NEPS
5034

Political Ecologies of Resistance and Revolutions

Schools of Public Engagement: Milano

Non-Liberal Arts
Undergraduate Course
Graduate Course
Degree Students
Polit Ecologies of Resistance
Spring 2026
Taught By: Leonardo Figueroa Helland
Section: A

CRN: 16577

Credits: 3

What are the enabling conditions, strategies and tactics that make resistance effective and revolutionary changes possible in past, present and future moments of intense socioenvironmental upheaval, political-economic contestation, and climate change? This course examines diverse paradigms of collective action and social mobilization, particularly regarding methods, strategies, and tactics -- diverse repertoires of contention-- and the calculations involved in their selection, design and implementation with regard to key historical and contemporary moments and cases of resistance, socioenvironmental antagonism, land defense, ecological distribution conflicts, and revolutions. It explores how diverse movement strategies and tactics interact with changing political ecological conditions to shift the dynamics of power, and resistance towards transformation, especially concerning questions of liberation and justice, including environmental and climate justice. It also explores how future scenarios of intense social, environmental, and climate change will shift the strategic and tactical field for contending actors, enabling new pathways for transformation. Throughout the course, we take seriously the complex interaction between human and other-than-human agency (including environmental factors, climate changes and Earth system geobiophysical processes) in shaping the strategic and tactical field, paying attention to instances (in the present, past and future scenarios) where upheavals in ‘nature’ may converge with crises and movements in ‘society’ to enable conditions for profound, fundamental or revolutionary change in social and environmental relations.

Open to: All university graduate and upper-level undergraduate degree seeking students.
Prerequisites: No Prerequisites
Co-Requisites: No Co-requisites

College: Schools of Public Engagement (NS)

Department: Milano (MIL)

Campus: New York City (GV)

Course Format: Seminar (R)

Modality: In-Person

Max Enrollment: 15

Repeat Limit: N/A

Add/Drop Deadline: February 3, 2026 (Tuesday)

Online Withdrawal Deadline: April 14, 2026 (Tuesday)

Seats Available: Yes

Status: Open*

* Status information is updated every few minutes. The status of this course may have changed since the last update. Open seats may have restrictions that will prevent some students from registering. Updated: 1:42pm EST 11/15/2025

Meeting Info:
Days: Thursday
Times: 6:00pm - 7:50pm
Building: Johnson/Kaplan 66 West 12th
Room: 618
Date Range: 1/21/2026 - 5/12/2026