GPHY 520- Seminar in Geographic Thought

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1 The University of Montana Department of Geography GPHY 520- Seminar in Geographic Thought Fall Semester 2015 Monday 4:20 to 7:00 pm, Room 217, Old Journalism Instructor: Tom Sullivan Office: Room 307B, Stone Hall Office Hours: 2:30 to 5PM on Wednesdays; NOON to 1PM on Fridays; or by appointment Goals of the Course, Requirements, and Expectations This graduate level seminar is designed to give each student a broad education in the history and philosophy of geography. The philosophical roots of the discipline began in ancient times and include a number of important and interesting theories and practices that form the basis for today s contemporary geography. The development of geographic traditions evolved from the ideas of philosophers and theorists whose work still influences the structural framework of our discipline today. Geographers study a wide-range of issues within this framework, which is diverse, crosses over, borrows from, and includes many disciplines, is explored at a number of scales from the local to the global, and investigates problems that span from human/environment relationships to physical geographic phenomenon. The seminar format provides an atmosphere for the exchange of ideas and opinions based on one s ability to critically read, accurately articulate, and subsequently discuss the works of others. In order to develop an understanding of the philosophical and theoretical underpinnings of our discipline, it is necessary for the student to consume reading material. The reading of textbooks, book chapters, and articles that cover both general and specific topics enables the student to gain more insight into how contemporary research is based on a long, and evolving theoretical thread. Importantly, most of the readings are from those geographers who are considered key thinkers in our discipline. Their work has contributed greatly to the development of geography and your familiarization with their writings will greatly enhance your own future scholarship. I expect each student to complete the required readings for each week as your subsequent examination and critical analysis of them will invariably enhance and transform our class discussions. In addition, you are required to write a short paper each week pertaining to these readings and our subsequent discussions; indeed, this exercise will greatly improve your understanding of these concepts and expose to you new ideas that may eventually lead to the formation of your thesis topic. Besides completing the reading assignments and preparing for each discussion, you will be required to complete the following: 1

2 1. Lead a minimum of two seminar discussions. Each student will volunteer (or be assigned) a class discussion which he or she will facilitate. A team of two or more students are responsible for preparing a detailed, critical analysis of the readings for that discussion, and lead the class through a discussion of these readings. 2. Hand in a two-page discussion paper at the end of each class period that outlines the readings and important aspects of each. 3. Hand in a detailed outline of your paper topic (this is due towards the middle of November). 4. Submit a 15- to 20-page term paper (due at 5 PM on Monday of Finals Week) outlining the historical and philosophical roots and development of a geographic topic that most interests you. The topic should be fairly specific and include the history and evolution of ideas, as well as support by citations from those who are considered the key geographers in the area you choose. You must have this topic approved by me beforehand. Grading Leading class discussions, participation and attendance: 10% Paper Outline 5% Response Papers 15 % page Term Paper 70 % Total Points: 100 % Grading Scale A B C D Additional information 1. Please consult the Class Schedule for relevant dates. 2. For assistance with writing, please consult the online resources of the UM Writing Center in the Mansfield Library. 3. All students must practice academic honesty. Academic misconduct is subject to an academic penalty by the course instructor and/or disciplinary sanction by the University. All students need to be familiar with the Student Conduct Code. The Code is available for review online at Cheating and plagiarism are not tolerated and will be dealt with as outlined in the Code. 4. The University of Montana assures equal access to instruction through collaboration between students with disabilities, instructors, and Disability Services for Students. If you think you may have a disability adversely affecting your academic performance, and you have not already registered with Disability Services, please contact Disability Services in Lommasson Center 154 or I will work with you and Disability Services to provide an appropriate modification. 2

3 Required Texts: [Kindle or digital e-book versions preferred] Cresswell, Tim Geographic Thought: A Critical Introduction. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. Camus, Albert (1942). The Stranger. New York: Vintage Books. Foucault, Michel (1977). Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. New York: Vintage Books. Darwin, Charles (1859). The Origin of Species. New York: Penguin Group. Marx, Karl (1867) Capital Volume 1: A Critique of Political Economy. New York: Penguin Classics. Sartre, John Paul (1938). Nausea. New York: New Directions. Class Schedule and Readings Each listed reading is for the following week s discussion. Each reading is posted on Moodle. Week 1 Monday, August 31 Introduction 1 Discussant/Lecture: Kevin McManigal (Review of syllabus and expectations for the course) Week 2 Monday, September 7 (No Class-Labor Day) Introduction 2 Cresswell, Geographic Thought, Chapter 1 Kropotkin, P What Geography Ought To Be. Nineteenth Century 18: (reprinted in J. Agnew, D. Livingstone and A. Rogers (eds.) Human Geography: An Essential Anthology. Oxford: Blackwell). Begin reading: Darwin, The Origin of Species. Week 3 Monday, September 14 Early Geographies Cresswell, Geographic Thought, Chapter 2 Discussant: Tom Sullivan (Assign students as discussants for remainder of semester) 3

