00455 - Geography (A-L)

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, region, landscape, oecumene, environment.

 

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

2.2. 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.

 

The course will also address some thematic pathways concerning ‘the human’ – such as the concepts of subjectivity and of culture, the cultural construction of gender, etc. – to the extent that they are inherently associated with spatial models and geographical thought (as well as with all or some sections of the course).

 

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 Boccaccio’s Decameron and 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 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 during the lectures or via the online space (Virtuale platform: see below).

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

Moreover, 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 80% of the lectures.

 

Assessment methods

The assessment will consist of a written exam with 3 open-ended questions to be answered within 90 minutes (max 20 lines for each answer). There will be different sets of questions for attending and non-attending students.

 

ATTENDING STUDENTS

Attending students are required to study for the written exam:

a) the contents of the lectures, also including 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 to be answered within 90 minutes. 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 to be answered within 90 minutes. 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) how rich and correct the discursive articulation of the contents is;

c) 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, tales, images, videos, websites.

The online space (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