ANTH 469B/ENVIR 450 Fall 2003
Sustainability: From Seattle to Johannesburg

Schedule

Course Schedule

SEPTEMBER

M-28      Introductions. Review of course syllabus, objectives, and requirements. Overview of themes and issues covered by the seminar.


OCTOBER

I. SUSTAINABILITY: FROM BRUNDTLAND TO THE RIO SUMMIT

W-1      Background to the present debate, I: “Only One Earth.” The 1972 UN Conference on the       Human Environment. The World Commission on Environment and Development (1984-87).


Required readings:
•      Elliot, J. A. 2001. An introduction to sustainable development, pp. 1-33.

•      Handout #1 - Redclift, M. 1987. Introduction. In: Sustainable development: Exploring the contradictions, M. Redclift. London: Routledge, pp. 1-14.

•      Handout #2 – Redclift, M. 1987. Sustainable development: The concept. In: Sustainable development, pp. 15-36.


Recommended:
•      Ward, B. and R. Dubos. 1972. Only One Earth. New York: Norton.

•      World Commission on Environment and Development. 1987. Our common future. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

•      Ecologist, The. 1993. Whose common future? Reclaiming the commons. Philadelphia: New Society.


M-6      Background to the present debate, II: The Rio Earth Summit (1992). The question of ethnoecology: Are there conflicts between global environmental governance and the reality of place-based communities of resistance producing their own TEK (traditional environmental knowledge)?


Required readings:
•      Elliot, J. A. 2001. An introduction to sustainable development, pp. 34-101.

•      Handout #3 - Hunn, E. 1999. The value of subsistence for the future of the world. In: Ethnoecology: Situated knowledge/located lives, ed. V. D. Nazarea. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.


Recommended:
•      Visit the home page of the World Summit on Sustainable Development. URL at: http://www.johannesburgsummit.org.

•      Nazarea, V. D., ed. 1999. Ethnoecology: Situated knowledge/located lives, ed. V. D. Nazarea. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.

•      Berkes, F. 1999. Sacred ecology: Traditional ecological knowledge and resource management. Philadelphia: Taylor and Francis.

 Assignment note: First thought piece due at the beginning of class.

II. DISCOURSES OF DEVELOPMENT

W-8      Reconceptualizing ‘development.’ Interactions and contradictions of state-market-civil society.


Required readings:
•      Elliot, J. A. 2001. An introduction to sustainable development, pp. 176-82.

•      Handout #4 – Shiva, V. 2003. Earth democracy. Tikkun (Jan-Feb). URL at: http://www.tikkun.org/magazine/index.cfm/action/tikkun/issue/tik0301/article/030111q.html.

•      Handout #5 – Seabrook, J. 1993. What is development? Voices from the South. In: Victims of development, J. Seabrook. London: Verso, pp. 226-48.

•      Handout #6 – Escobar, A. 1995. The problematization of poverty: The tale of three worlds and development. In: Encountering development: The making and unmaking of the third world, A. Escobar. Princeton: Princeton University Press, pp. 21-54.


Recommended:
•      Munck, R. and D. O’Hearn, ed. 1999. Critical development theory: Contributions to a new paradigm. London: Zed Books.

M-13      Development discourses and gender.


Required readings:

•      Handout #7 - Chowdhry, G. 1995. Engendering development? Women in development (WID) in international development regimes. In: Feminism, postmodernism, development, ed. M. H. Marchand and J. L. Parpart. London: Routledge, pp. 26-41.

•      Handout #8 - Parpart, J. L. 1995. Deconstructing the development ‘expert’: Gender, development and the ‘vulnerable groups.’ In: Feminism, postmodernism, development, pp. 221-43.


Recommended:
•      Visvanathan, N. et al., ed. 1998. The women, gender, and development reader. London: Zed Books.

W-15      Development discourses and cultural difference.


Required readings:
•      Handout #9 - Gardner, K. and D. Lewis.1996. The anthropology of development. In: Anthropology, development, and the post-modern challenge, K. Gardner and D. Lewis. London: Pluto Press, pp. 50-76.

•      Handout # 10 - Gardner, K. and D. Lewis.1996. Subverting the discourse: knowledge and practice. In: Anthropology, development, and the post-modern challenge, pp. 77-102.

 Assignment note: Second thought piece due at the beginning of class.

III. EMERGING METHODS FOR ‘SUSTAINABILITY STUDIES’

M-20      Methods and models for defining and ‘measuring’ sustainability.


Required readings:
•      Anielski, M. and C. L. Soskolne. 2002. Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) accounting: Relating ecological integrity to human health and well-being. In: Just ecological integrity, pp. 83-97.

