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| Semester | spring semester 2024 |
| Course frequency | Once only |
| Lecturers | Ernest Sewordor (ernest.sewordor@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | This course combines global urban history, planetary theory, and geology to explore what happens to landscapes from which resources are exploited and their urban inhabitants once exhaustion is reached. It traces the centrality of resource exploitation to slavery, the industrial revolution, colonialism, and has become a post-colonial condition for “development” aiding. Resource pillage historically shaped how Europe related with other societies, including their ex-colonies in the Americas, Africa, and Asia, and how the current Euro-Americo-Sino push for capitalist notions of “progress” worldwide perpetuates past unequal power relations. Set against the violent consequences of today’s neoliberal world order, this course broadly surveys the temporal and spatial dimensions of the Anthropocene — which suggests that humans have caused the impending doom of our planet, Earth. With drastic climate changes as its reminder, the Anthropocene has sparked environmental justice activism for renewable energy policies and sustainable urban practices. By tracing the material markers of the Anthropocene, this course will examine the urban implications of resource extraction in the aftermath of exhaustion (and its associated pollution, dispossession, and degradation) across different sites, with special emphasis on Africa. |
| Learning objectives | Each week’s readings and discussions of scholarly works will guide participants to: (a) centre a racial geo-logic to understand the historical origins of the Anthropocene, (b) examine the emergence of the idea of the environment and concerns with conservation, (c) assess the quality of urban life in extraction sites and how inhabitants adapt to precarity. |
| Bibliography | 1. Gupta, Pamila, Sarah Nuttal, and Hanneke Stuit (eds). Planetary Hinterlands: Extraction, Abandonment and Care. Palgrave MacMillan, 2024. 2. Yusoff, Kathryn. A Billion Black Anthropocene or None. University of Minnesota Press, 2019. 3. Warde, Paul, Libby Robin, and Sverker Sörlin (eds). The Environment: A History of the Idea. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2018. |
| Comments | Seminar with a cap of 35-40 students and with the priority for CU and CS Students on timely registration. |
| Admission requirements | Anmelden erforderlich/Abmelden |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | No specific media used |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|---|
| wöchentlich | Monday | 10.15-12.00 | Alte Universität, Seminarraum -201 |
| Date | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|
| Monday 26.02.2024 | 10.15-12.00 | Alte Universität, Seminarraum -201 |
| Monday 04.03.2024 | 10.15-12.00 | Alte Universität, Seminarraum -201 |
| Monday 11.03.2024 | 10.15-12.00 | Alte Universität, Seminarraum -201 |
| Monday 18.03.2024 | 10.15-12.00 | Alte Universität, Seminarraum -201 |
| Monday 25.03.2024 | 10.15-12.00 | Alte Universität, Seminarraum -201 |
| Monday 01.04.2024 | 10.15-12.00 | Ostern |
| Monday 08.04.2024 | 10.15-12.00 | Alte Universität, Seminarraum -201 |
| Monday 15.04.2024 | 10.15-12.00 | Alte Universität, Seminarraum -201 |
| Monday 22.04.2024 | 10.15-12.00 | Alte Universität, Seminarraum -201 |
| Monday 29.04.2024 | 10.15-12.00 | Alte Universität, Seminarraum -201 |
| Monday 06.05.2024 | 10.15-12.00 | Alte Universität, Seminarraum -201 |
| Monday 13.05.2024 | 10.15-12.00 | Alte Universität, Seminarraum -201 |
| Monday 20.05.2024 | 10.15-12.00 | Pfingstmontag |
| Monday 27.05.2024 | 10.15-12.00 | Alte Universität, Seminarraum -201 |
| Modules |
Modul: Transfer: Europa interdisziplinär (Master's degree program: European History in Global Perspective) Module: Fields: Environment and Development (Master's degree program: African Studies) Module: Fields: Governance and Politics (Master's degree program: African Studies) Module: Resources and Sustainability (Master's degree program: Changing Societies: Migration – Conflicts – Resources) Module: The Urban across Disciplines (Master's degree program: Critical Urbanisms) Module: Ways of Knowing the City (Master's degree program: Critical Urbanisms) Vertiefungsmodul Global Europe: Umwelt und Nachhaltigkeit (Master's Studies: European Global Studies) Wahlbereich Master Geschichte: Empfehlungen (Master's degree subject: History) |
| Assessment format | continuous assessment |
| Assessment details | pass/fail |
| 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 Urban Studies |