| Module Identifier |
GG39820 |
| Module Title |
SPACE, POWER AND SOCIETY |
| Academic Year |
2001/2002 |
| Co-ordinator |
Dr Timothy Cresswell |
| Semester |
Semester 2 |
| Course delivery |
Lecture | 20 Hours 20 x1 hour lectures taught within a 10 x 2 hour timetable slot. |
| |
Seminars / Tutorials | 0 Hours |
| Assessment |
Essay | A research essay of 2,500 words to be submitted in week 11.
Late submissions subject to a departmental penalty of 5% points per day. Both elements to be completed to obtain a pass; mark based on the aggregate performance. | 50% |
| |
Exam | 2 Hours A 2 hour seen final exam paper, answering two questions from four. | 50% |
| |
Resit assessment | Resit: For a condoned (medical grounds) non-completion of examination or coursework involves the completion of the missing
component(s) for the full marks on dates set in the Supplementary Examination period. Resit due to aggregate failure or non-completion of part of the assessment requires reexamination of each component if marks of<40% in both were obtained, or re-examination or re-submission of the failed component (examination of assignments(s) to obtain a maximum mark of 40% for the module). | |
Module outline
In this module we will examine the geographical basis of social power its creation, maintenance and transformation through an examination of mobility at various scales. Examples will range from the movement of the human body through various technologies of everyday mobility such as the car and the train to the contemporary concern with transnational movement (including refugees and asylum seekers). The dialectic relationship between society and space expressed in the idea of "spatiality" will be central to the course. We will see how spaces and mobilities of one kind or another are created in order to produce power and particular kinds of relations between social groups. Examples include the politics of walking, the role of the railroad in the creation of American mythology, the threat of the tramp and vagabond and the significance of airport terminals to postmodern theory. In addition to an examination of power we will also look at the way space and mobility comes into play in the transformation of power through innovative forms of resistance rambling: joyriding, train-jumping. Through these explorations we will focus on a range of social groups including children, poor people, gay people, disabled people and ethnic minorities. Students will come away from the module with the theoretical tools necessary to understand the variety of relations between space, mobility and power and a firm knowledge of the way this works on the ground.
Topics include:-
Theorising Space, Place, Mobility and Power
Society, Space, Order and the Socio-Spatial Dialectic.
Movement and Mobility - The Production of Mobilities
Geographies of Mobility
The Politics of Bodily Movement
Working, Walking and Dancing
New Transport Geographies - Cars and Trains
Mobility as Ideology: The Case of America
Transnational Mobilities - Migrants, Refugees etc.
The International Airport as Postmodern Space
Metaphors of Mobility
Mobility, Popular Culture and Threat
Mobility in Postmodern Theory: Nomads and Rhizomes
Module Aims
To develop a thorough understanding and appreciation of the role space place and mobility play in the creation, maintenance and transformation of power relations.
Module objectives / Learning outcomes
On completion of this module students will be able to :-
-
critically discuss and exemplify the role of space and mobility in the creation, maintenance and transformation of social relations in a number of contexts and scales from around the world
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demonstrate an extensive knowledge of theoretical approaches to space and society
Reading Lists
Books
Cresswell, Tim. (2001)
The Tramp in America. Reaktion Books ISBN 1-86189-069-9
Chambers, Iain. (1994)
Migrancy, Culture, Identity. Routledge ISBN 0-415-08802-X
Hetherington, Kevin. (2000)
New Age Travellers. Cassell ISBN 0-304-33978-4
Hyndman, Jennifer. (2000)
Managing Displacement: Refugees and the Politics of Humanitarianism. University of Minnesota ISBN 0-8166-3354-1
Kaplan, Caren. (1996)
Questions of Travel. Duke University Press ISBN 0-8223-1821-0
Papastergiadis, Nikos. (2000)
The Turbulence of Migration. Polity ISBN 0-7456-1431-0
Solnit, Rebecca. (2000)
Wanderlust: A History of Walking. Viking ISBN 0-670-88209-7
Urry, John. (2000)
Sociology Beyond Societies: Mobilities for the 21st Century. Routledge ISBN 0-415-19089-4
Van Den Abbeele, Georges. (1992)
Travel as Metaphor: from Montaigne to Rousseau. University of Minnesota ISBN 0-8166-1934-4