Module Information

Module Identifier
GG28520
Module Title
Placing Culture
Academic Year
2017/2018
Co-ordinator
Semester
Semester 2 (Taught over 2 semesters)
Other Staff

Course Delivery

Delivery Type Delivery length / details
Lecture 11 x 2 Hour Lectures
 

Assessment

Assessment Type Assessment length / details Proportion
Semester Assessment Semester 1: 10 minute group presentation  20%
Semester Assessment Semester 1: 2000 word written essay  30%
Semester Exam 2 Hours   Semester 2: Written examination  50%
Supplementary Assessment Submission of an annotated presentation, comprising of power-point slides and a written script of the presentation.  20%
Supplementary Assessment Resubmission of 2000 word essay  30%
Supplementary Exam 2 Hours   Written examination  50%

Learning Outcomes

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

Identify and describe contemporary debates in the fields of cultural and historical geography.

Critically interrogate a range of sources and texts, ranging from written texts to cultural images.

Demonstrate clear evidence of extensive reading around debates in cultural and historical geography.

Demonstrate a critical awareness of written arguments about specific key themes within cultural and historical geography.

Demonstrate a clear understanding of the ways in which cultural and historical geographers have communicated their ideas with a range of non-academic publics.

Articulate in a presentation the significance of academic research in particular areas of cultural and historical geography.

Brief description

This module introduces students to the overlapping sub-disciplines of cultural geography and historical geography. The module will start with a lecture which introduces the historical development of the sub-fields of cultural geography and historical geography, stressing the ways in which the subfields have developed, and the relations which have emerged between them. The module will then be split into three sections. Section one will trace the long-standing interest of cultural and historical geographers with the topic of materiality, tracing what material culture is, before examining how understandings of matter and materiality are reflected in geographic work on memory, heritage and museums, consumption, and nature. Students will also undertake a tour of the Ceredigion Museum, as well as delivering an assessed group presentation. Section two of the module will examine work by cultural and historical geographers on what could be termed imaginative geographies and embodied geographies. This section will include lectures on geographies of performance and practice, knowledge, post-human geographies, narrative, subjectivity, identity and the body, and race and ethnicity. The third and final section of the module will examine a number of key themes in contemporary cultural and historical geography, including mobility, landscape, and colonialism and post-colonialism. The final lecture will provide a course summary, and it will examine how the work of cultural and historical geographers has had an impact beyond academia, leading them to engage a diverse range of publics.

Content

1. Introduction to Cultural and Historical Geography

Section 1: Material cultural geographies
2. Material culture
3. Memory, heritage, museums
4. Student tour of Ceredigion Museum
5. Geographies of Consumption
6. Cultures of Nature
7. Assessed Group presentations, Groups 1-8
8. Assessed Group presentations, Groups 9-16

Section 2: Imaginative and embodied geographies
9. Performance and practice
10. Geographies of knowledge
11. Post-human geographies
12. Narrative geographies
Assessed essay submitted in January
13. 'Human' geographies: subjects, bodies and identities
14. Race and ethnicity

Section 3: Current debates in cultural and historical geography
15. Mobility
16. Landscape
17. Colonialism and postcolonialism
18. Cultural geographies in practice: the relevance debate & geographical impact

Module Skills

Skills Type Skills details
Application of Number Not explicitly developed in this module.
Communication The module will develop the students' skills of written communication, both in writing their assessed essays and in completing their written examination. In addition, students will develop their oral communication skills, whether through group discussions and team-working, or in the delivery of the assessed group presentation.
Improving own Learning and Performance Student attendance and participation in the lectures, and their undertaking of an assessed essay, will help them to enhance a range of learning skills. The module requires students to undertake extensive self-directed study. Feedback on the group presentation and essay will enable students to reflect upon their own learning and performance, and to build upon (and improve upon) this performance in their semester two examination.
Information Technology The assessed essay requires students to undertake independent research using bibliographic search-engines and library catalogues. The module will enable students to enhance their research skills and practise their IT skills when writing the essay. In addition, students will be required to utilize IT packages such as power-point when preparing their assessed presentations.
Personal Development and Career planning The module will help students to develop a range of transferable skills. The course discusses themes which will be invaluable for students wishing to undertake postgraduate study in geography.
Problem solving The module will develop students' problem-solving skills in a number of ways. Students will be required to analyse a range of sources and texts, and they will be required to complete small problem-solving exercises during the lectures and in the preparation of their assessed group presentation. Students will also have to address problems associated with research design when undertaking their assessed essay.
Research skills Students are expected to research and synthesize a range of academic source material in completing their written assignments, and in preparing for their written examination and group presentation.
Subject Specific Skills The module will enable students to develop and practice subject-specific skills which they have developed in year one and in concurrent year two modules such as 'Research skills in human geography', including techniques for analyzing historical and cultural texts. Students will develop their analytical skills through their assessed essay, group presentation and examination, and possibly in class-based discussions.
Team work The lectures may include class-based problem-solving exercises and discussions which will provide opportunities for students to develop team-working skills and discuss their thoughts with the class. In addition, students will be required to work in small groups to research, design and deliver their assessed presentations.

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 5