•      Karr, J. R. 2002. Understanding the consequences or human actions: Indicators from GNP to IBI. In: Just ecological integrity, pp. 98-110.

W-22      Ecological footprint analysis, I: Introduction and basic methods.


Required readings:
•      Wackernagel, M. and W. Rees. 1996. Our ecological footprint: Reducing human impact on the earth. Philadelphia: New Society Publishers, pp. 1-60.

M-27      Ecological footprint analysis, II: Application of the model.


Required readings:
•      Wackernagel, M. and W. Rees. 1996. Our ecological footprint, pp. 61-124.


Recommended:
•      Chambers, N., C. Simmons, and M. Wackernagel. 2002. Sharing nature’s interest: Ecological footprints as an indicator of sustainability. London: Earthscan.

W-29      Ecological footprint analysis, III: Implications for sustainability. Limitations of empirical modeling without an accounting of power, inequality, and patterns of uneven development and consumption.


Required readings:
•      Wackernagel, M. and W. Rees. 1996. Our ecological footprint, pp. 125-57.

•      Handout #11 - European Union Expert Group on the Urban Environment. n.d. Annex 1: Ecological Footprint Analysis, Paper Two. Critiques of Ecological Footprint Analysis. URL at: http://www.sustainable-cities.org/indicators/Use%20of%20EF%20for%20Subnational%20regions%20-%20Annexes.doc.


NOVEMBER

IV. THE EARTH CHARTER

M-3      The Earth Charter, I: ‘Just ecological integrity.’


Required readings:
•      Miller, P. and L. Westra. 2002. Just ecological integrity: The ethics of maintaining planetary life. London: Rowman & Littlefield, pp. xi-52.

 Assignment note: Proposal for ecological footprint project due by 4 p.m. in my office
W-5      The Earth Charter, II: Friendly critics.


Required readings:
•      Davion, V. 2002. Ecofeminism, integrity, and the Earth      Charter: A critical analysis. In: Just ecological integrity, pp. 53-60.

•      Bartkowiak, J. J. 2002. A pragmatic focus on humans. In: Just ecological integrity, pp. 61-8.

•      Zack, N. 2002. Human values as a source for sustaining the environment. In: Just ecological integrity, pp. 69-73.

•      Braye, R. H. and R. M. Lucier. 2002. The Earth Charter,       servant-leadership, and philosophy: Valuing the earth by implementing ideals. In: Just ecological integrity, pp. 74-81.

M-10      The Earth Charter, III: Problems and challenges with implementation.


Required readings:
•      Edwards, C. A. and D. Pimental. 2002. The future of human populations: Energy, food, and water availability in the twenty-first century. In: Just ecological integrity, pp. 119-39.

•      Ryszkowski, L. 2002. Integrity and sustainability of natural and man-made ecosystems. In: Just ecological integrity, pp. 155-66.
           
•      Werhane, P. H. and M. A. Hamilton. 2002. Global consumption in the new millennium. In: Just ecological integrity, pp. 193-204.


V. SUSTAINABILITY AND GLOBALIZATION

W-12 Sustainability and globalization, I: Pitfalls and challenges of global environmental governance.


Required readings:
•      Handout #12 - Domoto, A. n.d. International environmental governance and its impact on social and human development. URL at: http://www.unu.edu/millennium/domoto.pdf.

•      Dryzek, J. S. 1999. Global ecological democracy. In: Global ethics and environment, ed. N. Low. London: Routledge, pp. 264-82.

•      Altvater, E. 1999. Restructuring the space of democracy. In: Global ethics and environment, pp. 282-309.

M-17 Sustainability and globalization, II: Common property regimes (CPRs), ecological democracy, and grassroots social movements.


Required readings:
•      Handout #14 – Redclift, M. Environmental management and social movements. In: Sustainable development, pp. 132-70.

•      Handout #15 - Ecologist, The. 1993. Introduction. The Earth Summit debacle. In: Whose common future? pp. 1-2.

•      Handout #16 - Ecologist, The. 1993. The commons: Where the community has authority. In: Whose common future? pp 3-20.

•      Handout #17 - Ecologist, The. 1993. Development as enclosure: The establishment of the global economy. In: Whose common future? pp 21-58.


VI. SUSTAINABILITY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

W-19      Sustainability and environmental justice, I: EJ theory and questions related to sustainability, globalization, ecological democracy, and environmental modernization.


Required readings:
•      Agyeman, J. R. D. Bullard, and B. Evans. 2003. Introduction: Joined-up thinking: Bringing together sustainability, environmental justice and equity. In: Just sustainabilities: Development in an unequal world, ed. J. Agyeman, et al. London: Earthscan Books, pp. 1-16.

