Political ecology(SP493)
| Course Code | Course Name | Semester | Theory | Practice | Lab | Credit | ECTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SP493 | Political ecology | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Prerequisites | |
| Admission Requirements |
| Language of Instruction | English |
| Course Type | Elective |
| Course Level | Bachelor Degree |
| Course Instructor(s) | Cemil YILDIZCAN cyildizcan@gsu.edu.tr (Email) |
| Assistant | |
| Objective |
This course examines the relationship between society and the environment from critical and Marxist perspectives. It explores how power, politics, and ideology shape the ways in which people interact with nature and how these interactions affect both social and ecological systems. The course also focuses on the unequal distribution of environmental risks and benefits, the role of the state, and social movements in environmental governance. This year’s focus will be on food systems as a lens through which global capitalism, inequality, and environmental change can be studied. |
| Content | Overall, the course aims to provide students with a critical understanding of the relationship between society and the environment, and to equip them with the knowledge and skills to engage in environmental politics and advocacy from a critical and Marxist perspective. While each year the course may emphasize particular themes (such as food, waste, or urban ecologies), the central objective remains to critically analyse how power and inequality shape ecological relations under capitalism. |
| Course Learning Outcomes |
By the end of the course, students will be able to: • Develop critical thinking and analytical skills through reading, writing, and discussion. • Understand the relevance and application of political ecology to contemporary environmental issues, policies, and practices. • Understand key concepts and theories of political ecology, including the relations between society, politics, power, and the environment. • Analyse environmental issues and conflicts from critical and Marxist perspectives, with a focus on food systems. • Examine the unequal distribution of environmental risks and benefits along lines of class, race, gender, and geography. • Explore the role of the state, corporate power, and social movements in environmental governance and ecological justice. • Critically engage with food regimes and contemporary debates on hunger, sustainability, and agroecology. • Develop creative, research-based, and activist approaches to food politics (through digital and field assignments). |
| Teaching and Learning Methods |
The course combines structured input with active, student-driven learning. Although each session will begin with short lectures and framing by the instructor, the emphasis is on in-class discussions and collective inquiry. Students are expected to complete the assigned readings before each class and to contribute actively to debates. Learning activities will include: • Weekly lectures and discussions based on assigned readings. • Three short reflection papers to ensure regular engagement. • One mid-semester assignment focused on post-politics debates (essay or short video). • Engagement with a variety of audio-visual documents (including films, documentaries, and video essays), followed by critical discussion. • A field trip to local food infrastructures (such as markets, gardens, or cooperatives). • A final group digital project (format flexible, e.g. campaign, blog, podcast, or mapping project), accompanied by an individual reflection. Pedagogical Approach This course is guided by the conviction that education is not a passive transfer of information, but an active and collective process of inquiry. I see students not as recipients of knowledge, but as co-investigators who bring their own experiences, questions, and perspectives into the classroom. My aim is to create conditions for: • Critical engagement with texts and cases, rather than memorization. • Experimentation with different forms of expression (from short reflections to digital media), to encourage creativity as well as analysis. • Dialogue and mutual learning, where disagreement is treated as a productive resource for clarifying concepts and positions. • Collective knowledge production, where students’ outputs, whether essays, videos, or digital projects, contribute to shared debates beyond the classroom. I also value striking a balance between a clear structure and openness: the syllabus provides a framework of core theories and debates, while students are encouraged to test and expand this framework through contemporary ecological and food-related struggles, and to develop their own critical positions. |
| References |
