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Political Science/Women's Studies 341: Globalization, Social Struggle and the Environment Tentative Course Syllabus-Spring 2008
Instructor: Judith E. Shevelev
Augsburg College General Education Requirements: This course fulfills the Critical Thinking Skills requirements.
Cross-Listings and Credit Options: This course is cross-listed as a Political Science (POL) and a Women’s Studies (WST) course. Students may choose to register for either discipline.
Course Rationale The political life of Morelos, and of most of modern Mexico and Central America, has been greatly influenced by struggles regarding the ownership and use of land and water resources. Morelos, famous for its fertile land, guava orchards, and abundant supply of water, is commonly known as the “City of the Eternal Spring.” Since the 1970s, however, the burgeoning of the city’s industrial zone, water and air pollution, climatic changes, soil erosion, as well as significant political and economic changes, have greatly affected the same farmers who benefited from land redistribution after the Mexican revolution, in the early part of the 20th century. In the 1970s and 1980s, migration from Mexico City and the impoverished state of Guerrero has led to a higher demand for land and urban services in Morelos. More recently, economic globalization has had a tremendous impact on the environment and access to resources in general. As is true all over the global south, women bear the primary share of domestic responsibilities and they and their children are the first to be affected by scarce and/or contaminated natural resources and insufficient urban infrastructure. Moreover, traditional gender roles create further difficulties as women try to raise their families under new conditions created by the forces of globalization. As Carmen Diana Deere and Magdalena León cite in their book Empowering Women: Land and Property Rights in Latin America (2001), “Land for women has to do with survival; for men it has to do with power…the men will be the first ones to oppose our participation in land tenancy.” Today, Mexican feminists, ecologists, and indigenous organizations continue to raise serious questions about the human relationship to the natural world, land ownership and resource management. Precisely because Mexico is the third most biologically diverse nation on Earth, what happens in Mexico has global implications. Thus, Mexico provides a unique setting for students to learn about politics, globalization, and the environment, especially in light of the fact that the democratic openings in Mesoamerica are creating new opportunities for debate about environmental issues and citizen participation in policy-making, including the ever-increasing participation of women in social struggles and government.
Purpose of the Course This course will focus on land and water as vital natural resources, cultural symbols, and political tools. By examining the impact of globalization on politics, economics, social struggles, and the environment, students will analyze a variety of topics such as sanitation, food security, deforestation, climatic changes, the impact of war on the environment, communal and private land tenancy, industrialization, cross-border environmental issues, immigration, and the results of environmental destruction on human health and eco-systems. Particular attention will be paid to the way in which the relationship between humanity and the natural world has changed historically and especially how this relationship has been expressed through social movements in the last 30 years. The course will also address the historical and contemporary use of natural resources and the debate between conservation and development within the context of globalization today. The impact of all these issues on women will be woven throughout the course.
The course will examine alternative perspectives on the relationship between humankind and nature, particularly as expressed in social ecology, Mesoamerican indigenous thought and spirituality, and feminist ecology. Students will become familiar with the issues and debates regarding human difference from and control over nature versus sustainability and living in harmony with nature. They will draw on the cultural diversity of Mexico to explore these alternative conceptions of nature, through guest speakers and field trips.
The movement towards democracy in Mexico, as well as the increasing role of women in political parties and social movements, open new political spaces for citizens and government officials to take on the challenge of reconciling the needs, agendas, and power of many different actors in a diverse society. Moreover, changing political and economic times call upon all of us to think and act creatively in order to confront new and often overwhelming challenges. Thus, students will grapple with key questions related to these challenges: What is the difference in the way that societies with community-based values and societies with more individualistic values view and interact with their natural environment? How does the global world economy benefit and/or hinder the sustainable use of natural resources? What is the role of grassroots social movements in the formation of policy? To what degree is there a need for centralized leadership in the formation of environmental policy? Who is included and excluded in the decision-making process regarding environmental policy? What is the relationship between gender, race, class, and environmental issues? How can we better deal with the sprawling metropolis, the increasing ethnic diversity of cities, and a growing income disparity between the rich and the poor? How do we sustain our communities at a local level and act as responsible global citizens? As students from universities in North America, what is an appropriate response to the role that the United States has played in Latin America? What is the relevance of the natural environment to these issues and how can our understanding of them contribute to the making of just and sustainable global policies?
