March 2014
Compulsory Module for all Geography major pathways (taught in the first semester):
6SSG3061 Current Research in Geography
Coordinator: Dr Alex Loftus
Teaching Arrangement: Seminars
Assessment: 100% coursework
Specific Aims of the Module:
The aims of the moudle are to facilitate a critical understanding of current geographical research relevant
to the human geography programme pathway, to prepare students for their Independent Geographical
Study (IGS), to provide practical experience of learning in a seminar setting and to learn to engage with
research through the use of a reflective diary
Learning Outcomes:
At the completion of this module students should be able to demonstrate 1) critical understanding of
current geographical research in the specified pathway, 2) the ability to read critically, engage with and
discuss--in a seminar setting--current research across a range of geographical themes and topic and 3) an
understanding of current geographical research and material in preparation for the IGS
Students will select blocks of seminars from the list provided. Seminar blocks will be capped to ensure
participation in small group sessions.
Optional modules (each 15 credits)
Students pursuing the Development, Environmental or Human Geography Majors will take 45
credits from the following list:
Semester 1:
6SSG0365
ECONOMY, SOCIETY AND POLITICS IN 19TH CENTURY LONDON
Value: 15 credits
Lecturer: Professor David Green
Teaching arrangement: 18 lectures plus 2 classes, first term
Assessment: examination (50%) and essay (50%)
Specific aims of the module:
In the context of London’s development between c. 1800 and c. 1914, the course aims to (i) develop an
understanding of London both as a physical place and a conceptual entity; (ii) explore the relationships
between economic, social, cultural and political processes and (iii) understand London in its wider
geographical and historical setting.
Learning Outcomes:
At the completion of the module students should be able to understand the processes underlying
London’s growth and physical development in the nineteenth-century; appreciate the issues raised by
this growth in relation to contemporary understanding of urban problems; understand the relationships
between economic, social, cultural and political changes and how those changes were expressed in the
urban landscape.
Participation
There are two walks in week 5 and 6. For each walk you will be required to read sections of the Charles
Booth notebooks online relating to sections of the route through which we will pass. In week 7 we will
construct a map of murders that took place in London during the nineteenth century based on
information you collect from newspapers available online. This map will be made available ahead of the
Third Year Modules available in the 2014-15 academic year
class based on the data each student has provided and will form the basis for discussing crime and
policing in the capital.
Module structure
1.
The Great Wen: the material and imagined worlds of nineteenth-century London
2.
Engine of Growth: the metropolitan economy
3.
People, place and neighbourhoods: London’s changing demography
4.
The city of contrasts: leisure, pleasure and poverty
5.
Exploring Victorian London: West End to the City (walk)
6.
Exploring Victorian London: East End (walk)
7.
Mapping murder in nineteenth-century London
8.
The city of flows: making London ‘modern’
9.
Governing London: politics and protest
10.
London, the nation and the empire.
6SSG3016
GLOBAL CITIES: PROCESSES, PROBLEMS, AND POLICIES
Value: 15 credits
Lecturer: Professor Chris Hamnett
Teaching arrangement: 10 hours lectures, first term.
Assessment: examination (100%)
Specific aims of the module:
To introduce students to the cities which play a key part in the control and co-ordination of the global
economic and financial systems. Enables students to examine the position of cities in the global urban
system, the changing structure of their economies, social and spatial structures, development and planning
processes and their social conflicts, focusing on London, Paris, New York, Los Angeles and Tokyo.
Learning Outcomes:
At the completion of the module students should be able to understand the major theoretical debates
regarding global or world cities, critically appreciate some of the key literature in the field and grasp the
similarities and differences between global cities in terms of structures and processes
Module structure
The module covers the following four major sets of topics:
1.
The global city thesis: from Hall to Sassen. Approaches to the designation and classification of
global cities. Global cities as the control and command centres of the international economy.
2.
From manufacturing to financial and business services, and the rise of the cultural industries: the
changing economy of global cities; Global cities as centres of finance capital and competition.
3.
The changing occupational structure and income structure, Social polarisation and dual cities; Race,
ethnicity, migration and segregation; Inequality, social exclusion and the rise of the urban
underclass?; The housing market: gentrification and homelessness;
4.
Property development and global cities; Canary Wharf and remaking of London and New York.
Planning global cities. The rise of the cultural industries and global cities as centres of cultural
production and consumption.
6SSG3013
GLOBAL POLITICAL ECOLOGY
Value: 15 credits
Lecturer: Professor Raymond Bryant
Teaching arrangement: 20 lectures, first term
Assessment: essay (50%), examination (50%)
Aims:
To introduce students to environmental change in Asia, Africa and Latin America (or the Global South),
with a view to assessing the prospects for success of sustainable development strategies, along with an
evaluation of the causal forces and socio-economic and political ramifications of such changes.
