95730 - Cultural Geography (1) (Lm)

Academic Year 2021/2022

  • Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures
  • Campus: Bologna
  • Corso: Second cycle degree programme (LM) in Geography and Territorial Processes (cod. 0971)

    Also valid for Second cycle degree programme (LM) in Geography and Territorial Processes (cod. 0971)

Learning outcomes

The course aims at introducing to the evolution of cultural geography, as well as of the very concept of culture in geography, from the 20th century to the present. At the end of the course students will know the central role played by the so-called cultural turn in constructing some critical perspectives and introducing some contents and topics that lie at the core of current geographical debates; furthermore, they will be able to contextualize the major questions of today’s cultural geographies within the multifarious theoretical intersections characterizing ontemporary thought in the field of human and social sciences.

Course contents

The course aims to explain:

- the evolution of cultural geography and the very concept of culture from the 20th century to the present. The course will focus on the last decades, from the emerging of the 'new cultural geography' in the 1980s to the most recent debates.

- the multifarious theoretical perspectives, crucial to current critical debates, with which cultural geographies intersect: postmodernism, poststructuralism, feminism and gender studies, postcolonial studies and decolonial thought.

- the main topics and perspectives that cultural geographies have put or contributed to put at the core of current geographical debates: feminist and gender geographies, geographies of mobility, postcolonial and decolonial geographies, heritage geographies, theories on subjectivity, otherness and the body, the evolution of some key geographical concepts such as landscape. These issues will be critically addressed, also by means of the analysis and reading of some texts.

 

 

Readings/Bibliography

Attending students are required to study for the exam:

a) the contents of the lectures;

b) two books chosen among the following ones:

  • Borghi R., Rondinone A. (eds.) (2009) Geografie di genere. Milano: Unicopli.
  • McDowell L. (1999) Gender, Identity and Place: Understanding Feminist Geographies. Cambridge. Polity Press.
  • Bonfiglioli S. (ed.) (2020) Migrazioni. Dove va la geografia / Migration. Where is geography going? sezione monografica in “RIVISTA GEOGRAFICA ITALIANA”, n. 127 (4), pp. 5-155. (N.B.: sono da studiare tutti gli articoli inclusi in questa sezione monografica, cioè da p. 5 a p. 155 del numero suddetto della rivista).
  • Cresswell T. (2006) On the Move. Mobility in the Modern Western World. New York-London: Routledge.
  • Said E.W. (1991) Orientalismo. Torino: Bollati Boringhieri.
  • Chakrabarty, D. (2004) Provincializzare l’Europa. Roma: Meltemi.
  • Mignolo W.D., Walsh C.E. (2018) On Decoloniality: Concepts, Analytics, Praxis. Durham: Duke University Press.
  • Wylie J. (2007) Landscape. London-New York: Routledge.
  • Graham B., Ashworth G.J., Tunbridge J.I. (2000) A Geography of Heritage: Power, Culture and Economy. New York: Routledge.

 

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

a) one of these two books: 

- Duncan J.S., Johnson N.C., Schein R.H. (eds.) (2004) A Companion to Cultural Geography, Malden-Oxford: Blackwell. Only Part I e Part II, i.e. pp. 9-136, have to be studied.

or

- Minca C. (ed.) (2001) Introduzione alla geografia postmoderna. Padova: Cedam. Only the essay “Postmoderno e geografia” and all the essays of the Parte Seconda, i.e. pp. 1-84 and 167-258, have to be studied.

b) two books chosen among the following ones:

  • Borghi R., Rondinone A. (eds.) (2009) Geografie di genere. Milano: Unicopli.
  • McDowell L. (1999) Gender, Identity and Place: Understanding Feminist Geographies. Cambridge. Polity Press.
  • Bonfiglioli S. (ed.) (2020) Migrazioni. Dove va la geografia / Migration. Where is geography going? sezione monografica in “RIVISTA GEOGRAFICA ITALIANA”, n. 127 (4), pp. 5-155. (N.B.: sono da studiare tutti gli articoli inclusi in questa sezione monografica, cioè da p. 5 a p. 155 del numero suddetto della rivista).
  • Cresswell T. (2006) On the Move. Mobility in the Modern Western World. New York-London: Routledge.
  • Said E.W. (1991) Orientalismo. Torino: Bollati Boringhieri.
  • Chakrabarty, D. (2004) Provincializzare l’Europa. Roma: Meltemi.
  • Mignolo W.D., Walsh C.E. (2018) On Decoloniality: Concepts, Analytics, Praxis. Durham: Duke University Press.
  • Wylie J. (2007) Landscape. London-New York: Routledge.
  • Graham B., Ashworth G.J., Tunbridge J.I. (2000) A Geography of Heritage: Power, Culture and Economy. New York: Routledge.