Thus, this course includes a variety of perspectives on the relationship between human society and the natural world. Particular attention is paid to the critiques of Western thought by women and ethnic minorities. The course will involve the application of social and political analysis to the study of environmental issues in Mexico. In addition, the course will approach the topic as part of a liberal arts education, placing these issues within their broader social, economic, political, and cultural contexts.
Instructional Objectives/Learning Outcomes Students will: 1. Learn about the diverse uses of land and water as political tools and cultural and spiritual symbols. 2. Debate the impact of globalization on social struggles and the environment. 3. Understand the role that social movements play in politics in Mexico. 4. Analyze different perspectives on feminism and gender relations regarding resource management and the environment. 5. Evaluate conservation and development policies in rural and urban contexts and how the impacts of these policies differ for men and for women and for people from varying class and ethnic backgrounds. 6. Analyze varying perspectives on some of the key environmental issues facing citizens and policy-makers in Mexico, including indigenous and feminist perspectives. 7. Learn about U.S. trade and migration policy in Mexico and its impact on people and the environment. 8. Analyze consumption levels in the global north and the global south and the effect of current disparities on people and the environment.
Teaching Methodology The instructor uses an experiential methodology based on feminist pedagogy designed to assist students to increase their knowledge base about the course topics, to develop critical thinking skills and to deepen their respect for and understanding of political perspectives that differ from their own. By engaging in direct dialogue with activists, feminists, academics, politicians, businesspeople, and members of grassroots social movements about the course topics, students will be exposed to a variety of perspectives about similar issues in high-context settings. At the end of the course, students will consider new forms of political and social participation for themselves in their communities in the United States.
Students are given a course interest survey to assess their prior knowledge as well their level of interest in specific course topics. Teaching and learning strategies include lectures, field trips, discussions with individuals and organizations representing diverse political and philosophical perspectives, films, journals, essays, debates, individual and group projects, oral presentations, and small and large group discussions of experiences and required readings.
Due to the fact that approximately half of class time is spent listening to guest speakers, students are encouraged to develop their strategic questioning and listening skills. It is very important that students ask informed questions and share their own interests, opinions, and experiences with speakers so that they are not just educational consumers but partners in a common quest to learn more about social change.
Social Justice, Gender and the Environment in Latin America Lab Groups Students will be asked to consider their own group of co-learners as a social and environmental justice “laboratory,” as many of the same environmental and social justice issues that we are studying in society at large can be found within the smaller microcosms of learning groups. Therefore, the T.A. will run a “lab group” that will meet approximately once/week throughout the semester. Active participation in the lab group includes planning and facilitating (or co-facilitating) one hour of a lab group session in coordination with the T.A. You will sign up near the beginning of the semester. At least 48 hours prior to the lab group session, you must submit a short proposal that outlines the topic(s) you plan to address and the specific lab group objectives you will fulfill. You will then meet with your T.A. to discuss the proposal and plans for the session. At the time of the session, you must submit a one-page outline. The T.A. and other students will be asked to complete a short feedback form at the end of the session, and you will be expected to submit your own completed self-assessment form. Be sure to read the separate handout about the Environmental and Social Justice Lab Groups and the handout about lab group journal entries. Course Design This course takes place concurrently with the Mexican History, Culture, and Cosmovision course and during the first half of the semester, the Spanish course. Students begin the program with an orientation to the program and Cuernavaca as well as to Mexican economics and politics. During this time, students will live in the CGE guest house in a mixed working/middle class neighborhood near downtown Cuernavaca. After approximately three weeks of classes, students will travel to a rural area to participate in an intensive seminar there. After finishing Spanish classes, students will have a nine-day spring break immediately after which they will travel for an intensive one-week seminar to the Costa Chica in Guerrero, not far from Acapulco, to study issues related to the overarching themes of the program. Soon after they return, they will live for a four weeks with working class families, where they will experience first-hand the connections between economic, social, political, gender, and environmental issues. Additionally, students will have numerous opportunities to develop their field research skills and to engage in service-learning projects. For the last several weeks of the program, students will live in the CGE guesthouse with the exception of several days during which time students will again participate in a seminar in a rural area and stay with families there.
Required Readings Students will use the following books to read during the semester: 1. Clapp, Jennifer and Dauvergne, Peter. Paths to a Green World: The Political Economy of the Global Environment. The MIT Press, 2005. 2. Roberts, Timmons J. and Thanos, Nikki Demetria. Trouble in Paradise: Globalization and Environmental Crises in Latin America. Routledge, 2003.
