Aims

The three seminars run during the second and third terms (Courses DVLP 3350, DVLP 3360 and DVLP 3370) should enable students, through work linked to the work of a supervisory research team, to demonstrate their ability to draw up and conduct a research topic.
The specific objective of this seminar is to analyse the interactions between societies and their material "environment", particularly in terms of the practices, dynamics, norms, values and institutions that structure these interactions, while at the same time being (partly) a product of these interactions.

Main themes

The environment is treated here as a material living environment (e.g. urban space, access to water, and somewhere to live) and as a corpus of productive natural resources (e.g. land, water and forests) whose use conditions the lifestyles and methods of subsistence of social groups.
In particular, the analysis of interactions between society, the environment, and the dynamic of norms and institutions will focus on the following matters:
- the question of the environment as a new mobilising issue of social practices which are themselves linked to social relations, identity dynamics and gender relations;
- institutions of environmental management, mainly at the interface of local, regional and national scales;
- the conditions and dynamics of collective action, in social struggles around living environment (mainly in urban areas), in local social action aimed at the control of local territory, and in the management of natural resources;
- land management, that is to say methods of appropriation and the social conditions of access to natural resources (land and water) (this question is an important dimension of the sustainable management of resources, an economic, ecological political and social issue, and a central factor in giving security to living conditions).

Content and teaching methods

The first part of the seminar (15 hours in the second term) will be taken up with introductory talks, documentary research, and an initial report on existing literature in the subject chosen by the student.
The second part (15 hours in the third term) will be entirely given over to the drafting of a report and its presentation by the student.
The section of the seminar run by J.-C. Willame will particularly address the issue of political conflictuality at the level both of national institutions and of the international environment.
In particular, the analysis of interactions between society, the environment and institutions will focus on the following matters:
- the question of the environment as a new issue of social practices;
- institutions seen as social structures of concertation on individual actions and the management of shortages of resources;
- the conditions and dynamics of collective action (e.g. campaigns around the living environment, the management of natural resources, and actions aimed at control of a piece of land);
- the question of conflictuality at the interface of regional dynamics, national institutions and the international environment;
- the land issue, that is to say ways of appropriating and accessing natural resources.
Methodology
The first part (6-12 hours) will be given over to introductory talks; these will be followed by presentations (by students) and discussions on selected articles, and by a presentation of work by students.

Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

Assessment: This will take the form of written work and and examination.
Support: Reading notes (a collection of articles).

Other credits in programs