Newcastle University

Pre Requisite Comment

N/A

Co Requisite Comment

N/A

Aims

To introduce and provide a foundation for the study of human geography.
To outline the practice of human geography at University level
To introduce core concepts for thinking about global and local life
To provide an understanding of the complex interconnections underpinning everyday life across the globe.

Outline Of Syllabus

5 blocks introducing students to key areas of geographical research. Each block after the Foundations has 5 lectures + 1 seminar

The content list is indicative and subject to change.

FOUNDATIONS
Introduction: Why Geography Matters
Interconnected World Workshop
The Local and the Global
Globalization, A History From Above
Globalization, A History From Below

Foundations Seminar: A Global Sense of Place

ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHIES: PRODUCTION, EXCHANGE AND INTERRELATIONS
The Geography of the Economy
The Global Production System
Finance: Money makes the world go round Consumption Geographies
Alternative Economies
Economic Seminar: Global Production Networks

POLITICAL GEOGRAPHIES: CONNECTIONS AND DISPLACEMENT IN A CHANGING WORLD
Intro: Territoriality and the World Map
The State
Geopolitics Migration Citizenship
Political Seminar: Imagined Communities

DEVELOPMENT GEOGRAPHIES: POVERTY, WEALTH AND POWER
Poverty and the development agenda
Institutions of Development
Climate Change and Development
Gender, Development & Environment (2 lectures)
Development Seminar: Development Theories

SOCIAL GEOGRAPHIES: SELF AND COMMUNITY IN AN INTERCONNETED WORLD
Fragmenting Societies
Living with Difference
Emotional Geographies
China and a World of Cities: Urban social geographies
Encounters and Public Space

Intended Knowledge Outcomes

Teaching and learning is organised to:
•       Introduce students to the main principles of human geography and provide a broad awareness of the contribution made by geography to an understanding of the complex and inter-connected nature of the human world.
•       Provide a foundation for further study by developing a critical awareness of different human geography approaches to understanding spatial variation in economic, social, and political phenomena.
•       Appreciate the distinctiveness of place and the way it is remade by social, economic and political processes.
•       Provide an introductory understanding of the way in which human geography processes operate at local, regional, national and global scales and an appreciation of their impact on everyday life.
•       Outline the uneven distribution of poverty and develop an informed concern about inequalities of wealth at all scales.

Intended Skill Outcomes

•       Encourage students to develop an appreciation of the inter-relatedness of the processes that create the human geographical world and to be able to synthesise the different approaches to understanding them.
•       Help students to develop a critical approach to the various aspects of human geography, and to appreciate the provisional and contested nature of geographical knowledge and understanding.
•       To encourage effective study and active learning through a variety of class and library activities.
•       To develop the ability to interpret qualitative and quantitative information.
•       To develop the ability to communicate ideas in written and oral form.
•       To begin to develop a number of transferable skills that will serve students well in their University career and beyond

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

Lectures provide the core material in the course.

Small group teaching centered on task in which group produces a multiple choice question on theme. Each seminar group feeds a question back to the module leader, which goes into assessment.

Online live lectures will be used for assessment guidance and exam revision, to allow module leader to guide students through Canvas.

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

The essay will reflect the content taught in the foundations block, and will help assess students ability to deal with core concepts and context
The exam draws together content from the whole module, meaning that students are required to study and synthesize material from across the module as a whole, rather than only focusing on certain blocks
The two multiple choice tests, based on questions that students create in groups in small-group teaching. While 2 short assessments, the core teaching here is to help students connect learning to assessment in first year

General Notes

N/A