Degrowth

Course manual 2022/2023

Course content

The idea of degrowth appeared in the academic literature in the 1970s and some of its principles have been part of philosophical debates for centuries. More recently, it has appeared as a rapidly rising academic and activist movement. The movement proposes a deliberate and just downscaling of overproduction and overconsumption to increase human well-being and regenerate ecological conditions on the planet. In this course, students explore the scientific foundations and practical relevance of this challenging idea.

Study materials

Literature

• Readings to prepare for the lectures and the assignments will be shared via Canvas.

Objectives

• Recognise and distinguish key perspectives in the degrowth/post-growth debates.
• Explain and evaluate degrowth/post-growth arguments for social transformation.
• Interpret and examine processes of growth and degrowth through relevant disciplinary perspectives.
• Develop and defend alternative approaches based on the principles of degrowth.

Teaching methods

• Lecture
• Seminar
• Self-study

Lectures contribute to objectives 1, 2, 3 and 4. Seminars contribute to objectives 2, 3 and 4. Self-study contributes to objectives 3 and 4.

Learning activities

Attendance

Additional requirements for this course:

• Students must attend at least 9 out of 10 lectures, and at least 5 out of 6 workshops.
• Absence needs to be communicated to the assistant coordinator (Andro Rilovic, a.rilovic@uva.nl)

Assessment

Individual Perusall assignments are compensable, but the individual exam and group essay are not (>5.5). Perusall assignment W44 is optional.

Students that were enrolled in the course in previous years

Inspection of assessed work

Written feedback will be provided within 15 working days after exam or submission. It will include general comments pertaining to the assessment criteria.

Assignments

COLLABORATIVE READINGS

This assignment is intended to help you better understand the two compulsory weekly materials, and get more out of your classes (see deadlines on canvas). You will be annotating articles, book chapters or documentaries with others in your class. The help you will get and provide to your classmates will make it a collaborative process. The idea is that while you read, you will simultaneously receive answers to your questions, help others resolve their questions (which also helps you in the learning process), and advise the instructor how to use class time most productively. 

This assignment uses the Perusall tool through Canvas, which allows you to start a new annotation thread by highlighting text, asking a question, or posting a comment. You can also add a reply or comment to an existing thread. You should aim to stimulate discussion by posting good questions or comments and to help others by answering their questions. To help you connect with classmates, you can “mention” a classmate in a post to have them notified by email (they will also see a notification immediately if online), and you will also be notified when your classmates respond to your questions.

Assessment criteria:

1. You must contribute to 6 perusall assignments, each includes 2 documents or videos. 1 assignment per week, starting in week 45 (an optional perusall assignment is available in W44 so you can get used to the system).
2. Per document or video, you must make a minimum of 7 useful or insightful contributions (annotation, questions, responses, etc.), in English.
3. Perusall will then assign a grade based on the quantity and distribution of the contributions over the text, on the time spent reading and contributing, on how you stimulate discussion, offer informative questions or comments, and help others by addressing their questions or confusions (for more information, see here).
4. We will conduct random checks to assess the quality of your individual annotations and whether you follow the etiquettes of engagement (see explainer in the assignment module on canvas), and if necessary we will adjust the Perusall grade.
5. The (minimum) 7 annotations have to be completed by Wednesday (mid-day) prior to the lecture. This way, you are well prepared and it gives the lecturer the opportunity to explain things that were not clear. The deadlines will be indicated in the assignment. 

INDIVIDUAL TAKE-HOME EXAM

Your individual engagement with the lectures will be examined through an "open-book" 1.5 hour take-home exam dealing with the different degrowth perspectives (Ecological, Marxist, Anarchist, Post-development, Psychological and Feminist). You will select and answer three (3) out of four (4) questions. If you answer all four, we will randomly drop one. On average, you will have 30 minutes per question. You can start the exam at any time between 09:00-22:30 on the exam date (see deadlines on canvas), but you must complete the exam in one go (i.e., you cannot stop halfway and continue later). Attendance and attention during the lectures should be enough to prepare for the exam.

