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Climate Change in Global and Local Perspectives

Module description

Why do people continue to burn fossil fuels even as it imperils life on Earth? This question points to the crucial contribution that social scientific analysis has to the problem of climate change. In this module we study the impacts of climate change, particularly on Indigenous peoples and marginalized communities and the responses to climate change from governments, scientists, and corporations. The concept of climate justice is a key focus of this module, examining what are the pre-existing structural inequalities that are being compounded by climate change. This module teaches students how to think anthropologically about climate change. Suitable for non-specialists and interdisciplinary pathways, no prerequisites. 

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module aims to help students understand climate change as a social, economic, and political problem, in terms of both the causes and consequences of global heating. You will be introduced to a range of social scientific approaches to the study of climate change, from political ecology and anthropology to history, archaeology and sociology. You will then apply these analytical tools to a range of cross-cultural examples to explore the diverse ways in which humans understand and respond to climate change. 

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Demonstrate familiarity with the major contemporary social scientific approaches to the study of climate change
• 2. Show an understanding of a broad range of cross-cultural climate impacts and responses of local communities

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 3. Show an understanding of key concepts in social scientific approaches to climate change, e.g. climate justice, traditional ecological knowledge, mitigation and adaptation, sustainability, Anthropocene, climate denial.
• 4. Evaluate key concepts related to climate change

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 5. Communicate effectively in written and oral form
• 6. Conduct research on a topic and organize findings in written form in a compelling manner

Syllabus plan

Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following topics:

climate justice

traditional ecological knowledge

climate denial

government policy

scientific models

extreme weather events.

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

• Susan Crate and Mark Nuttall, eds., Anthropology and Climate Change: From Actions to Transformations. Routledge, 2016.
• Susan A. Crate and Mark Nuttall, eds., Anthropology and Climate Change: From Encounters to Actions. Left Coast Press, 2009.
• Kari Marie Norgaard. Living in denial: Climate change, emotions, and everyday life. MIT Press, 2011
• Giovanni Bennardo, ed. Cultural Models of Nature: Primary Food Producers and Climate Change. Routledge, 2019.
• Amelia Moore. Destination Anthropocene: Global Change Science, Tourism, and the Rebranding of Island Space in The Bahamas. University of California Press, 2018.
• Henry Shue. Climate justice: Vulnerability and protection. Oxford University Press, 2014.
• Kirsten Hastrup and Martin Skrydstrup, eds. The social life of climate change models: Anticipating nature. Routledge, 2013.

Key words search

Anthropology; Sociology; Climate Change; Environment