ENV 818b () / 2023-2024

Sovereignty and the Environment

In recent years, there has been a proliferation of sovereignties in academic research and professional practice. In some cases, expressions of sovereignty are entwined with environmental integrity, while in others, sovereignty is aligned with environmental extraction. Likewise, sovereignty can be associated with hierarchical power—taken to mean “supreme authority”—or with grassroots action and citizens’ self-determination. Drawing from scholarship in the humanities and social sciences, this course considers multiple meanings and contestations of sovereignty in relation to the environment, including Indigenous sovereignties, national sovereignties, energy sovereignties, food sovereignties, and the rights of nature.