Environmental Studies 100

Environment and Sustainability in Southern Africa

Instructor: Frederick Simasiku, M.Ed. (Environment and Sustainability), Rhodes University

Course Description

This course explores and examines the human-nature interface in a southern African context of risk and vulnerability. The course draws insights from the social sciences to understand how environmental problems emerge and how their impacts can be mitigated.

You will be provided with an opportunity to investigate the root causes of environmental problems and why environmental problems occur. You will be familiarized to some of the environmental concerns in southern Africa with particular emphasis on Namibia. The course will also introduce as well as investigate the impact of Climate Change in southern Africa. Climate Change adaptation strategies in a southern African context will be examined and discussed. An overview of Namibia’s ecosystems and biodiversity will also be explored by examining how various factors such as political, economic, historical, social and ecological factors impacts both.

Instructional Goals

You will:

  1. Develop understanding of approaches used by the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences in the exploration of relationships between humans and environments.
  2. Be introduced to some environment and sustainability challenges of southern Africa in the 21st century in order to acquire an in-depth understanding of environment and sustainability challenges in context.
  3. Explore the competing and contested socio-political, cultural, economic, and bio-physical dimensions of sustainability in a southern African context.
  4. Undertake an exploration of the emergence and development of environmental policy and legislation in Namibia in order to identify the role played by various stakeholders.
  5. Sharpen your analytical skills in examining the causes and consequences of environmental problems through the application of sustainability framework in search of solutions.
  6. Develop an understanding of how Namibia promotes sustainable natural resource –based livelihood within a framework of community based natural resource management as well as through biodiversity protection mechanisms.
  7. Deepen your understanding of climate change impacts and adaptation in southern Africa.
  8. Examine social approaches aimed towards the alleviation of contemporary environmental problems by applying different theoretical frameworks or conceptual lenses in order to evaluate how several environmental movements intend to promote the concepts of eco-efficiency, environmental justice, equitable economic growth and eco-feminism.
  9. Reflect upon your role as agents of change to impact on social, economic and environmental justice through involvement at different educational, social and political levels.

Teaching Methodology

The course is theoretically guided by humanities pedagogy thus incorporates elements of situated learning strategies in order to enhance the interaction of physical, mental and emotional experiences among students. One of the best ways to realize this kind of pedagogy is by means of supporting students to look into the social-ecological systems in which learning occurs. Consequently, a problem-based and solutions oriented approach will be utilized throughout the course. Therefore, the course will draw on various pedagogical methods such as course readings and class discussions of those readings, lectures, videos, classroom exercises, guest speakers by environmental stakeholders and field-based activities.

Course Design

Unit / Topic
1 / The Multidisciplinary Nature of Environmental Studies
2 / Sustainable Natural Resources Management
3 / Water Resources and Challenges in Southern Africa
4 / Environmental Policy and Legislation
5 / Integrated Risk Management in a Context of Climate Change
6 / Environmental Movements: Re-defining Environmentalism
7 / Environment and Urbanization
8 / Fieldwork Presentations and Wrap up session
Integrative Projects and Travel to Cape Town

Assessment Procedures

There are four assessment objectives for this course, namely:

  • Knowledge with understanding
  • Analysis
  • Judgment and decision making
  • Investigation (inquiry, practical and presentation skills)

In order to show competence of the knowledge and understanding component of the course, you should be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the course content. Therefore you will be required to understand all recommended readings for the course. This component will be assessed by a review of selected readings. The analysis componentwill require you to demonstrate your ability to make good use of environmental information in order to infer trends and consequences related to human-nature interactions in a given context. Hence you will be required to write a report on an environment and sustainability phenomena in relation to the course themes.

The judgment and decision making assessment aspect will entail you to advance your critical thinking skills. Thus requiring you to utilize environment and sustainability principles in order to reason and make judgments (including evaluation, synthesis and drawing conclusions). With the aim of demonstrating how the ecological, socio-cultural, economic and political dimensions of sustainability informs decision-making in a particular context. This will necessitate you to illustrate your willingness to review your own attitudes in the light of new knowledge that you will be required to demonstrate through class presentations and reflections.

Whereas the investigation component of the assessment procedure will require you to show the development of environmental inquiry skills in order to select, use and present primary (first-hand data) environment and sustainability information in an appropriate form and effective manner. In view of the afore-mentioned, you will be required to undertake a fieldwork investigation exercise with an aim of compiling an environment and sustainability project. This will involve demonstrating your ability to formulate research aims/objectives, using inquiry skills to collect and analyze data, using illustrative techniques to present and interpret data, and formulate appropriate conclusions based on the collected data. The environment and sustainability research project will be undertaken by selecting an appropriate topic from the course themes.

Tentative Class Outline

Unit 1: The Multidisciplinary Nature of Environmental Studies

Description: This unit will start by examining the definition of environmental studies i.e. definition, scope and importance. Additionally, the unit will provide an account of approaches used by the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences in exploring relationships between humans and environments. This unit will also introduce some environmental and sustainability challenges experienced in southern Africa in the 21st century.

