GG25810 - SOCIAL AND CULTURAL GEOGRAPHIES

Module Identifier

GG25810

Module Title

SOCIAL AND CULTURAL GEOGRAPHIES

Academic Year

2005/2006

Co-ordinator

Dr Peter R Merriman

Semester

Semester 2

Other staff

Dr Peter Adey

Course delivery

Lecture

9 x 2 hours

Seminars / Tutorials

1x2 hours

Assessment

Assessment Type	Assessment Length/Details	Proportion
Semester Exam	2 Hours Examination - answer two from four questions.	100%
Semester Assessment
Supplementary Exam	2 Hours one question from two	100%

Learning outcomes

On succesful completion of this module students will be able to:-

Critically evaluate the emergence, development and key contemporary reseach agendas in social and cultural geography.
Describe how conceptions such as culture, society, identity, representation, mobility and exclusion have been articulated within social and cultural geography.
Demonstrate their competence in undertaking independent research and directed reading by constructing a written argument.
Demonstrate their ability to critically evaluate academic readings in group discussions and a group seminar presentation.

Brief description

The module introduces students to the sub-disciplines of social and cultural geography. The module will start with two separate lectures which examine the historical development of the sub-fields of social and cultural geography, stressing the ways in which the subfields developed, and the tensions which have emerged between them. In a group seminar in week three the students will discuss the issue of relevance and what they feel is the purpose of work undertaken in social and cultural geography, and other areas of human geography. Subsequent lectures will look at a number of the central themes which are deployed in the work of social and cultural geographers, including representation, identity, exclusion, materiality, and scholarship on mobility, consumption, commodities and landscape. The final lecture will provide a course summary, and will look at some of the latest directions and research agendas being pursued by social and cultural geographers.

Content

SECTION 1: INTRODUCTORY LECTURES AND SEMINAR

1. Module Introduction
Introduction to Social Geography
2. Introduction to Cultural Geography
3. Relevance and social and cultural geography

SECTION 2: CENTRAL THEMES

4. Representation
5. Mobility
6. Identity
7. Commodities and Consumption
8. Exclusion
9. More-than-human geographies

SECTION 3: CONCLUSIONS

10. New directions in social and cultural geography
Course summary

Module Skills

Problem_solving	The module will develop students¿ problem-solving skills in the group seminar classes, where they will discuss selected academic articles relating to the theme of relevance. The student group seminar presentations will be assessed.
Research skills	Students are expected to supplement lecture materials by undertaking research in the university library, while their research skills will also be developed in group seminar discussions.
Communication	The module will help students to develop their written and oral communication skills. Group seminar discussions and presentations will enable students to develop their oral communication skills, and the examination will enable students to practice and enhance their written communication skills.
Improving own Learning and Performance	Student attendance and participation in the lectures, and their undertaking of the written examination and group seminar presentation, will help them to enhance a range of learning skills. The module requires students to undertake sixty hours of self-directed study.
Team work	The module includes a two hour seminar which requires students to work in small groups, discuss a series of readings, and debate their findings with the class. These exercises will develop the students¿ team-working skills.
Information Technology	Students will develop their IT skills through the use of bibliographic search engines, blackboard, the library catalogue, and standard word-processing packages.
Application of Number	Not developed in this module
Personal Development and Career planning	The module will help students to develop key transferable skills, in addition to raising important questions which will help them to think about their role as citizens within society. The course discusses themes which will be invaluable for students wishing to undertake postgraduate study in human geography.
Subject Specific Skills	The module will enable students to practice subject-specific skills which they have developed in years one and two, including techniques for analyzing social and cultural texts. Students will develop their analytical skills through seminar discussions and in their examination.

Reading Lists

Books
** Recommended Text
Crang, Mike (1998) Cultural Geography London: Routledge
Blunt, A., Gruffudd, P., May, J., Ogborn, M. and Pinder, D. (eds) (2003) Cultural Geography in practice London, Arnold
Cloke, P., Crang, P. and Goodwin, M. (eds) (2005) Introducing Human Geographies London: Hodder Arnold
Panelli, R. (2004) Social geographies London: Sage
Shurmer-Smith, P. (ed.) (2002) Doing cultural geography London: Sage
** Supplementary Text
Mitchell, D. (2000) Cultural Geography Oxford: Blackwell
** Essential Reading
Valentine, Gill (2001) Social Geographies Harlow: Prentice Hall

Journals
** Recommended Text
Social and Cultural Geography
Cultural Geographies
Ecumene

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 5