Teaching Environmental Political Theory: Why Political Theory?

Session Submission Type: Roundtable

Session Description

This roundtable gathers environmental political theorists to discuss the question: why political theory? If our goal is to teach students about environmental politics, what makes the texts, methods, questions, and ideas of political theory useful to us? What does political theory offer to the teacher and student of environmental politics that cannot be found elsewhere? Different environmental political theorists will likely answer this question in different ways, depending on their broader pedagogical goals and the institutional contexts in which they teach. With environmental political theorists teaching across a range of diverse institutions, departments, and courses, this roundtable invites participants to reflect on such topics as: the relationship between the political theory canon and environmental politics, the role of political and social theory in teaching courses in environmental studies and the hard sciences, and the importance of comparative and decolonial political theory for teaching environmental justice.

Sub Unit

• Related Groups / Environmental Politics and Theory

Chair

• Matthew Hodgetts Case Western Reserve University

Presenters

• Gregory Koutnik Beloit College

• Sarah Surak Salisbury University

• Peter F. Cannavo Hamilton College

• Franziska Strack University of Cambridge

• Mary Witlacil South Dakota School of Mines and Technology

• Breena Holland Lehigh University