85491 - Geography of The Euro-Mediterranean Region

Academic Year 2018/2019

  • Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures
  • Campus: Ravenna
  • Corso: Second cycle degree programme (LM) in International Cooperation on Human Rights and Intercultural Heritage (cod. 9237)

Learning outcomes

The course aims at providing students a comprehensive vision of the role played by the Euro-Mediterranean area as a whole, following the different stages of its evolution. Specific attention will be paid to the peculiar mixing up of politics, space, cultures, and technics, which generated an original long-standing model whose today's crisis and mutation are keys to understand the global issues at stake. By the end of the course, students have basic knowledge, fundamental references concerning the topics at issue, and critical skills, put into historical perspective, about the main geographical models concerning the relationship between environment, landscape, and urban civilization in Mediterranean and Eurasia.

Course contents

COURSE OUTLINE

ATTENDING STUDENTS ARE EXPECTED TO READ THE TEXTS BEFORE THE CLASS, IN ORDER TO JOIN THE DISCUSSION PROPERLY.

THE LAST FOUR CLASSES WILL BE DEVOTED TO STUDENTS’ PRESENTATIONS TO BE ASSESSED AS PART OF THE FINAL GRADE.

Class 1.
Topic: General introduction to the course. Basic issues to be addressed: thinking critically, complexity, orienting, why Euro-Mediterranean?

Class 2.
Topic: Introduction to methodology. Geography’s tools. Thinking critically. Human/civil/cultural rights.
Compulsory readings: M. Neve (2015), Learning from Places : Steps to a Geography of Cultural Heritage, in F. Miszlivetz (ed.), Creative Cities and Sustainability, Szombathely: Savaria University Press, 2015, pp. 31-57.

Class 3. Topic: Geography’s tools II. Complexity, the experience of curvature, and nonlinear processes.
Compulsory readings: M. Neve (2015), Through the Looking-Map: Mapping as a Milieu of Individuation, in A. Sarti, F. Montanari, F. Galofaro (eds.), Morphogenesis and Individuation, Cham : Springer, 2015, pp. 111-40.

Class 4.
Topic: Geography’s tools III. Orienting. Scales and edges. Clouds and islands.
Compulsory readings: F. Farinelli (2012),The Power, the Map, and Graphic Semiotics: The Origin, in I. Baumgärtner and M. Stercken (eds.), Herrschaft verorten. Politische Kartographie im Mittelalter und in der frühen Neuzeit, Zürich: Chronos Verlag, 2012, pp. 355-62.

Class 5.
Topic: Origins of Euro-Mediterranean region
Compulsory readings: N. Purcell (2006) The Boundless Sea of Unlikeness? On Defining the Mediterranean, «Mediterranean Historical Review», 18:2, 9-29, DOI: 10.1080/0951896032000230462; J. Gottmann, Orbits: The ancient Mediterranean tradition of urban networks, «Ekistiks», vol. 53, 1986, n. 316-317, pp. 4-10.

Class 6.
Topic: Greek polis and Roman Empire and its route system. An edging sense of boundary. Citizenship and identity.
Compulsory readings: I. Malkin, A Small Greek World: Networks in the Ancient Mediterranean, Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: January 2012 DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199734818.001.0001, Introduction: Networks and History, DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199734818.003.0001.

Class 7.
Topic: Christendom and the notion of ‘patria’ (homeland). Barbarians and heathens. The world system of 13th century.
Compulsory readings: D. Iogna-Prat (2001), Constructions chrétiennes d’un espace politique, «Le Moyen Age», tome CVII, n.1, pp. 49-69; J. Abu-Lughod (1988), The shape of the world system in the thirteenth century, «Studies in Comparative International Development», Winter 1987–88, Volume 22, Issue 4, pp 3-25.

Class 8.
Topic: The new urban civilization and the secularization of culture. The Communes.
Compulsory readings: M. Neve (2018), Geography of European Medieval Urbanism, in: Medieval Art, Museums and World Civilizations Series, Beijing: Peking University Press, 2018.

