Human-Environment Relations

12. Environmental Alterations

The purpose of this course is to describe and examine the manifold ways that environmental alterations have occurred-over both geologic and historical timescales. Considerable research over the past several decades has shown that anthropogenic disturbance has significantly modified natural processes frequently leading to degraded conditions. The goal of the course is first to establish that shifts in climate, vegetation, and landscapes are "natural" and have occurred over geologic time and that the timing and magnitude of these shifts provides the necessary background to evaluate the type, magnitude, and frequency of anthropogenic disturbance. The second, and major theme is to present and examine the types of human-induced changes in biotic, atmospheric, and terrestrial conditions (e.g. logging, grazing, urbanization), and to evaluate the social and management issues resulting from these anthropogenic disturbances. Lastly, the third part of the course will focus on the human dimensions of global change by exploring the social aspects of environmental change. In the last part of the class, we will focus on how global environmental changes generate impacts at the local scale, and how small-scale transformations propagate into large-scale global environmental issues. Dist: SOC. Magilligan.

13. Population, Culture, and Environment

The growth and spatial distribution of human population is becoming one of the most important global security issues. This course argues that a geographic perspective on overpopulation, immigration, environment degradation, abortion, human rights, and cultural genocide is both illuminating and important. After covering fundamentals of fertility, morality, migration, and composition, the course details a series of national and international case studies. Where appropriate, attention is given to the public policy aspects of these population issues. Dist: SOC or INT. Fox.

14. Water Resources Management and Policy

16. The Political Economy of Development

This class will examine the political economy of development in the Third World. Beginning with a historical overview of the making of the "Third World" and notions of "development," it will take a critical look at some of the key transitions associated with development-namely agrarian and ecological change, urbanization, industrialization, and recent economic liberalization - and their relationship to poverty and other problems typically associated with Third World conditions. Dist. SOC or INT; WCult: NW. Freidberg.

17. Geopolitics and Third World Development

Political geographers have recently recovered a critical understanding of "geopolitics" in order to highlight how geographical representations-and the construction of spaces and places-are a constitutive part of politics from the global to the local scale. In keeping with this, this course will examine the mutual constructions of places, identities, and politics from a Third World perspective. The course will begin with an overview of geopolitical discourses that underpinned the processes of Western imperialism and colonialism such as "civilization" and "social darwinism." It will then examine contemporary geopolitical (dis)orders through the lens of topics such as globalization, gender, environmental security, humanitarian aid, and terrorism. Finally, the course will examine alternative geopolitical imaginations as constructed through social movements and grassroots politics. Dist. SOC. Sneddon.

18. Urbanization and the Environment

Over half the world's population live in urban areas. The 1992 Rio Summit raised awareness of the potentially serious environmental, health, and social implications of continuing urbanization. This course explores the environmental effects of urbanization from an international comparative perspective. How do the environmental consequences of urbanization in the developing world (Global South) differ from those associated with the developed world (Global North)? How are notions of environment socially constructed as "nature," and how does this translate into political action in different places? The course critically assesses the ability of planners to make lasting improvements in the urban environment. Dist. SOC or INT. Rao

19. Gender, Space and the Environment (Identical to Women's and Gender Studies 38)

This course is meant to help students understand the relationships between the gendered construction of our society, and the ways we have organized our spaces and places, including our homes, places of work, cities, nations and environments. Accordingly, the course will be organized around these different spatial scales, examining everything from the ways we organize our living rooms, to the ways we have shaped empires, to the way Western society has dealt with environmental issues. Dist. SOC. Domosh.