Environmental Humanities III – Environmental Humanities and sustainable development
The course aims to emphasize the environmental humanist approach to sustainability, and to provide students with broad professional insights into natural and cultural environment management, as well as contacts with the surrounding society. Students will be trained to critically and constructively analyze different policy documents, definitions and practices to build more sustainable communities. There is an opportunity to examine how different environmental ethics and conservation ideologies affect the development of different natural/cultural environments. The course addresses how environmental humanities can be used to critically analyze and develop different approaches to building a more sustainable society. Questions of sustainable development are part of the social debate and the course will give students an insight into ongoing themes. Students will get an in-depth orientation on discussions about biodiversity, ecosystem services, intergenerational equity, planetary boundaries, and policy documents (e.g. UN 1987/Brundland Report, Paris Agreement). It examines dominant ideas and policy frameworks and concrete sustainability initiatives in natural and cultural heritage management from an environmental humanist perspective, including issues of landscape development and re-wilding. The course provides critical and creative approaches to environmental issues, where indigenous knowledge is emphasized.
Here the students are allowed to take part in others' ways of integrating, analyzing and assessing complex situations, and are given in-depth knowledge of natural/cultural environment phenomena that operate over time. This is also linked to their own and others' work to build skills in dealing with complex issues and situations, even with limited information. The course is part of the student's ability to work independently in other qualified activities.
Students will test different perspectives in workshops. They will be allowed to train their ability to present arguments and conclusions orally and in writing in dialogue with different groups in society.
Due to its specialization, the course is useful for many professions working with society's sustainability challenges. The content provides tools to make research-based and well-founded decisions on sustainable development based on environmental humanities, especially regarding nature and cultural environment care.
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Course structure
Teaching format
Teaching is in the form of lectures/seminars, as well as study visits and excursions. Online teaching may occur. Some of these teaching elements are compulsory and can be supplemented in case of absence, with a written assignment.
Teaching is in English. For more detailed information, please refer to the course description. The course description is available no later than one month before the start of the cours.
Learning outcomes
To pass, the student must be able to:
In terms of knowledge and understanding:
• Be able to outline the environmental humanist approaches to sustainability work.
• Be able to account for internationally dominant ideas and policy frameworks in sustainability work, and reflect on these from an environmental humanist perspective.
• Demonstrate knowledge of ongoing discussions on biodiversity, rewilding, ecosystem services, intergenerational equity, planetary boundaries, and policy documents (e.g. UN 1987/Brundland Report, Paris Agreement).
• Present, discuss, and critically reflect on how a division between nature and culture has emerged historically, and how this and other binary divisions are challenged both in environmental humanities and in traditional ecological knowledge.
• Reflect on anthropocentrism versus ecocentrism, and how human-animal-nature relations are formulated and acted out in natural and cultural environment practices.
• Reflect on time and time perspectives in nature and cultural environment management, and how intergenerational justice is handled and relations to the future are formulated therein.
In terms of skills and abilities:
• Analyse different policy documents, definitions and practices to build more sustainable communities.
• Describe and assess how natural and cultural environments can be developed in relation to different frameworks for sustainable development.
• Independently search, plan and use relevant information as a basis for performing qualified tasks in order to clarify natural and cultural environments and their role in the transition process,
• Independently analyse, assess and manage complex cultural environment issues and phenomena concerning relations between gender, humans, animals and the environment, as well as effects over time.
• In written form, present and discuss perspectives, problems and solutions with both national and international approaches.
• Plan and lead smaller seminars, open to different groups of the public, with different approaches to the theme of Environmental Humanities in Sustainability Work.
In terms of value judgement and approach:
• Critically analyse, discuss and problematise different approaches to sustainable development in relation to ongoing research.
• Make assessments of scientific, societal and ethical aspects of sustainability issues in natural and cultural environment work.
• Demonstrate in-depth insight into critical, creative and affirmative practices, and to recognize the possibilities and limitations of different theoretical, methodological and practical approaches to sustainability and transition in natural and cultural environment work.Assessment
The course is examined through written assignments before seminars and in the form of a final assignment presented at a seminar.
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Contact
Student affairs office
- Office hours
By appointment.
Study councellor and student affairs office
- Office hours
By appointment Monday-Thursday
