PUB AFF M159
Politics of Water
Description: (Same as Urban Planning M168.) Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Access to safe and sustainable water provision is major challenge for governments. Examination of political, economic, and social dimensions of water provision in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and U.S. Key issues include water and state building, market reforms and globalization, social mobilization, and citizen demand making strategies, role of crisis in citizen claims making. Letter grading.
Units: 4.0
Units: 4.0
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2022 - It is clear that Professor Herrera put a lot of thought into the design of this course, which is engaging and well organized. The grading breakdown was 15% discussion section (participation and in-class assignments), 35% midterm essay, 25% group podcast, 15% individual paper and annotated bibliography on the podcast topic, and 10% lecture engagement quizzes. We were given one week to write the midterm essays, for which we were asked to respond to two of three prompts using the course readings. While I didn’t love the format of the podcast final project, I did appreciate the opportunity to examine the concepts we were discussing in class through an analysis of a water-related problem. The individual paper and annotated bibliography assignments changed slightly in the middle of the quarter (the individual paper was originally a brief that was 1-2 pages, and was adjusted to be a 3-5 page paper), but weren’t too bad otherwise. The lecture engagement quizzes were one-question assignments posted on Canvas that were graded on completion and attendance -- if you were in class and responded to the prompt, you got credit. The readings were relevant and interesting, and needed to be completed by discussion section on Thursdays (they did not have to be completed by lecture on Tuesdays, which was very helpful). All course due dates were before the conclusion of week 10 (so nothing was due finals week), which was great. Overall, this course was very interesting, and I would definitely recommend to those who find the topic interesting.
Fall 2022 - It is clear that Professor Herrera put a lot of thought into the design of this course, which is engaging and well organized. The grading breakdown was 15% discussion section (participation and in-class assignments), 35% midterm essay, 25% group podcast, 15% individual paper and annotated bibliography on the podcast topic, and 10% lecture engagement quizzes. We were given one week to write the midterm essays, for which we were asked to respond to two of three prompts using the course readings. While I didn’t love the format of the podcast final project, I did appreciate the opportunity to examine the concepts we were discussing in class through an analysis of a water-related problem. The individual paper and annotated bibliography assignments changed slightly in the middle of the quarter (the individual paper was originally a brief that was 1-2 pages, and was adjusted to be a 3-5 page paper), but weren’t too bad otherwise. The lecture engagement quizzes were one-question assignments posted on Canvas that were graded on completion and attendance -- if you were in class and responded to the prompt, you got credit. The readings were relevant and interesting, and needed to be completed by discussion section on Thursdays (they did not have to be completed by lecture on Tuesdays, which was very helpful). All course due dates were before the conclusion of week 10 (so nothing was due finals week), which was great. Overall, this course was very interesting, and I would definitely recommend to those who find the topic interesting.
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