Class 9.
Topic: Long standing networks of Euro-Mediterranean region: Saharan networks.
Compulsory readings: A. M. Medici (2018), A sea change in the Mediterranean: The fall of Saharan networks (18th-20th c.), in Ulrich van Loyen, and Andrea Benedetti (eds.), The idea of the Mediterranean as a Source of cultural Criticism. The Mediterranean Area between Myth, Literature and Anthropology, in cooperation with Shilan Fuad Hussain, Mimesis International, Milan, 2018.

Class 10.
Topic: Colonialism and Columbian exchange.
Compulsory readings: Alfred W. Crosby (1989), Reassessing 1492, «American Quarterly», Vol. 41, No. 4 (Dec., 1989), pp. 661-669; Alfred W. Crosby (1973), The Columbian exchange : biological and cultural consequences of 1492, Westport (Conn.) : Greenwood Press, ch. 3.

Class 11.
Topic: Cartographic production of nation-state: Governing with maps.
Compulsory readings: J. Crampton (2010), Mapping : A Critical Introduction to Cartography and GIS, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, ch. 6.

Class 12.
Topic: Cartographic production of nation-state II: Thematic maps and the notion of «race».
Compulsory readings: J. Crampton (2010), Mapping : A Critical Introduction to Cartography and GIS, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell,ch.11.

Class 13.
Topic: Cartographic production of nation-state III: National landscapes.
Compulsory readings: J.C. Scott (1998), Seeing Like a State, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, ch. 1.

Class 14.
Topic: Cartographic production of nation-state IV: Nations and nationalism.
Compulsory readings: B. Anderson (2006), Imagined Communities, London and New York: Verso, second revised edition, Introduction and ch. 3.

Class 15.
Topic: Cartographic production of nation-state V: Nations and nationalism II.
Compulsory readings: B. Anderson (2006), Imagined Communities, London and New York: Verso, second revised edition, ch. 10.

Class 16.
Standardization of space and time.
Compulsory readings: F. Trentmann (2017), Empire of Things, London: Penguin Books, ch. 4.

Class 17.
Topic: Spatial dynamics of capitalism I.
Compulsory readings: G. Arrighi (2007), Adam Smith in Beijing. Lineages of the Twenty-First Century, London and New York: Verso, ch. 8.

Class 18.
Topic: Spatial dynamics of capitalism II.
Compulsory readings: G. Arrighi (2007), Adam Smith in Beijing. Lineages of the Twenty-First Century, London and New York: Verso, ch. 9.

Class 19.
Topic: Local/global I.
Compulsory readings: G. Marramao (2012), The Passage West. Philosophy After the Age of the Nation State, London: Verso, ch. 1.

Class 20.
Topic: Local/global II.
Compulsory readings: G. Marramao (2012), The Passage West. Philosophy After the Age of the Nation State, London: Verso, ch. 2.

Class 21.
Topic: Deculturation and deterritorialisation.
Compulsory readings: O. Roy (2012). The Transformation of the Arab World, «The Journal of Democracy», July 2012, Volume 23, Number 3.

Class 22.
Topic: The Courbage-Todd model.
Compulsory readings: Y. Courbage & E. Todd (2011), A Convergence of Civilizations : The Transformation of Muslim Societies Around the World, New York: Columbia University Press, chrs. 1-3.

Class 23.
Topic: Mobility.
Compulsory readings: M. Peraldi (2005), Algerian Routes: Emancipation, Deterritorialisation and Transnationalism through Suitcase Trade, «History and Anthropology», Vol. 16, No. 1, March 2005, pp. 47–61; M. Peraldi (2012), The Maghreb, a laboratory of new migrations, «New Geography», n°5, Harvard University Press.

