Course description
Instructor
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Julia Sachseder, PhD Senior Research Fellow and Visiting Professor Department of Gender Studies and International Relations Central European University SachsederJ@ceu.edu |
The course introduces students to the relationships between gender, the global political economy, and the climate crisis, while attending to the relevant theories, methodologies, and debates.
Using violence against both humans and other-than-humans as an entry point, the course examines the role of the global political economy and specifically (green) extractivist regimes in perpetuating gendered and environmental violence. While green energy transition(s) offer benefits such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions, minimizing pollution, and enhancing energy independence, scholars warn that current approaches to the climate crisis might perpetuate existing inequalities and environmental limits. This phenomenon is conceptualized as “green extractivism“ that scholars have linked to climate necropolitics” (Deberdt & Le Billon, 2021), “climate coloniality” (Sultana 2022, 2024) and/or “green colonialism” (Dorn, 2022) that may lead to “green wars” (Megan Ybarra, 2017) and/or “green violence”. Altogether, current approaches to the climate crisis might risk reproducing the commodification of nature, externalizing environmental costs, and reinforcing colonial patterns of exploitation, and thus lead to potentially violent outcomes for marginalized groups in (green) extractivist regions.
To understand the complex interplay of economic, ecological, and political power relations that underly and underpin gendered and environmental violence, the course draws on Feminist (post/decolonial) International Relations (IR), International Political Economy (IPE), and (Feminist) Political Ecology. These approaches challenge the separations between politics and economics, states and markets, and nature and society, emphasizing their interactions and differences. Feminist and post/decolonial scholarship further critiques gendered and racialized violence, labor divisions, social reproduction, and care economies. It challenges the universalized notion of ‘woman’ and ‘nature‘ and explores the intersections of gender, class, race, and other categories of difference and inequality in the production of violence, critiquing ‘White,’ middle-class feminism and advocating for broader struggles for justice and (critical) sustainability.
Through selected readings and empirical examples from both the Global South and Global North, students will discuss main debates to examine the production, dynamics, and resistance to gendered and environmental violence. The course addresses questions such as how gender informs the political economy of environmental violence, the role of gendered and racialized constructions in this context, and the insights gained by thinking gendered and environmental violence within the same theoretical framework.
By deepening theoretical, methodological and empirical knowledge, students will critically understand the tensions between conflicts, resource politics, and natural resource extraction, the power relations underlying these structures, and the socio-ecological and politico-economic consequences and resistances that emerge. This will enhance analytical skills in using gender concepts and conducting political economic analyses, envisioning appraoches to the climate crisis as an emancipatory project centered on environmental and intersectional justice.
Objectives
The course uses gender, the environment and the political economy as an entry point to explore broader conceptual and empirical issues around the struggle for justice and redistribution, as well as to deepen students’ understanding of different meanings of gender, approaches to gender research, and levels of gender analysis, building on and advancing their knowledge basis.
The specific objectives of the course are for students to:
· acquire a basic understanding and overview of the field of political economy and gender
· learn to compare and contrast different conceptual and empirical perspectives on the subject
· understand and evaluate different meanings of ‘gender’, different ways of thinking about the interrelations of gender and political economy, as well as different sites and levels of gender analysis in relation to the global political economy
· improve argumentative and writing skills in academic and non-academic genres (i.e., essay)
· independently formulate questions and arguments drawing on the course readings in discussions, exercises, and written assignments
METHOD
Each class follows a guided reading concept that uses each week to introduce a specific perspective on violence through a short input by the teacher guided by the assigned literature to familiarize students with various, partly contradictory approaches to the study of gender equality frameworks in general and of gender and security specifically. Engagement with the literature and subsequent class discussion will be guided by three questions:
· How does each text conceptualize gender? What does gender mean and refer to? (men/women; masculinities/femininities; gender relations; gender orders; intersectionality; de/postcoloniality; etc.)
· How do the texts understand the relationship between gender and security? Where do they locate it? (institutions, actors, national-international-everyday level, policies, practices, discourses, ideologies, meanings, etc.)
· How do they do gender analysis? Which methods are employed?