The unit will emphasize as well as confine the study of environmental studies to natural resources, ecosystems, biodiversity and its conservation, sustainability and pollution, social issues and environment, human population, environment and sustainability.

Unit 2: Sustainable Natural Resources Management

Description: This unit looks at the management of natural resources focusing on it is important to manage natural resources sustainably in order to improve the quality of life for present and future generations. The unit will explore the crucial role of natural resources in maintaining livelihoods in southern Africa. A number of natural resource management approaches will be discussed and analyzed in context.

Unit 3: Water Resources and Challenges in Southern Africa

Description: This unit will introduce and examine the challenges, use, management, and preservation of water resources in Namibia and in southern Africa. The unit will further present the environmental, economic and social consequences of floods; droughts water reservoirs, water pollution and water resource regulation. This unit will also introduce the concept of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM).

Unit 4: Environmental Policy and Legislation

Description: This unit will begin by examining the questions, what is an environmental policy? How are environmental policies produced and evaluated? How is environmental policy communicated? The unit will then explore and discuss the Namibia environmental policy in detail. Case studies will be used to demonstrate the role of various stakeholders involved in environmental policy development in Namibia. The role of legislation in protecting the environment will also be discussed.

Unit 5: Integrated Risk Management in a Context of Climate Change

Description: This unit introduces the concept of climate and its associated impacts and consequences in Namibia and southern Africa. The following questions will guide the discussions of the unit, how might climate change affect water supplies in southern Africa? What are the implications of climate change for food security in southern Africa? How will human health in southern Africa be affected by climate change? What climate impacts will there be for ecosystems in southern Africa? The unit will conclude by examining climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies in southern Africa.

Unit 6: Environmental Movements: Re-defining Environmentalism

Description: This unit will look at the currents of environmentalism in the context of environmental movements in sub-Saharan Africa and beyond. The topic will introduce and critically analyze environmental movements by applying different theoretical frameworks or, conceptual lenses in order to evaluate how environmental movements represent a new approach to social justice.

Unit 7: Environment and Urbanization

Description: This unit analyses the environmental problems associated with the growth and expansion of cities (focusing on informal settlements) in Namibia and in southern Africa. The unit will introduce key issues of urban growth, urban environments and social issues. The unit will examine the implication and consequences of urbanization on water supply, energy, sanitation and waste disposal, housing etc.

Furthermore, the unit will introduce students to fieldwork inquiry skills necessary in order to carry out first-hand small scale investigations in the Windhoek informal settlements. The main focus will be on primary data collection (interviewing, observation and questionnaire development) skills, data analysis and presentation skills. Students will be required to work in groups. Thereafter, students will collect primary data on issues such as water supply, sanitation, energy use and demand etc.

Unit 8: Fieldwork Presentations and Wrap up session

Description: This final unit will enable students to present their fieldwork exercise findings to the rest of the class. Each group will be allowed to present their work to the rest of the class and then the class will ask questions to the respective groups.

Course Requirements (100%)

  • Class Participation (10 %): You are expected to regularly attend classes. Class attendance is the most important means to achieve the learning goals for this course. This aspect of the assessment will comprise of compulsory class attendance, active class participation by providing feedback on assigned readings. You will also be required to engage with other students as well as with class guests, therefore you will be encouraged to ask questions as often as possible. Moreover, it will be your responsibility as a student to notify the course instructor in advance if you are unable to attend a class session.
  • Currents of Environmentalism (10%): This assessment exercise will require you to select and discuss any Environmental Movement of your choice from unit 6 readings. In your discussion, you will be required to use the Martinez-Alier (2002) reading (Currents of Environmentalism) in order to explain the current/s of Environmentalism informing the activities of the Environmental Movement that you will select.
  • Environmental Policy and Legislation (10%): You will be required to provide a detailed critical account of your understanding of factors influencing Environmental Policy development in Namibia. Additionally, the assessment exercise will require you to identify the stakeholders involved in the Policy development processes.
  • Fieldwork Exercise (35%): The fieldwork exercise will comprise of three assessment activities, namely: (i) Development of the fieldwork exercise proposal with objectives on any of the themes discussed in Unit 7: Environment and Urbanization. (ii) Collection of relevant data by undertaking a fieldwork in the city of Windhoek. (iii) Analysis; presentation and reporting of fieldwork findings in class. The fieldwork exercise will be done in groups.
  • Interdisciplinary Blog Assignment (5%): All students will be responsible for preparing two blog entries complete with photos during the semester. During the 1st week of the semester there will be a sign-up sheet posted, along with information about probable course content for the rest of the semester so that you could choose themes that most interest you and times of the semester that work best for you. The blogs will usually be written in groups of three (excerpt a few groups of four). A week begins on Monday and ends on Sunday. Length of Blog Entries: Approximately one page per group.
  • Intercultural knowledge and Competence: This will cover 5% of the integrative project.
  • Final Integrative Projects (30%): Final projects will address the Development Process, Religion, Political Science, Environmental Studies, History and Internship courses: This project can be done individually or in groups of up to three students. Projects should be creative (a play, a calendar, musical piece, etc), and should: 1) be rooted in critical analysis of issues important to Namibia and/or South Africa, 2) draw upon your own experiences, and 3) be a synthesis of your learning that can be used to educate others on key issues facing Namibia and/or South Africa. Although this is an integrative project, each instructor will grade the final projects separately.

