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TI 229

Political and Cultural Geography

Dr Kathy Reilly

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Please click below for various course details:

• Course rationale
• Key learning outcomes
• Assessment
• Readings
• Mon 10 - 11 & 1 - 2 D'Arcy Thompson
• Full course outline

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Course rationale

This module focuses on a critical analysis and interrogation of key concepts in political and cultural geography. It will examine relevant political theories to provide a framework for understanding contemporary events with respect to culture, politics and the nation-state. It is divided into five distinct sections. The course begins with an analysis of issues linked to territoriality and the concepts of nationalism and the development of the nation-state. It progresses to examine focal events and issues associated with religious nationalism, racism, discrimination and the evils of genocide. This module will also provide an introduction to the arenas of classical and critical geopolitics, interrogating aspects of the current 'war on terror'. It will conclude by looking at the powerful position that the media holds in the transmission of knowledge and the legitimisation of action. Various case study examples will be used to illustrate concepts from the lectures and key readings.

A number of political and cultural geographies will be examined, including:

• The construction of national identity in Ireland
• Division and conflict in Israel/Palestine
• Race riots in the UK and France
• Genocide in Bosnia and Rwanda
• Globalisation of Terror

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General Outline:

Lectures 1-2     Introductory lectures (only attend one)
Lectures 3-6     Territory, politics and nation-building
Lectures 7-10    Religious nationalism and sacred space
Lectures 11-16  Racism, riots and the horror of genocide
Lectures 17-20  Geopolitics and the 'war on terror'
Lectures 21-23  Critical perspectives on media and identity politics
Lecture  24       Course conclusion and exam overview

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Key learning outcomes

• Cultivate the student’s interest in contemporary cultural and political issues and provides a focused analysis of the links between nation-building and the fostering of discrimination and disparity.
• Encourage the student’s ability to appreciate and apply geographic theoretical concepts to better understand the constant struggles encountered by those striving for the celebration of diversity and difference.
• Advance an understanding of how various discourses develop to legitimise and justify political action and highlight the key role which geographers play in their deconstruction.
• Strengthen the student’s capacity to read critically, apply greater analytical skills and write informed and well-articulated, insightful arguments.

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Assessment (5 ECTS)

Essay (40%) - 2500 words
Exam: (60%) - 2 questions in 2 hours (choice of 4)

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Some key readings

M. Billig, 1995, Banal Nationalism, Sage, London

M. Castells, 1997, The Power of Identity, Blackwell, Oxford

G. Delanty and P. O’Mahony, 2002, Nationalism and Social Theory, Sage, London

M. Guibernau, 1997, The Ethnicity Reader: Nationalism, Multiculturalism and Migration, Polity Press, Cambridge

A. Maalouf, 2001, In the Name of Identity: Violence and the Need to Belong, Arcade Publishing, New York

P. Taylor and C. Flint, 2000, Political Geography: World-Economy, Nation State and Locality, Fourth Edition, Prentice Hall, Harlow

    

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