The course combines two general elements:
1. Close reading and discussion of key texts from different disciplines to develop theoretical and methodological foundations
2. Development and presentation of students’ own writing projects, accompanied by feedback from the group and the course instructor
The course is taught twice weekly. In the first unit of the week, we will have a presentation and on this basis, be discussing the assigned readings and engage with the arguments made therein. In the second unit, we will continue the discussion and possibly conduct practical exercises that teach students how to apply the acquired knowledge on theories, methodologies, research designs, and findings toward their own projects. Exercises include e.g. mapping/visualizing different theoretical approaches and debates; and formulating questions from different theoretical perspectives.
TRIGGER WARNING:
The content and discussion in this course will explore topics related to violence, conflict and insecurity. Some of it may be emotionally and intellectually challenging to engage with. The teacher will work with the students to make the classroom a space where we can engage openly, empathetically and thoughtfully with difficult content.
METHOD OF PRESENTATION:
- Lectures
- Plenary and Group Discussions
- Visual demonstrations, such video inputs
REQUIRED WORK AND FORM OF ASSESSMENT:
- Class participation + class discussion - 15%
- Oral presentation - 35%
- Final exam - 50%
Presentation
Depending on the class size, students will either work individually or in groups. Students will be preparing 10-15 min presentations on case studies of their choosing (country case studies, e.g. Iraq, Colombia, Austria, etc.; institutions and actors, e.g. NATO, the African Union, IMF or the World bank, private security companies; policy fields, such as environmental and/or gender policy). They will conduct their own independent research, give short inputs on their case studies, and guide class discussions. They will prepare slides to go with the presentation. Presentations will take place in unit 11 and students will receive feedback from the class and teacher. This assignment strengthens presentation as well as research skills. An input on ‘how-to’ will be given in unit 6. The teacher will support the decision on a topic, formulation of guiding questions, and case study structure.
Final Exam: Reflection on case study
In the final exam, students will be writing a reflection on the case study presentation of 2500-3000 words. This reflection piece fosters the connection between the academic literature and the discussion of current events. Input on ‘how-to’ will be given in unit 6 and students will be supported in formulating an overarching question. Feedback will be given via moodle with the grading.
ATTENDANCE POLICY:
Attendance will be taken for every class. If a student misses more than two classes without an excuse, the final grade will be reduced by one-third of a letter grade (for example, A- to B+) for every additional unexcused absence.
Excused Absences are permitted only when:
1) a student is ill (health issues),
2) when class is held on a recognized religious holiday traditionally observed by the particular student, or
3) in the case of a grave incident affecting family members;
4) Exceptions may be made for conflicting academic commitments, but only in writing and only well in advance of missed class time.
Class Participation Grading Rubric
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A |
Excellent participation The student’s contributions reflect an active reading of the assigned bibliography. Skillfully synthesizes the main ideas of the readings and raises questions about the applications and implications of the material. Demonstrates, through questions and comments, that they have been capable of relating the main ideas in the readings to the other information discussed in the course, and with his or her own life experience. The student makes informed judgments about the readings and other ideas discussed in class, providing evidence and reasons. They respectfully state their reactions about other classmates’ opinions, and are capable of contributing to the inquiry spiral with other questions. The student gets fully involved in the completion of the class activities. |
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B |
Very good participation The student’s contributions show that the assigned materials are usually read. Most of the time the main ideas are identified, even though sometimes it seems that applications and implications of the information read were not properly reflected upon. The student is able to construct over others’ contributions, but sometimes seems to interrupt the shared construction to go over tangents. They are respectful of others’ ideas. Regularly involved in the activities but occasionally loses concentration or energy. |
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C |
Regular participation The participant evidences a regular reading of the bibliography, but in a superficial way. They try to construct over others’ ideas, but commonly provides comments that indicate lack of preparation about the material. Frequently, contributions are shallow or unarticulated with the discussion in hand. |
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F |
Insufficient participation Consistently, the participant reads in a shallow way or does not read at all. Does not participate in an informed way and shows lack of interest in constructing over others’ ideas. |
- Instructor: Julia Carolin Sachseder