Environmental Justice
The goal of this course is to understand the historical and current intersections of environmental justice as a philosophy, practice, and social movement praxis. The course will cover the origins of the environmental justice movement in the U.S., the meanings associated with the term “environmental justice” and the historical and current intersections to food justice and food sovereignty. The course will examine historical and current events and analyze the various resistance strategies employed by social movements to resist environmental injustices. An international lens will be explored to build an understanding of environmental justice and its food-based intersections on a global level. Students will develop a broad understanding of the historical and contemporary factors that shape the emergence of environmental justice movements around the world, including the mechanisms that give rise to class, gender, racial, and other types of disparities. Students will gain an overall understanding of the topic through analyzing policy, research, and community discourses as it relates to community self-determination and empowerment sought by environmental justice movements.