PSC 244 - The Politics of Extraction in the Americas

Course Units: 1.0

As the shrinking of the Amazon keeps making headlines, extractive activities including large-scale mining, logging, and agriculture are rapidly transforming the landscape of the Americas. This class surveys main extractive activities across the hemisphere, their output and political impact. While feeding expanding markets, extractivism has been linked to land grabs, forced displacement, conflicts, state and paramilitary violence, lobbying, corruption, and coups d’état. In exploring trends and cases, we will review concepts, theories, and alternatives to extractivism, including women and indigenous-led traditions of protecting different forms of life and Earth itself. By taking this course, students will develop informed perspectives regarding which extractive activities may be essential, and whether (and how) they can be done sustainably, as part of the quest to secure a livable future. Prerequisite(s): PSC 111 or PSC 112 CC: SOCS, GSPE ISP: LAS