Class 24.
Topic: Networks.
Compulsory readings: P. Khanna (2016), Connectography, London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson, chrs. 1-2.

Class 25.
Topic: The Mediterranean city.
Compulsory readings: R. Cattedra, F. Governa, and M. Memoli (2012), “Città/Cities.” In Mediterranean Lexicon/Lessico Mediterraneo (Geo-Italy 5), edited by Paolo Giaccaria and Maria Paradiso, Rome: Società Geografica Italiana, pp. 39-54.

Class 26.
Topic: Smart cities?
Compulsory readings: M. Neve (2018), Would Urban Cultural Heritage Be Smart?, «Revista de Comunicaçao e Linguagens», 48, pp. 163 - 190.

Class 27.
Topic: Students’ presentations (instructions will be made available at the outset of the course)

Class 28.
Topic: Students’ presentations

Class 29.
Topic: Students’ presentations

Class 30.
Topic: Conclusions, overall summary, and discussion.

Readings/Bibliography

Compulsory readings for the final exam for students ATTENDING classes


1. M. Neve (2015), Learning from Places : Steps to a Geography of Cultural Heritage, in F. Miszlivetz (ed.), Creative Cities and Sustainability, Szombathely: Savaria University Press, 2015, pp. 31-57;
2. M. Neve (2015), Through the Looking-Map: Mapping as a Milieu of Individuation, in A. Sarti, F. Montanari, F. Galofaro (eds.), Morphogenesis and Individuation, Cham : Springer, 2015, pp. 111-40;
3. F. Farinelli (2012),The Power, the Map, and Graphic Semiotics: The Origin, in I. Baumgärtner and M. Stercken (eds.), Herrschaft verorten. Politische Kartographie im Mittelalter und in der frühen Neuzeit, Zürich: Chronos Verlag, 2012, pp. 355-62;
4. N. Purcell (2006) "The Boundless Sea of Unlikeness? On Defining the Mediterranean", Mediterranean Historical Review, 18:2, 9-29, DOI: 10.1080/0951896032000230462;
5. J. Gottmann, "Orbits: The ancient Mediterranean tradition of urban networks", Ekistiks, vol. 53, 1986, n. 316-317, pp. 4-10;
6. I. Malkin, A Small Greek World: Networks in the Ancient Mediterranean, Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: January 2012 DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199734818.001.0001, Introduction: Networks and History, DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199734818.003.0001;/
7. D. Iogna-Prat (2001), "Constructions chrétiennes d’un espace politique", Le Moyen Age, tome CVII, n.1, pp. 49-69;
8. J. Abu-Lughod (1988), "The shape of the world system in the thirteenth century", Studies in Comparative International Development, Winter 1987–88, Volume 22, Issue 4, pp 3-25;
9. M. Neve (2018), Geography of European Medieval Urbanism, in: Medieval Art, Museums and World Civilizations Series, Beijing: Peking University Press, 2018;
10. A. M. Medici (2018), A sea change in the Mediterranean: The fall of Saharan networks (18th-20th c.), in Ulrich van Loyen, and Andrea Benedetti (eds.), The idea of the Mediterranean as a Source of cultural Criticism. The Mediterranean Area between Myth, Literature and Anthropology, in cooperation with Shilan Fuad Hussain, Mimesis International, Milan, 2018;
11. A. W. Crosby (1989), "Reassessing 1492", American Quarterly, Vol. 41, No. 4 (Dec., 1989), pp. 661-669;
12. A. W. Crosby (1973), The Columbian exchange : biological and cultural consequences of 1492, Westport (Conn.) : Greenwood Press, ch. 3;
13. J. Crampton (2010), Mapping : A Critical Introduction to Cartography and GIS, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, chrs. 6 and 11;
14. J.C. Scott (1998), Seeing Like a State, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, ch. 1;
15. B. Anderson (2006), Imagined Communities, London and New York: Verso, second revised edition, Introduction, chrs. 3-10;
16. F. Trentmann (2017), Empire of Things, London: Penguin Books, ch. 4.
17. G. Arrighi (2007), Adam Smith in Beijing. Lineages of the Twenty-First Century, London and New York: Verso, chrs. 8-9;
18. G. Marramao (2012), The Passage West. Philosophy After the Age of the Nation State, London: Verso, chrs. 1-2;
19. O. Roy (2012). "The Transformation of the Arab World", The Journal of Democracy, July 2012, Volume 23, Number 3.;
20. Y. Courbage & E. Todd (2011), A Convergence of Civilizations : The Transformation of Muslim Societies Around the World, New York: Columbia University Press, chrs. 1-3;
21. M. Peraldi (2005), "Algerian Routes: Emancipation, Deterritorialisation and Transnationalism through Suitcase Trade", History and Anthropology, Vol. 16, No. 1, March 2005, pp. 47–61;
22. M. Peraldi (2012), "The Maghreb, a laboratory of new migrations", New Geography, n°5, Harvard University Press;
23. P. Khanna (2016), Connectography, London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson, chrs. 1-2;
24. R. Cattedra, F. Governa, and M. Memoli (2012), Città/Cities. In Mediterranean Lexicon/Lessico Mediterraneo (Geo-Italy 5)/, edited by Paolo Giaccaria and Maria Paradiso, Rome: Società Geografica Italiana, pp. 39-54.
25. M. Neve (2018), "Would Urban Cultural Heritage Be Smart?", Revista de Comunicaçao e Linguagens, 48, pp. 163 - 190.

