95731 - Geography, gender and Ethic (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

Geography, gender, and ethics" is an advanced course of cultural geography. The course aims to provide students with an in-depth and critical knowledge of some of the topics and perspectives which lie at the core of contemporary geographical debates, such as gender studies and ethical issues. At the end of the course, students are expected to know the development of these subjects and perspectives within today’s geographical debates as well as the intersection of these topics and other fundamental topics in the field of cultural geographies, such as mobility.

Course contents

Premise. Since this is an advanced course in cultural geography, attending students who did not follow the course of Cultural Geography (first year in the plan of the master in Geography and Territorial Processes), and therefore do not know its contents, are recommended to read, before or at the very beginning of the course, the 3 chapters of the book Appunti di Geografia indicated at the entry 1) of the section 'Readings/Bibliography'. These chapters are an integral part of the bibliography that all students have to read.

 

Contents. The course is divided into two parts.The main questions addressed in each of the two parts of the course are indicated here below.

Part I. Feminisms, gender, and ethics

– Contemporary evolution of feminist and gender debates in the geographical field.

– The intersection between gender geographies and ethics:

a) from a methodological point of view: positionality, etc.

b) from a thematic point of view: geographies of care; contribution of feminist and gender studies to ethical issues concerning, for example, difference conceived as non-hierarchical multiplicity, human/non-human/post-human, the overcoming of culture/nature, ecofeminisms, etc.

– The more general debate on ethics in geography.

Part II. Cultural geographies, texts, and discourses

– Concepts of text and discourse and their importance in the cultural turn of the humanities and social sciences, including geography.

– Bases of textual analysis: most of the analyzed texts  – such as, for instance, the movie "Anthropocene: The Human Epoch" – will be related to the geographical themes of the first part.

 

Readings/Bibliography

1)

• Bonfiglioli S. & Minca C. (2022) "Geografie della differenza", in Minca C. (ed.) Appunti di geografia, Milano, Wolters Kluwer, pp. 373-442 (ch. 9).
• Colombino A. & Minca C. (2022) "Geografie culturali", in Minca C. (ed.) Appunti di geografia, Milano, Wolters Kluwer, pp. 233-292 (ch. 6).
• Bonfiglioli S. & Minca C. (2022) "Geografie della mobilità",in Minca C. (ed.) Appunti di geografia, Milano, Wolters Kluwer, pp. 293-324 (ch. 7).

 

2)

• Amoore L. (ed.) (2020) Merely feminist: Politics, partiality, gender, and geography. Progress in Human Geography, new virtual issue.
• Rose G. (1993) Feminism and Geography: The Limits of Geographical Knowledge. Cambridge: Polity Press.
• Barnes T.J. & Duncan J.S. (eds.) (1992) Writing Worlds: Discourse, Text and Metaphor in the Representation of Landscape. London-New York: Routledge.
• Braidotti R. (2014) Il postumano. La vita oltre l’individuo, oltre la specie, oltre la morte. Roma: DeriveApprodi.
• Haraway D.J. (1995) Manifesto cyborg. Donne, tecnologie e biopolitiche del corpo. Milano: Feltrinelli.
• hooks b. (2020) Elogio del margine – Scrivere al buio (intervista di M. Nadotti a b. hooks). Napoli: Tamu.
• Mies M. & Shiva V. (2014) Ecofeminism. London-New York: ZedBooks (o altre edizioni).

 

Teaching methods

First part of the course: theoretical lectures with assignment of readings and class discussion.

Second part of the course: analysis of texts with two objectives: 1) to consolidate the theoretical-critical notions introduced in the first part through the interpretation of texts; 2) to make acquire some methodological bases of textual analysis.

Students who intend to take the exam as attending students are expected to attend no less than 85% of the lectures and to actively participate by presenting a text and/or participating in the interpretation of the texts proposed during 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:

– the contents of the lectures

+

– the texts indicated at the entry 1) of the section 'Readings/Bibliography'

+

– two books chosen among those indicated at the entry 2) of the section 'Readings/Bibliography'.

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

– the texts indicated at the entry 1) of the section 'Readings/Bibliography'

+

– three books chosen among those indicated at the entry 2) of the section 'Readings/Bibliography'.

The exam will consist of answering some questions about the contents of the read texts. 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, movies, websites, class discussions.

Office hours

See the website of Stefania Bonfiglioli