Course Description
An advanced introduction to political geography. Students will learn theoretical frameworks to evaluate the spatial dimensions of power and politics. Examination of real-world political struggles related to inequality, oppression, and freedom, and exploration of the role of the state and governance in power relations.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
Students who take the course at the graduate level will be expected to do additional reading and complete a major writing project. The course will assist graduate students preparing for comprehensive exams by giving them a systematic introduction to themes and cutting-edge research in political geography.
Athena Title
Power Politics and Place
Non-Traditional Format
The class contains a research and writing component.
Prerequisite
GEOG 1101 or GEOG 1101E or GEOG 1103 or GEOG 1130 or GEOG 3620 or GEOG 3630 or GEOG 3630E or permission of department
Semester Course Offered
Not offered on a regular basis.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
Students will understand how politics occurs in and through place. Students will understand the varied ways that power operates through state institutions and how those state institutions have changed over time. Students will understand core concepts in political geography including governance, citizenship, the nation, the state, borders, biopolitics, settler colonization, racial capitalism, abolition, and decolonization. Students will apply course concepts to a real-world issue of the student's choice in a class presentation and final paper. The course is intended to produce the following outcomes: i) To give students a deep knowledge over major debates, theoretical positions, and empirical evidence of some major sub-theme in the discipline of political geography. ii) To help students develop their critical thinking, research, and writing skills by conducting independent research. iii) To further their understanding of the ways that geography is structured by political dynamics, as well as accentuating that political processes are always geographic
Topical Outline
- States - Governance - Nations and Nationalism - Borders and Boundaries - Citizenship - Biopolitics - Geopolitics - (Settler) Colonization - Racial Capitalism - Decolonization - Abolition