| Unit name | Beyond the Battlefield: Environment and Conflict |
|---|---|
| Unit code | HUMSM0001 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | M/7 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
| Unit director | Dr. Dudley |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department | School of Humanities |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
Battlefields; the fight against disease;the destruction of ecosystems and livelihoods: conflict, in and with our environments, frames the ways in which humans think, exist and interact with nature. This interdisciplinary unit explores the human-nature relationship by critically approaching conflict as a broadly defined concept of intense contestation, and investigating how and why environmental factors drive it.
The unit will examine environment and conflict in a variety of settings, from the contested oil fields of the Persian Gulf to the high seas of direct-action environmentalism. The battlefield, or militarized landscape, will be our starting point. But we will expand our understanding of conflict beyond battlefield scenarios to include community and subaltern struggles, inter-state contestation of natural resources, recreational conflict on British rivers, and the use of violence against people and animals through expansion and colonialism. In the process, we will uncover varied political and cultural responses to, and representations of, environmental conflict. In keeping with its wide scope, the unit’s source base will be broad. Source types might include novels, court documents, memoirs, newspapers, poetry, film and visual art.
On successful completion of this unit students will have developed: (1) a broad understanding of the relationship between conflict and the natural environment; (2) the ability to analyse and generalise about historical and cultural trends in the field; 3) the ability to select pertinent evidence/data in order to illustrate/demonstrate more general issues and arguments; (4) the ability to identify a particular academic interpretation, evaluate it critically, and form an individual viewpoint.
One 2 hour interactive lecture per week
One 5,000 word essay – ILOs 1-4
Chris Pearson, Peter Coates, and Tim Cole (ed.s), Militarized Landscapes: From Gettysburg to Salisbury Plain (2010)
Aaron T. Wolf, '“Water Wars” and Water Reality: Conflict and Cooperation Along International Waterways,' in Environmental Change, Adaptation, and Security, ed. Steve C. Lonergan (1999)
The Hunter, dir. Daniel Nettheim (2011)
Chris Pearson, ‘The Age of Wood: Fuel and Fighting in French Forests, 1940-1944’, Environmental History (2006) 11:4
Edward Abbey, The Monkey Wrench Gang (1975)
Bron Taylor, ‘Religion, Violence and Radical Environmentalism: from Earth First! to the Unabomber to the Earth Liberation Front’, Terrorism and Political Violence 10:4 (1998)