Teaching methods

Traditional lectures aiming to involve students in discussing and interpreting the issues addressed.

Furthermore, the class discussion will continue on the online space of the course (Virtuale platform) by means of the resources/activities made available by the teacher. On the Virtuale platform the teacher will upload the slides and the teaching material and, moreover, will organize some activities in order, for instance, to let the students ask for some additional explanations on the contents of the lectures and/or the texts – explanations which will be provided during the following lectures.

Students who intend to take the exam as 'attending students' are expected to attend no less than 85% of the lectures.

Assessment methods

The exam will be oral both for attending and non-attending students.

 

ATTENDING STUDENTS

Attending students are required to study for the exam:

a) the contents of the lectures;

b) two books chosen among the following ones:

  • Borghi R., Rondinone A. (eds.) (2009) Geografie di genere. Milano: Unicopli.
  • McDowell L. (1999) Gender, Identity and Place: Understanding Feminist Geographies. Cambridge. Polity Press.
  • Bonfiglioli S. (ed.) (2020) Migrazioni. Dove va la geografia / Migration. Where is geography going? sezione monografica in “RIVISTA GEOGRAFICA ITALIANA”, n. 127 (4), pp. 5-155. (N.B.: sono da studiare tutti gli articoli inclusi in questa sezione monografica, cioè da p. 5 a p. 155 del numero suddetto della rivista).
  • Cresswell T. (2006) On the Move. Mobility in the Modern Western World. New York-London: Routledge.
  • Said E.W. (1991) Orientalismo. Torino: Bollati Boringhieri.
  • Chakrabarty, D. (2004) Provincializzare l’Europa. Roma: Meltemi.
  • Mignolo W.D., Walsh C.E. (2018) On Decoloniality: Concepts, Analytics, Praxis. Durham: Duke University Press.
  • Wylie J. (2007) Landscape. London-New York: Routledge.
  • Graham B., Ashworth G.J., Tunbridge J.I. (2000) A Geography of Heritage: Power, Culture and Economy. New York: Routledge.

The exam will consist of answering some questions about the contents of the lectures and of the two read books. The questions will concern:

- the contents – concepts, themes, analysed texts, issues – of the lectures;

- the contents of each book: concepts, themes, topics of single or several chapters;

- some topics which both the lectures and 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 exam:

a) one of these two books:

- Duncan J.S., Johnson N.C., Schein R.H. (eds.) (2004) A Companion to Cultural Geography, Malden-Oxford: Blackwell. Only Part I e Part II, i.e. pp. 9-136, have to be studied.

or

- Minca C. (ed.) (2001) Introduzione alla geografia postmoderna. Padova: Cedam. Only the essay “Postmoderno e geografia” and all the essays of the Parte Seconda, i.e. pp. 1-84 and 167-258, have to be studied.

b) two books chosen among the following ones:

  • Borghi R., Rondinone A. (eds.) (2009) Geografie di genere. Milano: Unicopli.
  • McDowell L. (1999) Gender, Identity and Place: Understanding Feminist Geographies. Cambridge. Polity Press.
  • Bonfiglioli S. (ed.) (2020) Migrazioni. Dove va la geografia / Migration. Where is geography going? sezione monografica in “RIVISTA GEOGRAFICA ITALIANA”, n. 127 (4), pp. 5-155. (N.B.: sono da studiare tutti gli articoli inclusi in questa sezione monografica, cioè da p. 5 a p. 155 del numero suddetto della rivista).
  • Cresswell T. (2006) On the Move. Mobility in the Modern Western World. New York-London: Routledge.
  • Said E.W. (1991) Orientalismo. Torino: Bollati Boringhieri.
  • Chakrabarty, D. (2004) Provincializzare l’Europa. Roma: Meltemi.
  • Mignolo W.D., Walsh C.E. (2018) On Decoloniality: Concepts, Analytics, Praxis. Durham: Duke University Press.
  • Wylie J. (2007) Landscape. London-New York: Routledge.
  • Graham B., Ashworth G.J., Tunbridge J.I. (2000) A Geography of Heritage: Power, Culture and Economy. New York: Routledge.

The exam will consist of answering some questions about the contents of the  read books. The questions will concern:

- the contents of each book: concepts, themes, topics of single or several chapters;

- some topics shared by more than one book. A critical analysis of the different perspectives on these topics may be requested.

 

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

The evaluation will take into consideration:

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

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

3) the use of appropriate terminology.

The evaluation of each of the three 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, images, videos, websites.

The online space of the course (Virtuale platform) will be a very useful tool not only to upload the slides and teaching material, but also to continue class discussion via the online activities organized by the teacher, in the ways described above (entry “Teaching methods”).

Office hours

See the website of Stefania Bonfiglioli

SDGs

Quality education Gender equality Reduced inequalities

This teaching activity contributes to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN 2030 Agenda.