Decolonial Feminist Political Ecology for Social-Ecological Transformation
Programme
MA Environmental Studies 2023-24, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic
Course tutor
Simona Getova, PhD candidate
Department of Political and Social Sciences, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
Email: simona.getova@upf.edu
Course description
This mini-course explores some key ways in which power and politics influence environmental
change from perspectives drawing from the field of decolonial feminist political ecology. The aim of
this course is to build an understanding and competence for critically examining how current
politics, power dynamics and systemic structures produce environmental change and
disproportionate gendered impacts in a state of climate and ecological emergency.
The course will offer the theoretical framework for critical analysis and reflection on
environmental change and current socio-ecological challenges through a decolonial intersectional
lens and relevant practical policy and social movements’ organising examples for a desired
social-ecological transformation. Students will gain an understanding of decolonial feminist and
intersectional principles and how they relate to the disproportionately felt consequences of the
climate and ecological emergency, as well as a competence to identify alternative ways of being and
governance that put all living beings and the planet first. By facilitating reflections around the
concepts and practices surrounding decolonial feminist political ecology, and more specifically,
intersectionality, the course will also guide a critical observation of one’s own privilege and
positionality and introduce the principles for intersectional research.
Learning outcomes
After the end of the course, students should be in a position to:
1. Critically explore how desired social-ecological transformations (SETs) take place.
2. Critically examine how politics, systemic structures and actors influence climate and
environmental change and social-ecological challenges, as well as SETs.
3. Use intersectional decolonial feminist lens to explain how power operates to cause
disproportionate impacts of climate and environmental change on different groups of people and
communities.
4. Critically identify alternatives of being and governance that contribute to desired SETs and bring
us closer to a system that puts all living beings and the planet first.
Structure of classes, and teaching methodology
The duration of each class is 3 hours and 40 minutes.
The classes will consist of presentation of concepts by the lecturer, individual and group exercises
and reflections, and short videos and group discussions around the presented topics. Popular
education methods will be used to dive deeper into the course material and provide a more
hands-on understanding of explored concepts. See Course outline section below for detailed
description of each class.
Student evaluation
Students will be evaluated on their performance by three evaluation tools:
Evaluation tool Portion of final mark
1. Mini-assignments 30%
2. Active engagement in class 30%
3. Final assignment 40%
1. Mini-assignments.
There is a mini-assignment for each of the classes that you will be expected to have completed
prior to class.
2. Active engagement in class. Classroom participation and active engagement in group exercises
and discussions will be evaluated.
3. Final assignment.
Use any form of artistic expression you feel most comfortable with (poetry, music, painting,
illustration, photography, etc.) to create/(or alternatively) find a piece that captures any of the
concepts explored in class. The artwork could relate to any concepts/elements introduced and
discussed in class relating to decolonial feminist political ecology that address politics, power
dynamics, structures, actors and actions that impact environmental change and the social
implications of it. In addition to your created/identified piece, write a brief reflection (max. 200
words) elaborating on your interpretation of the concepts presented in the piece to accompany the
artwork. Check When Is Now for inspiration.
Deadline: Friday, December 1st, 2023, end of day.
Submission: Identified section on Fig Jam. In your submission please add your name, surname, učo
and email.
For this assignment you will be evaluated on:
● Followed instruction (1.5 point)
● The depth with which you have incorporated concept(s) explored in class (2.5 pts)
● How well do you communicate your understanding of the concept(s) (2 pts)
● Artistic elements you use and your creativity/originality/expression/skill/craftsmanship (2
pts)
● Deliberation/effort - is the piece and accompanied interpretation well thought out (2 pts)
Final course mark: Pass/Fail. Failing to reach a minimum of 60% of the final mark will result in
failing the course.
Course outline
This section provides an outline of classes together with the readings students should do and
class assignments they should complete for each class.
Class 1. Introduction; Feminist Political Ecology, Intersectionality and Power.
