Geography 1103: Cultural Geography

Fall Semester 2010

Monday, Wednesday, Friday 1:25 – 2:15
GGY, Room 200B

This course syllabus is a general plan for the course; changes will be announced in class.

Instructor: Ellen Kohl

Office: GGY Building, Room 120
Email: ekohl@uga.edu
Telephone: 706-542-2926
Office Hours: By Appointment

Teaching Assistant: Levi Van sant

Email: leviv@uga.edu

Required Text:
Timothy S. Oakes and Patricia L. Price (2008) The Cultural Geography Reader. New York:
Routledge.

Course Description and Objectives:

This course serves as an introduction and overview to the field of cultural geography.
Through this course, we explore the interrelations between people, their relationship to their
environments, and how these relationships change in different “cultures”. We will discuss
what “culture” is and how and why space and place construct and are constructed by
“cultural” processes. You will be expected to engaged with various theories about specific
places, events, and processes that contribute to our understanding of local and global
geographies (which we will discuss in class). More importantly, I hope you will gain a broader
understanding of how to think critically about the world around you -- recognizing the
multiple scales of spatial interrelations that occur in your everyday lives, as well as the lives
of others. Thinking critically does not mean abandoning your positions, but rather
interrogating where your ideas come from and their value in the world. You may arrive at
conclusions that are different from mine in the class. I expect you discuss these conclusions
in a mature manner taking into account the wide array of opinions and differences
represented in our class. Your grade in this class is in no way dependent on whether or not
you agree with my argument. It is based on your ability to think critically about the
arguments presented in the readings and to express your understanding of the material
verbally and in writing.

Grading:
2 Exams = 50% (25% each)
Reading Quizzes = 15% (quizzes on the readings)
Participation = 15% (unannounced brief writing assignments reflecting a variety of topics)
Project = 20% (Field notes, Mapping, and Paper)

Course Final Grade:

A = 94 – 100 % B+ = 87 – 89 % C+ = 77 – 79% D = 60 – 69%
A- = 90 – 93 % B = 83 – 86% C = 73 – 76% F = < 60%
B- = 80 – 82% C- = 70 – 72%
Office Hours and Email: Please contact me by email (ekohl@uga.edu) if you would like to
meet with me. If you have questions about the readings, the lectures, or class discussion,
please do not hesitate to speak with me about your concerns. It is best to speak to me early
in the semester, not to wait until test time or the end of the semester, as I am better able to
help you if we have conversations throughout the semester.

Classroom Conduct: Students are expected to contribute to an environment of learning

while in the classroom. Please respect this environment, your classmates, and instructor by
refraining from disruptive behavior which may include: arriving late to class, cell phone use,
reading newspapers or magazines, talking out of turn, sleeping, or any other disruptive
behavior. I do not permit the use of laptops during class. If you are disrupting the class, you
will be asked to leave.

Academic Honesty: Dishonesty will not be tolerated in this class. All students are
responsible for maintaining the highest standards of honesty and integrity in every phase of
their academic careers. Students are responsible for adhering to the University Honor Code
and Academic Honesty Policy that is in your student handbook. All academic work must meet
the standards contained in “A Culture of Honesty.” Students are responsible for informing
themselves about those standards before performing any academic work. The penalties for
academic dishonesty are severe and ignorance is not an acceptable defense.

Students with Special Needs: Any student who has a disability that might hinder his/her
ability to learn and participate up to their potential should notify me as soon as possible so
we can discuss accommodations for any special needs. Accommodations cannot be made
retroactively. Please also contact the Office of Services for Students with Disabilities at 542-
8719, located in Clarke Howell Hall.

Extra Help: There are a variety of services available on campus to help you with special
accommodations or assistance. A full list of resources is available online at:
www.uga.edu/academics/resources.html. There are a number of different tutoring centers
that can help you with writing, studying, and organization. There is also the writing center,
(66 Park Hall, Ph: (706) 542-2119, www.english.uga.edu/writingcenter/) which offers one-on-
one tutoring and workshops to help you at any stage of the writing process.

Attendance, Assignments and Participation: I do not take daily attendance, however

you are expected to attend every class if you hope to perform well. Periodically, we will
have short in-class assignments or take home assignments that will count towards the
participation percentage of your grade. There is no way to make up in-class participations,
which counts as a percentage of your final grade.

