local scale to the global.Students are able to apply the conceptual lenses developed in the introductory section to these cases. Where the cases draw on primary research, students will be encouraged to think about appropriate research methodologies for investigating EJ.This course will develop students' critical thinking about the environment as a site of political contestation. Furthermore, it will challenge students to think about the complicity of all of us in matters of environmental justice.

Assessment Information

Written Exam 0%, Coursework 100%, Practical Exam 0%

Additional Assessment Information

Written Exam: 0%, Course Work: 100 %, Practical Exam: 0%.Degree Assessment: Environmental Justice Case Analysis Plan (700 words) (10%); Environmental Justice Case Analysis (2,500 words) (70%); Reflective Statement of Use of Peer Feedback in Environmental Justice Case Analysis (500 words) (20%)Assessment deadlines:Environmental Justice Case Analysis Plan: Week 6Environmental Justice Case Analysis: Week 11Reflective Statement of Use of Peer Feedback in Environmental Justice Case Analysis: Week 11

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