OADD 2385 - From parks to profits: how colonial conservation impacts indigenous rights

While the biodiversity and climate crises receive unprecedented public attention, the underlying concepts driving discussions and proposed solutions often reproduce oppressive discourses and practices. By focusing on the images, narratives and language around "nature", "conservation" and "climate", the course interrogates the current global politics of nature through its colonial, racist, and capitalist roots.

From "fortress conservation" to carbon offsetting, what the Global North calls "nature" becomes the political arena where power inequalities, domination, land struggles, and conflicting worldviews manifest — at the expense of Indigenous peoples.

Learning Outcomes

• Students will learn how to identify discriminatory language and stereotypical images in conservation/climate material (adverts, schoolbooks, documentaries) and propose a different language.
• Students will be able to critically analyze environmental policies and propose a different approach that respects both the environment and human rights.
• Students will be able to develop a postcolonial scientific perspective around nature protection and climate mitigation projects, understanding the political implications as well as the embedded injustice of mainstream concepts and policies. They will also acquire the tools to identify alternative narratives from the Global South.
• Students will acquire knowledge of human rights and Indigenous peoples' rights within relevant climate and biodiversity policy frameworks.

Professional Skills

Critical analysis of environmental and climate policies.

Drafting policy recommendations and amendments to bills.

Material to read for the first session:

Survival International’s “Guide to decolonize language in conservation” (2022): https://www.survivalinternational.org/about/decolonizelanguage

“Against wildlife republics” - Aby L. Sène – Published online by The Republic (2022): https://republic.com.ng/october-november-2022/conservation-and-imperialist-expansion-in-africa/

• Presentation: Students will be offered oral feedback to their presentation immediately after the class.
• Term paper: Marks will be given 4 to 6 weeks after the deadline.

• Presentation (40%): Grouped by 3 or 4, students will have to prepare and give a 20 minute presentation of a wildlife documentary, an article, an advert, a tourist brochure, a film or any other communications material about nature protection or climate mitigation, analyzing its political implications, the stereotypes, the discriminatory language and provide an alternative. The presentation will be followed by a discussion.
• Participation (10%): Each student will have to read the required material and actively participate in each session. This may take various forms: discussion of mandatory readings, reactions to guest speakers, video analysis, role-play simulations, debates, or in-class research tasks.
• Term paper (50%): Each student will have to write a short analysis of an EU/UN/domestic policy document or proposal (directive, guidelines, frameworks, resolutions), on biodiversity protection/ climate mitigation, highlighting the human and land rights issues, and the political implications for Indigenous people and local populations. Finally, recommendations on how to amend the text should be provided (3000 words).