Geographies of Financialisation & Value-Making

Module description

This module invites students to consider the opportunities and challenges that money and finance offer to improving the lives of humans and more-than-human species, adapting to and mitigating the effects of environmental and climate change, and to conserving Nature and wildlife.

This module will enable students to understand how money and finance, and processes of global political economy more broadly, enable, shape and condition development, environment and conservation processes. The module will draw on economic geography, but also social, financial and cultural geography, anthropology, development studies and work on society and environment relations. The module will include examples of financialization, conservation and eco-system services from the UK, Africa and Asia. In your essay assessment you will be able to specialise in a domain of financialisation such as infrastructure, conservation, environment or climate.  

Assessment details

Coursework 

Educational aims & objectives

The specific aims of the module are:

1. To provide students with a more advanced understanding of the development, environment and conservation domains, and how these are theorised within human geography, economic geography and more-than-human geographies
2. To provide students with an advanced technical understanding of global financialisation processes, and of these value [or not] development, environment and conservation programmes and projects
3. To advance understanding of climate, development and green finance
4. To provide students with an understanding of selected, advanced concepts from within relational ontologies, including affect, assemblages, animism, actor network theory and performativity
5. To provide students with an introductory knowledge of the infrastructure and technologies associated with the modern financial sector including high-frequency trading, algorithms, colocation facilities, the contours of the attention economy and the use of climate risk technologies and more traditional ESG labelling
6. To enhance students’ ability to work in groups and individually, to make persuasive and well-structured oral and written presentations

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module students will be able to:

1. Demonstrate knowledge of financialization, development, climate and green finance in respect to development, environment and conservation
2. Understand affect, calculative devices, assemblages and socio-technical arrangements in the context of value-making in environment and species conservation
3. Apply their knowledge of finance, value, technologies and socio-technical arrangements to the contemporary practices of human development and Nature and wildlife conservation
4. Work co-operatively with others to developing and present ideas in development and conservation

Teaching pattern

10 hrs lectures; 10 hrs seminars

Module description disclaimer

King’s College London reviews the modules offered on a regular basis to provide up-to-date, innovative and relevant programmes of study. Therefore, modules offered may change. We suggest you keep an eye on the course finder on our website for updates.

Please note that modules with a practical component will be capped due to educational requirements, which may mean that we cannot guarantee a place to all students who elect to study this module.

Please note that the module descriptions above are related to the current academic year and are subject to change.