There are two parts to the final project:

  1. A Final Project Progress Report(5%) The Progress Report is an outline of the project and should include information on:
  • who is doing the project (individual or group);
  • the topic;
  • how it will integrate themes from Poli-Sci, History, Religion, Environmental Studies, Internship and Development;
  • proposed format (presentation, calendar, panel discussion, theatre, game, etc);
  • resources you are using/plan to use; and
  • What has been accomplished so far and challenges you have encountered.
  1. Thepresentation (25%). The presentations must include clear and relevant references to sources (either text, outside readings, meetings or group research and/or interviews. A finalized outline of the presentation, with a list of sources, must be submitted before the presentation.

Recommended Course Readings

Biggs, R. Bohensky, E. Desanker, P. Fabricius, C. Lynam, et al. (2004). Nature Supporting People: The Southern African Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Integrated Report. Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Pretoria, South Africa available at (2012). Reducing Disaster Risks to Food Security in Southern Africa: Towards Integration and Co-operation REOSA Policy Brief 04. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office for Southern Africa available at P. Patrick, M & Turton, A. (2008). Trans-boundary Water Resource Management in Southern Africa: Meeting the Challenge of Joint Planning and Management in the Orange River Basin. International Journal of Water Resources Development, 24: 3, 371-383.

Hinz, O. (2011). Customary Law and the Environment. In C. Ruppel. O & K. Ruppel-Schlichting, eds (2011). Environmental Law and Policy in Namibia. Windhoek. Hanns Seidel Stiftung: 169-199.

Hope, K & Lekorwe. (1999).Urbanization and the Environment in Southern Africa: Towards a Managed Framework for the Sustainability of Cities. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management 42. 6 (Nov 1999): 837.

Turton, A. (n.d). The State of Water Resources in Southern Africa: What the Beverage Industry Needs to Know. Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) available at J. (2002). The Environmentalism of the Poor: A Study of Ecological Conflicts and Valuation. Cheltenham-UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.

Middleton, N & Arnold, E. (1995). An Introduction to Environmental Issues. London, Rutledge

Obi, C. (2005). Environmental Movements in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Political Ecology of Power and Conflict. United Nations Research Institute for Social Development.

Phillips, R. & Johns, J. (2012). Fieldwork for Human Geography. Sage, London.

Ruppel. O, C. (2010). A Constitutional Perspective on Environmental Law Developments in Namibia. Windhoek: IUCN Academy of Law.

Scholes, J & Biggs, R (eds). (2004). Ecosystem Services in Southern Africa: A Regional Assessment. The Southern African Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. Available at A. (2003). A Southern African Perspective on Trans-boundary Water Resource Management. ECSP Report. Issue 9 Available at (2011). WFP policy on disaster risk reduction and management: Building Food Security and Resilience. World Food Programme. Rome, Italy available at G. Taylor, A. Hachigonta, S & Hoffmaister, J. (2008). Climate Adaptation in Southern Africa: Addressing the Needs of Vulnerable Communities. Commissioned by Oxfam GBS Stockholm Sweden available at 327

Racism and Resistance in Southern Africa and the U.S.

“Racism, xenophobia and unfair discrimination have spawned slavery, when human beings have bought and sold and owned and branded fellow human beings as if they were so many beasts of burden.”

Desmond Tutu

Instructor: Romanus Shivoro

Credits: four semester credits

Augsburg General Education Requirements

This course fulfills a Humanities LAF (Liberal Arts Foundation) general education requirement at Augsburg College.

Humanities Liberal Arts Foundation Statement

This Humanities Liberal Arts Foundation will help you explore the range and possibilities of human experience. Depending on the course, you may investigate the diversity of human nature and culture, our forms of communication and persuasion, our powers of reason, sympathy, and imagination, our needs as individuals and roles as citizens, and our relationship to the beautiful, the transcendent, and the divine. As the philosopher Martha Nussbaum has written, however, all Humanities disciplines have something in common: they help students use reason and imagination to enter broader worlds of cultures, groups, and ideas.

Augsburg’s Humanities departments are Communication Studies, English, History, Modern Languages, Philosophy, and Religion. These six disciplines engage human experience from different perspectives using different modes of discourse, but they share a common goal of rigorous inquiry into the ways written and spoken language can record, discover, and creatively express the truths of human experience.

Purpose of the Course

Southern Africa (Namibia and South Africa) and USA all experience a history of apartheid and racism. In Southern Africa, this came to an end with Namibian independence and the democratization of South Africa in the early 1990s. In the U.S. the racist legislation came off the books as a result of the African American Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. Yet, all these societies both in the USA and southern Africa are being haunted by the legacies of this history. These societies (especially in southern Africa) are faced with the challenges posed by the rapid and unequal process of globalization in today’s world; the challenges posed by under and unequal development; and the long-term project of decolonizing the mind.