Recommended Reading (prior to commencement of the program): Simon, Joel. Endangered Mexico: An Environment on the Edge. Sierra Club Books, 1997. Weisman, Alan. Gaviotas: A Village to Reinvent the World. Chelsea Green Publishing Company, 1995.
Students will also use a reading packet, which will be available in Cuernavaca. Articles in the packet will be selected from the short bibliography listed below: Aguilar, José Victor and Cavada, Miguel. Ten Plagues of Globalization. EPICA, 2002. Barker, Drucilla and Feiner, Susan. Liberating Economics: Feminist Perspectives on Families, Work and Globalization. University of Michigan, 2004. Barlow, Maude and Clarke, Tony. Blue Gold: The Fight to Stop the Corporate Theft of the World’s Water. The New York Press, 2002. Bennett, Vivienne. The Politics of Water: Urban Protest, Gender, and Power in Monterrey, Mexico. Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies at the University of California, 1996. Bhagwati, Jagdish. In Defense of Globalization. Oxford University Press, 2004. Broad, Robin ed. Global Backlash: Citizen Initiatives for a Just World Economy. Rowman and Littlefield, 2002. Buckingham-Hatfield. Gender and Environment. Routledge, 2000. Collinson, Hellen, ed. Green Guerrillas: Environmental Conflicts and Initiatives in Latin American and the Caribbean. Latin American Bureau, 1996. Dávila-Poblete, Sonia, Nieves Rico, María and Bennett, Vivienne. Opposing Currents: The Politics of Water and Gender in Latin America. The University of Pittsburgh Press, 2005. Deere, Carmen Diana and Magdalena León. Empowering Women: Land and Property Rights in Latin America. University of Pittsburgh Press, 2001. Deere, Carolyn and Esty, Daniel, Eds. Greening the Americas: NAFTA’s Lessons for Hemispheric Trade. The MIT Press, 2002. Des Jardins, Joseph R. Environmental Ethics: An Introduction to Environmental Philosophy, 3rd Edition. Wadsworth, 2001. Easton, Thomas and Goldfarb, Theodore. Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Controversial Environmental Issues. McGraw-Hill, 2003. Gallagher, Kevin P. Free Trade and the Environment: Mexico, NAFTA and Beyond. Stanford University Press, 2004. Gilbreath, Jan. Environment and Development in Mexico: Recommendations for Reconciliation. Center for Strategic and International Studies, 2003. Kingsolver, Barbara. Small Wonder Essays. HarperCollins Publishers, 2002. Melville, Thomas R. Through a Glass Darkly: The U.S. Holocaust in Central America. Xlibris Corporation, 2005. Moe-Lobeda, Cynthia. Healing a Broken World. Fortress Press, 2002. Olivera, Oscar. Cochabamba! Water War in Bolivia. South End Press, 2004. Primack, Richard and David Bray, Hugo Galletti, Isamael Ponciano. Timber, Tourists and Temples: Conservation and Development in the Maya Forest of Belize, Guatemala and Mexico. Island Press, 1998. Radford Ruether, Rosemary. Integrating Ecofeminism, Globalization and World Religions. Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2005. Shiva, Vandana. Earth Democracy: Justice, Sustainability and Peace. South End Press, 2005 __________. Water Wars: Privatizatization, Pollution and Profit. South End Press, 2002. __________. Stolen Harvest: The Hijacking of the Global Food Supply. South End Press, 2000. __________. Biopiracy: The Plunder of Nature and Knowledge. South End Press, 1997. Vaghn Switzer, Jacqueline. Environmental Politics: Domestic and Global Dimensions. Thomson-Wadworth, 2004. Wackernagel, Mathis and William Rees. Our Ecological Footprint: Reducing Human Impact on the Earth. New Society Publishers, 1996. Wise, Timothy A., Hilda Salazar and Laura Carlsen, eds. Confronting Globalization: Economic Integration and Popular Resistance in Mexico. Kumarian Press, Inc., 2003
In addition, students will have access to further information on environmental issues in the CGE Cuernavaca library. Some of the holdings are listed in the selected bibliography at the end of this syllabus.
Course Requirements (100% = 100 total points)
1. Class Participation (10%): Effective class participation includes regular attendance, completion of assigned readings before class sessions, participation in class sessions, and a demonstrated effort to dialogue with speakers, ask probing questions, and relate assigned readings to class discussion topics. Students will demonstrate comprehension of assigned readings by completing writing exercises and through class discussion about the readings. Demonstrated improvement of work will also be taken into account. Please note that class participation is required for a passing grade. Because participation is essential to the learning process, any student who misses more than 2 class activities for any reason must speak to the instructor. Absences for travel are not excused absences. If a student must miss a class session due to illness, s/he is expected to inform the instructor in advance or as soon thereafter as possible. Students are also responsible for getting notes, handouts, and information regarding announcements from other students if they arrive late to class or miss a class session.
