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Planetary Health and Agroecology

ALE 5990

Overview | Curriculum | Instructors

Planetary Health and Agroecology  

 

This course explores the intersection of transformative agroecology and planetary health, focusing on how sustainable food systems, equity, and justice interact with global challenges, health disparities, and territorial socio-ecological disturbances. Through a transdisciplinary and pluralistic lens, students will investigate innovative approaches to understanding the World-System and discover alternatives to overcome systemic barriers impacting the health, nutrition, and well-being of both people and non-human nature across various scales.

 

Program Snapshot

Next Start Date
How Often
Learning Format
Learning Type
January 13, 2025Every SpringIn PersonSynchronous
Required Group Meetings
Duration
Time Commitment
Credential
Wednesdays 2-5pm, Jeffords 23415 Weeks6-8 hours/week̽̽ Credit or Digital Badge

 

 

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Overview

Course Overview

TRANSFORMATIVE AGROECOLOGY FOR PLANETARY HEALTH

In this course, students will engage in critical inquiry and collaborative exploration to challenge dominant narratives and power dynamics, address global emergencies and syndemics, and build a transdisciplinary, pluralistic knowledge base for creating a more equitable, just, and healthy planet. The course format encourages students to question assumptions and situate themselves and their work in relation to the course material. Through constructive discussions and collaborative efforts, students will produce dissemination outcomes such as literature reviews, position papers, and briefs. The course provides a dynamic balance between professor-led instruction and student-driven exploration. 

COURSE DAYS & TIMES: Spring 2025 Semester: January 13 – May 2. Every Wednesday, 2pm-5pm in James M Jeffords Hall 234.

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

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  • Think critically and creatively, demonstrated by producing a final literature review, position paper, or brief that integrates transformative agroecology and planetary health.
  • Apply transdisciplinary perspectives with clear societal value, showcasing potential to advance planetary health equity and justice.
  • Exhibit responsibility and commitment as planetary citizens, both within the classroom and as emerging agents of the transformative changes needed for the planet.
  • Show humility and respect by reflecting on diverse perspectives, especially in relation to the pluriverse, and engaging with reflective questions.

Curriculum

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Join us in shaping a healthier, more equitable, and just planet. Please check back in the Fall 2024 semester for the full curriculum. Thank you!

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Indigenous Elders in a Delphi Panel (i.e. panel of experts), 2017:

The anthropocentric ecological perspective differs from the sentiment and cosmo-experience of the Grandmothers and Grandfathers who nurture agrobiodiversity—those pejoratively labeled as 'peasants.' 

Each Indigenous community has its own knowledge (saberes) and flavors (sabores); their importance lies in the empathy with the chakra (family-based agroecosystem) and the pacha (landscape).

 

There is no disease that can enter me spiritually, biologically, or mentally—into my being or my body. I am in Alli Pacha; I am in peace, in plenitude. Disease is the absence of Pacha.” - Jaime Pilatuña, Amauta Yachac (in Gallegos & Jara, 2007)

 

Instructors

Carlos Andres Gallegos Riofrio

Carlos Andres Gallegos-Riofrío

Research Assistant Professor, Institute for Agroecology

c.a.gallegos@uvm.edu