Start from 7:45 a.m., please arrive on time. Afterwards there will be a practical fire extinguishing exercise in the outside area behind the SFG-Building, place outside in the Emmy-Noether-Straße. The participants are asked to pay attention to weatherproof clothing and sturdy shoes, because the fire drill takes place outside.

This seminar offers an introduction to examine how capitalist relations shape and are shaped by the ocean, recognising that how ocean space is used, valued, and governed is inseparable from dominant forms of social reproduction within a given time and space. While the ocean has long been central to processes of capital accumulation, recent shifts have framed it as a global economic frontier under the banner of the "Blue Economy." In the seminar, we will critically examine what this shift represents in terms of how extraction is organized, justified and resisted. Drawing on debates in political ecology, critical geography, and ocean studies, the course engages with both historical and contemporary cases. Through readings, media, debates, and fieldwork, the seminar offers tools to understand the ocean not only as a site of environmental concern, but as a political space marked by power struggles.

This block seminar is a first approach to the topic of Environmental Justice. We explore the complex intersections of environmental degradation, social inequality, and power and resistance. Using a mix of lectures, films, transect walks, podcasts, collaborative mapping, guest speakers, and hands-on activities, we engage with the foundational theory of environmental justice to learn how environmental harm disproportionately affects marginalized communities.
We explore case studies, historical and current, local and global: using the Environmental Justice Atlas, students can choose a case study of their interest to present at the end of the class. During the course, we also take a closer look at environmental justice in Bremen: we observe the design of green spaces in Bremen’s neighborhoods, as well as learning about resistance movements in Germany and beyond. Through group discussions, creative work and reflective writing, students are encouraged to develop a nuanced understanding of environmental justices, not only as a framework to action but also as an invitation to action. The course culminates in poster presentations of the selected case studies, connecting global struggles with our own positions and possibilities for co-resistance.

Since the 1980s debates on so-called “environmental refugees” have resurfaced and inspired a vivid academic and political debate in the UN, EU and at national security bodies. Within this seminar students will encounter the shifts and changes that marked that debate and learn to reflect on the relationship between academic discourses and changing political landscapes. We will explore the security-focused approaches to “environmental refugees” in the 1980s to early 2000s, the strong voices of migration scholars arguing against mono-causal perspectives of migration; international law scholars’ arguments for/ against broadening the category of “refugee” and finally turn to present-day debates on how migration in the light of climate change can be perceived as an adaptation strategy.
Lernziele/Kompetenzen: 1) Understand and explain key concepts in the changing debate on climate change and human migration 2) Identify and critically assess the features of such changing discourses and discuss them in the context of political developments 3) Practice academic skills such as presentations and debates in English 4) Practice how to write a narrative literature review

Start from 7:45 a.m., please arrive on time. Afterwards there will be a practical fire extinguishing exercise in the outside area behind the SFG-Building, place outside in the Emmy-Noether-Straße. The participants are asked to pay attention to weatherproof clothing and sturdy shoes, because the fire drill takes place outside.

This seminar offers an introduction to examine how capitalist relations shape and are shaped by the ocean, recognising that how ocean space is used, valued, and governed is inseparable from dominant forms of social reproduction within a given time and space. While the ocean has long been central to processes of capital accumulation, recent shifts have framed it as a global economic frontier under the banner of the "Blue Economy." In the seminar, we will critically examine what this shift represents in terms of how extraction is organized, justified and resisted. Drawing on debates in political ecology, critical geography, and ocean studies, the course engages with both historical and contemporary cases. Through readings, media, debates, and fieldwork, the seminar offers tools to understand the ocean not only as a site of environmental concern, but as a political space marked by power struggles.

This block seminar is a first approach to the topic of Environmental Justice. We explore the complex intersections of environmental degradation, social inequality, and power and resistance. Using a mix of lectures, films, transect walks, podcasts, collaborative mapping, guest speakers, and hands-on activities, we engage with the foundational theory of environmental justice to learn how environmental harm disproportionately affects marginalized communities.
We explore case studies, historical and current, local and global: using the Environmental Justice Atlas, students can choose a case study of their interest to present at the end of the class. During the course, we also take a closer look at environmental justice in Bremen: we observe the design of green spaces in Bremen’s neighborhoods, as well as learning about resistance movements in Germany and beyond. Through group discussions, creative work and reflective writing, students are encouraged to develop a nuanced understanding of environmental justices, not only as a framework to action but also as an invitation to action. The course culminates in poster presentations of the selected case studies, connecting global struggles with our own positions and possibilities for co-resistance.

Since the 1980s debates on so-called “environmental refugees” have resurfaced and inspired a vivid academic and political debate in the UN, EU and at national security bodies. Within this seminar students will encounter the shifts and changes that marked that debate and learn to reflect on the relationship between academic discourses and changing political landscapes. We will explore the security-focused approaches to “environmental refugees” in the 1980s to early 2000s, the strong voices of migration scholars arguing against mono-causal perspectives of migration; international law scholars’ arguments for/ against broadening the category of “refugee” and finally turn to present-day debates on how migration in the light of climate change can be perceived as an adaptation strategy.
Lernziele/Kompetenzen: 1) Understand and explain key concepts in the changing debate on climate change and human migration 2) Identify and critically assess the features of such changing discourses and discuss them in the context of political developments 3) Practice academic skills such as presentations and debates in English 4) Practice how to write a narrative literature review