Political Science 797E - ST- Powering Development

This course examines the human harnessing of water and use of energy to power development over the past century around the world. We will pay particular attention to how infrastructure projects and development plans are often enmeshed in colonial power relations through a reading of interdisciplinary literature in politics, history, geography, and sociology as well as reports from international and non-governmental organizations. Topics range from the construction of massive hydropower dams, to the water-intensive process of fracking for natural gas and oil in an era of extreme energy, to the global land grabs for farmland and by extension water. Critically interrogating these processes in capitalist and (post)socialist contexts, this course is meant to help students generate new linkages and creative research directions within their own disciplines through the mobilization of a variety of theoretical apparatuses that will help us grapple with the pressing sociopolitical challenges of the 21st century including growing inequality and accelerating climate change. The syllabus is available upon request from the instructor.

Open to Graduate students only.