4 Week 4 Monday, September 21 Emergence of Modern Geography Cresswell, Geographic Thought. Chapter 3 Darwin, The Origin of Species. Stoddart, D Darwin s Impact on Geography. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 56(3): Huntington, E Racial Character and Natural Selection and the Direct Effect of Environment on Character. In E. Huntington, The Character of Races as Influenced by Physical Environment, Natural Selection, and Historical Development. New York: Charles Schribner s Sons, pp. 1-19, Week 5 Monday September 28 Thinking about Regions Cresswell, Geographic Thought, Chapter 4 Hartshorne, R The Nature of Geography: A Critical Survey of Current Thought in Light of the Past. Annals of the Association of American Geographers (29)3: [Only Chapter 1] Amin, A Regions Unbound: Towards a New Politics of Place. Geografiska Annaler. Series B, Human Geography 86(1): Painter, J Cartographic Anxiety and the Search for Regionality. Environment and Planning A 40(2): Begin reading: Camus, The Stranger and Sartre, Nausea. Week 6 Monday, October 5 The Quantitative Revolution Cresswell, Geographic Thought, Chapter 5 Schaefer, F Exceptionalism in American Geography: A Methodological Examination. In J. Agnew, D. Livingstone and A. Rogers (eds.), Human Geography: An Essential Anthology. Oxford: Blackwell. 4

5 Berry, B. and Garrison, W The Functional Basis of Central Place Hierarchy. Economic Geography 34(2): Week 7 Monday, October 12 Humanistic Geographies Cresswell, Geographic Thought, Chapter 6 Camus, The Stranger, and Sartre, Nausea. Tuan, Y.F Humanistic Geography, Annals of the Association of American Geographers 66(1). Wylie, John A Single Day s Walking: Narrating Self and Landscape on the South West Coast Path. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 30(2): Begin reading: Marx, Capital Volume 1: A Critique of Political Economy Week 8 Monday, October 19 Marxist Geographies Cresswell, Geographic Thought, Chapter 7 Marx, Capital Volume 1: A Critique of Political Economy Smith, N. and O Keefe, P Geography, Marx and the Concept of Nature. Antipode 12: Mitchell, D The End of Public Space? People s Park, Definitions of the Public, and Democracy. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 85(1): Begin reading: Foucault, Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. Week 9 Monday, October 26 Feminist Geographies Required Readings (for next week): Cresswell, Geographic Thought, Chapter 8 5

6 Butler, J Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory. Theatre Journal: Domosh, M Sexing Feminist Geography. Progress in Human Geography 23(3): Gregson, N., and Rose, G Taking Butler Elsewhere: Performativities, Spatialities and Subjectivities. Environment and Planning D 18(4): Week 10 Monday, November 2 Postmodernism Cresswell, Geographic Thought, Chapter 9 Borgmann, Albert Crossing the Postmodern Divide. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. [Chapters 1/2] Baudrillard, Jean America. London: Verso: Soja, E Inside Exopolis: Scenes from Orange County. In D. Hayden (ed.), Variations on a Theme Park: The New American City and the End of Public Space, pp Week 11 Monday, November 9 Poststructuralism 1 Cresswell, Geographic Thought, Chapter 10 Foucault, Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. Belsey, C Poststructuralism: A Very Short Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press. Week 12 Monday, November 16 Poststructuralism 2 Driver, F Power, Space, and the Body: A Critical Assessment of Foucault s Discipline and Punish. Environment and Planning A 3: Philo, C Foucault s Geography. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 10(2):

7 Week 13 Monday, November 23 Relational Geographies Cresswell, Geographic Thought, Chapter 11 Marston, S., and Jones III, J.P Human Geography without Scale. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 30: Massey, D A Global Sense of Place. In T. Barnes and D. Gregory (eds.), Reading Human Geography, London: Arnold, pp Week 14 Monday, November 30 More-than-human Geographies Cresswell, Geographic Thought, Chapter 12 Braun, B Environmental Issues: Writing a More-than-human Urban Geography. Progress in Human Geography 29: Week 15 Monday, December 7 Geographies Exclusions Cresswell, Geographic Thought, Chapter 13 McKittrick, K On Plantations, Prisons, and a Black Sense of Place. Social and Cultural Geography 12(8): Said, E Invention, Memory and Place. Critical Inquiry 26(2): Week 16 Monday, December 14 Finals Week Final Paper Due on Monday, December 14 at 5 PM 7

USE OF CELLPHONES, LAPTOPS, TABLETS, AND OTHER ELECTRONIC DEVICES IS NOT PERMITTED IN THE CLASSROOM. Geography 470: History and Theory of Geography

USE OF CELLPHONES, LAPTOPS, TABLETS, AND OTHER ELECTRONIC DEVICES IS NOT PERMITTED IN THE CLASSROOM. Geography 470: History and Theory of Geography Geography 470: History and Theory of Geography Spring 2015. Tues. and Thurs. 5:00 6:20. Lucy Stone Hall, Room B-267 Instructor: Mazen Labban Office: B-248, Lucy Stone Hall E-mail: labban@rci.rutgers.edu