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Third Year Modules available in the 2014-15 academic year
Learning Outcomes:
At the completion of the course students should be able to appreciate the intertwined nature of political
and ecological processes in Asia, Africa and Latin America (or the Global South). Identify and assess
the varied political and economic factors contributing to environmental change, the social ramifications
of such changes, and the prospects for success of current sustainable development initiatives.
Lectures:
PART ONE: CONTEXT AND ACTORS
1. Introduction: theorizing political ecology
2. Colonialism and environmental change (overview)
3. Colonialism and environmental change (case study: Southeast Asian forestry)
4. The state in environmental management
5. Transnational corporations (TNCs) and the environment
6. Non-government organisations (NGOs) and the environment
PART TWO: LOCAL CONFLICT AND COOPERATION
7. Tragedy of the commons or of enclosure?
8. Environmental movements as livelihood struggles (Rural/Urban)
9. Festive ecology? Christmas as world’s greatest planned eco-disaster
10. Gender and the environment
11. Ethnicity and the environment: placing indigeniety
PART THREE: UNDERSTANDING ENVIRONMENTAL ‘PROBLEMS’
12. Tropical deforestation: emotional neocolonialism?
13. Urban pollution: fear and loathing in the city?
14. Global warming vs. the tsunami: slow vs fast disasters?
15. Land degradation and hazards: cause or manifestation of poverty?
PART FOUR: NORTH-SOUTH RELATIONS
16. Global environmental summits (1992-2012)
17. Sustainable development: conceptual blueprint or rhetorical device?
18. Population and the 'limits to growth'
19. Debt, aid, global institutions and the environment
20. Conclusion: future directions and course review
6SSG3056
POLITICAL ECONOMY OF HAZARDSCAPES
Lecturer: Dr Daanish Mustafa
Teaching arrangement: 20 lectures, first term
Assessment: essay (50%), poster (30%) and presentation (20%)
Specific aims of the module:
The module aims to familiarize students with cultural, political economic, pragmatic and technocratic
perspectives used to explain and sometimes spawn hazardousness of everyday life. To educate students
that hazards are not accidental interruptions of ‘normal’ life but rather integral to the social geographies
that modern societies have produced. The integrative concept of ‘hazardscapes’ will be introduced to
capture the discursive and material aspects of environmental and social hazards. Hazardous
environments in both the rich and the poorer parts of the world will be critically evaluated from multiple
theoretical perspectives to formulate strategies for enhancing human safety and environmental quality.
Learning Outcomes:
At the completion of the module students should be able to demonstrate sound knowledge of multiple
theories used within the hazards, environment/society, and development geography subfields within
human geography; demonstrate sound knowledge of the key concepts of vulnerability and resilience as
they pertain to economic development; have a critical understanding of hazard perceptions at the
individual, community, institutional and societal scales; have critical thinking about prevailing policies,
‘common wisdom’ and stereotypes about hazard response, planning and reconstruction.
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Third Year Modules available in the 2014-15 academic year
Module structure
The module will consist of eight in class lectures and two sessions of student presentations. We will
review the history of hazards research from religious based explanations of environmental hazards, to
more scientific and engineering based approaches, to the recent shift towards political economic and
discourse based reasons for human vulnerability to hazards. The discussion of hazards will be
specifically nested within broader concerns with human environment interactions and environmental
thought from the paleolithic, neolithic, classical and ultimately modern period.
Having established the temporal and spatial context of hazards research and human experience of
hazards, the concept of hazardscapes will be introduced as a hybrid perspective emphasizing both the
material and discursive underpinnings of vulnerability to hazards. Through the second half of the course
the concept of hazardscapes will be discussed with reference to such topical concerns as geographies of
development and underdevelopment, gender, terrorism and violence, and disaster relief and recovery.
The course will conclude with an exploration of pathways for building resilience against hazards and
politically emancipatory and socially just conceptions of sustainable development.
Semester 2:
6SSG3067
HOLLYWOOD AND THE POSTINDUSTIRAL CITY
Value: 15 credits
Lecturer: Dr Johan Andersson
Teaching Arrangement: 20 Lectures, 8 film screenings; second term
Assessment: Film review (30%); Essay (70%)
Specific aims of the module:
This course explores how the economic reorganisation of the city since the late 1960s has impacted on
the production, distribution, and mise-en-scène of Hollywood cinema. While there is a significant
literature in economic geography on post-Fordist changes in the film industry, this module aims to link
the interconnected restructuring of the US city and film industry with visual, aesthetic and narrative
developments in urban cinema. Throughout, we will focus on how new trends in on-location shooting,
technical innovations (with regards to sound, lighting, digital animation, lighter equipment and so on)
and changes in the distribution of film (TV, video and online) have resulted in novel modes of
representing the city. Particular emphasis will be placed on close readings of individual films or genres
that explore the changing occupational class structure of post-Fordist cities (yuppie, ghetto and
gentrification films as well as corporate and legal thrillers for example) or the identity politics
associated with new urban social movements (feminist cinema, New Queer Cinema, representations of
race).
