Hornborg

The European College of Human Ecology (COHE) International Online Program 2021

Professor Alf Hornborg, Human Ecology Division, Lund University, Sweden, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Human Ecology as practiced in Lund, Sweden

Abstract

The presentation introduces the field as it has been developed at Lund University since 1993. Human Ecology is understood as a transdisciplinary field at the intersection of social science, humanities, and natural science. This tripartite orientation is reflected in the concept of the “human ecological triangle.” Lund University’s Master’s Programme in Human Ecology is called Culture, Power, and Sustainability (CPS) to emphasize the cultural and political dimensions of sustainability issues, which are often ignored in mainstream discourse. A fundamental question is how environmental problems and global inequalities are related to each other. To answer it, we need to integrate perspectives from ecology, economics, and technology, which are currently pursued at separate faculties. Central concepts and interests include political ecology, environmental justice, social metabolism, ecologically unequal exchange, world-system analysis, economic anthropology, complementary currency systems, ecological Marxism, and technological fetishism.