Each question is divided into sub-questions. Some might be multiple choice, others might be short open questions. In your answers, it is important to actually draw on the lectures for arguments and evidence, but references or citations to particular authors mentioned during the lectures are not necessary. The length of your responses will be limited automatically. Please only provide your own opinion when this is explicitly asked. Please answer in legible and clear English, and do not answer in bullet points.

Assessment criteria:

1. 3 out of 4 questions have been answered.
2. Each question is worth 20 points and you need 33 points out of a total of 60 points to pass (i.e. a 5.5). The number of points allocated to the sub-questions will be mentioned in the exam.
3. For open questions, we will assess:
1. Clarity of understanding (by explaining) lecture contents.
2. Succinctness by distinguishing between essential and trivial information, capacity to summarize in compliance with word limit.

Your grade will be provided within 15 working days after the exam. It will include general comments pertaining to the assessment criteria. The resit will take place late January or early February (to be confirmed).

GROUP ESSAY

Students will write a group essay on their vision for a degrowth social transformation. You will describe the transformation that (you believe) needs to take place in order to successfully address the problems we will have discussed in the first part of the course. You will then zoom in on one particular area of transformation from a preselected list (e.g. food, housing, security, etc.), and on concrete proposal(s) within this area (e.g. permaculture, co-housing, defunding the police, etc.).

The essay should provide a background (what are the problems? why is social transformation needed?). You will also describe and analyse the concrete proposal(s) (why are the proposals necessary to tackle the problems? how do they fit in the broader transformation), find cases that describe the area/proposals in question, reflect on their effectiveness, and explore how it might rely on or support other degrowth areas of transformation and proposals. 

The essay should be between 3000 and 4000 words, no more no less, excluding references. The format for the assignment is an essay. If you are unfamiliar with the writing of an essay, you will find useful tips here and here. A soft copy (.doc or .docx) should be handed in through Canvas (see deadlines on canvas). The three seminars during the second part of the course will support and facilitate this group work through various activities and exercises.

Assessment criteria:

1. The title page must include a title, student name and number, as well as word count.
2. Clear and up-to-date understanding of the overall problems, the necessity of social transformation, as well as of the strengths and weaknesses of particular proposals.
3. Pertinent use of insights from course materials and wider degrowth literature to contextualise and analyse the chosen area/topic.
4. Logically organised, clear in thought and argument (e.g, the introduction should lead to a clear problem statement; the rest of the main body of the text should focus on the chosen degrowth area and particular proposal, how it addresses the stated problem(s), its limitations, and its connections to other degrowth proposals).
5. Compliance with word limit.
6. Consistent use of APA or Harvard referencing style.
7. Late essays will be subject to a penalty of 5% per day. No essay will be accepted more than a week late, without prior approval.
8. You must process (and include in the bibliography) at least 3 peer-reviewed journal publications, in addition to the compulsory materials of the course as well as suggested readings.

Written feedback will be provided within 15 working days after submission. It will include general comments pertaining to the assessment criteria. It will also include a breakdown of the grade based on the assessment criteria. This grade is not compensable (below 5.5 means a fail). The deadline for the resit will be 10 days after publishing the grades/feedback of the first attempt.

Fraud and plagiarism

This course adheres to the general rules on ‘Fraud and Plagiarism` as set by the UvA. Students are expected to have familiarized themselves with these rules.

The terms Fraud or Plagiarism are to be interpreted as the copying of the work of peer-student and/or the copying of (scientific) sources of information, without explicitly referring to its source.

Fraud/plagiarism is forbidden and actively checked by staff. When one is suspected of having committed fraud/plagiarism, the exam committee of beta-gamma and future planet studies will be informed. The highest punishment for fraud/plagiarism involves the student to be disallowed to partake of any exams or examination activities within the future planet studies programme, for the duration of a whole academic year, or may even face dismissal from the programme. More information about Fraud and Plagiarism can be found at: www.uva.nl/plagiaat

Course structure

Timetable

The schedule for this course is published on DataNose.

Last year's student feedback

In order to provide students some insight how we use the feedback of student evaluations to enhance the quality of education, we decided to include the table below in all course guides.

Contact information

Coordinator

• Crelis Rammelt

Staff

• Andro Rilović, assistant coordinator, a.rilovic@uva.nl
• Joris van der Klei
• Lotte Levelt