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MODULE OUTLINE This team-taught module explores a number of real-world challenges currently confronting the globe from an interdisciplinary perspective. Through guest lectures from experts in different disciplines, students will be presented with a range of global challenges. In the discussion seminars and in their assessments, students will analyse historical causes and consider strategies to tackle particular challenges. Global Challenges in Interdisciplinary Perspective: Water Conflicts, Water Cultures Access to water is one of the most urgent global challenges facing us today. Vital for health and well-being, as well as integral to indigenous cultures and industrial processes, water is a threatened commons and contested commodity. In this module, we will explore global and local case studies that highlight challenges of scarcity, contamination, privatization, and climate change, and the cultural importance of bodies of water for diverse communities. We will examine water-related problems, such as economic and urban development, grassroots activism, political conflict, community relations, heritage and well-being. The module will engage with rivers in wide-ranging geographical and historical settings, exploring key topics such as colonialism, capitalism, industrialization, human rights and the rights of nature. The module is taught by academics from across the University, whose contributions encompass a wide range of fields including policy-making, politics, law, social sciences, the arts and sciences. This methodology is designed to encourage you to develop a holistic and informed approach to interdisciplinary research, the formulation of independent research projects, and communication of complex information through oral presentations, all skills which will prepare you for the world beyond your degree. 2. AIMS The aims of this module are: ▪ to provide students with a grounding in the challenges facing the globe today; ▪ to explore issues related to global challenges and be able to relate those issues to the relevant political and social contexts; ▪ to stimulate students to develop skills in written communication through the capstone project and through oral communication and debate in seminars; ▪ to encourage students to think and write in both multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary ways 3. LEARNING OUTCOMES By the end of this module the student should have: ▪ the ability to demonstrate a substantial knowledge and understanding of the material considered on the module, specifically the challenges facing the globe; ▪ the ability to draw connections and critically evaluate a diverse range of written forms produced in different geopolitical contexts; ▪ the ability to apply interdisciplinary research methods to identify, select, and retrieve a wide range of relevant source material to address complex socio-environmental challenges; ▪ the ability to write in an informed, critical and argumentative manner on the material covered by the module; ▪ the ability to deal with complex issues both systematically and creatively, make sound judgements in the absence of complete data, or conflicting evidence, and communicate their conclusions clearly; ▪ the ability to compare and evaluate different arguments and assess the limitations of their own position or procedure, thinking critically and constructively; ▪ the ability to present a succinct and precise account of positions, arguments, and their presuppositions and implications; ▪ the ability to be sensitive to the positions of others and communicate their own views in ways that are accessible to them; ▪ the ability to demonstrate a comprehensive knowledge and understanding of a selected research area. 4. TEACHING AND LEARNING METHODS There will be a lecture and seminar each week. Week 11 is reading week. 5. READING The full reading list is available on Talis. It is recommended that you read the following in preparation for this module: ▪ Kelly, Jason, Philip Scarpino, Helen Berry James Syvitski and Michel Meybeck. Rivers of the Anthropocene. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2017 https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520295025/rivers-of-the-anthropocene ▪ Mauch, Christof and Thomas Zeller. Rivers in History. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2008. ▪ UN-Water Policy Brief on Climate Change and Water (2019). Available at: https://www.unwater.org/publications/un-water-policy-brief-on-climate-change-and-water/ ▪ UN-Water Global Analysis and Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking-Water (GLAAS). Available at: https://www.unwater.org/publication_categories/glaas/ 6. ASSESSMENT & SUBMISSION Anonymous marking The School operates anonymous marking for the majority of modules. Please do not include your name in the title, header/footer or file name of your submission. Use your Student Registration Number. Submission of Coursework All coursework must be uploaded and submitted to FASER, the University’s Online Coursework Submission system available at http://faser.essex.ac.uk/ . The deadline for online submissions is 12 noon on the date stipulated. We strongly recommend that you do this earlier to avoid any last minute issues. You must ensure that you are familiar with this process well in advance of the deadline. Guidance on how to upload your work is available on the FASER website through the submission system. When submitting your coursework, please make sure: 1) that your Student Registration Number (the 7-digit number on your student card), the module code and coursework title is clearly set out at the top of the first page (NO NAME). 2) that you include the ‘Essay Cover Sheet’ as an additional document. Copies of the cover sheet can be found on Moodle. 3) A word count is displayed at the end of your essay. No extensions will be granted. Students who fail to submit their coursework by the stipulated deadline will receive a mark of zero unless they are able to submit a valid claim for late submission. Returning of marks and feedback Students should receive their mark and feedback for coursework within 20 working days of the submission deadline. Return dates are listed on FASER. If you submit your work late, you will not receive your mark and feedback within 20 days of the original deadline. 7. ASSIGNMENT DETAILS AND QUESTIONS 1000-word individual report (20%) The aim of this assignment is for you to lay groundwork for your final project on this module by identifying and reflecting on a potential area of research. There are no prescribed essay questions for this module. Rather, you are encouraged to develop a research project that interests you. In the report, you should identify and describe the water conflict/water culture that you wish to address. You should propose and comment on potential research questions related to that topic that you might address in your final project, identifying their relevance to global debates about water. The report should situate your research topic in relation to the key themes covered so far in the module (e.g. colonialism, capitalism, industrialization, human rights, etc.) and make use of at least three journal articles or books that feature on the module bibliography. 3500-word research project (80%) This is the major assignment on this module. While the previous assignments were designed to build up to this coursework, you should not reproduce material already submitted for assessment in the 1000-word written report. Your project should identify a specific challenge related to water conflicts and/or cultures. It should have a clear research question relating to a specific case study. You are free to select a topic that is global in scope (e.g. worldwide legislation on human access to water) or very local in context (e.g. indigenous struggles against oil extraction in the Peruvian Amazon). In both cases, you must situate your research project in the context of global water challenges covered in the module making it clear that you understand what is at stake (economic development, diversity of ways of knowing, social and ecological wellbeing, for instance) in your case study. Your project must be based on significant independent research. You must engage closely with at least five scholarly publications (journal articles and/or academic books). You can also make use of relevant primary materials, such as policy documents, artworks, literary works. You should consider what types of research methodologies you employ in your project and ensure you can demonstrate an interdisciplinary mindset: that is, the capacity to approach a research question with an awareness of the importance of multiple disciplinary perspectives (e.g. economics, social sciences, arts) and bringing them into dialogue through the bibliography you use. You are encouraged to illustrate your project with images and graphs where relevant. You must number these in the text (Fig. 1, 2, 3, etc.) and cite the source from which they are taken. You must also include footnotes throughout your project whenever you cite a published source (e.g. an article, book, newspaper article, organization website), using the Notes and Bibliography format of The Chicago Manual of Style.

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