Drawing on the work of philosophers such as Michel Serres the module will examine the relation between nature and politics, with particular reference to political institutions: e.g. by looking at whether nature can or should be included as a ‘signatory’ in the contract seen in political philosophy as the foundational principle of society and the state. The problem will be opened up by a consideration of further ideas that shape our understanding of nature and of our relation to it, such as the wider role that ‘contract’ plays in Serres’s work and the ‘new materialisms’ found in a variety of contemporary writing. This will make it possible to address critically questions such as our response to the climate crisis, the coherence of contemporary ecological thinking, and the relation between science and political governance

1. Coursework Essay
2. Coursework (e.g. video presentation)
3. Discussion Board Contribution

Assessment 1. Learning Outcomes 1, 2, 3.

The coursework essay is the main summative assessment. Students will have the option of formulating their own essay question to address a problem relevant to or arising from the material covered in the module and will be expected to compose a well researched, evidenced, and coherently argued essay.



Assessment 2. Learning Outcomes 1, 2, 3.

This assessment will be formative. Students will be required to undertake a shorter task, such as a short video presentation on a topic covered in the module.



Assessment 3. Learning Outcome 4.

The discussion board is a vital part of the learning experience for all students. In addition to requiring students to articulate their understanding of the problems addressed by the module, it provides an opportunity for tutor-student and peer to peer feedback. The criteria against which discussion board contributions will be assessed are: regularity, engagement with others, relevance. Full details are provided in the Module Handbooks and in the Blackboard space for the module.

The module will be entirely Distance Learning. It will be delivered primarily via Blackboard, with additional use made of Teams and other platforms where appropriate. Each week the module tutor will provide reading and/or other material for students to address, tutor notes, and usually supplementary guidance in the form of a video or audio file. Students will be expected to read the texts set week by week, watch or listen to any supplementary material, undertake any tasks proposed by the tutor, and engage with the Discussion Board designated for the module. The emphasis will be on understanding key ideas and connecting them with real world problems. In addition to the Discussion Board, students will complete elements of formative assessment, and where appropriate these will contribute to a collective set of student-generated resources for the module (e.g. book reviews, collections of source material, analyses of significant passages of text) in order to encourage a sense of collective learning through research.

1. Identify and interpret key ideas in contemporary materialism.
2. Formulate a clear interpretation of the work of Michel Serres on nature and our relation to nature.
3. Evaluate alternative interpretations of ecology.
4. Discuss topics such as our relation to nature and the relation between science and politics

Blackboard
Digital Services
Library.

Indicative Texts

Alaimo, Stacy Bodily Natures: Science, Environment, and the Material Self. Indiana University Press 2010.
Beck, Ulrich ‘Critical Theory of World Risk Society: A Cosmopolitan Vision’. Constellations Vol 16, no.1 (2009), pp.3-22.
Bennett, Jane Vibrant Matter: a political ecology of things. Duke University Press, 2010.
Dolphijn, Rick and Van der Tuin, Iris (eds), New Materialisms: Interviews and Cartographies. Open Humanities Press, 2012.
Latour, Bruno Down to Earth: politics in the new climatic regime. Polity Press, 2018.
Meadows, Donnella et al (eds) Beyond the Limits: Global Collapse or a Sustainable Future Earthscan Publications 1992.
Merchant, Carolyn Radical Ecology: the Search for a Livable World. Routledge, 1992.
Mitropoulos, Angela Contract and Contagion: from biopolitics to oikonomia. Minor Compositions, 2013.
‘The Time of the Contract: Insurance, Contingency, and the Arrangement of Risk. South Atlantic Quarterly, 111 (4) 2012.
Posthumus, Stephanie, ‘Translating Ecocriticism: Dialoguing with Michel Serres,’ Reconstruction 7.2 (2007).
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques Discourse on Political Economy and the Social Contract. Oxford World Classics, 2008.
Serres, Michel The Natural Contract. University of Michigan Press, 1990.
Serres, Michel The Birth of Physics. Rowman and Littlefield, 2018.
Stone, Christopher ‘Should Trees Have Standing? Toward Legal Rights for Natural Objects’. Southern California Law Review, Vol 45 (1972), pp.450-501.

If we are all basically made of matter, how do we understand what matter is and how it works? Why is society understood as separate from nature? Should nature be given a ‘say’ in our political decision-making and what could this mean? What is ecology aiming to achieve? This module will examine questions like these, drawing on ideas in new materialism and the work of thinkers such as Michel Serres.