Learning Outcomes:
On successful completion of this module students will be able to:
1.Use visual and narrative methods to critically analyse Hollywood films
2.To understand recent urban and social change through cinema
3.To use insights from geographical scholarship to examine the interconnected changes in the
economic organisation of Hollywood and the postindustrial city since the late 1960s
4.To reflect critically on the politics of representation with regards to both broader ideological shifts
and the depiction of minority groups in Hollywood cinema
Module structure
1.Introduction:
-Cinema and space: an interdisciplinary terrain
-Film theory: narrative structure and visual style
2.Hollywood
3.The economic geography of Hollywood
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Third Year Modules available in the 2014-15 academic year
-New Hollywood and the auteur
4.Urban branding and the politics of on-location shooting
5.The vigilante and the city
6.Feminism and spectatorship
7.Cinema and identity politics: contested representations
8.Noir urbanism
9.The corporate thriller and transnational space
10.The hedonistic city
11.The financial crisis in film
6SSG3037
ECONOMIC & SOCIAL CHANGE IN SOUTHERN AFRICA
Value: 15 credits
Lecturers: Dr Debby Potts, Dr Andrew Brooks
Teaching arrangement: 10 2 hour sessions, second term
Assessment: examination (100%)
Specific aims of the course:
To explore theories relating to selected geographical themes and test these in relation to the
specificities of Southern Africa taking a political economy approach.This will include explaining
the significance of political geography, legacies of white settler rule, and economic globalization
as determinants of economic and welfare patterns in the region. Key themes to be covered are
migration patterns, urban and rural livelihoods, the debates about regional economic and political
cooperation under the auspices of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), and the
influence of China.
At the completion of the course students should have a sound framework with which they can evaluate
contemporary economic, political and social patterns in the region as a whole. Gain an understanding of
regional development and integration issues via the southern African context, including trade and local
and global politics. Recognise the role of globalization in any developing region of the world, in terms
of the impacts of neo-liberal economic policies imposed by the international financial institutions and
trade liberalization. Learn the significance of political (in)stability in determining economic
development outcomes, and the legacy of white minority regimes on contemporary geography. Identify
the factors influencing economic and political patterns in the region as a whole and appreciate the need
to combine a variety of geographical conceptual approaches and theories with historical understanding
in order to analyse world regions.
Module structure
This course will focus on certain aspects of the Southern African region’s economic and social
geography. Ten countries are covered. Geographical themes related to processes of economic
development (eg globalization, migrant labour systems, natural resource endowment) in the region are
given particular emphasis.
Module structure
This course will focus on certain aspects of the Southern African region’s economic and social
geography. Ten countries are covered. Geographical themes related to processes of economic
development (eg globalization, migrant labour systems, natural resource endowment) in the region are
given particular emphasis.
6SSG3058
ENVIRONMENTAL RISK, GOVERNANCE AND SOCIETY
Value: 15 credits
Lecturer: Dr Henry Rothstein, Professor David Demeritt
Teaching arrangement: 10 lectures, 10 seminars, second term
Assessment: examination (50%); essay (50%).
Specific aims of the module:
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Third Year Modules available in the 2014-15 academic year
This module aims to develop a critical understanding of the major theoretical approaches to risk from a
number of different disciplinary perspectives. The module aims to develop students’ knowledge of
individual and social theories of risk in relation to processes of environmental risk assessment,
governance, perception and communication. Students will develop their skills in applying theoretical
understanding to empirical case studies in order to better understand the issues at stake in contemporary
debates about environmental risk.
Learning Outcomes:
At the completion of the module students should be able to: Demonstrate a knowledge of individual and
social theories of environmental risk and of how theories of risk relate to processes of risk assessment,
governance, perception and communication; Apply the acquired knowledge to empirical case studies and
show awareness of the limitations of such applications; Critically evaluate and reflect on the issues at
stake in contemporary debates about risk; Take an informed and reasoned approach to evaluating
theoretical and empirical material that they encounter during the course of study; Conceptualise complex
risk problems and clearly communicate critical issues.