2. Active Participation in the Social Change Lab Group (5%) This includes facilitation of a 1-hour lab group session.
3. Take-Home Exam (15%): Students will take a short exam covering the first unit of the course on globalization. The purpose of the exam is to ensure all students have basic knowledge about the economic impact of globalization. All students must take this exam in order to pass the course.
4. Analysis Papers (20%): Students will complete two analysis papers in response to readings, field trips, and guest speakers in which they will be expected to discuss varying perspectives about specific issues and articulate their own opinion about these issues. These papers will be due in class and will serve as the basis for developing critical thinking skills and in-class discussion those weeks.
5. In Class Debates (10%): In teams, students will participate in two debates about contemporary environmental issues and submit written outlines of their arguments in which they will be expected to draw upon readings, speakers, and field trips.
6. Research Paper or Project: (30%): Students will write a 1250-1500 word research paper (approximately 5-6 typed pages) on an environmental issue in Mexico of special interest to each student. The paper will give students an opportunity to delve into a subject of special interest; students who prefer to present their research findings in the form of a creative project may do so in lieu of a longer paper with the instructor’s prior approval of a written project proposal.
7. Integrative Semester Project Presentation (10%): The purpose of the integrative project and oral presentation is for students to develop a project proposal or action plan in preparation for their return to the United States. The project will draw on students’ experiences from throughout the semester. Students will design and complete an action plan or project proposal, accompanied by a 10-15 minute class presentation, which will allow them to apply what they learned about globalization and the environment to a specific issue at their home universities or communities. Projects may include slide presentations, photo essays, dramatic presentations, letters to the editor of a local newspaper, an article for the university paper, a proposal for a new course, or recommendations to the university for more ecological practices on campus, or other creative formats. Proposals for the integrative project must be approved by the instructor. No student may opt out of this assignment. Due week #15, date to be determined.
CGE-Mexico Grading Policy: Students must turn assignments in by the assigned due date and time. If a student cannot meet the deadline, he/she may negotiate a new deadline with the instructor at least 24 hours before the deadline.
Rewriting Assignments: Students may revise papers as long as they resubmit them within one week of the date they were returned to them.
Additional Books on the Environment and Politics in the CGE Cuernavaca Library Aguilar Barnhill, David Landis, editor. At Home on the Earth : Becoming Native to Our Place : A Multicultural Anthology. University of California Press, 1999. Barry, Tom with Beth Sims. The Challenge of Cross-Border Environmentalism: The U.S. -Mexico Case. The Inter-Hemispheric Resource Center Press, 1994. Boff, Leonardo. Cry of the Earth, Cry of the Poor. Orbis Books, 1997. __________. Cry of the Earth, Cry of the Poor. Orbis Books, 1997. Brooks, May. Let the Emptiness Be Filled: Poems and Prophecies from Ancient Mexico. 1996. Bullard, Robert D., ed. Unequal Protection: Environmental Justice and Communities of Color. Sierra Club Books, 1997. Cahn, Mathhew Alan and Rory O’Brien, eds. Thinking about the Environment: Readings about Politics, Property, and the Physical World. M.E. Sharpe, 1996. Camacho, David E., et al., eds. Environmental Injustices, Political Struggles: Race, Class, and the Environment. Duke University Press, 1998. Camp, Roderic Ai. Politics in Mexico. Oxford University Press, 1996. Collinson, Hellen, ed. Green Guerrillas: Environmental Conflicts and Initiatives in Latin American and the Caribbean. Latin American Bureau, 1996. Earth Island Press, ed. The Case Against Free Trade: GATT, NAFTA and the Globalization of Corporate Power. Earth Island Press and North Atlantic Books, 1993. Faber, Daniel. Environment Under Fire: Imperialism and the Ecological