Syllabus for Sustainability and Development in Latin America: Past, Present, Future

Learning outcomes

On completion of the course, the student should be able to:

• give an account of, and critically analyse countries and actors work for sustainable development in Latin America from a historic and contemporary perspective
• give an account of, and be able to relate to in a critical manner, different perspectives on sustainability, development, power relationships and justice in Latin America from a historic and contemporary perspective
• give an account of, and value different visions of the future and sustainability in Latinamerica on local through international levels
• initiate, plan, deliver and evaluate a well defined project within the topics of the course.

Content

The course covers and discusses themes and topics regarding sustainability, sustainable development, environment and development, power and justice in Latin America. Through a series of course sessions the course inks a historical background, critical analysis and understanding with a general overview and discussion of how different countries and actors work with sustainable development today. This is set in relation to a wide range of challenges regarding use of natural resouces, economy, politics, international cooperation, distribution of resouces, social conflicts, identity, culture and poverty. The course combines traditional subject matters such as history, history of thought, sociology, anthropology, political science and development studies with interdiciplinary researh areas, theories and concepts such as the global sustainability goals, political ecology, environmental justice, gender studies, historical ecology, environmental history and action research. Based on the historical understanding, as well as an understanding of present day Latin America, different sustainability and future visions that may contrubute to more sustainable communities and societies (local through international level) are presented and discussed. The projects students work with during the course highlights a specific and well defined issue or specific case within the topics covered in the course.

Instruction

The teaching consists of lectures, seminars and workshops. The lectures are given by guest lecturers from various academic disciplines and relevant areas of society. Ample opportunities are provided for active student participation and critical reflection. Participation in seminars and workshops is compulsory. Non-compulsory study visits or equivalent may occur.

Assessment

The student is examined through written preparation for (2 credits) and active participation in seminars and workshops (1.5 credits), and through written documentation (3.5 credits) and oral presentation (0.5 credit) of a project.

If there are special reasons for doing so, an examiner may make an exception from the method of assessment indicated and allow a student to be assessed by another method. An example of special reasons might be a certificate regarding special pedagogical support from the University's disability coordinator.

Other directives

Active participation is reassessed through a re-seminar. If a student after having been offered a re-seminar still does not meet the requirements to pass the active participation elements the examiner can choose reassessment by another method.