Sustainable Development: Worldviews and Discourses

The course presents the concept of discourse and its practical applications to analyse and critically examine normative worldviews that shape the evolving concept of sustainable development. Students are introduced to discourse analysis techniques and apply these to analyse significant discourses surrounding issues of scale and volume within sustainable development. Topics covered in the course include the interplay between local and global perspectives and ideas of resource scarcity and abundance. Concepts covered include, but are not limited to, the ideas of localization, limits to growth and planetary boundaries. By engaging with these topics, students gain a deeper understanding of how discourse shapes perceptions and actions related to sustainable development in the world. The teaching and learning will take place through a combination of lectures, seminars and student-led sessions which, together, are articulated into a co-creative process of learning and teaching. The seminars are held by the course coordinators in collaboration with lecturers from different academic disciplines and other relevant areas of society. Great importance is given to active participation, as well as reflection and critical challenging of one own's and other's worldviews and values. You attain your credits through writing papers, active participation and in-class presentations at the seminars.