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INFO




  • Instructor

Dr. Alexander Arroyo

Course Information
CEGU 32301
CEGU 22301
ENST 22301
GLST 29301
MAPH 32301

Office Hours 

T/R 3:30–4:30
  • COURSE DESCRIPTION

Struggles for climate and environmental justice are increasingly mediated by digital technologies and geospatial data, especially in the Global South. In Amazonia, for example, the plight of indigenous groups bearing the brunt of ecological dispossession and political violence by deforestation is frequently represented through remotely-sensed data showing time-series of canopy loss; in turn, these data are often prompted, groundtruthed, and mobilized by indigenous communities and affiliated activists in legal and political campaigns.

In parallel, across the world ocean, countries across the Global South– from Papua New Guinea and Ecuador to Ghana– are partnering with watch-dog organizations using satellite imagery and GPS data to track illegal fishing and human rights abuses at sea, acting as an auxilliary ecological police force to identify and provide data to prosecute offending vessels. The proliferation of these digital geographic technologies and techniques pose a number of complex questions.

Drawing on contemporary cases, experimental projects in “forensic” approaches to climate activism, and recent work in critical geography, aesthetics, STS, and political theory, this course will map out these digital geographies of climate justice as they are emerging. We will do so by focusing on three “metageographies” shaping the digital terrains in which struggles for climate justice are waged: the Forest, the Ocean, and the City. 

  • COURSE FORMAT

This course combines elements of a traditional reading-intenstive seminar with lab-based approaches to geographic information/geospatial science (i.e., “GIScience”) and studio-based approaches to visual research methods drawn from the spatial design disciplines (architecture, landscape architecture, & urban planning).  

Seminars
Following a first introductory session, the course will be divided into the three “metageographic” modules (two seminar sessions each), interspersed with a pair of entry-level remote sensing + GIS workshops that directly engage content from the seminar sessions.  The seminars will be open-ended discussions involving in-depth explorations of the projects specified for that week, and close readings of key texts. 

While all the texts are there for a reason, some are more important for understanding critical theoretic approaches to the subject matter, while others are primarily there to establish the scientific foundations of that week’s theme. I’ll briefly introduce and explain which texts to focus on and why during the end of the prior session.  

Finally, we’re lucky to have a couple sessions with guest lecturers whose work we’ll be reading. For those sessions we’ll forego a project-based focus to give more time to a lecture and discussion with our guest.

Workshops
The first workshop will follow our sessions on the Forest, and will involve working with data documenting deforestation. The second workshop will follow our sessions on the Ocean, and will involve working with data documenting illicit fishing activity. The workshops will also offer time for students to develop workflows attuned to individual research projects. 

Please note that no prior experience is required for the technical dimensions of the class; all workshop material will be covered in class and through preparatory online tutorials linked in the Resources section. 

  • COURSEWORK

All coursework will revolve around an individual research project of your choosing. We’ll approach this in two ways: through in-class participation and through a research “dossier”.  

In-Class Participation
There are as many ways to participate meaningfully in class as there are ways of learning, but all require putting in the work beforehand. We’ll formalize that as follows:

  • Each student is required to sign up to provide reading notes for one reading (two if short) per metageographic module. I will send out a sign-up form after the first session. 

  • Share your notes as a Google Doc with the class one day before class (i.e, end of day Tuesday). This will not be a “reading response” per se, but a set of working notes. It should include critical commentary, reflections on how it relates to the projects/data we’re exploring that week (or another), key quotations, follow-up questions, and links to related materials (other readings, datasets, projects, news media, etc). Finally, it should also include some short statements on why you selected the reading(s), and how they are relevant (however distant) to the project you’re developing. 

  • Be prepared to play a leading role in class discussion! I’ll likely ask you to expand on something you’ve written up in the flow of our collective dialogue. 

Dossier
The major deliverable for the course is a research dossier that will be tailored to your own project theme, disciplinary background, skillsets, etc.

See the Dossier section for full details.