Introduction to Human Geography

GEOG 1020, Fall 2016

Department of Geography
University of Wyoming
Classroom Building 214
MWF 10:00 AM - 10:50 AM

Dr. Nicholas Jon Crane Lindy Caroline Westenhoff

Arts & Sciences Building 303
307-223-5214
ncrane@uwyo.edu
(Email is preferred; please allow up
to 24 hours for my response.)
Graduate Teaching Assistant
Arts & Sciences Building 313C
lwestenh@uwyo.edu
(Email is preferred; please allow up
to 24 hours for my response.)

Office hours: Office hours:

Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday 1:30 Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday 11:00
PM – 2:30 PM; I also welcome AM – 12:15 PM
scheduled appointments.

Course description and objectives:

This course examines selected themes in Human Geography. This is a USP “H” (Human
Culture) course. The course introduces fundamental concepts that students can explore in
greater depth in more advanced courses in the Department of Geography at University of
Wyoming.

We begin the course by querying the practice of doing Human Geography, and we learn
to recognize how norms of doing Human Geography have changed over time. Subsequent
weeks see us focus on key themes in Human Geography, for example, globalization,
territoriality, national identity, environmental change, urbanization, social justice, migration,
regional integration, trade, geopolitics, cartography, and fieldwork. We situate each of these
themes within a broader historical-geographical and intellectual context.

You will learn to identify and define key concepts in Human Geography; develop your
capacity to critically assess geographical representations (e.g., in scholarly writing, visual art,
popular commentary, and maps); and achieve greater comfort with applying concepts to
making sense of diverse contexts. Most generally, through class discussion and writing, you
will learn to make modest, defensible claims in scholarly and popular debates about our
world. The positions you take in these geographical debates will likely inform the ways you
relate to people in your life, near and far!

Success in this course demands that you regularly attend class, and develop habits of
sustained reading and organized note taking. I specify my expectations below.

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 Reading:
You must keep up with assigned reading to do well in this class. This means committing in
the face of confusion! I designed the course to introduce foundations before any especially
challenging material. That said, there will likely be moments when you do not immediately
understand the reading. At those times, you are expected to persevere and trust that we will
make sense of difficult material together in class.

You will read the assigned pages before class. There are three types of reading:

1) Two books, which you are required to purchase or rent from the University Store. These
books are also on reserve in Coe Library.
Bonnett, Alastair. 2013 [2008]. What is Geography? London: Sage Publications.
Harris, Tina. 2013. Geographical Diversions: Tibetan Trade, Global Transactions.
Athens: University of Georgia Press.

2) Articles and book chapters that I distribute through our WyoCourses website
(http://wyocourses.uwyo.edu). See “Files” in our WyoCourses website. You can count on
us posting the articles and book chapters by the Wednesday (September 7) of Week Two.

3) I reserve the right to circulate additional reading by email (the uwyo.edu system).

Attendance and decorum:

These practices are non-negotiable. But doing the following things will ensure a high
participation grade and tends to improve overall grades in this course.

• Regular attendance and timely arrival. Consistent attendance is necessary for the
dynamic we cultivate in this course. If you anticipate arriving late or leaving early on a
given day, please let me know.

• Respectful engagement. By virtue of the material we examine in Human Geography,

this course creates space for disagreement. Please leave judgmental attitudes at home, and
seek to understand why you may agree or disagree with your classmates.

• Preparation. You are expected to read before class and bring relevant texts to class,
either in print or with appropriate technology (i.e., not on a smart phone). We will be
referring to particular moments in the texts during our class discussions.

• Timely submission. Assignments must be delivered on time, in class, as a hard copy, to

be eligible for full credit. See the schedule (below) for deadlines. I will deduct 10% of
points from you assignment for each day of lateness (note: after class = 24 hours).

• Effective communication. I sometimes send course-related emails. You are expected to

check the institution’s email account at least once per day. This is good practice for all
courses at the university, and it’s good practice in life beyond the university.

