Political Science 432 - Amazonia in Inter. Rel.

Fall
2021
01
4.00
Manuela Picq

W 01:30PM-04:15PM

Amherst College
POSC-432-01-2122F
CLAR 100
mpicq@amherst.edu

(Offered as POSC 432 and LLAS 332) This class proposes Amazonia as a site to think about world politics. The Amazon, imagined as a place of nature rather than modernity, is invisible in the study of International Relations (IR). Yet, its experiences are deeply interconnected with international dynamics. The modern world has long been influencing Amazonia, and Amazonia has in turn contributed much to forging what we now refer to as the global North. This class identifies international dynamics at play in Amazonia through different historical moments, from shaping western sovereignty in the sixteenth century to the rubber boom of the twentieth century and drug trafficking today. We show how Amazonian peripheries have contributed to forging the political economy of what we refer to as the core of world politics. This class engages with empirical approaches to Amazonia as well as theoretical debates about IR, disrupting the global division of labor in knowledge production and opening fertile grounds to think critically about IR.

Requisite: At least one POSC course (200 or above). Limited to 18 students. Not open to first-year students. Fall semester. Karl Loewenstein Fellow and Visiting Associate Professor Picq.

Permission is required for interchange registration during the add/drop period only.