Wednesday, Nov 8th, 2023 at 10:00–11:40 h | Classroom: P52
and at 16:00–17:40 h | Classroom: AVC
In Class 1 we will start with an introduction to course logistics as well as key, basic course concepts
such as social-ecological transformations, power, politics, environmental change, and feminist
political ecology. This class will also introduce students to the feminist critique of the current
economic paradigm that results with the interlinked crises, and the fields of study such as
intersectionality and ecofeminism(s), that are key in understanding the disproportionate and
gendered social implications of the climate and ecological breakdown through the lenses of
feminist political ecology. We will explore the significance of understanding this in the context of
social-ecological transformations.
We will explore intersectionality as a theoretical framework, an analytical approach, and an
organizing strategy, and we will study its praxis drawing on a contemporary empirical (case study)
example of a project for a desired social-ecological transformation.
We will also explore one’s own (research) positionality within current systems of power and
domination and get familiarised with the key tenets of intersectional research.
Mini-assignment 1.
Read carefully The Ecologist article on The racial capitalist climate patriarchy by Julie Gorecki.
Identify the main concepts that the author deconstructs and reflect on the systemic structures that
facilitate disproportionate gendered impacts of the climate and ecological crises. Which groups and
communities are systemically first and worst impacted? What strikes you the most? Why?
Submission: Add a bullet points version of your reflections on a ‘post-it’ note in the identified
section in Fig Jam an hour before the start of the class latest and bring your reflections to class to
contribute to group discussion. In your submission please add your name, surname and učo.
Class 2. (De)Coloniality, The Social Imaginary and Transformations.
Thursday, November 9th, 2023 at 16:00–19:40 h| Classroom: U33
During Class 2 we will look deeper into the critique of coloniality and its implications on the
multiple crises we are facing today. We will explore decoloniality as a school of thought and a
critique of resource and labor extraction and the perceived universality and superiority of Western
knowledge and culture. We will deconstruct colonial thinking and binaries, as well as the social
imaginary of economic growth and development that allow for climate and environmental
injustices, and identify decolonial feminist and degrowth thought and politics that counter the
status quo.
Before the class, you should complete the following mini-assignment – you should add a bullet
points version of your reflections on a ‘post-it’ note in the identified section in Fig Jam an hour
before the start of the class latest and bring your reflections to class to contribute to group
discussion.
Mini-assignment 2. First, read these two short papers:
● Hickel, J. (2021). The anti-colonial politics of degrowth. Political Geography, 88.
● Abazeri, M. (2022). Decolonial feminisms and degrowth. Futures, 136, 102902.
Then, identify the patterns of colonization that economic growth relies on, and answer the
following question: What are the principles, politics, and praxis for a social-ecological
transformation that each of the authors propose to address the current destructive social and
economic relations?
Submission: Add a bullet points version of your reflections on a ‘post-it’ note in the identified
section in Fig Jam an hour before the start of the class latest and bring your reflections to class to
contribute to group discussion. In your submission please add your name, surname and učo.
Class 3. Actors, Politics and Governance for Social-Ecological Transformation for Alternative
Futures.
Friday, November 10th, 2023 at 10:00–13:40 h | Classroom: U35
During Class 3 we will explore the actors, politics and governance for social-ecological
transformations towards radically different societies. We will study the continuum of actors that
uphold or resist the racial capitalist patriarchal system, and explore historical and contemporary
alternatives. We will look into different models of democratic governance and different forms of
democratic politics to achieve desired social-ecological transformations. We will explore the
difference between ‘mobilizing’ and ‘organizing’, and based on what we’ve learned, take the time to
collectively envision radically equtable futures.
Before the class, you should complete the following mini-assignment – you should add a bullet
points version of your reflections on a ‘post-it’ note in the identified section in Fig Jam an hour
before the start of the class latest and bring your reflections to class to contribute to group
discussion.
Mini-assignment 3. First, read these two papers:
● Perkins, P. E. E. (2019). Climate justice, commons, and degrowth. Ecological economics, 160,
183-190.
● Bauhardt, C. (2014). Solutions to the crisis? The Green New Deal, Degrowth, and the
Solidarity Economy: Alternatives to the capitalist growth economy from an ecofeminist
economics perspective. Ecological economics, 102, 60-68.
