Course Title: Power, Privilege and Preservation
Quarter Offered: Autumn 2014
Time and Day: 1:30-3:20pm, T/Th
Instructor: Kristi Straus
Credits: 5
Course Fee: None
Description: In ENVIR 460 we are going to explore the ways that power plays a role in natural resource management. Protected areas such as parks, wildlife preserves and marine protected areas are a key part of the global strategy to conserve biodiversity and protect resources--and these protected areas generate controversy when local communities are excluded from living in, using, and managing the spaces designated for protection.
We will examine ways that cultures with different power structures have protected their resources as well as examining strategies developed by resource managers to better integrate local communities in protected areas management.
We will use examples of resource management and protected areas in Africa, Latin America, Asia, and the United States and examine the factors that contribute to the success or failure of these cases. Who decides what is worthy of preservation? Who decides who participates in management?
