“Human security” represents a relatively new concept being explored within academic debates on international relations, development and environmental sustainability.   Human security approaches seek to move beyond a dualism between national security issues—e.g. “state” security—and questions of community, individual and ecological security.  Security in this sense is measured differently, often in terms of human rights, basic needs, freedom from discrimination and environmental health.

This course will trace the origins of the concept and explore interdisciplinary debates on human security within political geography, critical development studies and feminist theory.  Themes to be addressed include: globalization and the state; “the war on terrorism”; nationalism, race and gender; immigration and refugee issues; and sustainable development.  Particular, but not exclusive, attention will be paid to feminist re-readings of geopolitical discourses and theories—in other words approaches that emphasize place-bound lives and ecologies, linkages between local and global, as well as the social construction of power and difference. 

Students should be prepared to engage in intensive reading and discussion of graduate-level material.  Students will take turns leading weekly discussions, hand in five “think-piece” responses to readings over the quarter, and complete an 18-20 page research paper.