Module GEOG1061: ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIETY

Department: GEOGRAPHY

GEOG1061: ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIETY

Prerequisites

• None.

Corequisites

• None.

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None.

Aims

• To introduce to a wide variety of students, including potential Geographers, a comprehensive survey and analysis of the diverse ways in which humanity and their environments (both physical and human) have interacted with each other.

Content

• 1. An introduction to general concepts about human-environment interactions;
• 2. Early humans and their environmental impact: genetic geographies, population growth, agricultural origins;
• 3. Culture, technology and early landscapes: hydraulic civilizations, sustainability of the early empires;
• 4. Polity, economy and landscape: the transition from feudalism to capitalism, the impact of industrialization, cities and modernity, designed landscapes, ideological landscapes, postmodernity;
• 5. From landscape to environment: woods and forests, wetlands, political ecology, soil erosion, desertification, global warming;
• 6. Quaternary environmental change, ice and marine records, changes in atmospheric/oceanic circulations, pollen records, changes in eco-systems, lithostratigraphic records, changes in coastal lowlands;
• 7. Case studies

Learning Outcomes

• On successful completion of the module students are expected to be able to:
• understand at an elementary level the reciprocal relationships between humans and their environment.
• be familiar with a range of examples of the environmental impact of humans at different spatial and temporal scales.
• have an appreciation of the changing interactions between culture and nature.

• demonstrate a knowledge of the relevant literature.

• have produced satisfactory written evidence, in the form of course work, of their analytical skills in the topic area.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• The lectures aim to provide students with an outline of key debates in the topic area, to discuss the literature that they should explore, and to give examples and case studies at a range of different spatial and temporal scales.
• The student preparation and reading time is partly devoted to writing the two course work essays and partly to the general and specific reading suggested by staff in lectures.
• Discussion groups are organised for non Single Honours Geographers as a forum for clarifying understanding of the lectures and reading.
• Single Honours Geographers have the opportunity to raise human/environmental issues in their general tutorials.
• The two course work essays allow students to demonstrate their knowledge of the literature and exercise their analytical skills in written form.
• They also give students an opportunity to receive formative feedback on their progress.
• The end of year examination is a summative test of students knowledge, understanding and analytical skills.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Two 1,500 word essays. Written feedback. No collections.

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University