Session P.
Territories and Crises: How Do the Lessons Vary?
Co-chairs: Karim BERTHOMÉ, Cécile COT, Cécile FERRIEUX & Laurent LELLI (AgroParisTech)
The appreciable worsening of ecological pressures calls for fresh thinking about territories and their capacity to define and conduct strategic public action that can operate at both local and global levels. Faced with uncertain outcomes, the solutions adopted are inevitably context-specific and prone to controversy (water reservoirs for agriculture, GMOs, wind farms, etc.). Territories consequently appear to be ideal spaces for the implementation of public measures to address climate and ecological disruption (relocation strategies, promotion of new economic models, new land strategies, etc.). Certain intellectual currents, such as the concept of transition or the Anthropocene, lay great emphasis on the importance of territories, which constitute a new way of thinking faced with the limitations imposed by the sustainable development model. However, the word “territory” remains a catch-all term, used by many different disciplines, from the social sciences to the life sciences.
Thus, the growing focus on the climate, both in the political and intellectual spheres, is raising questions about research and teaching about territories. This session proposes to examine the changes introduced in educational programmes in the light of the ecological, environmental and agricultural crises affecting territories, the assumption being that the dynamism of the disciplines concerned can be gauged:
- In terms of groups of educators that take up the territorial issue and that have chosen –or not– to adopt an original approach (i.e. to break with the past): How are these choices made? How are these choices reflected in the curricula and teaching methods? How do they fit into the institutional environments of the specific educational institutions? Are they based on cooperation between educational communities and local actors? How does this process work (choice of partners, definition of subjects for study, etc.)?
- In terms of what territorial approaches can contribute to a theory of change or, conversely, of what new conceptions of the territory are being generated by theories of crisis: Which concepts and theoretical frameworks are mobilised in order to comprehend the most critical developments in the territories under study? This topic is relevant to research in social and human sciences dealing with territories: How does this research incorporate theories about global crises? How does it respond to societal demands for rapid responses?
- In terms of the professional orientation of these courses: How do these educational choices translate into career opportunities: which professions (tasks, skills), in which organisations (at which levels)? This approach will enable us to explore how territorially-based professions are evolving.
Speakers are requested to engage in one or more of these topics. The session is open to a broad range of educational situations (trainee groups, educational institutions, disciplines involved, etc.) and to proposals involving multi-disciplinary approaches.
Selected Bibliographical References
Callon M., Lascoumes P., Barthe Y., 2001, Agir dans un monde incertain. Essai sur la démocratie technique, Paris, Seuil.
Chateauraynaud F., Debaz J., 2017, Aux bords de l’irréversible. Sociologie pragmatique des transformations, Paris, éd. Pétra.
Collectif, 2021, “Engager la redirection écologique dans les organisations et les territoires”, Horizons publics, Hors-série.
Gwiazdzinski L. (ed.), 2016, L’hybridation des mondes, Seyssinet-Pariset, Elya éd.
Latour B., 2006, Nous n’avons jamais été modernes. Essai d’anthropologie symétrique, Paris, La Découverte.
Lussault M., 2018, “Des savoirs sens dessus dessous et des formations en attente de reinvention”, Tous urbains, 24(4), p. 30-35.
Massicotte G., 2008, Sciences du territoire. Perspectives québécoises, Québec, Presses de l’Université du Québec.
Simonneaux L., Simonneaux J., 2014, “Panorama de recherches autour de l’enseignement-apprentissage des Questions Socialement Vives liées à l’environnement et l’agronomie”, Revue francophone du développement durable, no. 4, p. 109-126.
