ISS PE 2018

The International Summer School of Political Ecology is a response to a recognized lack of holistic and in-depth understanding of environmental problematiques in the slovenian intellectual space. This applies particularly to the social science and humanities fields, which currently offer a limited range of elective courses at both undergraduate and graduate levels. The current divide between the environmental questions we pose and the need to both rethink and find answers to them is evident, while solutions presenting themselves today are in need of thorough reflection.

This summer school will offer a chance to gain new knowledge in the field of political ecology, enable greater access to the state-of-the-art in global and domestic scientific production and foster new connections among those active in the field. The overarching aim of the school is to establish a common understanding of different perspectives concerning environmental and ecological issues (i.e., environmental discourses) and thus allow for a more comprehensive and nuanced mental framework to emerge. Environmental discourses, due to their differing notions of and assumptions about technology, economy, democracy, nature, environment, etc., are a source of many (mis)understandings among societal actors. This often leads to mutually conflicting proposals for solutions and consequently political struggle over and among them.

Political ecology distinguishes itself from a-political environmental sciences in that it does not position “the environment” as the subject of its investigation, but rather places and contextualizes environmental questions in asymmetrical relations of social and political power.

With the support of our distinguished guests, summer school participants will be challenged to pursue a range of questions relating to the field of political ecology in an attempt to build a more critical and relational understanding of proposed solutions for tackling environmental challenges, and in the process construct a mental framework for a deeper understanding of the multilayered nature of glocal environmental and ecological issues.

The 2018 International Summer School of Political Ecology invites theoreticians, practitioners, activists and all those with interest in contemporary environmental and ecological concerns.