Module GEOG2561: SOCIAL AND CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY

Department: Geography

GEOG2561: SOCIAL AND CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY

Prerequisites

• None

Corequisites

• None

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None

Aims

• To develop understanding of contemporary social and cultural geographies
• To introduce the changing ways in which geographers have approached social and cultural issues
• To explore why geography matters to how we think about social relations and cultural identities
• To unpack how social and cultural differences play out in lived experience.

Content

• The module involves a core set of lectures that will introduce contemporary social and cultural geographies and phenomena, including key themes such as: the geographies of difference; the emotional intersections between people and place; social inequalities and material circumstances; landscapes and consumption; contested representations and categories of identity; more-than-human geographies; and care, wellbeing and justice.
• These are explored through social and cultural relations/identities that may include:
• Geographies of species
• Geographies of body size and shape
• Geographies of sexuality
• Geographies of age and the life-course
• Geographies of (dis)ability
• Geographies of class
• Geographies of race

Learning Outcomes

• Students are expected to be able to:
• Demonstrate understanding of key approaches, theories and debates in social and cultural geography
• Critically assess and debate a number of the current questions facing social and cultural geography
• Demonstrate appreciation of the spatialities of social and cultural phenomena, and of competing explanations for these, and develop clear lines of argument
• Show a detailed understanding of selected areas of social / cultural geographical research through extended reading

• Understand and synthesise key literatures in social and cultural geography
• Demonstrate detailed understanding of a selection of key issues covered by the module

• Demonstrate information management skills, including gathering information from a range of sources
• Demonstrate the ability to plan an effective and well-argued essay
• Demonstrate critical assessment and analysis skills in relation to key literatures and debates
• Demonstrate the development of ideas and argument in written work

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

• Teaching and Learning:
• Social and Cultural Geography will be delivered through a set of in-person lectures and a workshop for each of four thematic blocks
• The workshop for each thematic block will develop and demonstrate more detailed understanding and skills of critical assessment through discussion of key issues
• Independent learning, including reading widely, is supported with reading lists and other learning resources for students to deepen their understanding of different perspectives and explanations
• Assessment:
• Oral formative feedback provided during the workshops and lectures will encourage independent learning and practice of the skills that enhance learning outcomes
• The summative essay enables students to practice and develop further their literature-related and critical appraisal skills, and to demonstrate detailed understanding of specific topics and debates
• The summative exam enables students to demonstrate broader understanding of the subject in the construction of substantiated arguments and connection of themes across the module.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Formative feedback is provided through oral feedback on workshop activities. Feedback is also given on summative coursework that will help students in exam preparation.

■ 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