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751-2105-00L 3 Credits MSC D-USYS

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Political Ecology of Food and Agriculture

Lecturers & Examiners: Prof. Dr. Johanna Jacobi

Number of participants limited to 25 A motivational application is required: - presenting yourself and your studies - stating what topic in the field of Political Ecology that you are interested in - suggesting one paper to enrich the literature list for the course Questions regarding the application to .

VVZ CR n/a

Last Updated: 2026-02-05 16:00:33

Abstract

In this seminar, students are introduced to the multi-disciplinary field of political ecology to investigate human-environment relationships in food and agricultural systems.

Objective

- Being able to provide an overview of the multi-disciplinary field of political ecology for investigating the relationships of humans to our environment - Learn to identify how power and interest influence social-ecological systems and to distinguish symptoms from systemic root causes - Become enabled to analyse complex and sometimes distant human-ecology relationships choosing from a broad range of methods

Content

We will review common narratives in agri-food systems informed by a range of different theories and assisted by different analytical tools. For this purpose, we will start from different concepts of nature, power and interests, explore different ontologies and epistemologies through a set of topics such as hunger, obesity, agrobiodiversity and seeds, forests and deforestation, climate change and food production. Students will explain one concept in each course to the groups and practice their argumentative and writing skills in a final essay, applying the acquired tools to a topic of their choice. While specific inputs from external lecturers broaden our perspective, enough time for critical discussion and reflection will be granted.

Resources

Literature

Literaturelist provided on Moodle. Moodle: https://moodle-app2.let.ethz.ch/mod/assign/view.php?id=756049

General Information

Language: English
Levels: MSC
Frequency: Yearly recurring

Examination

Type: graded semester performance

- Active participation including complying with the reading assignment for every session: 30% (oral or written contributions possible)- Session preparation (group task): 30%- Final Essay (max. 3000 words excluding references): 40%

Registration & Places

Signup End: 30.09.2022

Course Components

Type	Title	Time & Place	Hours
lecture with exercise	Political Ecology of Food and Agriculture	Fri 14:15-16:00 (LFW C 4)	2 h weekly

Offered In

Environmental Sciences Master
- Minors
  - Minor in Environmental, Resource and Food Economics
  - Minor in Agricultural Plant Production and Environment
Agricultural Sciences Master
- Major in Animal Sciences
  - Disciplinary Competences
    - LivestockSystems
- Major in Plant Sciences
  - Methodology Competences
    - Seminar in Plant Sciences
- Major in Agriculture Economics
  - Disciplinary Competences
    - Development and International Policy
- Minors
  - Sustainable Agricultural Development (The minor Transdisciplinarity for Sustainable Development was revised and renamed for the academic year 22/23. The course units that were previously offered are still part of the Sustainable Agricultural Development minor.)
  - General Crop Science (This minor will only be offered in the academic year 22/23. As of the academic year 23/24, the minor can no longer be chosen. The course units offered in the minor can still be taken as electives.)