Module GEOG2541: DEVELOPMENT, SOCIETY AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Department: Geography

GEOG2541: DEVELOPMENT, SOCIETY AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Prerequisites

• None

Corequisites

• None

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None

Aims

• Provides students with an insight into the ways in which development and the environment, and the relations between these concepts, have been conceived
• Through an exploration of how these ideas have historically informed policy debates at a variety of scales, the module expands student learning about critical economic, cultural, and political relations in the world today
• This module also engages students in thinking about how the ideas and practices concerning development and the environment promoted within policy arenas have been responded to and resisted by communities and organizations in the north and south
• It provides students with a critical understanding of:
• the spatiality of environmental and development thought and practice
• the geographical nature of development thought and practice
• the geopolitical nature of development and environmental policy
• the ways in which development and environmental goals complement or conflict with one another
• the interconnections between globalisation, environmental issues and development
• and local, national and transnational resistance to various forms of development and environmental management

Content

• Introduction: thinking about development, thinking about the environment
• Key concepts: Orientalism, tropical geographies and development; Modernising development: overcoming nature?; Sustainable development; Alternative developments, alternative environments and social justice
• Science, the environment and development: a critical perspective
• Contemporary issues in development and environment
• Sustainability in the 'North' and 'South': representations in the news media

Learning Outcomes

• Students are expected to be able to: Outline and understand the mainstream ideas (and their critiques) about development and the environment, the ways in which they relate to one another, and how these have evolved from the colonial period to the present day
• Demonstrate their understanding of both the theoretical debates and empirical issues through case studies and grounded examples

• Analyse a range of contemporary environment and development debates with particular reference to this theoretical understanding

• Demonstrate a capacity to improve their own learning and performance by gathering necessary information from a range of bibliographic and electronic sources with a view to the critical appraisal of a particular topic
• Demonstrate a range of communication skills including the ability to evaluate and synthesise information obtained from a variety of sources
• Demonstrate a capacity to evaluate the merits of contrasting theoretical and conceptual approaches

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

• Basic debates on development and environment are introduced and explained in lectures
• Concepts and approaches are introduced in lectures and discussed and developed in tutorials
• Factual understanding is tested in exams and coursework
• Critical evaluation and effective writing are tested in exams and coursework

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

In line with Board of Studies policy for all Level 2 optional modules, formative assessment is provided through formative feedback on summative coursework

■ 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