•      McLaren, D. 2003. Environmental space, equity and the ecological debt. In: Just sustainabilities, pp. 19-37.

•      Faber, D. R. and D. McCarthy. 2003. Neo-liberalism, globalization and the struggle for ecological democracy: Linking sustainability and environmental justice. In: Just sustainabilities, pp. 38-63.

•      Blowers, A. 2003. Inequality and community and the challenge to modernization: Evidence from the nuclear oases. In: Just sustainabilities, pp. 64-80.


Recommended:
•      Faber, D. R., ed. 1998. The struggle for ecological democracy: Environmental justice movements in the U.S. New York: Guilford Press.

M-24      Sustainability and environmental justice, II: Critical studies of consumption, distribution, and anthropogenic ecological services.


Required readings:
•      Dobson, A. 2003. Social justice and environmental sustainability: Ne’er the twain shall meet? In: Just sustainabilities, pp. 83-95.

•      Rees, W. E. and L. Westra. 2003. When consumption does violence: Can there be sustainability and environmental justice in a resource-limited world? In: Just sustainabilities, pp. 99-124.

•      Tóth, J. 2002. The fair distribution of environmental goods. In: Just ecological integrity, pp. 243-51.

•      Handout #18 - Peña, D. G. 2003. The watershed commonwealth of the Upper Rio Grande. In: Natural assets: Democratizing environmental ownership, ed. J. K. Boyce and B. G. Shelley. Washington, D.C.: Island Press, pp. 169-85.

W-26 Sustainability and environmental justice,
III: Identity politics and EJ. Critiques of equity-based EJ theory: Autonomy, sustainability and environmental self-governance.


Required readings:
•      Peña, D. G. 2003. Identity, place, and communities of resistance. In: Just sustainabilities, pp. 146-67.

•      Handout #19 - Peña, D. G. 2003. Autonomy, equity, and environmental justice. Provost’s Lecture Series on Race, Poverty, and Environmental Justice, Brown University (21 April).

 Assignment note: Third thought piece due at the beginning of class.

DECEMBER

M-1 Sustainability and environmental justice, IV: Selected case studies.


Required readings:
•      Roberts, D. 2003. Sustainability and equity: Reflections of a local government practitioner in South Africa. In: Just sustainabilities, pp. 187-200.

•      Martínez-Alier, J. 2003. Mining conflicts, environmental justice and valuation. In: Just sustainabilities, pp. 201-28.

•      Wickeramasinghe, A. 2003. Women and environmental justice in South Asia. In: Just sustainabilities, pp. 229-51.

W-3 Sustainability and environmental justice, V: Selected case studies.


Required readings:
•      Rixecker, S. S. and B. Tipene-Matua. 2003. Maori Kaupapa and the inseparability of social and environmental justice: An analysis of bioprospecting and a people’s resistance to (bio)cultural assimilation. In: Just sustainabilities, pp. 252-68.

•      Agbola, T. and M. Alabi. 2003. Political economy of petroleum resources development, environmental injustice and selective victimization: A case study of the Niger River Delta region of Nigeria. . In: Just sustainabilities, pp. 269-88.

•      Camargo, L. A. and V. Castillo. 1999. Violence and the environment in Colombia: Questions regarding environmental ethics. In: Just ecological integrity, pp. 269-83.

•      Durbin, P. T. Can Corcovado National Park in Costa Rica be saved? How to apply the principles of The Earth Charter. In: Just ecological integrity, pp. 303-10.

•      Isla, A. and T. T. Turner. 1999. Gendered resistance to corporate environmentalism and debt-for-nature swaps in Costa Rica. In: Just ecological integrity, pp. 311-22.


Recommended:
•      Guha, R. 1989. Radical American environmentalism and wilderness preservation: A third world critique. Environmental Ethics 11: 231-44. URL at: http://www.wilderness.net/wmdep/crookston/Readings/guha.pdf.

M-8 Sustainability and environmental justice, VI: Further theoretical reflections.

•      Bullard, R. D. 1999. Environmental justice challenges at home and abroad. In: Global environmental ethics, pp. 33-46.

•      Shiva, V. 1999. Ecological balance in an era of globalization. In: Global environmental ethics, pp. 47-79.

•      Harvey, D. 1999. Considerations on the environment of justice. In: Global environmental ethics, pp. 109-30.

•      Warren, K. 1999. Care-sensitive ethics and situated universalism. In: Global environmental ethics, pp. 131-45.

•      Fourmile, H. 1999. Indigenous peoples, the conservation of traditional ecological knowledge, and global governance. In: Global environmental ethics, pp. 215-46.

W-10      No class. Work on ecological footprint project.
M-15       Assignment note: Ecological footprint project due by 12 noon in my office