Seminar: Socio-Economic and Political Dimensions of Global Environmental Change (C5) (74083)
WS 2024/2025
We.: 14:00-16:00, S 133 (NW III)
Festus Boamah
S, 5 ECTS
Starting date: 23 October 2024
Learning Objectives: The Anthropocene refers to a new geo-chronological era on Earth in which humans made the most significant impacts on geology, biological processes and ecosystems, not least anthropogenic climate change. The module aims to address foundations and concepts to understand possible causes and impacts of global change, as well as the quality of adaptation measures in various social contexts. Global and environmental change demands a variety of transformation, avoidance, and adaptive strategies that are at the centre of debates in the social sciences; in this connection, system-immanent reflections on neo-liberal economies that can be considered the drivers of global environmental change is also encouraged. The students are exposed to a cross-section of politico-economic and politico-ecological approaches based on relevant studies on global environmental change from the social sciences; they also learn social approaches and approaches from social theory to examine social transition and adaptation.
Course Content: The seminar “Socio-Economic and Political Dimensions of Global Change” analyses society-environment interrelationships from the perspective of political ecology. Areas of tension are access to natural resources, the distribution of environmental risks, or defining environmental rights and duties. Environmental conflicts often include various spatial and social scale levels, from the local neighbourhood to international relations. In addition, fundamental processes of transformation in the Global South that are not only related to climate and environmental change are also addressed. Moreover, an analysis requires interacting with various dimensions of global change in the context of geographical development research, considering specific social, economic, political, and cultural contexts, and their inherent power structures. Comparing current case studies from the Global South and the Global North helps illustrate the unjust socialization of global change.
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