Module GEOG3161: GEOGRAPHY, GENDER AND CHANGE

Department: Geography

GEOG3161: GEOGRAPHY, GENDER AND CHANGE

Prerequisites

• None

Corequisites

• None

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None

Aims

• To offer final year Geographers and others an opportunity to engage with advanced thinking on geography, gender and change as it has been developed around the world
• To develop skills in both the rigorous selection of detailed case study material and an awareness of the range of dynamic, plural and contested theoretical approaches
• To introduce students to the reflexive practices of scholarship required for advanced study in the field

Content

• Geography, gender and change will be explored at a range of scales, from the bodily to the global, using bodies and places around the world for students to explore themselves, the familiar and the other
• The body
• The home
• Work
• Cities
• Global dimensions of gender

Learning Outcomes

• On successful completion of the module students are expected to be able to:
• Explore selected issues in Geography, Gender and Change around the world, in depth, with an awareness of the wider complexities and contests over theoretical / empirical approaches
• Be able to address gendered geographies at a variety of scales, locations and periods to assess the continued remaking of places through social processes
• Reflect on how difference in terms of gender and sexuality are affected by and affect ideas of place, space and time
• Understand basic concepts of discourse, representation of gender, critical thinking, the nature of gender and its variations over time and space, and of feminism, feminist methods and ethics in geography
• Express a more advanced understanding of topics selected from the course, and be able to write an informed opinion and utilise detailed case studies for each topic
• Reflect on gender and geography not only as something out there but also consider how geographers produce a diversity of geographical knowledges about gender

• Developing skills in the visual and written presentation of geographical knowledges through poster planning and design
• In doing so, experience the combining and interpreting different types of geographical evidence (eg texts, imagery, archival data, maps, digitised and laboratory data)
• And recognising the moral and ethical issues involved in debates and enquiries

• Assessing the merits of contrasting theories, explanations and policies; critically judging and evaluating evidence
• Critically interpreting data and text
• Abstracting and synthesising information
• Developing a reasoned argument
• Taking responsibility for their own learning, and developing habits of reflection upon that learning

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

• The core of the material is developed through 21 two-hour teaching sessions of two hours duration (plus breaks)
• Teaching sessions will normally include a presentation of at least one hour by staff, but will also use video clips, brainstorming, buzz groups and open discussion, with one poster session
• The group can be large, but because students have prior knowledge and strong opinions on many of the topics, it is profitable to encourage small group reflection and exposition in sessions to develop both scholarship and understanding
• Formative group work on posters will take themes into depth
• The diary will require students to explore their own experience and positionality over the whole period of the course
• The takeaway examination paper will provide the incentive for students to work on a wide spread of themes.
• Selected reading lists will be provided, including websites
• Optional videos will be screened as an alternative to some reading
• Videos will also be available for loan
• The module strongly encourages students to develop a broad grasp at a basic level and to follow their own interests in some depth, thus capitalising on the availability of a wide range of material accessible to Level 3 students to promote the development of individual choice, judgement and application

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Posters to be displayed in groups and evaluated by peers. Staff will give formative assessment and feedback.

■ 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