Additionally, we will have periodic reading quizzes, if you are absent and hope to make up
the assignment, you must notify me of your absence prior to class with a valid documented
excuse. The same procedure is in place should you miss an exam. Make-up assignments may
differ from the actual assignment.

Contact your classmates, not the instructor, for notes or assignments if you miss class. You
are responsible for all material covered in class whether you are present of not. This includes
being aware of announcements made in class. We will likely deviate from the syllabus
depending on class discussions – it is your responsibility to be informed of these changes.

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CLASS OUTLINE – SUBJECT TO CHANGE

Week One: Approaching Culture: Aug 16-20

Introductions to class and each other
“Introduction to Part One” p.11
“The Concept(s) of Culture” William Sewell, Jr. p.40

Week Two: Nature: Aug 23-27

“Introduction to Part Four” p. 203
“Living Outdoors with Mrs. Panther” Ajax p. 220
“The Trouble with Wilderness…” William Cronon – ELC

Week Three: Nature and the Culture of Geographic Thought: Aug 30-Sept 3
Quiz 1: Culture and Nature
“Ecofeminism” Rosemarie Tong – ELC
“Orchard” Owain Jones and Paul Cloke p. 232
“Culture” Friedrich Ratzel p. 83

Week Four: The New Cultural Geography: Sept 6-10

NO CLASS Monday, Sept 6th – Labor Day
“The Morphology of Landscape” Carl Sauer – intro only- p. 96
“Geography is Everywhere…” Denis Cosgrove p. 176

Week Five: The New Cultural Geography: Sept 13-17

Quiz 2: Nature and the Culture of Geographic Thought
“California the Beautiful and the Damned” Don Mitchell p. 159
“Looking at Landscape…” Gillian Rose p. 171
“Reconfiguring the ‘Site’ and ‘Horizon’ of Experience” Michael Bull p. 194

Week Six: Mobility: Sept 20-24

“Beyond ‘Culture’…” Akhil Gupta and James Ferguson p. 60
“The Production of Mobilities” Tim Creswell p. 325

Week Seven: The Geography of Music: Sept 27-Oct 1

Quiz 3: The Culture of Geographic Thought and the New Cultural Geography
“Of Nomads and Vagrants…” Jon May p. 334
The Geography of Music - ELC

Week Eight: Difference: Oct 4-8

Catch-up and review
EXAM 1 Wednesday Oct 6th (tentative)

Week Nine: Difference: Difference and Gender: Oct 11-15

“Introduction Part Seven” p. 353
“On Not Excluding Half…” Janice Monk and Susan Hansen p. 365

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Week Ten: Self/Other and Sexuality: Oct 18-22
“Imaginative Geography…” Edward Said p. 357
“The Geography Club” Hartinger p. 402

Note: Withdrawal deadline – Thursday, October 21st

Week Eleven: Bodies: Oct 25-27

“Some Thoughts on Close(t) Spaces” Robyn Longhurst p. 388
NO CLASS Friday, Oct 29th

Week Twelve: Class and Race: Nov 1-5

Quiz 4: Difference
“The Invisible Poor” Newman - ELC
“Racism without Racists” Bonilla-Silva - ELC

Week Thirteen: Race and Environmental Justice: Nov 8-12

“Seeing More than Black and White” Elizabeth Martinez - ELC
“A Different Mirror” Ronald T. Takaki - ELC
“What Are You?” Joanne Nobuko Miyamoto - ELC
Environmental Justice Reading - ELC
Group Projects Due: Friday, Nov. 12

Week Fourteen: White Privilege: Nov 15-19

Quiz 5: Difference
“White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Backpack” Macintosh – ELC
“Representing Whiteness…” bell hooks p. 373

Nov 22-26
Thanksgiving break - NO CLASS

Week Fifteen: Identity and Place in a Global Context: Nov 29-Dec 3

“Introduction Part Five”
“A Global Sense of Place” Doreen Massey p. 257
“Culture sits in Places…” Arturo Escobar p. 287

Week Sixteen: Dec 6-7

Review and Catch Up
We meet for our last class on TUESDAY, Dec 7th

FINAL EXAM: Wednesday December 10th 12-3pm