SD4118 Extractive Environments

Academic year

2024 to 2025 Semester 1

Further information on which modules are specific to your programme.

Key module information

SCOTCAT credits

30

The Scottish Credit Accumulation and Transfer (SCOTCAT) system allows credits gained in Scotland to be transferred between institutions. The number of credits associated with a module gives an indication of the amount of learning effort required by the learner. European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) credits are half the value of SCOTCAT credits.

SCQF level

SCQF level 10

The Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) provides an indication of the complexity of award qualifications and associated learning and operates on an ascending numeric scale from Levels 1-12 with SCQF Level 10 equating to a Scottish undergraduate Honours degree.

Planned timetable

Wed 10am-1pm

This information is given as indicative. Timetable may change at short notice depending on room availability.

Module coordinator

Dr J C Hope

This information is given as indicative. Staff involved in a module may change at short notice depending on availability and circumstances.

Module Staff

To be arranged

This information is given as indicative. Staff involved in a module may change at short notice depending on availability and circumstances.

Module description

The module aims to introduce SD honours students to resource extraction, as a conflictive arena for determining trajectories of sustainability and as inextricably tied to dynamics of colonialism, knowledge, development and citizenship. With a primary focus on fossil fuels and energy resources, this module will use theories and debates from political ecology, political ontology and critical development studies to explore and evaluate the contested claims and experiences of resource extraction across the global North and South.

Relationship to other modules

Pre-requisites

BEFORE TAKING THIS MODULE YOU MUST PASS SD2002 OR ( PASS SD2006 AND PASS SD2100 )

Assessment pattern

Coursework = 100%

Re-assessment

Coursework = 100%

Learning and teaching methods and delivery

Weekly contact

1 hr Lecture (x10 weeks), 2hr Seminar (x10 weeks)

Scheduled learning hours

30

The number of compulsory student:staff contact hours over the period of the module.

Guided independent study hours

270

The number of hours that students are expected to invest in independent study over the period of the module.

Intended learning outcomes

  • Students will develop an appreciation of the global dynamics of resource extraction and how these encounter local claims for land, justice and citizenship.
  • They will critically engage with the ways extraction is tied to development, citizenship and rights.
  • They will extend their knowledge of how resource extraction underpins conflictive ontologies of place and the non-human, as well as how it can inform emergent epistemologies of the south.
  • Students will develop a critical analysis of how environmentally degrading practices continue, even within sustainable development frameworks.
  • Students will understand different perspectives on resource extraction and be able to identify a number of proposed alternatives.
  • Through film evenings, and the related assessment, students will engage with the particular realities of specific extractive environments and questions how these are represented and known.