This course will employ a variety of instructional methods to accomplish its objectives, including some of
the following:
- Lecture
- In-class activities, such as mental maps
- Fieldwork and/or field trips
- Videos/DVDs/digital media
- Individual and/or team projects
- Small groups discussions
- Map analysis
- Introduction
- Traditions in social geography
- Different social geography theories
- Social geography and everyday life
- Restructuring society and space
- The body
- "The geography closest in” (Rich, 1986)
- Body as surface
- Body as project
- Cartesian dualism
- Marked bodies: gender, sexualities, race, and disabilities
- Geography of identity and difference
- Definitions and classifications
- Social construction of place
- Social meanings of the built environment
- In place/out of place
- Public/Private Space
- Urban morphology and the social arrangement of cities
- Public space, private space, quasi-public space, and the public realm
- Homelessness and housing
- Regulating sex work
- Urban life
- Urban life in Western places
- The neoliberal city and social life
- Patterns of socio-economic inequality
- Social interaction and community
- Online-offline geographies
- Place and power
- Theories of power and control
- Public institutions and private life
- Governance structures
- Places of exception
- Social justice
- Fear, crime, and disorder
- Geographies of fear and crime
- Role of the built environment
- Neoliberalism and the carceral state
- Race, ethnicity, and ‘the Other’
- Race vs. ethnicity
- Spatial discrimination of racialized groups
- Colonies, enclaves, congregations, and ‘ghettos’
- Nationalism and internal Orientalism
- Colonialism and Indigeneity
- Identity and struggles for place
- Defining agency
- Conflict and transgression
- Place and resistance
- Speaking from the margins
- Spaces of hope
- Social activism and civic responsibility
- Transnational activism
- Online and offline social networks
- ‘The Power of Place’
- Synthesize the concepts, techniques, and theories of social geography.
- Communicate effectively orally, graphically, in writing, and using quantitative methods.
- Describe the development of social geography and explain the alternative paradigms of social geography.
- Explain the concept of the spatial structuring of social differences and inequalities.
- Apply the concepts, methods, and theories to different scales of geographic analysis.
- Describe and analyze the arrangements and patterns of different types of groups within a given society.
- Evaluate the most relevant issues and needs confronting different groups within a given society.
- Describe and analyze the concepts and spatial patterns of social transformation through the collection, interpretation and presentation of relevant geographic data.
The evaluation will be based on course objectives and will be carried out in accordance with Douglas College Evaluation Policy. The instructor will provide a written course outline with specific evaluation criteria during the first week of classes.
An example of an evaluation scheme would be:
| Quizzes | 30% |
| Poster presentation | 25% |
| Project | 15% |
| Preparation & participation | 10% |
| Final exam | 20% |
| Total | 100% |
A text or custom course reader may be used. Texts will be updated periodically. A typical example of a text would be:
Del Casino, V. J., Thomas, M.E., Cloke P., and Panelli, R. (Editors) (2011). A Companion to Social Geography. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
Supplemental course materials may include:
Books:
Anderson, J. (2015). Understanding Cultural Geography: Places and Traces, 2nd Edition. London, UK: Routledge.
Del Casino, V. J. (2009). Social Geography: A Critical Introduction. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
Enos, R. D., & Cambridge Core EBA eBooks Complete Collection. (2017). The Space Between Us: Social Geography and Politics. New York, NY; Cambridge.
Kitchin, R. (2007). Mapping Worlds: International Perspectives on Social and Cultural Geographies. London, UK: Routledge.
Knox, P. and Pinch, S. (2009). Urban Social Geography: An Introduction. Toronto, Canada: Prentice-Hall.
Moss, P. and K. Falconer, eds. (2008). Feminisms in Geography: Rethinking Space, Place and Knowledges. Lanham, Maryland: Rowan and Littlefield.
Panelli, R, (2004). Social Geographies: From Difference to Action. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE
Smith, S. (2010). The Sage Handbook on Social Geographies. Los Angeles, CA: SAGE.
Turley, B. (2018). Feminist Spaces: Gender and Geography in a Global Context. London, UK: Routledge.
Valentine, G. (2001). Social Geography: Space and Society. New York, NY: Prentice-Hall.
Videos:
Jhally, S. (2009). The Codes of Gender?: Identity and Performance in Pop Culture. Media Education Foundation.
Marx, F. (director, producer, editor) (2004). Boys to Men [video recording]. Northampton, MA: Media Education Foundation.
Morris, S. (writer, director, & producer), Wise, T. (writer), Earp, J, (writer) (2014). White Like Me: Race, Racism, and White Privilege in America [video recording]. Northampton, MA: Media Education Foundation.
Newsom, J.S. (writer, director, & producer) (2014). The Mask You Live In [video recording]. New York, NY: Virgil Films.