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 Grading
This course employs a +/- grading system:

97 or above = A+, 93 to 96 = A, 90 to 92 = A-
87 to 89 = B+, 83 to 86 = B, 80 to 82 = B-
77 to 79 = C+, 73 to 76 = C, 70 to 72 = C-
67 to 69 = D+, 63 to 66 = D, 60 to 62 = D-
Below a 60 = F

Academic dishonesty
Academic dishonesty includes but is not limited to 1) submitting plagiarized work, i.e.,
submitting another person’s intellectual property without acknowledgement, 2) cheating, i.e.,
providing information to/copying from other students during an exam/quiz, and 3) submitting
the same work for more than one class without instructors’ approval. I submit evidence of
academic dishonesty to the relevant authorities. See UW Regulation 6-802.

Disability accommodations:
“If you have a physical, learning, sensory, or psychological disability and require
accommodations, please let me know as soon as possible. You will need to register with, and
possibly provide documentation of your disability to University Disability Support Services
(UDSS) in SEO, room 109 Knight Hall. You may also contact UDSS at (307) 766-6189 or
udss@uwyo.edu. Visit their website for more information: www.uwyo.edu/udss” (see
http://www.uwyo.edu/udss/information-for-faculty-and-staff/sample-syllabus-
statement.html).

Campus resources
If you require tutoring or extra instruction, above and beyond what we can provide in class or
during scheduled office hours, please consider taking advantage of STEP, “a university
initiative to help students succeed in the transition to college and persist through graduation.”
A list of academic support services can be found at http://www.uwyo.edu/step. You can also
contact April Heaney (aheaney@uwyo.edu) and/or Jo Chytka (jchytka@uwyo.edu) for more
information.

You may also consider contacting the Writing Center, which works in partnership with
STEP. You can schedule appointments to work on writing fundamentals or to improve a
particular piece of writing. For more information, see http://www.uwyo.edu/ctl/writing-
center/

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 Evaluation (see schedule for due dates):
15% Participation: See “attendance and decorum” for expectations. Participation will also
be measured by in-class exercises you complete throughout the semester.

5% Short Reflection Essay I: Due on Wednesday, September 7 (Week Two), the prompt
for this ~500 word essay will ask you to reflect on what you thematized in your
mental map (Week One) and why. What story about yourself and about your
orientation in the world is implicit in your mental map? We will evaluate your essay
for how you followed directions and obeyed formal rules in academic writing
(citation style, sentence and paragraph structure, etc.). We will discuss the
expectations in class at the end of Week One.

10% Early quiz: This “multiple choice,” “fill in the blank,” and “map” quiz will assess
your comprehension of the course material, and will identify problems if there are
any. Please notify me at least one week in advance of any relevant disabilities (see
UDSS policy). We will begin at the start of class.

60% Exams (three, including the “Final”): The exams will assess your comprehension of
the reading, lectures, and discussion through a mix of “short essay,” “fill in the
blank,” “multiple choice,” and “map” questions. We will begin at the start of class
time (or per the final exam schedule), and – if you do not notify me at least one week
in advance of a disability (see above, UDSS policy) – you will not be given extra
time. Do not be late!

10% Short Reflection Essay II: Due on Monday, December 4 (Week Fifteen), the prompt
for this ~750 word essay will ask you to identify and defend an argument about how
Tina Harris’ analysis resonates with one offered by another author we read this
semester. You will be evaluated for how you followed directions and obeyed formal
rules in academic writing (citation style, sentence and paragraph structure, etc.). We
will discuss expectations in Week Fourteen.

Schedule1

Week One (August 29, 31, September 2): Introducing… Human Geography
Some themes: geography as an art, as earth- or world-writing; sub-disciplines of Geography;
a brief history of modern Geography; geographical imaginaries; discourses and truth claims;
ontology and epistemology
~~~~
In-class exercise on Friday: Draw a mental map of where you are in the world.
~~~~
Read for Friday: Bonnett, Alastair. 2013. “Introduction.” In, A. Bonnett (au.), What is
Geography? (pp. 1-6). London: Sage Publications.

