Module Catalogue 2026/27

Pre Requisite Comment

None

Co Requisite Comment

None

Aims

This is a wide-ranging and demanding module based on 2-hour lectures, which include participatory class discussions and debates. Full lecture attendance is expected and absences will be followed up. Lectures will only be made available on recap for a period of two-weeks after delivery.

This module gives students a thorough grounding in the concepts, practices, themes and disciplinary traditions of the field of political geography. In doing so, students will be equipped with the skills to critically analyse the spatialities of political life from local to global scales.

Pedagogically it is marked by a commitment to introducing students to a range of different perspectives on the same topic: it will teach students how to think, not what to think.

Outline Of Syllabus

PART 1: Introduction to political geography

PART 2: SPACE AND SOVEREIGNTY
This first part of the module will look at historical and contemporary configurations of space and sovereignty. It considers the emergence of, and challenges to, the modern state.

PART 3: CITIZENSHIP
What does it look like to be included in, or excluded from states? And how can people themselves organise to change the world?

PART 4: GEOPOLITICS
Having looked at the formation of the system of sovereignty, this section of the module considers how states and other polities relate to each to each other internationally – geopolitics.

Intended Knowledge Outcomes

By the end of the course the student will:

1. Have a sound knowledge and understanding of the tenets and background of political geography and will be able to critically evaluate the position of the sub-discipline in relation to broader geographical enquiry.
2. Have a sound knowledge and understanding of the relationship between sovereignty claims and space and will have a background in a broad range of case studies.
3. Be able to critically assess the production of geopolitical knowledge and will have an understanding of the various means by which this knowledge is communicated and reproduced.
4. Be able to critically evaluate concepts such as state, nation and territory.
5. Be able to connect their studies to the real world - for example by writing a letter to a newspaper.

Intended Skill Outcomes

By the end of the course the student will have developed:

1. The ability to summarise, assess, explain and critically evaluate different theories and arguments.
2. The ability to formulate, present, defend and revise reasoned arguments in the contexts of individual writing, group discussion, and the public sphere.
3. The ability to engage in public debate by writing letters for publication in national, regional and local newspapers
4. The ability to recognise, interpret and critically evaluate the political geographic content of everyday life, as experienced across a range of quotidian sites including landscapes, news media, films, novels, and places of work.

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

The lectures, directed reading, and the practical teaching on submitting a letter to a media source, aim to thoroughly ground students in the concepts, practices and disciplinary traditions of political geography, to critically evaluate these, and to connect them to a broad range of case studies in the world today.

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

Assessment 1 assesses knowledge and understanding of core political geographic concepts and application, and ability to summarise, assess, explain and evaluate different theories and arguments and relate module material to the real world in a way that promotes active engagement in public debate. Assessment 2 builds on this by emphasising in detail critical understanding of one part of the module. The assessment weighting is balanced to reflect development over the year.

General Notes

N/A