Course Description
Exploration of how politics of race, class, gender, disability, and colonialism have contributed to climate change, and how women and other climate justice activists are responding on various fronts. We will review climate crises as well as activism through a lens highlighting empirical data, resilience, empowerment, and interdisciplinary and collaborative methods.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
Graduate students will write a longer midterm paper and a longer final paper. They will also be required to lead a class session on their chosen research topic.
Athena Title
Women Gender Climate Justice
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
The objectives of the course are to successfully convey to students: 1) up-to-date science on the phenomenon of global climate change; 2) data on and analysis of the social impacts of climate change at local, regional, and global scales; 3) understanding of the international political regime and processes of climate governance, including the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change; 4) awareness of historical and current movements for climate justice at local, national, and international levels, including feminist and indigenous climate justice movements; 5) analytical methods for understanding the gendered, racial, class, and other political dimensions of the climate crisis; and 6) interdisciplinary methods for developing research and practical projects that address and engage the climate crisis.
Topical Outline
1. What is climate change? A review of the science and current data on the global climate crisis 2. Climate change through the lens of intersectionality: How are gender, race, class, and other social factors relevant in understanding the causes and impacts of climate change? 3. What is climate justice? Tracing the roots of the climate justice movement in the environmental justice movement 4. Examples of climate justice activism, locally, nationally, and at global/transnational scales 5. Understanding and addressing skepticism about the climate crisis 6. Health impacts of climate change as a fulcrum for climate justice activism 7. Food justice as a climate justice issue 8. Understanding the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change as a political regime, a process, and an opportunity for activism 9. Developing group projects to address and engage the climate crisis
Syllabus
Public CV