78090 - Geography and Cognition of European Territories (LM)

Academic Year 2021/2022

Learning outcomes

Starting from the history of the idea of Europe, the course aims to explain the nature and the logic of European space and landscapes in their geographical, cultural and cognitive roots. The course brings critical perspectives from humanities and from economics to bear in considering how Europe as a set of new transnational policy spaces is making a difference to Europe as a myriad of lived, experienced, meaningful, crucial places.

Course contents

“Europe’s Many Spatialities”:

Starting from medieval and modern thought, the course aims to explain the cultural and political making of the European space - its form and nature – from the point of view of the relationships between historical processes, economic developments and the role of iconographic and cartographic representations.

Readings/Bibliography

J. Derrida, The Other Heading. Reflections on Today's Europe, Indiana University Press, 1992

Sandro Mezzadra e Brett Neilson, Border as Method, or, the Multiplication of Labor [http://www.dukeupress.edu/Border-as-Method-or-the-Multiplication-of-Labor/], Duke University Press, Durham 2013

Teaching methods

Course will be taught through a mixture of formal lectures and discussion classes. Its aim will be to facilitate interaction between the lecturer and students and to stimulate debate among students.
Class attendance is critical to take advantage of a way of learning not feasible through homework, and it turns out to be crucial in order for the student to adequately satisfy exam requirements.

Assessment methods

Students who attend at least 75% of the lessons are considered to be attending.

 

The exam consists of an oral examination on the entire syllabus. The aim of the interview is to assess the methodological and critical skills acquired by the student. Given the importance of class attendance for an appropriate training process it will be two grading scales: for attending and non-attending students.

Attending students

Attendance and participation count for 15% of the final grade.

In particular, it will be assessed the ability of the student to participate actively in class, also using multimedia and collaborative tools provided within the course; such capacity, if combined with the achievement of a coherent framework of the topics developed during the lessons , the application of critical sense and suitable means of expression will be considered and evaluated with the maximum grading = A (27-30 con lode).

Attendance, if joint to a predominantly mnemonic acquisition of course's contents and discontinuous language and logical skills will be assessed in a grading range from good (B = 24-26) to satisfactory (C = 21-23).

Attendance, with a minimum level of knowledge of the course contents, combined with training gaps or inadequate language and logical skills, it will get as grade ‘barely passing' (D = 18-20).

The absence of a minimum level of knowledge of the course contents, combined with inadequate language and logical skills and training gaps, it will produce a fail (E) grading, even in spite of an assiduous attendance.

Non-attending students

Non-attending students will be assessed primarily on the ability to use literature and multimedia tools made available, in order to properly expose the contents of the course. This ability, when combined with the achievement of a coherent framework of the course's themes, the application of critical sense, and suitable means of expression will be considered and evaluated with the maximum grading = A (27-30 con lode).

A predominantly mnemonic acquisition of course's contents along with discontinuous language and logical skills will be assessed in a grading range from good (B = 24-26) to satisfactory (C = 21-23).

A minimum level of knowledge of the course contents, combined with training gaps or inadequate language and logical skills, it will get as grade ‘barely passing' (D = 18-20).

The absence of a minimum level of knowledge of the course contents, combined with inadequate language and logical skills and training gaps, it will produce a fail (E) grading.

Teaching tools

Powerpoint presentations, readings

Office hours

See the website of Alessandra Bonazzi