Alkon A. and Agyeman J. (eds) (2011). Cultivating Food Justice: Race, Class and Sustainability. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. (Selected chapters) Borras Jr., S. M., Moreda, T., Alonso-Fradejas, A., & Brent, Z. W. (2018). Converging social justice issues and movements: implications for political actions and research. Third World Quarterly, 39(7), 1227–1246. https://doi.org/10.1080/01436597.2018.1491301 Crutzen, P.J., Stoermer, E.F. (2021). The ‘Anthropocene’ (2000). In: Benner, S., Lax, G., Crutzen, P.J., Pöschl, U., Lelieveld, J., Brauch, H.G. (eds) Paul J. Crutzen and the Anthropocene: A New Epoch in Earth’s History. The Anthropocene: Politik—Economics—Society—Science, vol 1. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-82202-6_2 D’Alisa, G., & Demaria, F. (2024). Accumulation by contamination: Worldwide cost-shifting strategies of capital in waste management. World Development, 184, 106725. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2024.106725 Edelman,?? M.?? (2005).?? Bringing?? the?? Moral?? Economy?? back?? in?? …?? to?? the?? Study?? of?? 21st-Century?? Transnational?? Peasant?? Movements,?? Social?? Movement?? Studies.?? American?? Anthropologist??,?? 107(3),?? 331-345 Escobar, A. (1998). Whose knowledge, whose nature? Biodiversity, conservation, and the political ecology of social movements. Journal of Political Ecology, 5(1), 53–82. https://doi.org/10.2458/v5i1.21397 Foster, J. B. (1999). Marx’s theory of metabolic rift: Classical foundations for environmental sociology. American Journal of Sociology, 105(2), 366–405. https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdf/10.1086/210315 Friedmann, H., & McMichael, P. (1989). Agriculture and the state system: The rise and decline of national agricultures, 1870 to the present. Sociologia Ruralis, 29(2), 93–117. Haraway, D. (2015). Anthropocene, Capitalocene, Plantationocene, Chthulucene: Making kin. Environmental Humanities, 6(1), 159–165. https://doi.org/10.1215/22011919-3615934 Heynen N (2006) Justice of eating in the city: The political ecology of urban hunger. In: Heynen N, Kaika M, Swyngedouw E (eds) In the Nature of Cities: Urban Political Ecology and the Politics of Urban Metabolism. Abingdon: Routledge, 127–142. Huber, M. (2017). Reinvigorating class in political ecology: Nitrogen capital and the means of degradation. Geoforum, 85, 345–352. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2017.01.010 Marx, K., & Engels, F. (1978 [1846]). The German Ideology. New York: International Publishers. (Part I, Chapter 3) Lappé, F. M., Collins, J., Rosset, P., & Esparza, L. (1998). World Hunger: Twelve Myths. New York: Grove Press. Martínez-Alier, J. (2012). Environmental justice and economic degrowth: An alliance between two movements. Capitalism Nature Socialism, 23(1), 51–73. https://doi.org/10.1080/10455752.2011.648839 McMichael, P. (2009). A food regime genealogy. Journal of Peasant Studies, 36(1), 139–169. https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150902820354 Moore, J. W. (2017). The Capitalocene, Part I: on the nature and origins of our ecological crisis. The Journal of Peasant Studies, 44(3), 594–630. https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2016.1235036 Moragues-Faus, A., & Morgan, K. (2015). Reframing the foodscape: the emergent world of urban food policy. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 47(7), 1558-1573. https://doi.org/10.1177/0308518X15595754 Nyéléni Forum for Food Sovereignty. (2007, February). Declaration of Nyéléni. Sélingué, Mali. https://nyeleni.org/IMG/pdf/DeclNyeleni-en.pdf Patel, R. (2009). Food sovereignty. The journal of peasant studies, 36(3), 663-706. Robbins, P. (2012). Political Ecology: A Critical Introduction (2nd ed.). Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. (Selected chapters). Shiva, V. (1991). The Violence of the Green Revolution: Third World Agriculture, Ecology and Politics. London: Zed Books. (Selected chapters). Shiva V. (1992). The seed and the earth. Biotechnology and the colonisation of regeneration. Development dialogue, (1-2), 151–168. Swyngedouw, E. (2010). Impossible Sustainability and the Post-political Condition. In: Cerreta, M., Concilio, G., Monno, V. (eds) Making Strategies in Spatial Planning. Urban and Landscape Perspectives, (pp. 185–205), vol 9. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3106-8_11 Tilzey, M. (2018). Political Ecology, Food Regimes, and Food Sovereignty: Crisis, Resistance, and Resilience. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64556-8 Tornaghi, C. (2017). Urban agriculture in the food-disabling city:(Re)defining urban food justice, reimagining a politics of empowerment. Antipode, 49(3), 781-801. Watts, M. J. (2015). Now and then: the origins of political ecology and the rebirth of adaptation as a form of thought. In T. Perreault, G. Bridge & J. McCarthy (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Political Ecology (pp. 19–50). London & New York: Routledge. Zimmerer, K. S., Bassett, T. J. (2003). Approaching political ecology: Society, nature, and scale in human-environment studies. In Zimmerer, K. S., Bassett, T.J. (eds.) Political Ecology: An Integrative Approach to Geography and Environment-Development Studies (pp. 1-25). New York: Guilford Publications. |