                                                                                                               
1
I reserve the right to change our schedule. I will notify you in class and by university email.

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Week Two (September 7, 9): Geographical representation and place-making
~~~~
Labor Day on Monday – no class
~~~~
Some themes: situated geographical perspectives; “idiographic” and “nomothetic”
geography; ethno-centrism; national identity; globalization; the construction of social-spatial
difference; the idea of “the West”; Mexico and “Latin America”
~~~~
Short Reflection Essay I due on Wednesday: See the directions under “Evaluation,”
above, and on the prompt posted to our WyoCourses website.
~~~~
Read for Wednesday: Bonnett, Alastair. 2013. “To Know the World: Order and Power.” In,
A. Bonnett (au.), What is Geography? (pp. 7-29). London: Sage Publications.
Read for Friday: Dixon, Seth. 2010. Making Mexico More “Latin”: National Identity,
Statuary and Heritage in Mexico City’s Monument to Independence. Journal of Latin
American Geography 9(2), 119-138.

Week Three (September 12, 14, 16): Defining places/regions amidst global change
Some themes: Geographical study and imperialism; formal regions; the nature/culture
dualism; globalization as “space-time compression”; “senses of place” and the concept of
relational space; place as a container; place as an articulation
~~~~
Early Quiz on Wednesday (with map questions on North and Central America): this
short quiz will help us understand your comprehension of the material and identify problems
you may be having.
~~~~
Reading for Wednesday: Massey, Doreen. “A Global Sense of Place.” In, D. Massey (au.),
Space, Place, and Gender (pp. 146-151). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota
Press.
Reading for Friday: Massey, Doreen. “A Global Sense of Place.” In, D. Massey (au.),
Space, Place, and Gender (pp. 151-156). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota
Press.

Week Four (September 19, 21, 23): Territory, cultural politics, and identity
Some themes: Colonialism and cultural imperialism; non-essentialism; territoriality; post-
colonial state formation; the “normative power” of geographical representations (e.g., maps);
hegemony; Bangladesh, India, Pakistan
~~~~
Read for Monday: pp. 285-289 of Jones, Reece. 2014. The False Premise of Partition. Space
and Polity 18(3), 285-300.
Read for Wednesday: pp. 289-300 of Jones, Reece. 2014. The False Premise of Partition.
Space and Polity 18(3), 285-300.

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Week Five (September 26, 28, 30): Exam I; representing ‘the culture/nature dualism’2
Some themes: the ‘nature/culture dualism’; environmental determinism; environmental
justice; relationships between places; the geography of responsibility
~~~~
Exam I (with map questions on Europe, the “Near East,” and South Asia): Monday,
September 26 (see the “Evaluation” section of this syllabus for details
~~~~
Film on Wednesday: First half of Manufactured Landscapes (J. Baichwal, 2007), followed
by completion of a worksheet
Film on Friday: Second half of Manufactured Landscapes (J. Baichwal, 2007), followed by
completion of a worksheet

Week Six (October 3, 5, 7): Constructing nature, creating environmental crises

Some themes: Geographies of responsibility; environmental determinism and its critics; the
problem with “overpopulation”; the reproduction of global racial order; sustainability and
conservation; capitalism and nature
~~~~
Read for Wednesday: pp. 30-39 of Bonnett, Alastair. 2013. “To Know the World: People
and Nature.” In, A. Bonnett (au.), What is Geography? (pp. 30-53). London: Sage
Publications.
Read for Friday: pp. 39-53 of Bonnett, Alastair. 2013. “To Know the World: People and
Nature.” In, A. Bonnett (au.), What is Geography? (pp. 30-53). London: Sage
Publications.

