98841 - Post-Human Geographies

Learning outcomes

After following this course, students will acquire an understanding of geographies of affect, more-than-human geographies (which investigate the socio-spatial relations of humans with non-human worlds), non representational geographies, and participative geographies. Students will be able to recognize the historical precursors that shaped these different geographical perspectives, and they will be able to critically reflect on issues of theory, and on the methods embedded in the study of these geographies.

Course contents

The course analyses the posthuman as a critical category to show how geography (as well as the broader social sciences) has offered tools deconstructed an anthropocentric view of the world, problematizing the category of "human" both in terms of the person-technology relationships and in the relationship with more-than-human actors.

The course enables the student to learn and deepen their knowledge with respect to the fields of the posthuman and its interconnections with the fields of the more-than-human and the nonrepresentational. In light of literature on the topic and insights into methods, the student learns the technique for structuring a research proposal on the topics and contexts of the course, and knows how to apply the literature and qualitative research methodologies to an empirical case. The process of creating the research proposal not only consolidates the student's understanding of the course theory, but also provides the student with practical and technical tools to effectively create an academic product (whether a research proposal, thesis, or article).

The course is divided into two parts: a first part of lectures and seminars, and a second part of hands-on lab, to develop a research proposal in groups and present it.

The macro topics covered are:

- Post-human: cyborg, technology, AI, transhumanism

- Post-human, more-than-human, non-representational: animals and plants as more-than-human protagonists, affect studies and non-representational theories

- Qualitative methods in geographic research

- Qualitative methodologies and posthuman geographies.

THE EXAM FOR THOSE ATTENDING WILL TAKE PLACE DURING THE COURSE. The students will be given 3 tasks to complete and deliver alone or in groups.

Readings/Bibliography

tbd.

FREQUENTANTI:

La bibliografia per i frequentanti verrà comunicata in classe.

 

NON FREQUENTANTI:

Timeto, F. (2020). Bestiario Haraway: per un femminismo multispecie. Mimesis.

 

E poi a scelta o il testo Caffo, L. (2017). Fragile umanità. Il postumano contemporaneo (pp. 1-120). Einaudi.

oppure 4 articoli tra:

Iovino, S. (2014). Storie dell'altro mondo. Calvino post-umano. MLN, 129(1), 118-138.

Timeto, F. (2015). Uno e troppo poco ma due sono troppi. Ovvero il cyborg come non rappresentazione. Mondi Altri, Mimesis, Milan, 121-134.

Postigo Solana, E. (2009). Transumanesimo e postumano: principi teorici e implicazioni bioetiche.

Castree, N., Nash, C., Badmington, N., Braun, B., Murdoch, J., & Whatmore, S. (2004). Mapping posthumanism: an exchange. Environment and Planning A, 36(8), 1341-1363.

Lorimer, J. (2009). Posthumanism/posthumanistic geographies.

Falcon, J. (2023). Toward a critical posthuman geography. cultural geographies, 30(1), 19-34.

Sundberg, J. (2014). Decolonizing posthumanist geographies. Cultural geographies, 21(1), 33-47.

Cadman, L. (2009). Life and death decisions in our posthuman (ist) times. Antipode, 41(1), 133-158.

Lorimer, H. (2008). Cultural geography: non-representational conditions and concerns. Progress in human geography, 32(4), 551-559.

Cadman, L. (2009). Nonrepresentational theory/nonrepresentational geographies.

Simpson, P. (2017). Spacing the subject: Thinking subjectivity after non‐representational theory. Geography Compass, 11(12), e12347.

Teaching methods

The attending course follows a path of flipped classroom and exercises, which together go to make up the students' final grade.

In the first part of the course, the lecturer will lecture on the theoretical and methodological foundations of the posthuman, while during the second part, a group lab will be conducted, media dealing with the posthuman will be analyzed, and the research proposal will be developed.

While the theoretical theme of the proposal must relate to the posthuman, context and specific methods are to be chosen by the students.

Assessment methods

The final assessment for attending students consists of three tests, which will be explained in detail in class. For non-frequent students, there will be an oral examination on the topics related to the texts to be prepared. In addition, instructions on how to develop the project, deadline, and mode of evaluation will be given during the first class.

During the second half of the course, each group will choose an empirical case dealing with posthuman geographies. The presentations will be followed by a discussion or insights regarding the topic presented.

The three parts in which attending students are assessed are:

- exercise in media analysis in light of posthuman theory (essay on -for example- an episode of Black Mirror or other media dealing with the person-technology relationship)

- research proposal developed in groups

- in-class presentation of the project to be developed in the research proposal

EXAM ASSESSMENT FOR ATTENDING STUDENTS

For the exam, attending students prepare the three papers described above during the course.



For attending students, the three assessment moments are aimed at verifying the understanding of the theories and methods introduced both through the lectures of the lecturer and through the preparation of the proposal. The teaching methodology adopted by the lecturer, in fact, envisages that the student is not a passive recipient but becomes an active part of the learning process, and therefore an attempt will be made to stimulate the student's personal reflection on the phenomena studied, both in class, where participation in the discussion of the topics covered is considered a fundamental element, which the lecturer will use to assess the students' interest in deepening their knowledge of the geographical facts discussed, and during the examination, during which the student will be invited to propose his or her own reflections and examples aimed at explaining the theoretical aspects studied. In addition, the assessment cannot fail to take into account the communication skills of the student, who is required not only to have an appropriate knowledge of the course content but also that appropriateness of language necessary to demonstrate that he or she has understood and internalized the themes of the discipline.

 

NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS

Non-attending students must study in full the syllabus presented in the bibliography, and they are NOT required to study the lecture slides, or prepare in-class tests.


For non-attending students, the examination is designed to test understanding of the geographical, social, and cultural phenomena studied in the examination texts. During the examination test, the student will be invited to propose his/her own reflections on the geographical facts inherent in the course, including through the use of examples aimed at explaining the theoretical aspects studied. The assessment also cannot fail to take into account the student's communication skills, who is required not only to have an appropriate knowledge of the course content but also that appropriateness of language necessary to demonstrate that he or she has understood and internalized the themes of the discipline.

Teaching tools

Powerpoint presentations used during lectures, descriptions of exercises to be done during lectures, and background material will be made available to students among the academic materials at virtual.unibo.it

Articles part of the bibliography will be made available among the academic materials.

Office hours

See the website of Annaclaudia Martini