The University of Western Ontario
Department of Geography

*SAMPLE OUTLINE*
Geography 553A/B
GEOGRAPHY OF CULTURAL POLITICS: SPACE IN CRITICAL
SOCIAL THEORY

Seminars: 2 hours
Time, Date & Place T.B.A.

The following sample outline is intended to provide a sense of the kinds of topics and issues we might address in this course. The actual reading list and seminar topics are always tailored to the interests' of the students involved. Whether the topic be cultural politics, place, behavioural geography, qualitative methods, or a general survey of classic and contemporary readings in cultural studies, I usually identify the topics and readings for several of the seminars--works I think are necessary--and then let the students select the remaining topics and readings. Two essays and attendance at the seminar forms the basis of evaluation.

The intent of this course is to develop, expand, question and critique the student's conceptions of culture as a site of contested meanings. Students will learn how and why cultural landscapes are vested with power, conflicting interests and ideologies, and will be able to systematically critique the politics of culture as manifested in space. The reading list will be developed in consultation with students. Possible topics addressed in this seminar course may include power, ideology, race, gender and class. Half course; one term.

INTRODUCTION
                        Geography must indeed necessarily lie at the heart of    
                                my concerns. (Focualt 1980, 77)

The primary goal of this course is to encourage the graduate student to expand, question, and critique his/her conceptions about the production, interpretation, and analytical utility of culture and space in critical social theory. As a geography course, the student will learn why space matters, the role space plays in the construction of society, identity, and place, and how cultural geographers interpret and critique the lifeworld: the culturally defined spatio-temporal setting of everyday life. Readings will be drawn from the 'new' cultural geography, humanistic geography, phenomenology, postmodernism and language (socio-semiotics); the issues of representation, interpretation, and construction of cultural landscapes, specifically the urban place, is stressed in particular.

CONTENT
The course is driven by a number of a questions. For example, how are 'space' and 'place' constituted? What is a 'landscape,' and why is representation an issue for landscape interpretation? Is a landscape a 'text,' and if so, how might a city be read? How is space ideologically-charged? Can space be postmodern, and if so, what constitutes a postmodern landscape? How do the seemingly aspatial processes of economy, politics and power give rise to the cultural landscapes of gender, class and race? What analytical utility is there in viewing culture as a contested terrain of conflicting and negotiated sites of struggle? These and other such questions, some of which will be initiated by the student, will guide the selection of assigned readings. Suggested issues and readings are both welcomed and encouraged from the student. A sample of possible reading assignments is provided on pages three and four.

PURPOSE
This graduate course has several objectives:
i. Identify, discuss and understand the conception, role and utility of space in contemporary social theory and cultural studies.
ii. Introduce dominant themes and topics in cultural geography as they pertain to space and social theory.
iii. Encourage critical thinking and intellectual debate.
iv. Encourage responsibility for independent learning.
v. Exercise and develop reading, writing and verbal skills.

Fulfilling these objectives will enable the student to:
i. Situate and apply the geographer's concern and conception of space, place and landscape in the larger contexts of contemporary social theory and cultural studies.
ii. Relate his/her own interests in theory and critical studies to the related, relevant, and specialized ontext of cultural geography.
iii. Better articulate his/her informed opinions, interpretations and arguments in both verbal and written form.
vi. Appreciate that the range of possible interpretations of material and immaterial culture is broad but not infinite; it is possible to make unsubstantiated interpretations, and conversely, it is possible to make more than one well-substantiated interpretation.

FORMAT AND EVALUATION

The student is expected to read and be prepared to critically discuss one or two assigned readings for each one of the eleven mandatory, weekly, two-hour seminars (specific times and dates will be arranged to suit both student/s and instructor). Evaluation is based on written evidence of the student's ability to construct and present a lucid, structured, articulate and well-grounded argument on a relevant topic. The precise topic and due dates of these two papers will be determined through consultation with the instructor. Format requirements will be made explicit at that time. Although no marks are allocated directly for attendance and preparation, repeated failure to attend and or prepare for seminars will be penalized in the form of a reduced final grade.

