Module Identifier GG25410  
Module Title HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHIES OF THE MODERN WORLD  
Academic Year 2005/2006  
Co-ordinator Dr Heidi V Scott  
Semester Semester 1  
Other staff Dr Peter R Merriman  
Course delivery Lecture   10 x 2 hour  
Assessment
Assessment TypeAssessment Length/DetailsProportion
Semester Exam2 Hours Two-hour unseen examination. Answer two questions from four.100%
Supplementary Exam2 Hours Two hour unseen examination. Answer two questions from four.100%

Learning outcomes

On completion of this module, students should be able to:


Brief description

The module introduces students to the sub-discipline of historical geography. Identifying themes that are of current concern to historical geographers, it discusses these within the contexts of i) European expansion in the early modern era and ii) nineteenth and twentieth century Britain. The first section, which places particular emphasis on the Americas, critically examines the characteristics of early European colonial and imperial ventures and their role in shaping the modern world. In particular, it considers how neat divisions between colonisers and colonised were challenged and blurred by diverse and intersecting identities, interests and knowledges. The second section examines how a range of different spaces and subjects refract the historical geographies of nineteenth and twentieth century Britain. Students will also undertake a self-guided tour of the Ceredigion Museum, in order to examine how the museum presents the past histories and geographies of Aberystwyth and beyond.

Content

SECTION 1: HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY MODERN WORLD
  1. Historical geography: an overview
  2. Colonialism and imperialism
  3. Mapping and cartography: inventing visions of the world
  4. Europe and its 'others': identity and 'race'
  5. Women and gender in early colonial worlds

SECTION 2: HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHIES OF MODERN BRITAIN

  1. Presenting and remembering the past: history, heritage and memory
  2. Self-guided tour of the Ceredigion museum
  3. Imperial and institutional geographies
  4. City, suburbia and spaces of travel
  5. Landscape and national identity

Module Skills

Problem_solving Problem solvng will be indirectly addressed through some lecture content but not explicitly developed in the module  
Research skills Students will be encouraged to develop their research skills through collating material from library and internet sources and through fieldwork on the self-guided museum tour  
Communication Written communication skills will be developed and assessed through the examination  
Improving own Learning and Performance Students should implicitly develop their skills in this area through the organisation of free-time reading and exam preparation. Not explicitly developed through the module  
Team work Not developed through this module  
Information Technology Students will be directed to source material from the internet that is relevant to lecture topics  
Application of Number Not developed through this module  
Personal Development and Career planning Not explicitly developed through the module. The content of lectures and reading may indirectly encourage students to reflect on their own beliefs and views and may identify potential career paths for some  

Reading Lists

Books
** Recommended Text
Gilbert, D., Matless, D., Short, B. (Eds.) (2003) Geographies of British modernity: space and society in the twentieth century Oxford: Blackwell
Graham, B., Nash, C. (Eds.) (2000) Modern Historical Geographies Harlow: Prentice Hall
Loomba, A. (1998) Colonialism/Postcolonialism London: Routledge
Nash, C. and Ogborn, M. (2003) Historical Geography: Making the Modern World, in A. Rogers and .A. Viles (Eds.) The Student's Companion to Geography (second edition) Oxford: Blackwell
Pratt, M.L. (1992) Imperial Eyes: Travel Writing and Transculturation London: Routledge
** Supplementary Text
Blaut, J. (1993) The Coloniser's Model of the World: Geographical Diffusionism and Eurocentric History London and New York: Guildford Press
Mignolo, W.D. (1995) The Darker Side of the Renaissance: Literacy, Territoriality, and Colonization Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press
Schivelbusch, W. (1978) The railway journey: the industrialisation of time and space in the 19th century Oxford: Blackwell
Wade, P. (1997) Race and Ethnicity in Latin America London and Chicago: Pluto Press
Ogborn, M. (1998) Spaces of modernity: London's geographies London: Guilford Press
Hendricks, M., Parker, P. (1994) Women, 'Race' and Writing in the Early Modern Period London and New York: Routledge
Matless, D. (1998) Landscape and Englishness London: Reaktion
Harley, J.B. (2001) The New Nature of Maps: Essays in the History of Cartography The John Hopkins Press
Driver, F. and Gilbert, D. (Eds.) (1999) Imperial cities: landscape, display and identity Manchester: Manchester University Press
Daniels, S. (1993) Fields of vision: landscape and national identity in England and the United States Cambridge: Polity

Journals
(1975 - current) Journal of Historical Geography

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 5