FSEM 183   Nature, Culture, & Politics

Faculty Profile for Professor Henke

The words "nature" and "the environment" conjure up visions of wild animals and open landscapes, but are people part of nature too? Students are showed how nature and human culture are intertwined, both in terms of how we shape our environment as well as how it shapes us. Through a series of case studies, students explore this relationship, focusing especially on the way that nature and culture are "political": inequalities, social problems and movements, and power relations all flow from the way that we interact with our environment. Students take a global, comparative, and historical view of this process, and the following special topics are included: the rise of environmental awareness and environmental social movements; globalization and environmental values; consumption and the environment; environmental inequalities and justice; risk, technology, and environmental politics; and public policy and the environment. Students who successfully complete this seminar receive credit for ANTH/SOCI 245 and satisfy one half of the social relations, institutions, and agents area of inquiry requirement.

Chris Henke, Professor of Sociology and Environmental Studies, teaches courses about food and agriculture, work and society, and research methods. You can read his new book about infrastructures for free at the MIT Press website: https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/repairing-infrastructures (click on "Open Access").