00455 - Geography (A-D)

Learning outcomes

The course aims to provide a solid knowledge of key-concepts, origin, development of Human Geography and of Cartography as a field of study. Students will be able to analyse social phaenomena in spatial perspective, according to the methodology of political, economic, urban geography and of cartography. Students will be able to analyse critically atlases, literary and historical sources to study territory and to achieve geographical information in the digital environment.

Course contents

The major aim of the course consists of introducing to the study of human geography as critical knowledge. The analysis of the history of geographical thought will be connected with that of the key topics of current geographical debates.

The course is organized in two distinct parts.

1. The first part of the course will introduce some key concepts of human geography.
This first part will be divided into two sections:

1.1. The first section will address the meanings of the very term geo-graphy as –graphia of the earth.

1.2. The second section will introduce the main concepts and means through which geography has described and/or represented the world or our living in the world: city, globe, space and map, place, landscape, environment, region, state, territory.

 

2. The second part of the course, in turn, will be divided into two sections, respectively devoted to deepen the following issues:

2.1. section of cultural geography, dedicated to address the relationship between geographical thought and the construction of otherness/difference. Furthermore, particular attention will be paid on gender geographies, postcolonial and decolonial geographies, that is, on the geographical debates focused on the topic of difference.

 2.2. section of political geography, dedicated to address some topics and concepts which are at the core of today's public debate: nation state and human mobilities, with particular attention on contemporary migration.

 

The major issues and concepts will be addressed and explained starting from the interpretation of some texts taken from several languages. In particular, some matters will be tackled starting from the reading of some literary texts – such as some passages from Baudelaire’s Le spleen de Paris. A reinterpretation of these texts will be provided, founding it on a geographical imagination. Some other matters will be tackled starting from a geographical reinterpretation of some texts taken from other languages: visual art, movies, newspaper articles.

 

Readings/Bibliography

Attending students are required to study for the exam:

a) the contents of the lectures, also including the slides and all the texts (written texts, images, videos, etc.) analysed during the lectures;

b) the following 2 books:

- Minca C. (a cura di) Appunti di geografia. Milano: Wolters Kluwer Italia, 2022.

- Bonfiglioli S., La geografia di Egnazio Danti. Il sapere corografico a Bologna nell’età della Controriforma. Bologna: Pàtron, 2012.

 

Non-attending students are required to study for the exam the following 3 books:

- Minca C. (a cura di) Appunti di geografia. Milano: Wolters Kluwer Italia, 2022.

- Bonfiglioli S., La geografia di Egnazio Danti. Il sapere corografico a Bologna nell’età della Controriforma. Bologna: Pàtron, 2012.

- Farinelli F., Geografia. Un’introduzione ai modelli del mondo. Torino: Einaudi, 2003.

 

Teaching methods

Traditional lectures, which will also involve:

- the reading and analysis of some literary texts, reinterpreted in the light of a geographical imagination;

- the reading of some newspaper articles;

- the analysis of some texts taken from other languages: visual art and movies.

- several hours devoted both to discuss the topics linked to the lectures or the texts and to provide some additional explanations – whenever asked for by students.

The lectures devoted to text analysis will aim at involving students in the interpretation of the texts. 

Students who intend to take the exam as 'attending students' are expected to attend no less than 80% of the lectures.

 

Assessment methods

The assessment will consist of a written exam with 3 open-ended questions (max 12 lines for each answer) to be answered within 55 minutes. There will be different sets of questions for attending and non-attending students.

Further explanation of assessment methods is available on the Virtuale platform.

 

ATTENDING STUDENTS

Attending students are required to study for the written exam:

a) the contents of the lectures, also including the slides and all the texts (written texts, images, videos, etc.) analysed during the lectures;

b) the following 2 books:

- Minca C. (a cura di) Appunti di geografia. Milano: Wolters Kluwer Italia, 2022.

- Bonfiglioli S., La geografia di Egnazio Danti. Il sapere corografico a Bologna nell’età della Controriforma. Bologna: Pàtron, 2012.

The exam will consist of 3 open-ended questions. The questions will concern:

- the contents – concepts, themes, issues, analysed texts (written texts, images, videos, etc.) – of the lectures;

- the contents of each book: concepts, themes, topics of single or several chapters, the meaning of images (if present in the books);

- some topics which both the lectures and some of the read books deal with. A critical analysis of the different perspectives on these topics may be requested.

 

NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS

Non-attending students are required to study for the written exam the following 3 books:

- Minca C. (a cura di) Appunti di geografia. Milano: Wolters Kluwer Italia, 2022.

- Bonfiglioli S., La geografia di Egnazio Danti. Il sapere corografico a Bologna nell’età della Controriforma. Bologna: Pàtron, 2012.

- Farinelli F., Geografia. Un’introduzione ai modelli del mondo. Torino: Einaudi, 2003.

The exam will consist of 3 open-ended questions. The questions will concern:

- the contents of each book: concepts, themes, topics of single or several chapters, the meaning of images (if present in the books);

- a topic which more than one of the read books deal with. A critical analysis of the different perspectives on this topic may be requested.

 

EVALUATION CRITERIA (applying to the examination of both attending and non-attending students)

The evaluation will take into consideration:

a) the level of knowledge of the contents: how well they have been deepened and critically understood;

b) skills in critical synthesis of the contents;

c) how rich and correct the discursive articulation of the contents is;

d) the use of appropriate terminology.

The evaluation of each of the four criteria will contribute to determine the final grade, which will be assigned according to the following evaluation scale:

. 18-21, if the performance is, on the whole, sufficient;

. 22-24, if the performance is, on the whole, satisfactory;

. 25-27, if the performance is, on the whole, good;

. 28-30, if the performance is, on the whole, very good;

. 30 cum laude, if the performance is, on the whole, excellent.

Teaching tools

Slides, tales, images, videos, movies.

 

 

Office hours

See the website of Stefania Bonfiglioli