 

 

Compulsory readings for the final exam for students NON ATTENDING classes

1. M. Neve (2015), Learning from Places : Steps to a Geography of Cultural Heritage, in F. Miszlivetz (ed.), Creative Cities and Sustainability, Szombathely: Savaria University Press, 2015, pp. 31-57;
2. M. Neve (2015), Through the Looking-Map: Mapping as a Milieu of Individuation, in A. Sarti, F. Montanari, F. Galofaro (eds.), Morphogenesis and Individuation, Cham : Springer, 2015, pp. 111-40;
3. F. Farinelli (2012), Map Knowledge, in S. Günzel and L. Nowak (eds.), Karten Wissen. Territoriale Räume zwischen Bild und Diagramm, Wiesbaden: Reichert Verlag, 2012, pp. 33-44;
4. F. Farinelli (2012),The Power, the Map, and Graphic Semiotics: The Origin, in I. Baumgärtner and M. Stercken (eds.), Herrschaft verorten. Politische Kartographie im Mittelalter und in der frühen Neuzeit, Zürich: Chronos Verlag, 2012, pp. 355-62;
5. N. Purcell (2006) "The Boundless Sea of Unlikeness? On Defining the Mediterranean", Mediterranean Historical Review, 18:2, 9-29, DOI: 10.1080/0951896032000230462;
6. J. Gottmann, "Orbits: The ancient Mediterranean tradition of urban networks", Ekistiks, vol. 53, 1986, n. 316-317, pp. 4-10;
7. I. Malkin, A Small Greek World: Networks in the Ancient Mediterranean, Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: January 2012 DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199734818.001.0001, Introduction: Networks and History, DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199734818.003.0001;/
8. D. Iogna-Prat (2001), "Constructions chrétiennes d’un espace politique", Le Moyen Age, tome CVII, n.1, pp. 49-69;
9. J. Abu-Lughod (1988), "The shape of the world system in the thirteenth century", Studies in Comparative International Development, Winter 1987–88, Volume 22, Issue 4, pp 3-25;
10. M. Neve (2018), Geography of European Medieval Urbanism, in: Medieval Art, Museums and World Civilizations Series, Beijing: Peking University Press, 2018;
11. A. M. Medici (2018), A sea change in the Mediterranean: The fall of Saharan networks (18th-20th c.), in Ulrich van Loyen, and Andrea Benedetti (eds.), The idea of the Mediterranean as a Source of cultural Criticism. The Mediterranean Area between Myth, Literature and Anthropology, in cooperation with Shilan Fuad Hussain, Mimesis International, Milan, 2018;
12. A. W. Crosby (1989), "Reassessing 1492", American Quarterly, Vol. 41, No. 4 (Dec., 1989), pp. 661-669;
13. A. W. Crosby (1973), The Columbian exchange : biological and cultural consequences of 1492, Westport (Conn.) : Greenwood Press, ch. 3;
14. J. Crampton (2010), Mapping : A Critical Introduction to Cartography and GIS, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, chrs. 6 and 11;
15. J.C. Scott (1998), Seeing Like a State, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, ch. 1;
16. B. Anderson (2006), Imagined Communities, London and New York: Verso, second revised edition, Introduction, chrs. 3-10;
