CPS: International Master’s Programme in Human Ecology

With increasing frequency we hear calls from activists and academics alike to tackle the structural roots of the current global social-ecological crisis. For those of us situated within academia, this provides an opportunity to critically examine how underlying processes related to the roots of this crisis manifest in and are perpetuated by our own institutions, and how to make academic programs within the ‘pipeline’ into environmental work more attractive and accessible to diverse voices. Traditional academic research often reinforces negative power structures, and so it is necessary to explore anti-oppressive research methodologies to tackle these structural roots. Thus, this thesis examines how identity shapes student experiences, including our own, in the context of Lund University’s master’s program in Human Ecology- Culture, Power and Sustainability (CPS), with an eye to the development of an activist-academic research collective. Via a methodological and epistemological foundation rooted in feminist theory, critical race theory, anti-oppression, queer methodologies, and participatory action research, we conducted 17 open-ended interviews and two focus groups with current and former CPS students while emphasizing ongoing consent, collaborative participation, and constant methodological self-reflection. Our results reveal a number of themes in student experiences that we connect to broade