From the streets to the classroom: power analysis as a tool for critical pedagogy

Abstract

ABSTRACT We focus on a power analysis exercise used with undergraduate students to discuss the environmental, economic, and social crises as they are reflected in the conflict between the economy and the environment, and local resistance to mining industry development in a region of Northern Greece (Chalkidiki). A power analysis exercise is a tool, designed and used by (community) activist groups to help understand the terrain of struggle and the actors involved. The exercise was also combined with, and followed from a reflection by the students on their ideological/political position on a spectrum from free market to deep ecology. The power analysis exercise helped students engage with the critical content of the module, understand how the different approaches/positions of sustainable development can manifest themselves, what their implications are, go beyond the academic lingo and reflect on how these issues impact our lives, rethink their positioning beyond the customer/manager dominant position.