Module GEOG2641: ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY

Department: Geography

GEOG2641: ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY

Prerequisites

• None

Corequisites

• None

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None

Aims

• Introduce students to developments in the academic field of economic geography
• Promote an appreciation of the changing and diverse ways in which geographers have theorized, conceptualized and debated the economic
• Develop understandings of the spaces and spatiality of economies across both the Global North and the Global South
• Engage critically in issues in contemporary economic geography, with reference to particular economic ‘worlds’ such as worlds of production, worlds of circulation, worlds of work, worlds of debt, and alternative economic worlds.

Content

• Introduction: What is ‘economy’?
• Corporations and Global Production Networks
• States, Governments and Production
• Resource and Environmental Economies
• Commodities, Exchanges and Circulations
• Financial Circulations
• Financialisation and Economic Life
• Work and the Economic
• Conflict and Cooperation at Work
• Embodiment of Work
• Sovereign and corporate debt
• Consumer and everyday debt
• Digital and Ethical Economies
• Alternative and Proliferative Economies
• Conclusion: Theories and Themes

Learning Outcomes

• Students are expected to be able to:
• Trace the development of the academic field of economic geography
• Understand key theories, concepts and debates in economic geography
• Show an appreciation of the ways in which space and spatiality matters in global economies

• Students are expected to be able to:
• Understand and synthesize key literatures in economic geography
• Reflect critically about issues in contemporary economic geography, with reference to particular economic-geographical ‘worlds’ (e.g. production, circulation, work, debt, and alternative economic worlds).

• Students are expected to be able to:
• Demonstrate expertise in critical reflection and analysis
• Communicate effectively in written form
• Evaluate sources of evidence in contemporary public economic debates
• Demonstrate an ability to formulate critical and sophisticated arguments

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

• Lectures will introduce students to the academic field of economic geography, theoretical and conceptual debates, and contemporary issues in economic-geographical ‘worlds’ (e.g. production, circulation, work, debt, and alternative economies).
• Discussion in workshops will allow students to work through theoretical and conceptual understandings introduced in lectures and apply such understandings to contemporary issues
• Formative review essays, to be submitted in fifth week of Term 1, will assist students to develop their initial understanding of introductory texts in field of economic geography.
• Formative small Group (n=6) presentationsto the class conference held at the conclusion of the module, developing students’ oral presentation and team-working skills and facilitating their critical reflections on the key concepts in contemporary economic geography studied in the module
• Summative coursework (essay, 50%), to be submitted in the first week of Term 2, will assess understandings of the spaces and spatialities of one of the first two economic-geographical ‘worlds’ studied on the module
• Summative Examination (50%) will test critical understanding of concepts and critical thinking with particular reference to all economic-geographical ‘worlds’ studied on the module.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Formative assessment is provided through feedback on: a review essay focused on introductory texts in the field of economic geography that will be submitted during the first weeks of the module, and small group presentations to the class conference presentation that will be held at the conclusion of the module. Feedback on the review essay will inform completion of the first component of summative assessment (coursework essay), and feedback on class conference presentations will inform the second component of summative assessment (unseen written examination).

■ 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