Master's Degree in Political Ecology Degrowth and Environmental Justice

Contents

A1- Degrowth
Introduction to degrowth-Biophysical limits to growth-Capitalism, colonialism and growth-Well-being and Degrowth-Decolonizing degrowth.

A2- Political Ecology, Feminism and Environmental Justice
Political ecology-Socio-environmental conflicts and environmental justice - Feminist political ecology.

A3- The Barcelona School of Political Ecology and Degrowth
Introduction to The School of Barcelona-Societal metabolism-Conservation-Extractivism-Knowledge and resistance-Real existing degrowths-Urban environmental justice.

A4- Practice of sustainability
Experimental practice of degrowth-Activism in Barcelona-Embodiment, movement and arts-based expressions of environmental justice.

A5- Commons
Introduction to the commons-Rural commons-Urban commons-Digital commons-Supports structures and geographies of the commons.

A6.1- Research skills
Research design-Ethics, positionality and participatory research-Qualitative methods-Q-Methods-Survey-Integrated assessment.

A6.2- Professional skills
Facilitation technique-Campaigning-Setting up a cooperative enterprise-Promoting open community economies.

TFM-Option A: Scientific research with an academic or non-academic exit (opinion article for national or international press)
Option B: Apply the project through a practice in an organization that contributes to a more socio-ecological society.

Specific skills

KT01: Identify different sources, concepts, and ideas of political ecology, degrowth, environmental justice, and Barcelona School of Political Ecology.
KT02: Recognize the different forms of commons and commoning that render managing diverse resources possible in the physical and digital realm.
KT03: Illustrate the potential of artistic expressions and culture for socio-ecological transformations.
KT04: Inform different methods, ontologies and epistemologies according to a topic and research questions, as well as for group facilitation processes.
KT05: Describe the history and current debates on degrowth. Defend the applied arguments of the Barcelona School of Political Ecology and Degrowth.
KT06: Explain ongoing capitalist exploitation through the use of critical tools. Understand the relationship between social metabolism and Environmental Justice struggles worldwide and reinterpret them as forces for radical changes.
KT07: Understand the different strategies for managing different resource systems at multiple scales and match these systems with everyday practices, collective wisdom, and co-creation.
KT08: Identify different methods in socio-environmental research.

ST01: Investigate the links between capitalism, colonialism, and growth by applying different theories, research, and professional methodologies.
ST02: Interpret critically the ongoing environmental crisis and its historical roots from a political standpoint of unequal power relations.
ST03: Classify several real-life practices of degrowth initiatives, commons systems and sustainable practices and their socio-environmental impacts, differencing them from other practices aiming at systemic change.
ST04: Debate frontier research on degrowth and different socio-metabolic transformations that occur at different societal scales.
ST05 Apply feminist, intersectional, local and Indigenous-led pathways out of the current crises. 
ST06 Compare a variety ofapproaches and methodologies in social-ecology-related academic research.
ST07 Apply diverse communication strategies, employ new narratives, memetics, digital tools and social networks.

CT01: Contrast apolitical with political thinking about current environmental conflicts and validate different languages of valuation.
CT02: Evaluate the effectiveness of alternative resource management systems in diverse socio-natural contexts and degrowth living labs.
CT03: Design a research proposal.
CT04: Contrast data about the audience and stakeholders, formulate strategies and plan to implement a campaign.
CT05: Compare key academic literature on degrowth and Post growth, synthesizing the consequences of environmental injustice that economic growth generates.
CT06: Revise emotional and embodied aspects associated with degrowth and environmental justice.
CT07: Work with the commons and Degrowth sustainability model to create or examine and restructure open projects from five dimensions: community, resources, co-production, sharing and co-governance.
CT08 Synthesise qualitative and quantitative data according to a specific objective and research questions.

Transferable skills

Cross competencies that will offer abilities
- To communicate knowledge and research to specialized and non-specialized audiences
- To teamwork in field work and in an interdisciplinary context, as well as to develop attitudes and skills for participation and collaboration in a research team or organizations
- To write different types of texts; from academic papers to policy reports, press, blogs or consultancies.
- To use group dynamics and other group facilitation skills to facilitate participatory processes, meetings and presentations.

Title obtained

Lifelong Learning Master's Degree in Political Ecology Degrowth and Environmental Justice