Theory Topics
| Week | Weekly Contents |
|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction to the Course & Political Ecology |
| 2 | Critical and Marxist Perspectives and the Metabolic Rift |
| 3 | Anthropocene, Capitalocene, Plantationocene: Competing Frameworks for the Ecological Crisis |
| 4 | Food Regimes and World Economy |
| 5 | Food and Social Justice: Class, Race, Gender |
| 6 | Hunger and the Paradox of Plenty: The (Post-)Political Nature of Food Crises |
| 7 | Seeds in the Political Ecology of Food: From Commons to Commodities |
| 8 | Agroecology and Food Sovereignty |
| 9 | Urban Political Ecology of Food and Insecurity |
| 10 | Political Ecology of Waste Management: Capital Accumulation, Dispossession, (Un)sustainable Development |
| 11 | Field Trip (Location TBA) |
| 12 | Workshop and Peer Coaching: Preparing Digital Projects |
| 13 | Student Digital Projects / Presentations I |
| 14 | Student Digital Projects / Presentations II + Conclusion and Feedback |
Practice Topics
| Week | Weekly Contents |
|---|
Contribution to Overall Grade
| Number | Contribution | |
|---|---|---|
| Contribution of in-term studies to overall grade | 4 | 55 |
| Contribution of final exam to overall grade | 1 | 45 |
| Toplam | 5 | 100 |
In-Term Studies
| Number | Contribution | |
|---|---|---|
| Assignments | 3 | 35 |
| Presentation | 0 | 0 |
| Midterm Examinations (including preparation) | 0 | 0 |
| Project | 0 | 0 |
| Laboratory | 0 | 0 |
| Other Applications | 0 | 0 |
| Quiz | 0 | 0 |
| Term Paper/ Project | 0 | 0 |
| Portfolio Study | 0 | 0 |
| Reports | 0 | 0 |
| Learning Diary | 0 | 0 |
| Thesis/ Project | 0 | 0 |
| Seminar | 0 | 0 |
| Other | 1 | 20 |
| Make-up | 0 | 0 |
| Toplam | 4 | 55 |
| No | Program Learning Outcomes | Contribution | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 1 | Understanding the major theories, concepts, foundations, and methodologies used in the study of politics. | X | ||||
| 2 | Identifying the structure and operation of the political system in Turkey and other political systems in the world. | X | ||||
| 3 | Identifying and gathering information from credible primary and secondary sources; analyzing and synthesizing the acquired knowledge. | X | ||||
| 4 | Generating and testing empirically hypotheses about political processes, institutions, mechanisms and relationships. | |||||
| 5 | Designing, conducting and interpreting the results of original research in accordance with the scientific and ethical principles by using basic research methods. | X | ||||
| 6 | Showing awareness and sensivity towards issues related to democracy, human rights and social peace. | X | ||||
| 7 | Appraising the sources of societal conflict and how they can be resolved by political means. | X | ||||
| 8 | Examining critically the nature of change in the global political community, and the complex character of processes such as globalization. | X | ||||
| 9 | Taking a role in a teamwork in political science and general fields of other related disciplines. | X | ||||
| 10 | Following publications in foreign languages and communicating with the colleagues in the international environment by using French which is the language of education in Galatasaray University and English, the compulsory foreign language. | X | ||||
| 11 | Using required level of information and communication technologies. | X | ||||
| Activities | Number | Period | Total Workload |
|---|---|---|---|
| Class Hours | 14 | 3 | 42 |
| Working Hours out of Class | 12 | 4 | 48 |
| Assignments | 3 | 4 | 12 |
| Presentation | 1 | 10 | 10 |
| Midterm Examinations (including preparation) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Project | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Laboratory | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Other Applications | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Final Examinations (including preparation) | 1 | 25 | 25 |
| Quiz | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Term Paper/ Project | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Portfolio Study | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Reports | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Learning Diary | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Thesis/ Project | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Seminar | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Other | 1 | 10 | 10 |
| Make-up | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Yıl Sonu | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Hazırlık Yıl Sonu | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Hazırlık Bütünleme | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total Workload | 147 | ||
| Total Workload / 25 | 5.88 | ||
| Credits ECTS | 6 | ||