121-017 Society and Environments

Formerly available as 121-208/308. Students who have completed 121-208 or 121-308 are not eligible to enrol in this subject.

Completion of 100 points of first and/or second-year subjects including at least 50 points at first-year level from approved subjects in your home faculty.

This subject examines the relationship between society and environments. Students will be introduced to the ways in which capitalism structures social/environmental relations; the notion of the social construction of the natural world; the role of the state in environmental management and regulation; and the relationship between certain cultural values and the use and meaning of nature. Students will address these broader themes through a range of interesting and relevant case material drawn from Western and non-Western examples as well as from mainstream and alternative spheres of society. These themes include the concept of wilderness; the (post)colonial politics of the zoo; the production and consumption of food; traditional ecological knowledges; tourism and the consumption of nature; environmental sub-cultures and radical environmentalisms; environmental justice; and the risk society. Students should complete this subject with an understanding of the complex connections between certain cultural, political and economic formations and the natural world.

Written work totalling 4000 words.