B8137 - Geography of Uneven Development (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

The course offers a geographic framework for studying economic inequality. At the end of the course the student will be able to recognize and analyze, using geographical theories and methods, how the relations of production, reproduction, work, and economic growth are located and regulated in the global context.

Course contents

The course focuses on the spatial analysis of economic inequality, highlighting central questions related to work and labour, the tension between formal and informal development, gender and race dynamics, and opening a critical discussion on the alternatives to capitalism.

Readings/Bibliography

SESSION 1-2:A RELATIONAL ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY

MAIN TEXTS

Celata, F. (209) Spazi di produzione: una prospettiva relazionale, Torino: Giappichelli: capitolo 1-2

Vanolo, A. (2010) Geografia economica del sistema-mondo: Territori e reti nello scenario globale, UTET: capitolo 2, 3, 5

SESSION 3-4: ‘SOCIAL NETWORKS’

MAIN TEXTS

Granovetter, M. (1998) La forza dei legami deboli, a cura di M. Follis, Milano: Liguori, pp. 115-147.

Zuboff, S. (2019) Il capitalismo della sorveglianza. Il futuro dell'umanità nell'era dei nuovi poteri, Roma: Luiss University Press: capitolo 3.

ADDITIONAL TEXTS

Barber, B. (1995) All economies are “embedded”: the career of a concept, and beyond. Social Research, Vol. 62, n° 2 (Summer), pp. 387-413.

Granovetter, M. (1985) Economic action and social structure: the problem of embeddedness, in: American Journal of Sociology, 91/3, pp. 481-510.

Portes, A. and Sensenbrenner, J. (1993) Embeddedness and immigration: notes on the social determinants of economic action, in: American Journal of Sociology, 98/6, pp. 1320-1350.

Somers, M. (2005) Beware trojan horses bearing social capital: How privatization turned solidarity into a bowling team, in: Steinmetz, G. ed., The politics of method in the human sciences: Positivism and its epistemological others, Durham NC and London, Duke University Press.

Woolcock, M. (1998) Social capital and economic development: toward a theoretical synthesis and policy framework. Theory and Society, Vol. 27, n° 2 (April), pp. 151-208.

SESSION 5-6:GEOGRAPHIES OF LABOUR

MAIN TEXTS

Taylor, M. and Rioux, S. (2018) Global Labour Studies, Cambridge: Polity Press: chapter 3

Perrotta, D. (2014) Vecchi e nuovi mediatori. Storia, geografia ed etnografia del caporalato in agricoltura, Meridiana, 79: 193-220.

ADDITIONAL TEXTS

Baglioni, E., et al. ed. (2022) Labour Regimes and Global Production, New York: Columbia University Press.

Celata, F. (209) Spazi di produzione: una prospettiva relazionale, Torino: Giappichelli: capitolo 7.6

Mezzadra, S. (2021) Oltre il riconoscimento. Piattaforme digitali e metamorfosi del lavoro, Filosofia Politica, 3 (dicembre): 487-502

Strauss, K. (2012) Coerced, Forced and Unfree Labour: Geographies of Exploitation in Contemporary Labour Markets, Geography Compass 6/3 (2012): 137–148

Weeks, Kathi. 2016. “The problem with work.” In Global Histories of Work, edited by Eckert, Andreas. Berlin: de Gruyter.

SESSION 7-8:INFORMAL DEVELOPMENT

MAIN TEXTS

De Soto, H. (2001) Il mistero del capitale. Perché il capitalismo ha trionfato in Occidente e ha fallito nel resto del mondo, Milano, Garzanti (introduzione).

McFarlane, Colin. 2012. “Rethinking Informality: Politics, Crisis, and the City.” Planning Theory & Practice 13, no. 1 (March): 89-108

ADDITIONAL TEXTS

Mitchell, Timothy. 2004. “The properties of Markets: Informal Housing and Capitalism's Mystery.” Cultural Political Economy Working Paper 2, University of Lancaster: Institute for Advanced Studies in Social and Management Sciences.

Roy, Anyanya and Nezar AlSayyad. 2004. Urban Informality: Transnational Perspectives from the Middle East, Latin America, and South Asia. New York: Lexington Books.

SESSION 9-10:PRODUCTION-REPRODUCTION

MAIN TEXTS

Mezzadri, Alessandra. 2019. “On the value of social reproduction: Informal labour, the majority world and the need for inclusive theories and politics.” Radical Philosophy, 2 no. 4 (Spring): 33-41.

ADDITIONAL TEXTS

Barca, Stefania. 2020. Forces of Reproduction: Notes for a Counter-Hegemonic Anthropocene. Cambridge:Cambridge University Press

Davis, Angela. 1983. Women, Race and Class. New York: Vintage Books.

