Duration
30h Th
Number of credits
Lecturer
Language(s) of instruction
English language
Organisation and examination
Teaching in the first semester, review in January
Schedule
Units courses prerequisite and corequisite
Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program
Learning unit contents
This course aims at questioning such vast notions as "ecology" & "politics" from an interdisciplinary and situated approach. It is organised as a guest lectures seminar to introduce students to a variety of research perspectives. It will bring in complex empirical situations and thick descriptions that offer a better grasp on both these notions. In this respect, the course does not strive for establishing definitions of "ecology" nor "politics" but rather use them as resources to explore actual material situations. For so doing, the course will be organized around a short-term ethnography or "mini-fieldwork" led by students. Students will be asked to open wide their "carrier bag" (Le Guin) and to bring back observations, recordings, pictures, fieldnotes, open to multiple sensitivities (sight, hear, touch, smell, taste and intuition). Sessions will be devoted to putting these collected materials in common and discussing collectively what could possibly be an understanding of "ecology" or "politics" in a particular situation. In addition, a series of specialized seminar sessions will expose students to cutting-edge research in environmental humanities, from which they will be able to draw insight, like showcases about how to fill in one's "carrier bag" and make analytical use of the stuff it contains.
Learning outcomes of the learning unit
- Understand and overcome structuring great dualisms (Nature / Culture, Economy / Society, etc);
- Unfold the narrative dimension of ecology and politics, including their colonial dimension;
- Develop empirical skills as about how to observe a situation and how to analytically relate to theoretical notions in an adequate way
- Think creatively and bring in new content
Prerequisite knowledge and skills
None
Planned learning activities and teaching methods
The course makes a stance towards "wild inquiry" and feeds it with invited lectures. When there is a reading on the list, it is mandatory that all students have read it carefully in advance. In each of the texts, students are invited to locate and define what is, or could be, potential definitions of what "ecology" means, as well as to provide tentative narratives about how "politics" are being played out and structured in the situation described by the text.
- What kind of « ecology » is at stake?
- What kind of « politics » are at play ?
Students are much encouraged to bring in the course their own materials to discuss with, be it a fiction, a documentary, poetry, novels, short stories, field observations, be it relevant associative or militant experience, student jobs (e.g. bicycling for takeaway or deliveroo), from which they can derive observations, questions, ecological (and thus political) and political (and thus ecological) problem.
Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)
Face-to-face course
Additional information:
For this course being present - in all the meanings of the term (physically, intelectually, enthusiastically...) - is an important endavour.
Recommended or required readings
Indicative bibliography
Cronon W. (1992), "A Place for Stories: Nature, History, and Narrative", The Journal of American History, 78(4), pp. 1347-1376.
Gorz A. (1992), "L'écologie politique entre expertocratie et autolimitation", Actuel Marx, n°12 (also in « Ecologica », Paris : Galilée, 2008).
Haraway D. (1988), "Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective", Feminist Studies, 14(3), pp. 575-599.
Illich I. (1973), Tools for conviviality, Harper & Row.
Latour Bruno, Politics of Nature. How to bring the sciences into democracy, Harvard University Press: Introduction.
Le Guin (1989), "The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction", in Dancing at the Edge of the World, Grove Press.
Tsing A (2018), The Mushroom at the End of the World. On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins, Princeton University Press.
Exam(s) in session
Any session
- In-person
oral exam
Additional information:
There will be an oral examination where the student presents its materials and hypothesis in front of the group, which is followed by a collective discussion.
Work placement(s)
Organisational remarks and main changes to the course
Langage
The course is held in English. However, each student is invited to speak in the language he/she/they is more comfortable with.
Courses
Tuesday, Sept. 21st, from 3 to 5 pm, Séminaire 7 (B31)
Tuesday, Sept. 28st, from 3 to 5 pm, Séminaire 7(B31): introduction to my research and the politics of inquiry, politics of Nature (ex cathedra lesson)
Tuesday, Oct. 5th, from 3 to 5 pm, Séminaire 7 (B31): fieldwork activities (no class in situ)
Tuesday, Oct. 12st, from 3 to 5 pm, Séminaire 7 (B31): fieldwork activities (no class in situ)
Tuesday, Oct. 19th, from 3 to 5 pm, Séminaire 7 (B31): first sharing of the fieldwork results (informal)
Tuesday, Oct. 26st, from 3 to 5 pm, Séminaire 7 (B31): discussions over the introduction of Politics of Nature (Bruno Latour)
Tuesday, Nov. 2nd, from 3 to 5 pm, Séminaire 7 (B31): complement fieldworks (no class in situ)
Tuesday, Nov. 9th, from 3 to 5 pm, Séminaire 7(B31): material sharing session
Tuesday, Nov. 16th, from 3 to 5 pm, Séminaire 7(B31): Guest lecture Kim Hendrickx
Tuesday, Nov. 23rd, from 3 to 5 pm, Séminaire 7(B31): Guest lecture Antonina Ferrante
Tuesday, Nov. 30th, from 3 to 5 pm, Séminaire 7(B31): Guest lecture Adam Searle
Tuesday, Dec 7th, from 3 to 5 pm, Séminaire 7(B31): Guest lecture Daniele Valisena
Tuesday, Dec. 15th, from 3 to 5 pm, Séminaire 7(B31): Open Q/A session