HOW DO I GRADE?
I regard a low to mid 'B' indicative of average work, both competent and acceptable. The student has completed all reading assignments and demonstrated a general understanding of the material as evidenced in the seminars and essays. A high 'B' (78%+) reflects evidence of an above average effort and performance. Not only has the student fulfilled the assignments and readings in a more meticulous fashion, she/he has demonstrated a more thorough understanding of the material as evidenced in the written work and seminars. As graduate students, please be aware that work warranting the minimum of a low 'B' (70%) is expected as a minimum level of performance: a 78% average must be achieved to sustain any internal funding the student my possess. An 'A' is reserved for outstanding effort and achievement. Exceptional diligence, a thorough knowledge of the reading material, and the ability to apply key concepts in an effective, logical and literate fashion are clearly evident. Hard labour and exceptional effort are necessary but not, by themselves, sufficient to warrant an 'A.' An 'A+' (90%+) is exceptionally rare, particularly at the graduate level. An outstanding set of essays demonstrating a superb command of English and a critical mind capable of synthesizing complex facts and ideas to arrive at particularly astute set of conclusions, will earn this prestigious grade.

SAMPLE READING LIST
The following list is a sample of the sort of works addressed; the final reading list will be formalized with student in-put.

Bachelard, Gaston 1964. The Poetics of Space. M. Jolas (Trans.). New York:        
    Orion.

Baudrillard, J. 1988. Amerique. C. Turner (Trans.). New York: Verso.

Berger, J. 1972. Ways of Seeing. London: Penguin.

Davis, M. 1985. Urban Renaissance and the Spirit of Postmodernism. New Left
    Review 151, 106-13.

Dear, Michael 1994. Postmodern Human Geography. Erdkunde 48, 2-13.

Duncan, J.S. 1990. The City as Text. New York: Cambridge University.

Eco, U. 1986. Travels in Hyperreality. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

Entrikin, J. Nicolas 1991. The Betweenness of Place. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins.

Ellin, Nan 1996. Postmodern Urbanism. Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell.

Francaviglia, Richard V. 1996. Main Street Revisited: Time, Space and Image        Building in Small-Town America. Iowa City: Iowa University.

Gregory, Derek 1994. Geographical Imaginations. Cambridge: Blackwell.

Hall, E.T. 1973. The Silent Language. Toronto: Doubleday.

Harvey, D. 1990. Between Space and Time: Reflections on the Geographical
    Imagination. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 80 (3),
     418-34.

Harvey, D. 1989. The Condition of Postmodernity. Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell.

Hassan, I. 1985. The Culture of Postmodernism. Theory, Culture ans Society 2
    (3), 119-31.

Jacobs, Jane 1961. The Death and Life of Great American Cities. New York:
    Vintage.

Jameson, F. 1984. Postmodernism, or The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism.     
    New Left Review (July/August), 53-92.

Lefebvre, H. 1991. The Production of Space, D. Nicolson-Smith (Trans.).             
    Cambridge, MA.: Basil Blackwell.

Ley, D. 1989. Modernism, Post-Modernism, and the Struggle for Place. In The
    Power of Place, J. Agnew and J. Duncan (eds.), 44-65. Boston: Unwin Hyman.

1985. Cultural/humanistic Geography. Progress in Human Geography 9, 267-75.

Relph, Edward (1991). 'Postmodern Geography.' The Canadian Geographer 35
    (1), 98-105.

______ 1976. Place and Placelessness. New York: Methuen.

Sack, R.D. 1980. Conceptions of Space in Social Thought: A Geographic
    Perspective. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota.

Soja, E. 1989. Postmodern Geographies: The Reassertion of Space in Critical
    Social Theory. London: Verso Press.

Sorkin, Micheal (ed.) 1992. Variations on a Theme Park. N.Y.: Noonday.

Tuan, Yi-Fu 1989. Surface Phenomena and Aesthetic Experience. Annals of the
    Association of American Geographers 79 (2), 233-41.

___ 1976. Humanistic Geography. Annals of The Association of American
    Geographers 66, 266-76.

1974. Space and Place: Humanistic Perspective. Progress in Human Geography
    6, 211-252.

Venturi, R., Brown, D.S., and S. Izenour 1977. Learning From Las Vegas.
    Cambridge, Mass.: MIT.

Zukin, Sharon 1995. The Cultures of Cities. Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell.

PLEASE NOTE
Course content and order of presentations may deviate from this
general outline due to unforeseen circumstances