Program / Courses

Purpose and Scope

For generations a range of social science and related humanities scholars have focused attention on understanding the historical processes and patterns through which humans interact with, and shape, the environment. A range of knowledge systems and methods have been applied that, taken together, have developed sophisticated understandings critical for managing, and ameliorating environmental problems. While diverse, this body of scholarship begins, and ends, with the recognition that all our present ecological challenges arise from deep-seated and historically derived, social structures.
 
Empirical attention in this specialization is interdisciplinary and wide ranging, from legal and institutional perspectives about how we govern society and the environment, to norms, ethics and cultural ideas that shape how we value, and interact with, the natural world. However, several common concerns run through the different disciplinary views on “People, Equity and the Environment.”  Particular focus is placed on systemic issues. We ask questions about knowledge and reality, recognizing that knowledge is socially constructed and partial.  Additionally, we acknowledge that, norms and values are not universally held, and therefore different stakeholder needs and perspectives should be navigated respectfully. We give specific attention to power imbalances that often fall along the lines of race, class, and gender creating overlapping and interdependent systems of disadvantage.
 
The study of environmental issues is ever-evolving, often reflecting larger concerns in society and the political economy.  21^st century environmental managers, while passionate about protection of wildlands and biodiversity, are also concerned with questions of community engagement and the co-production of knowledge between scientists and community members; structural racism and the importance of foregrounding social equity and environmental justice;  the role of the history, art, ethics and religion in shaping our understanding of past and future environmental problems; and the challenges of global environmental governance in an increasingly divisive global economy. These varied concerns can be aligned along four pathways to guide your learning within this specialization: 1) power and environmental politics in community engagement, 2) social and environmental justice, 3) the role of environmental humanities, and 4) the role of the state, institutions, and governance. We offer these pathways as examples, but also welcome other, independent ways of organizing your educational journey through the specialization.

Specialization Coordinator: Amity Doolittle