32611

WiSe 12/13: Environmental Justice

Götz Kaufmann

Comments

Environmental Justice became a controversial concept in environmental sociology recently. Based on Afro-American grassroots movements in the 1970s and 1980s, the concept was institutionalized in the 1990s and spread out all over the world within the next 2 decades. Nevertheless, its focus on two topics environmental racism on the one hand and questions of social justice (distributive, procedural justice) has made this concept embattled by various stakeholders. Its focus on mother earth conception and people of color unity has attracted grassroots and lawyers all over the world to adopt the concept. Indian people in North-America, Aboriginal people in Australia, Indigenous people in Brazil's Amazon, people of African origin in all America as well as people from Ex-GDR have claimed Environmental Justice Rights due to institutional discrimination. What do these people have in common (if any)? What does this nowadays broadly used concept mean in terms of a new paradigm of environmental sociology (Elvers 2007)? How does sociology deal with the new concept? What is about the drawn line between mainstream and critical Environmental Justice Research? Does Environmental Justice environment conception go together with old Chicago School human ecology of Ezra Park, and if yes, how? By looking at several cases in the US, Australia, Brazil and Germany, the characteristics of this concept, its history and 'theory behind' are supposed to be revealed. In the following, existing sociological discourses with relation to the concept of Environmental Justice shall be discussed overlooking their contribution to nature-society conceptions in environmental sociology. Recommended Literature: Elvers, Horst-Dietrich (2007): Umweltgerechtigkeit als Forschungsparadigma der Soziologie, in: Soziologie, Vol. 36, No 4, 2007, pp. 21-44; found on: http://www.springerlink.com/content/a1765804472954t0/, 16.08.2011 Köckler (2011); Gosine, Andil / Teelucksingh, Cheryl (2008): Environmental Justice and Racism in Canada. An Introduction, Toronto Shrader-Frechette, Kristin (2002): Environmental Justice. Creating Equality, Reclaiming Democracy, Oxford/New York/Auckland/Bangkok/Buenos Aires/Cape Town/Chennai/Dar es Salaam/Delhi/Hong Kong/Istanbul/Karachi/Kolkata/Kuala Lumpur/Madrid/Melbourne/Mexico City/Mumbai/Nairobi/São Paulo/Shanghai/Singapore/Taipei/Tokyo/Toronto; Bullard, R. D. (1990): Dumping in Dixie. Race, Class, and Environmental Quality, Boulder; Bullard, R. D. (1993): Confronting Environmental Racism. Voices from the Grassroots, Boston; Bullard, Robert D. (1983): Solid Waste Sites and the Black Houston Community; in: Sociological Inquiry, Vol. 53, pp. 273-288; Groß, Mathias (2001): Die Natur der Gesellschaft. Eine Geschichte der Umweltsoziologie, Weinheim/München Kaufmann (2012): Environmental Justice and Sustainable Development. With a case study in Brazil's Amazon using Q Methodology, Berlin; Dunlap, Riley E./Catton, William R, Jr. (1994): Struggling with Human Excemptionalism: The Rise, Decline and Revitalization of Environmental Sociology, in: The American Sociologist, Vol. 24, No 1, pp. 5-30; Dickens, Peter (1992): Society and Nature. Towards a Green Social Theory, New York; Park, Robert Ezra/Burgess, Ernest W. (1972 [1921]): Introduction to the Science of Sociology, Chicago close

16 Class schedule

Regular appointments

Mon, 10:00 - 12:00 16 Class schedule

Mon, 2012-10-15 10:00 - 12:00

Lecturers:
Götz Kaufmann