ENV 737b () / 2025-2026

Socio-ecology of Water in Eastern Africa

Credits: 3 Spring 2026: W, 1:30-3:20, TBA

This seminar course provides students with an overview of topics critical to the understanding of the outcomes of human manipulation of surface and ground water. Students will examine how water, a natural product, is used as a source of socio-political power, how the locus of this power has shifted in the post-colonial nation state and the impacts on varied demographics. This course will focus on Eastern Africa, a region that borders the Indian ocean and is climatically diverse. Comparative case studies will also be included. Students will explore the socio-ecology of water in societies living in contexts of climate change, population pressure, water pollution and water commodification. They will also examine changing beliefs in water rights, water as a factor in food security and water towers in conservation. The course also offers students opportunities to critically appraise successful water projects and propose solutions to problems discussed in this seminar. At the end of the course, students are expected to broadly understand topics on the nexus of water and human action, and their social, political and economic dimensions in a global south region.