Crisis in Central America. Monthly Review Press, 1993. Foreman, Christopher H., Jr. The Promise and Peril of Environmental Justice. Brookings Institute, 2000. García-Johnson, Ronie. Exporting Environmentalism: U.S. Multinational Chemical Corporations in Brazil and Mexico. The MIT Press, 2000. Gebara, Ivone. Longing for Running Water: Ecofeminism and Liberation. Fortress Press, 1999. Gwynne, Robert N. And Cristobal Kay, eds. Latin America Transformed, Globalization and Modernity. Oxford University Press Inc., 1999. Harcourt, Wendy. ed. Feminist Perspectives on Sustainable Development. Zed Books, 1994. Herzog, Lawrence A, ed. Shared Space: Rethinking the U.S.-Mexico Border Environment. Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies at the University of California, 2000. Hill, Julia Butterfly. The Legacy of Luna. HarperSan Francisco, 2000. Hutton, Will and Anthony Giddens, eds. Global Capitalism. The New Press, 2000. Isaak, Robert A. Green Logic : Ecopreneurship, Theory and Ethics. Kumanian Press, 1999. Kahn, Peter H., Jr. The Human Relationship With Nature : Development and Culture. MIT Press, 1999. Klarén, Peter F. and Thomas J. Bossert, eds. 1986. Promise of Development: Theories of Change in Latin America. Westview Press, 1986. LaDuke, Winona. All Our Relations. South End Press, 1999. Macy, Joanna and John Seed, et al., eds. Thinking Like a Mountain: Toward a Council of All Beings. New Society Publishers, 1988. Macy, Joanna. World As Lover, World as Self. Parallax Press, 1991. Mellor, Mary. Feminism and Ecology. NY: NYU Press, 1997. Melville, Elinor G.K. A Plague of Sheep: Environmental Consequences of the Conquest of Mexico. Cambridge University Press, 1994. Mendes, Chico. Fight for the Forest. Latin American Bureau, 1989. Merchant, Carolyn. Radical Ecology: The Search for a Livable World. Routledge, 1992. Mohanty, Chandra, A. Russo and L. Torres, eds. Third World Women and the Politics of Feminism. Indiana University Press, 1991. Moyers, Bill and The Center for Investigative Reporting. Global Dumping Ground: The International Traffic in Hazardous Waste. Seven Locks Press, 1990. Murray, Kevin. Inside El Salvador. Inter-Hemispheric Education Resource Center, 1995. Neimark, Peninah and Peter Rhoades Mott, eds. The Environmental Debate: A Documentary History (Primary Documents in American History and Contemporary Issues) Greenwood Publishing Group, 2000. O’Brien, Karen L. Sacrificing the Forest: Environmental and Social Struggles in Chiapas. 1998. O'Kane, Trish. Guatemala in Focus: A Guide to the People, Politics and Culture. Interlink Books, 1999. Peterson, Anna L. Being Human: Ethics, Environment and Our Place in the World. U.C. Press, 2001. Plant, Judith, ed. Healing the Wound: The Promise of Ecofeminism. PhiladelpNew Society Publishers, 1989. Rich, Bruce. Mortgaging the Earth. Beacon Press, 1995. Roberts, Timmons J. and Thanos, Nikki Demetria. Trouble in Paradise: Globalization and Environmental Crises in Latin America. Routledge, 2003. Ruiz, Octavio, Amy Sanders and Meredith Sommers. Many Faces of Mexico. Resource Center of the Americas, 1995. Sachs, Carolyn. Gendered Fields: Rural Women, Agriculture and Environment. Westview Press, 1996. Sachs, Wolfgang. The Development Dictionary: A Guide to Knowledge as Power. Zed Books, 1992. Schnaiberg, Allan and Kenneth Alan Gould. Environment and Society: The Enduring Conflict. The Blackburn Press, 2000. Shiva, Vandana. Staying Alive: Women, Ecology and Development. Zed Books, 1989. Simon, Joel. Endangered Mexico: An Environment on the Edge. Sierra Club Books, 1997. Simonian, Lane. Defending the Land of the Jaguar: A History of Conservation in Mexico. University of Texas Press, 1995. Stephen, Lynn Zapata Lives! History and Cultural Politics in Southern Mexico. University of Calif. Press, 2002. Velázquez, Margarita. Mujer y Medio Ambiente en América Latina y el Caribe: Propuestas para la Investigación. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 1994. Weaver, Justice Jace, and Russell Means, eds. Defending Mother Earth: Native American Perspectives on Environmental Issues. Orbis Books, 1996. Weisman, Alan. Gaviotas: A Village to Reinvent the World. Chelsea Green Publishing Company, 1995. Wilson, Edward O and Laura Simmonds Southworth (Illustrator). In Search of Nature. Island Press, 1997.
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