Module structure
This module starts by considering how geography has approached issues of environmental risk, and goes
on to discuss contemporary social theoretical explanations of the salience of risk within so-called ‘late
modern’ society. The module then explores the factors that shape the wide variety of ways in which
environmental risks are governed, using case studies to explore the factors that shape the politics,
processes and outcomes of risk governance. The module then moves on to discuss the factors that shape
public perceptions of environmental risk and the associated problems posed for policy-makers, businesses
and other stakeholders in communicating risk issues. Public risk perceptions are explored in greater depth
through a series of case studies such as nuclear power, climate change and chemcial, biological,
radiological and nuclear terrorism. The module finishes with reflections on the future management of
environmental risk issues.
6SSG3043
JAPANESE ENVIRONMENTS
Lecturer responsible: Dr. Richard Wiltshire
Teaching arrangement: 20 lectures, second term
Assessment: 1,500 word essay (50%), 1 hour examination (50%)
Specific aims of the module:
To give students a knowledge of the physical, social and economic bases of environmental problems in
modern Japan; to give students an awareness of how aspects of Japanese culture impinge upon the
conception of, and attitudes towards, the physical environment at home and abroad; to develop an
understanding of how environmental movements have emerged and developed in Japan; to elucidate how
the Japanese state and business world have managed protest over environmental issues to achieve other
goals; to equip students with the basis for conducting postgraduate research into Japanese environmental
issues.
Learning Outcomes:
At the completion of the module students should have an appreciation of the inherent complexity of
environmental problems in a late developing advanced industrial society; an understanding of how
cultural attributes impact upon attitudes towards the environment; learned that the uneven distribution of
power impacts upon the ability of different stakeholders to respond to environmental problems; an
understanding of how the commonalities of environmental movements in advanced economies interact
with national specificities; gained a stronger appreciation of how the resolution of environmental
problems defined at one spatial scale impacts upon environmental quality at other scales and in other
places.
module structure
The module aims to give students an awareness of human-environment interactions in another advanced
industrial society but expressed within a unique cultural context, the understanding of which requires
reflection on how far personal and scholarly appreciation of the environment is inherently culture-bound.
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Third Year Modules available in the 2014-15 academic year
The initial focus is upon cultural perceptions, and the incorporation of an idealised “wrapped” nature into
Japanese culture, in contrast to attitudes to nature in the raw. The hazards posed by Japan’s natural
environment are then explored, from the standpoints of both physical geography and risk management.
Japan’s encounters with environmental pollution in the course of industrialisation are examined from the
perspectives of social history, environmental politics and environmental policy. Energy supply problems
are afforded similar treatment, with particular reference to Japan’s involvement with nuclear power. A
discussion of postwar human-environment interactions in the Japanese countryside, centred on recreation
and the forestry industry, then opens up pathways for exploring Japan’s impact on the external
environment, from deforestation in South East Asia to whaling in Antarctic waters, and active
engagement with the global climate change agenda.
6SSG3072
THE RIGHT TO THE CITY
Value: 15 credits
Lecturer: Dr Nicholas De Genova
Teaching arrangement: 16 hours lectures, 5 hours seminars; second term
Assessment: coursework (100%)
Within the context of ‘The Right to the City’, this module will be centrally concerned with several interrelated questions:
‘What is a right?’;
‘Who has rights?’; and ‘How do people make claims for rights?’;
‘What is a city?’ and ‘What do we mean by “the urban”?’
‘Is there such a thing as “the right to the city”?’
What are the political potentials of a demand for ‘the right to the city’?
By way of these elementary questions, this module aims to:
critically problematise the very notion of ‘rights’ and to interrogate the often-unexamined
normative valorisation of the notion of citizenship as a presumed framework for rights-bearing
and the staking of rights claims.
examine the relationship between cities and citizenship, and the configurations of ‘rights’ across
disparate spatial scales.
attend to the profound transformations of conventional notions of ‘the urban’ under contemporary
conditions of ‘globalisation’.
encourage students to continuously re-examine and re-evaluate various particular formulations of
the theoretical proposition of ‘the right to the city’ in relation to historically or ethnographically
descriptive works about geographically diverse examples.
On completion of this module students should be able to:
Develop a systematic textually grounded understanding of the substance and complexity of the idea
of ‘the right to the city’ based upon key theoretical readings.
Compare and contrast disparate and divergent examples of urban social and political struggles in
relation to the concept of ‘the right to the city’, and in the process, identify the possibility of
new concepts within the existing knowledge frameworks and approaches.
Critically evaluate the utility and versatility of the concept of ‘the right to the city’ in relation to
geographically and historically distinct instances where it can be deployed as an interpretive/
analytical or organisational framework.
Assess how effectively this unifying analytical tool may serve the purposes of critical research in
urban geography.
Take responsibility for their own learning and development using reflection and feedback to analyse their own
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