17. F. Trentmann (2017), Empire of Things, London: Penguin Books, ch. 4.
18. G. Arrighi (2007), Adam Smith in Beijing. Lineages of the Twenty-First Century, London and New York: Verso, chrs. 8-9;
19. G. Marramao (2012), The Passage West. Philosophy After the Age of the Nation State, London: Verso, chrs. 1-2;
20. O. Roy (2012). "The Transformation of the Arab World", The Journal of Democracy, July 2012, Volume 23, Number 3.;
21. Y. Courbage & E. Todd (2011), A Convergence of Civilizations : The Transformation of Muslim Societies Around the World, New York: Columbia University Press, chrs. 1-3;
22. M. Peraldi (2005), "Algerian Routes: Emancipation, Deterritorialisation and Transnationalism through Suitcase Trade", History and Anthropology, Vol. 16, No. 1, March 2005, pp. 47–61;
23. M. Peraldi (2012), "The Maghreb, a laboratory of new migrations", New Geography, n°5, Harvard University Press;
24. P. Khanna (2016), Connectography, London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson, chrs. 1-2;
25. R. Cattedra, F. Governa, and M. Memoli (2012), Città/Cities. In Mediterranean Lexicon/Lessico Mediterraneo (Geo-Italy 5)/, edited by Paolo Giaccaria and Maria Paradiso, Rome: Società Geografica Italiana, pp. 39-54.
26. M. Neve (2018), "Would Urban Cultural Heritage Be Smart?", Revista de Comunicaçao e Linguagens, 48, pp. 163 - 190.
27. S. Sassen, Territory, Authority, Rights: From Medieval to Global Assemblages, Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2008, Introduction and Part One;
28. D. Retaillé O. Walther, Space and mobility: Lessons from the Sahel to the globalized world, in Boesen E, Marfaings L. (eds) Mobilité dans l'Espace Ouest-Africain: Ressources,Développement Local et Intégration Régionale, Paris: Karthala, 2014, pp. 207-234;
29. M. Cooke, "Mediterranean Thinking: From Netizen to Medizen", Geographical Review, Vol. 89, No. 2, Oceans Connect (Apr., 1999), pp. 290-300.

30. S. Dobricic and M. Acri (eds.), Creative Cities: Which (Historic) Urban Landscape, Milano: Mimesis, 2017.

Teaching methods

Course will be taught through a mixture of formal lectures and discussion classes. Its aim will be to facilitate interaction between the lecturer and students and to stimulate debate among students.
Class attendance is critical to take advantage of a way of learning not feasible through homework, and it turns out to be crucial in order for the student to adequately satisfy exam requirements.

Assessment methods

The exam consists of an oral examination on the entire exam’s bibliography.
The aim of the interview is to assess the methodological and critical skills acquired by the student, already partially assessed through his/her class’ presentation.

Given the importance of class attendance for an appropriate training process there will be two distinct grading scales: for attending and non-attending students.