Then, identify the proposed pathways to address the interlined crises, and answer the following
questions: What are the strengths and limitations of each of the proposed alternative approaches in
the two articles? What are the suggested models of governance? What are the possible actors,
agents of change in the formulated proposals?
Submission: Add a bullet points version of your reflections on a ‘post-it’ note in the identified
section in Fig Jam an hour before the start of the class latest and bring your reflections to class to
contribute to group discussion. In your submission please add your name, surname, and učo.
Bibliography
On Environmental Justice
● (Book) Schlosberg, D. (2007). Defining environmental justice: theories, movements, and nature.
Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press.
● (Book) Pellow, D.N., (2017). What is critical environmental justice? John Wiley & Sons.
On Political Ecology
● Paulson, S., Gezon, L., Watts, M. (2005). Politics, ecologies, genealogies. In: Paulson, S., Geezon, L.
(eds.) Political Ecology across Spaces, Scales, and Social Groups. New Jersey: Rutgers
● (Article) Robbins, P. (2004). Green Materialism. In: Political Ecology. Malden: Blackwell Publishing.
pp. 44-52 and pp. 36-38.
On Feminist Political Ecology
● (Article) Sundberg, J. (2016). Feminist political ecology. International Encyclopedia of Geography:
People, the Earth, Environment and Technology: People, the Earth, Environment and Technology,
1-12.
● (Article) Elmhirst, R. (2018). Feminist political ecologies–situated perspectives, emerging
engagements. Ecologías políticas feministas: perspectivas situadas y abordajes emergentes. Ecologia
Politica, (54).
● (Book) Mies M. (1986). Patriarchy and accumulation on a world scale : women in the
international division of labour. Zed Books.
On Intersectionality
● (Article) Hancock, A. M. (2007). Intersectionality as a normative and empirical paradigm. Politics
& Gender, 3(2), 248-254.
● (Book) Collins, P. H. (2019). Intersectionality as critical social theory. Duke University Press.
On Intersectionality and the Climate Emergency
● (Video) Climate and Intersectionality - a realigned discussion about climate and environmental
justice
● (Video) Feminist Approaches to the Climate Crisis
On Intersectional Research
● (Chapter) Di Chiro, G. (2020). Mobilizing ‘intersectionality’ in environmental justice research and
action in a time of crisis. Environmental Justice, 316-333.
● (Article) Misra J., Curington C. V. & Green V. M. (2021). Methods of intersectional research.
Sociological Spectrum, 41(1), 9-28, DOI: 10.1080/02732173.2020.1791772
● (Article) Hancock, A. M. (2007). When multiplication doesn't equal quick addition: Examining
intersectionality as a research paradigm. Perspectives on politics, 5(1), 63-79.
● (Article) Winker, G., & Degele, N. (2011). Intersectionality as multi-level analysis: Dealing with
social inequality. European Journal of Women's Studies, 18(1), 51-66.
On Decoloniality
● (Video series) The Global Center of Spatial Methods for Urban Sustainability (GCSMUS).
Decolonial Thinking with Prof. Dr. Sabelo Ndlovu-Gatsheni.
● (Article) Sultana, F. (2022). The unbearable heaviness of climate coloniality. Political
Geography, 102638.
● (Blog intervention) Kimari, W. (2023). Intervention - Decolonial Crossroads. Antipode.
On Actors and Strategies for Alternative Futures
● (Article) D'alisa, G., Demaria, F., & Cattaneo, C. (2013). Civil and uncivil actors for a degrowth
society. Journal of Civil Society, 9(2), 212-224.
● (Article) Akbulut, B., Demaria, F., Gerber, J. F., & Martínez-Alier, J. (2019). Who promotes
sustainability? Five theses on the relationships between the degrowth and the
environmental justice movements. Ecological Economics, 165, 106418.
● (Book) Treu, N., Schmelzer, M., & Burkhart, C. (2020). Degrowth in movement (s): Exploring
pathways for transformation. John Hunt Publishing.
Key concepts for this course
● Environmental change
● Environmental Justice
● Gendered environments
● Feminist Political Ecology
● Decolonial Feminist Political Ecology
● Intersectionality
● Intersectional Research
● Decoloniality
● Agents of Change
● Social Movements
● Environmental Governance