Course description:How can social theories about power benefit the environmental movement, and help solve our gravest environmental problems? In this class, we will see how the power imbalances produced by imperialism and capitalism have allowed overdeveloped countries to systematically locate its environmental pollution in places belonging to Black and Indigenous people. Analyzing francophone resistance to environmental issues is particularly enlightening, as France’s philosophical promotion of universalism has long prevented dialogue between environmental activists and antiracist militants, making it especially important to bridge the gap and promote a decolonial ecology. Analyzing art and activism from places such as the Pacific, the Caribbean, the Maghreb, and Europe, this class explores how Marxist, antiracist, and feminist struggles subtend environmental movements. Primary material includes novels, comics, songs, films, and essays by authors such as Chantal Spitz, Pierre Gope, Jacques Roumain, Kopp Johnson, Mohamed Al Fakhkhari, and Pablo Servigne.
Language of instruction: Course and reading material are all in English
Faculty: Professor Anaïs Maurer