GV2DEV: Environment and Development

Module code: GV2DEV

Module provider: Geography and Environmental Science; School of Archaeology, Geography and Environmental Science

Credits: 20

Level: Level 2 (Intermediate)

When you'll be taught: Semester 1

Module convenor: Dr Sophie Blackburn, email: s.e.blackburn@reading.ac.uk

Pre-requisite module(s):

Co-requisite module(s):

Pre-requisite or Co-requisite module(s):

Module(s) excluded:

Placement information: NA

Academic year: 2024/5

Available to visiting students: Yes

Talis reading list: Yes

Last updated: 27 June 2024

Overview

Module aims and purpose

This module investigates the two-way relationship between nature and society, environment and development. Using various theoretical approaches including political ecology, the module examines how development discourses, social relations and the distribution of power in society shape particular approaches to environmental management, and – conversely – how approaches to environmental management serve to reflect, shape and/or reproduce uneven and unequal development. Via a range of case studies, the module will address key questions such as: what are the assumptions and value-systems underpinning dominant approaches to environment and development? Whose interests dominate, and whose are marginalised? And what might alternative or more equitable development futures look like? Students will leave the module with an understanding of how ideas and values about people, nature and places shape real-world policy and practice. 

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module, it is expected that students will be able to: 

1. Drawing on key concepts in human geography, demonstrate an understanding of the two-way connections between environment and development.  
2. Identify a diversity of values, priorities and knowledges that shape or inform modes of control over people and environments. 
3. Using examples, critically assess how modes of control over people and environments relate to wider systems of power and authority.  
4. Use skills of critical analysis and independent reading to analyse contemporary environment and development challenges. 

Module content

This module draws on staff expertise in social nature and the relationship between international development, landscape ecology, environmental politics and governance. Topics may include:  

• Key concepts: political ecology; uneven development; environmental values; environmental narratives and discourse; power, structure and agency; resistance; sustainable development 
• Malthusian and neo-Malthusian narratives of environmental degradation 
• Wilderness as an idea and its critiques 
• The history and politics of environmental conservation; the shift from ‘fortress conservation’ to conservation-and-development 
• Conservation and the colonial imagination; post-colonial theories 
• International development institutions and governance; from modernisation to neoliberal development policy, e.g. Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) 
• Environmental values and their politics 
• Discourses and representations of the environment  
• Ecosystem services in theory and practice 
• The politics of land and agriculture; pastoral and nomadic agricultural practices 
• Participatory development and community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) 
• Disaster risk, vulnerability and resilience 
• Climate change adaptation 
• Social justice, environmental justice and resistance movements 
• Global environmental governance and institutions; e.g. global forest governance, REDD+ 
• Post-development and alternative development trajectories, e.g. South-South collaboration and solidarity 
• Geographies of degrowth 

The module will draw on examples and case studies throughout, many from Africa and Asia.  

Structure

Teaching and learning methods

This module will be taught via the following:  

• a weekly lecture and interactive seminar 
• weekly tasks and readings, to be undertaken by students in advance of class 
• short, supplementary videos summarising e.g. key concepts, case studies, issues arising in the news, or assessment information  
• optional feedback meeting for groups, following the first assignment 

Core content will be covered via lectures, seminars and weekly readings. The workshops and online videos aim to extend knowledge and provide points of additional depth.  

Study hours

At least 24 hours of scheduled teaching and learning activities will be delivered in person, with the remaining hours for scheduled and self-scheduled teaching and learning activities delivered either in person or online. You will receive further details about how these hours will be delivered before the start of the module.

Please note the independent study hours above are notional numbers of hours; each student will approach studying in different ways. We would advise you to reflect on your learning and the number of hours you are allocating to these tasks.

Semester 1 The hours in this column may include hours during the Christmas holiday period.

Semester 2 The hours in this column may include hours during the Easter holiday period.

Summer The hours in this column will take place during the summer holidays and may be at the start and/or end of the module.

Assessment

Requirements for a pass

Students need to achieve an overall module mark of 40% to pass this module.

Summative assessment

Penalties for late submission of summative assessment

The Support Centres will apply the following penalties for work submitted late:

Assessments with numerical marks

• where the piece of work is submitted after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): 10% of the total marks available for that piece of work will be deducted from the mark for each working day (or part thereof) following the deadline up to a total of three working days;
• the mark awarded due to the imposition of the penalty shall not fall below the threshold pass mark, namely 40% in the case of modules at Levels 4-6 (i.e. undergraduate modules for Parts 1-3) and 50% in the case of Level 7 modules offered as part of an Integrated Masters or taught postgraduate degree programme;
• where the piece of work is awarded a mark below the threshold pass mark prior to any penalty being imposed, and is submitted up to three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline), no penalty shall be imposed;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): a mark of zero will be recorded.

Assessments marked Pass/Fail

• where the piece of work is submitted within three working days of the deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): no penalty will be applied;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): a grade of Fail will be awarded.

The University policy statement on penalties for late submission can be found at: https://www.reading.ac.uk/cqsd/-/media/project/functions/cqsd/documents/qap/penaltiesforlatesubmission.pdf

You are strongly advised to ensure that coursework is submitted by the relevant deadline. You should note that it is advisable to submit work in an unfinished state rather than to fail to submit any work.

Formative assessment

Formative assessment is any task or activity which creates feedback (or feedforward) for you about your learning, but which does not contribute towards your overall module mark.

Students will have the opportunity for informal feedback in weekly seminars, where the lecturer will make time for small-group activities and discussion of readings. During this time the lecturer will be available for feedback and advice on feeding forward lessons from class into assessments. In the lead-up to assessment submissions, seminars will include activities directly related to the assignment and there will be additional opportunities for peer-to-peer feedback and learning.  

Reassessment

Additional costs