Week Seven (October 10, 12, 14): Governance of urban nature; sense of place in cities
Some themes: Growth coalitions; cities as accumulation strategies; social difference and
space; alienation; sustainability as an accumulation strategy; environmental gentrification
~~~~
Read for Monday: pp. 54-69 of Bonnett, Alastair. 2013. “Geographical Obsessions:
Urbanization and Mobility.” In, A Bonnett (au.), What is Geography? (pp. 54-79).
London: Sage Publications.
Read for Wednesday: Wachsmuth, David, Aldana Cohen, Daniel, and Hillary Angelo.
2016. Expand the frontiers of urban sustainability. Nature 536, 391-393.
Film on Friday: Waves ’98 (E. Dagher, 2015), followed by completion of a worksheet3

                                                                                                               
2
Dr. Crane will be in Mexico City for research, but he will be available by email. Lindy will be
in class to administer the exam, show a film, and collect handouts.
3
Dr. Crane will be in Columbus and Dayton, Ohio for research, but he will be available by email.
Lindy will show a film and collect a relevant handout.

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Week Eight (October 17, 19, 21): Cities, migration, and uneven capitalist development
Some themes: Colonialism, imperialism, post-colonial uneven development; informality and
slum formation; neoliberalism; international financial institutions; modernization and
dependency theories; underdevelopment; Bretton Woods, NH; land titling; exploitation
~~~~
Read for Monday: pp. 5-12 of Davis, Mike. 2004. Planet of Slums. New Left Review 26, 5-
34.
Film on Monday: Excerpt of Life and Debt (S. Black, 2015)
Film on Wednesday: Excerpt of Life and Debt (S. Black, 2015)
Read for Friday: pp. 12-27 of Davis, Mike. 2004. Planet of Slums. New Left Review 26, 5-
34.
Film on Friday: Finishing Life and Debt (S. Black, 2015)

Week Nine (October 24, 26, 28): Mobility of people and capital; regional integration
Some themes: Creative destruction; regional integration (e.g., NAFTA); changing spatial
division of labor; “flexible” accumulation and the experience of labor; the creation of the free
market; gendered divisions of labor; neoliberalism in the US, UK, Mexico, China
~~~~
Read for Monday: pp. 69-72 of Bonnett, Alastair. 2013. “Geographical Obsessions:
Urbanization and Mobility.” In, A Bonnett (au.), What is Geography? (pp. 54-79).
London: Sage Publications.
Read for Wednesday: pp. 72-78 of Bonnett, Alastair. 2013. “Geographical Obsessions:
Urbanization and Mobility.” In, A Bonnett (au.), What is Geography? (pp. 54-79).
London: Sage Publications.
Read for Friday: pp. 283-290 of Fan, Cindy. 2004. The State, Migration, and Maiden
Workers in China. Political Geography 23(3), 283-305.
Film on Friday: Excerpt of China Blue (M. Peled, 2007)

Week Ten (October 31, November 2, 4): Producing economic geographies; Exam II
Some themes: neoliberalism in China; the production of spaces for capital accumulation; the
role of social difference (e.g., gender) in exploitation; spatial divisions of labor
~~~~
Exam II (with map questions on the Caribbean, the eastern Mediterranean, West
Africa, and China: Friday, November 4 (see the “Evaluation” section of this syllabus)
~~~~
Read for Monday: pp. 290-305 of Fan, Cindy. 2004. The State, Migration, and Maiden
Workers in China. Political Geography 23(3), 283-305.
Film on Monday: Excerpt from China Blue (M. Peled, 2007)
Film on Wednesday: Finishing China Blue (M. Peled, 2007)

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Week Eleven (November 7, 9, 11): Doing Human Geography
Some themes: Fieldwork; empiricism and the critique of empiricism; the “subject” and the
“object”; traveling and geographical imaginaries; (geographical) representation and power;
reflexivity and positionality
~~~~
Read for Monday: pp. 80-87 of Bonnett, Alastair. 2013. “Doing Geography.” In, A Bonnett
(au.), What is Geography? (pp. 80-100). London: Sage Publications.
Read for Wednesday: pp. 185-186 of Sheppard, Eric, and Helga Leitner. 2010. Quo vadis
neoliberalism? The remaking of global capitalist governance after the Washington
Consensus. Geoforum 41, 185-194.
Read for Friday: pp. 186-194 of Sheppard, Eric, and Helga Leitner. 2010. Quo vadis
neoliberalism? The remaking of global capitalist governance after the Washington
Consensus. Geoforum 41, 185-194.