Fortunati, L. e Federici, S. (1984) Il Grande Calibano: Storia del Corpo Sociale Ribelle nella Prima Fase del Capitale, Milano: Franco Angeli.

Federici, Silvia. 2018. “Marx and Feminism.” TripleC 16, no. 2: 468–75.

Federici, Silvia. 2020. Beyond the Periphery of the Skin. Rethinking, Remaking, and. Reclaiming the Body in Contemporary Capitalism. Oakland: PM Press.

Fortunati, L. (1981) L’Arcano de/la Reproduzione: Casalinghe, Prostitute, Operai e Capitale, Venezia: Marsilio Editori.

SESSION 11-12:RACIAL CAPITALISM

MAIN TEXTS

Basso, P. (2010) L'ascesa del razzismo nella crisi globale, in: Razzismo di Stato, Milano: FrancoAngeli

Cillo, Rossana e Fabio Perocco. 2016. “Subappalto e sfruttamento differenziale dei lavoratori immigrati: il caso di tre settori in Italia.” Economia e Società Regionale 1: 101-123.

ADDITIONAL TEXTS

Curcio, A. e Mellino, M. (2012) La razza al lavoro, Roma: Manifesto Libri.

Kelley, Robin D. G. 2017. “What Did Cedric Robinson Mean by Racial Capitalism?” Boston

Review, 12 January

Leong, Nancy. 2013. “Racial Capitalism,” Harvard Law Review 126, no. 8: 2151–2226

Melamed, Jodi. 2015. “Racial capitalism.” Critical Ethnic Studies 1 no. 1 (Spring): 76–85

Pulido, Laura. 2015. “Geographies of Race and Ethnicity 1: White Supremacy vs White Privilege in

Environmental Racism Research.” Progress in Human Geography 39, no. 6: 809–817.

Pulido, Laura. 2017. “Geographies of Race and Ethnicity II: Environmental Racism, Racial Capitalism and State-Sanctioned Violence.” Progress in Human Geography 41, no. 4: 524–533

Ralph, Michael and Maya Singhal. 2019. “Racial Capitalism.” Theory & Society 48, no. 6: 851–81

SESSION 13-15: POST-CAPITALIST ECONOMIES

MAIN TEXTS

Bertell, L. (2013) I territori delle economie diverse, in: Bertell, L et al. Davide e Golia, La primavera delle economie diverse, Milano: Jaca Book: 6-34.

TESTI SUPPLEMENTARI

Fonte, M: and Cucco, I. (2017) Cooperatives and alternative food networks in Italy. The long roadtowards a social economy in agriculture, in Journal of Rural Studies 53: 291-302.

Medici, M. Et al. (2021) Exploring the economic, social, and environmental dimensions of community-supported agriculture in Italy, in: Journal of Cleaner Production 316: 128233

Sacchi, G. Et al. (2022) Consumer renaissance in Alternative Agri-Food Networks between collective action and co-production, in: Sustainable Production and Consumption 29: 311-327.

Teaching methods

The course features a dynamic and reflective approach including joint readings, discussions, and collective presentations in class.

Assessment methods

For non-attending students, the course will be assessed through an oral exam that can be booked on AlmaEsami.

For the exam, all the main texts must be studied (see bibliography)

For attending students, the course will be assessed as follows:

collective presentation: 40%

oral exam: 60%

The collective presentation requires a group work (maximum 5 people) on a topic chosen treated in the course. The schedule will be organized in the first sessions. Students are required to develop one (and only one) original example and raise critical questions, which will then be discussed in class (moderated by the students). Students will be assessed on how they master the concepts and apply them to a specific case, as well as on the originality and style of the presentation and moderation. The group can submit a short draft of the presentation (including their learning objectives and references to the literature used) to the course tutor in advance.

For the oral exam, all the main texts must be studied (see bibliography).

The exam sessions for all students are scheduled in the following months of the academic year:

- May

- June

- July

- November

- December

- January

The exact dates of the exams will be communicated on the AlmaEsami platform.

Teaching tools

Le presentazioni powerpoint utilizzate durante le lezioni frontali verranno messe a disposizione tra i materiali didattici ma non sono considerate materiale da esame.

Students with learning disorders and\or temporary or permanent disabilities: please, contact the responsible office ( https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students ) as soon as possible so that they can propose acceptable adjustments. The request for adaptation must be submitted in advance (15 days before the exam date) to the lecturer, who will assess the appropriateness of the adjustments, taking into account the teaching objectives.

Office hours

See the website of Timothy Raeymaekers