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67896-01 - Seminar: Conflicts and Controversies in the Water-Energy-Food Nexus (3 CP)
| Semester | spring semester 2023 |
| Course frequency | Once only |
| Lecturers | Olivier Ejderyan (olivier.ejderyan@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | The notion of Water-Energy-Food nexus points to the interrelated nature of water, energy and food issues. It has become a key focus of multiple initiatives to address global challenges such climate change, biodiversity loss, risk, malnutrition or water inequality and is carried by a range of institutions ranging from the World Economic Forum or the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) to environmental NGOs or academic funders. This nexus approach is presented as a way to deal in an integrated manner with problems in each of these three thematic fields identified as crucial for a transformation towards sustainability. The goal of this seminar is to introduce students to debates about the contested dimensions of the Water-Energy-Food nexus by reading and discussing academic papers from various social science disciplines such as environmental sociology, STS, anthropology, human geography, political science, innovation studies or natural resource management. We will examine how the Water-Energy-Food Nexus is a site of conflicts and controversies at various levels: - At the conceptual level, the notion is contested from different angles as being either ill-defined or in the contrary to narrowly focused and power-blind; - At an operational level, various challenges emerge when implementing nexus projects, in relationship to cross-sectoral governance, knowledge integration and trade-offs, or local resistance; - At the level of each sector of the nexus, we focus on socio-technical controversies in water, energy and food projects that entangle technological, environmental and political dimensions. |
| Learning objectives | Upon completing this seminar, participants will: - Become familiar with current debates in key areas relevant for addressing global environmental challenges and transformations towards to sustainability; - Be able to position their work and themselves within these debates; - Learn how to (efficiently) read an academic paper; - Be able to critically assess an academic paper; - Learn to share their critics in oral and written form. |
| Bibliography | A complete program with weekly readings will be given at the start of the seminar. Cairns, R, Krzywoszynska, A (2016) Anatomy of a buzzword: The emergence of ‘the water-energy-food nexus’ in UK natural resource debates. Environmental Science & Policy 64: 164-170, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2016.07.007 FAO (2014) The Water-Energy-Food Nexus A new approach in support of food security and sustainable agriculture. Rome, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations https://www.fao.org/3/bl496e/bl496e.pdf Matenhauer Urbinatti, A, Dalla Fontana, M, Stirling, A, Luiz Giatti, L (2020) ‘Opening up’ the governance of water-energy-food nexus: Towards a science-policy-society interface based on hybridity and humility. Science of The Total Environment 744: 140945, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.140945 |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | No specific media used |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|---|
| wöchentlich | Friday | 10.15-12.00 | Soziologie, Hörsaal 215 |
Dates
| Date | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|
| Friday 24.02.2023 | 10.15-12.00 | Soziologie, Hörsaal 215 |
| Friday 03.03.2023 | 10.15-12.00 | Fasnachstferien |
| Friday 10.03.2023 | 10.15-12.00 | Soziologie, Hörsaal 215 |
| Friday 17.03.2023 | 10.15-12.00 | Soziologie, Hörsaal 215 |
| Friday 24.03.2023 | 10.15-12.00 | Soziologie, Hörsaal 215 |
| Friday 31.03.2023 | 10.15-12.00 | Soziologie, Hörsaal 215 |
| Friday 07.04.2023 | 10.15-12.00 | Ostern |
| Friday 14.04.2023 | 10.15-12.00 | Soziologie, Hörsaal 215 |
| Friday 21.04.2023 | 10.15-12.00 | Soziologie, Hörsaal 215 |
| Friday 28.04.2023 | 10.15-12.00 | Soziologie, Hörsaal 215 |
| Friday 05.05.2023 | 10.15-12.00 | Soziologie, Hörsaal 215 |
| Friday 12.05.2023 | 10.15-12.00 | Soziologie, Hörsaal 215 |
| Friday 19.05.2023 | 10.15-12.00 | Auffahrt |
| Friday 26.05.2023 | 10.15-12.00 | Soziologie, Hörsaal 215 |
| Friday 02.06.2023 | 10.15-12.00 | Soziologie, Hörsaal 215 |
| Modules |
Modul: Erweiterung Gesellschaftswissenschaften B.A. (Bachelor's degree subject: Political Science) Modul: Erweiterung Gesellschaftswissenschaften M.A. (Master's degree subject: Political Science) Modul: Politik, Entwicklung und soziale Ungleichheit (Bachelor's degree subject: Sociology) Modul: Ungleichheit, Konflikt, Kultur (Master's degree subject: Sociology) Module: Conflicts and Peacebuilding (Master's degree program: Changing Societies: Migration – Conflicts – Resources) Module: Core Competences in Social Sciences (Master's Studies: Sustainable Development) Module: Resources and Sustainability (Master's degree program: Changing Societies: Migration – Conflicts – Resources) Module: The Urban across Disciplines (Master's degree program: Critical Urbanisms) Vertiefungsmodul Global Europe: Friedens- und Konfliktforschung (Master's Studies: European Global Studies) Vertiefungsmodul Global Europe: Umwelt und Nachhaltigkeit (Master's Studies: European Global Studies) |
| Assessment format | continuous assessment |
| Assessment details | Participants in this seminar are expected to complete the weekly reading in order to be able to participate actively in the discussions. Evaluation will be based on: Active participation; (Co-)moderation of a session; presentation of a paper supported by a handout (2 pages). |
| Assessment registration/deregistration | Reg.: course registration; dereg.: not required |
| Repeat examination | no repeat examination |
| Scale | Pass / Fail |
| Repeated registration | no repetition |
| Responsible faculty | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, studadmin-philhist@unibas.ch |
| Offered by | Fachbereich Soziologie |