BSc Geography with Professional Placement / Course details

Year of entry: 2024

Course unit details:
Introducing Human Geographies 2

Course unit fact file
Unit code GEOG10432
Credit rating 10
Unit level Level 1
Teaching period(s) Semester 2
Offered by Geography
Available as a free choice unit? Yes

Overview

This course offers students a conceptual and geographical grasp of key debates within human geography. Most notably, the course will explore how geographers have understood and examined the geopolitics of nation-states, national identity and borders, the politics and process of international migration, changing interpretations and representations of landscape and culture, creativity, consumption and place-making within the built environment, and the social geographies of the city and the countryside through such issues of homelessness, informality and difference.. Using a range of contemporary examples from both the Global North and the Global South, the course will help students understand the ways in which geographical debates have shaped our knowledge of culture, place, politics, the urban and the rural. The knowledge base developed through these varied examples and debates will be of use to students in years 2 and 3 where course units directly develop some of the themes introduced here.   

Pre/co-requisites

Unit title Unit code Requirement type Description
Introducing Human Geographies 1 GEOG10251 Pre-Requisite Recommended

Aims

The course unit aims to:
 
explore key concepts in social, cultural, urban and political geography. ¿¿ 
develop an understanding of how key concepts in human geography (such as landscape, national identity, geopolitics, creativity, cities and migration) can be applied to real world examples. 
explore the varied relationships between people, place and space and to examine the approaches geographers have used to examine these relationships.  
develop a range of transferable skills including the ability to pose questions, construct an argument, synthesise ideas and analyse material. 
 

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course unit, you should be able to:

  • demonstrate a knowledge and understanding of key concepts in social, cultural, urban and political geography.
  • demonstrate an ability to analyse and conceptualise real world problems within an academic framework.
  • display an ability to critically interpret and evaluate different theoretical and methodological frameworks for understanding issues in human geography.
  • critically reflect upon varied sources of evidence in human geography and display an ability to analyse sources.  

Syllabus

The course will be structured around a semester of 12 weeks with 2 study weeks, the lectures will be ordered as follows;

 

1.    Introducing Human Geographies II: performativity, cultures and sense of place (SMH and SW)

2.    Gender, Sexuality and Identity in the Geographical Discipline (SMH)

3.    Gender, Sexuality and Identity in Everyday Life (SMH)

4.    Moral Geographies (SMH)

5.    Emotional and Embodied Geographies (SMH)

6.    Study week

7.    Urban restructuring and gentrification: studentification

and cultural quarters (SW)

8.    Rural geographies: from the utopian idyll to the rural ‘other’ (SW)

9.    Study week

10. The cultural politics of landscape – power, materiality, representation (SW)

11. Memory, heritage and material culture (SW)

12. Conclusion: overview and revision (SMH and SW) 

Teaching and learning methods

The course unit will be delivered by 20 hours of lecture-based material (including short exercises and in-class debates). The lectures will introduce students to a variety of issues within contemporary human geography, and will encourage students to reflect upon and discuss how geographers have thought about, researched and worked on, the real world relevance of these key issues. Students will be expected to complete reading between lectures and to undertake some preparation work for in class exercises. Sessions will draw upon a range of resources, including powerpoint slides which will be posted to Blackboard for all sessions, links to relevant web resources, core readings and video clips. A comprehensive archive of all sources and links will be compiled on Blackboard for student use, along with details of the course assessment. 

Transferable skills and personal qualities

During this course unit, you will be encouraged to develop the following abilities and skills:

  • critical reading and thinking skills through an engagement with key texts and current research in different areas of human geography and social theory. 
  • an ability to interpret and comment on contemporary issues within human geography, and to connect complex theories to real world problems. 
  • an appreciation of how different theories provide solutions to contemporary issues and the ability to assess and evaluate these solutions.
  • an ability to debate and discuss key issues within human geography and consider their wider relevance.
  • motivational and time management skills through self-directed learning outside of lecture sessions. 

 

Assessment methods

The course will be assessed through a two hour examination, consisting of two essays. 

Feedback methods

Feedback will be provided in the following ways during this course unit:
 
Verbal feedback will be provided through Q&A, discussion and interactive activities within lectures, along with discussion of video clips and web resources.
Written feedback on exam responses will be provided through academic advisor meetings.  
Verbal feedback and discussion of key issues will be provided through the Geography tutorial programme. 
Verbal feedback will be provided on any course unit issue through weekly consultation hours. 
 

Recommended reading

The core text for this module is:

 

Cloke, P, Crang , P and Goodwin, M (eds) (2014) Introducing Human Geography (3rd edition), Routledge, London

Indicative Additional Readings

 

Anderson, J. (2009) Understanding cultural geography: places and traces London, Routledge.

Clifford, N. Holloway, S.L. Rice, S.P. and Valentine, G. (eds) (2008) Key concepts in geography London, Sage.

Cloke, P. Crang, P. and Goodwin, M. (eds) (2014) Introducing human geographies London, Routledge.  

Edensor, T., Leslie, D., Millington, S. and Rantisi, N. (eds) Spaces of vernacular creativity London, Routledge.

Jackson, P. (1980) Maps of meaning: an introduction to cultural geography Unwin Hyman, London. (Reprinted 1992 and 1994, Routledge, London and New York).

Nayak, A. and Jeffrey, A. (2011) Geographical thought: an introduction to ideas in human geography Oxford, Prentice Hall.

Pain, R., Burke, M., Fuller, D. Gough, J., MacFarlane, R. and Mowl, G. (2001) Introducing Social Geographies London, Hodder Arnold.

 

 

Key Journals

Area

Geography Compass

Progress in Human Geography

Social and Cultural Geography

Cultural Geographies

Urban Geography

Study hours

Scheduled activity hours
Assessment written exam 2
Lectures 20
Independent study hours
Independent study 78

Teaching staff

Staff member Role
Sarah Hall Unit coordinator
Saskia Warren Unit coordinator

Additional notes

STUDY WEEKS IN WEEKS 6 AND 9

Timetable: TBC

Return to course details