ATTENDING STUDENTS
Attendance and participation count for 30% of the final grade, while student’s presentation (prepared on one of the class’ topics) counts for 20% of the final grade.
The achievement of a coherent framework of the topics developed during the lessons, the application of critical thinking and suitable means of expression will be considered and evaluated with the maximum grading = A (27-30 con lode).
A predominantly mnemonic acquisition of course's contents and discontinuous language and logical skills will be assessed in a grading range from good (B = 24-26) to satisfactory (C = 21-23).
A minimum level of knowledge of the course contents, combined with training gaps or inadequate language and logical skills, will get as grade ‘barely passing' (D = 18-20).
The absence of a minimum level of knowledge of the course contents, combined with inadequate language and logical skills and training gaps, will produce a fail (E) grading, even in spite of an assiduous attendance.

 

NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS
Non-attending students’ work will be assessed exclusively on the ground of course's bibliography specifically devoted to them, in order to properly present the contents of the course.

The knowledge of course’s literature, when combined with the achievement of a coherent framework of the course's topics, the application of critical thinking, and suitable means of expression will be considered and evaluated with the maximum grading = A (27-30 con lode).

A predominantly mnemonic acquisition of course's contents along with discontinuous language and logical skills will be assessed in a grading range from good (B = 24-26) to satisfactory (C = 21- 23).
A minimum level of knowledge of the course contents, combined with training gaps or inadequate language and logical skills, will get as grade ‘barely passing' (D = 18-20).
The absence of a minimum level of knowledge of the course contents, combined with inadequate language and logical skills and training gaps, will produce a fail (E) grading.

AS OF JANUARY 2016, THE LIMIT TO THE NUMBER OF ENTRIES FOR EVERY EXAM'S LIST HAS BEEN REMOVED, SO, ONCE THE LISTS ARE OPEN (15 DAYS BEFORE THE EXAM) YOU MAY REGISTER WITH NO LIMITS. OF COURSE, IF THE NUMBER OF STUDENTS ENROLLED EXCEEDS 20, EXAM WILL LAST MORE DAYS. THE NUMBER OF EXAMINATIONS FOR EACH ACADEMIC YEAR IS 6, ACCORDING TO THE MINIMUM NUMBER REQUIRED BY THE TEACHING REGULATION OF THE SCHOOL, TWO FOR EACH PRE-EXAM BREAK. EXAMINATIONS' DATES WILL BE AVAILABLE AT THE BEGINNING OF EACH SEMESTER. THEY ARE NOT ACCEPTED, FOR ANY REASON, REQUESTS FOR EXAMINATIONS IN DIFFERENT YEAR'S PERIODS.


IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE NEW EXAMS' SCHEDULE, REARRANGED TO MEETING THE STUDENTS' REQUESTS, THE ORDER OF REGISTRATION TO THE LIST OF EACH EXAM'S DAY WILL NOT BE CHANGED. WHOEVER HAD SPECIFIC REASONS TO TAKE THE EXAM IN A GIVEN DAY (AND CONSIDERING THAT THE EXAMS WILL BE HELD ON MORE DAYS) IS ALLOWED TO CONTACT HIS/HER COLLEAGUES AND ASK FOR SHIFTING THE LIST, PROVIDED THAT THE NUMBER OF EXAMS EXPECTED FOR THAT DAY MUST REMAIN THE SAME.

INFORMATION ABOUT EXAMS AND PROGRAM OF EXAMINATION ARE TO BE FOUND ONLY ON THE DEDICATED WEB PAGES, THROUGH THE TEACHER-STUDENTS' LIST, THROUGH THE PROGRAMME’S TUTOR. OTHER SOURCES OF INFORMATION ARE TO BE CONSIDERED AS UNRELIABLE AND WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED VALID.

Teaching tools

Lectures with main topics discussed with students. Multimedia tools.

Office hours

See the website of Mario Angelo Neve

SDGs

Gender equality Decent work and economic growth Sustainable cities Partnerships for the goals

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