Week Twelve (November 14, 16, 18): Representing and reconfiguring the world
Some themes: Geography as an art, as an aesthetic intervention; participatory research, or
“action research”; the “subject” and the “object” revisited
~~~~
Read for Monday: pp. 91-100 of Bonnett, Alastair. 2013. “Doing Geography.” In, A
Bonnett (au.), What is Geography? (pp. 80-100). London: Sage Publications.
Read for Wednesday: pp. 21-22 of Cameron, Jenny, and Deanna Grant-Smith. 2005.
Building Citizens: Participatory Planning Practice and a Transformative Politics of
Difference. Urban Policy and Research 23(1), 21-36.
Read for Friday: pp. 22-36 of Cameron, Jenny, and Deanna Grant-Smith. 2005. Building
Citizens: Participatory Planning Practice and a Transformative Politics of Difference.
Urban Policy and Research 23(1), 21-36.

Week Thirteen (November 21): Intervening in globalization through scholarship

~~~~
Some themes: globalization; place-making; mobility and fixity; fieldwork and struggling
with representation; scale
~~~~
Read for Monday: Harris, Tina. 2013. “Introduction: Tibet, Trade, and Territory.” In, T.
Harris (au.), Geographical Diversions: Tibetan Trade, Global Transactions (pp. 1-
26). Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press.

Thanksgiving Break – no class on Wednesday, November 23 and Friday, November

25

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Week Fourteen (November 28, 30, December 2): The everydayness of global processes
Some themes: Transnationalism; commodities; imperialism, mapping and the normative
power of geographical representation; the “anchoring” of new infrastructure; revolutionizing
the production process; territories and borderlands
~~~~
Read for Monday: Harris, Tina. 2013. “Middlemen, Marketplaces, and Maps.” In, T. Harris
(au.), Geographical Diversions: Tibetan Trade, Global Transactions (pp. 27-51).
Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press.
Read for Wednesday: Harris, Tina. 2013. “From Loom to Machine.” In, T. Harris (au.),
Geographical Diversions: Tibetan Trade, Global Transactions (pp. 52-83). Athens,
GA: University of Georgia Press.
Read for Friday: Harris, Tina. 2013. “Silk Roads and Wool Routes.” In, T. Harris (au.),
Geographical Diversions: Tibetan Trade, Global Transactions (pp. 84-99). Athens,
GA: University of Georgia Press.

Week Fifteen (December 5, 7, 9): Placing ourselves in the world through Geography
Some themes: Connections across diverse contexts; the role of theory in Human Geography;
fieldwork and the place of the researcher; fixity and mobility, opening and closure; crossing
boundaries; constructing new human geographies
~~~~
Short Reflection Essay II due on Monday: See the directions under “Evaluation,”
above, and on the prompt posted to our WyoCourses website
~~~~
Read for Wednesday: Harris, Tina. 2013. “Reopenings and Restrictions,” and “New
Economic Geographies.” In, T. Harris (au.), Geographical Diversions: Tibetan
Trade, Global Transactions (pp. 100-140). Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press.
Read for Friday: Harris, Tina. 2013. “Mobility and Fixity,” and “A Further Note on
Research Methods.” In, T. Harris (au.), Geographical Diversions: Tibetan Trade,
Global Transactions (pp. 141-156). Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press.

Final/Exam III: Friday, December 16, 10:15 AM – 12:15 PM, per the exam schedule
 

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