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TI 251 - theory and practice in geography

Lecture times: Wednesday 3-4, 5-6 Lecture locations: Wed 3-4 in IT 250, Wed 5-6 in Aras Ui Chathail Course coordinators: Anna Stanley (semester 1) annaelizabeth.stanleynuigalway.ie
Tutorial coordinator: Dr Kathy Reilly

Course Description

The intention of this course is to develop students’ understanding of the various traditions of doing geographical research and making geographical knowledge. The course introduces students to both theory and practice in geography, focusing in particular on relationships between geographical concepts and the practices of geographical research. Geographical thought will be considered through lectures, discussions, and seminars that examine the wide range of theoretical and methodological assumptions, and the connections between them, that underwrite analysis and evidence gathering in the discipline. In addition the course aims to familiarise students with the different ways that geographers do research. Critical analysis of all approaches to geographical knowledge will be stressed. Particular emphasis is put on developing a critical understanding of what it means to do geography and make geographical claims.

During the first semester, Part One of the course focuses on the history of geographical thought, evidence in geography, and positivist theory and methods. In second semester, Part Two of the course focuses on post-positivist theories and methods in geography.

Course Objectives

Upon completion of this course, students are expected:

to gain an understanding of the history and practice of the discipline;
to gain a critical understanding of the different theoretical and methodological approaches to all knowledge production in geography;
to develop the ability to think critically about geography and what it means to ’do’ geography.

Course Format

This course consists of both lectures and tutorials. It is designed to benefit from the participation of students by deliberately integrating discussion, in-class participation, and various activities directly into the delivery of the course. Each set of lectures and tutorials focuses on core elements of different approaches to geographical knowledge and inquiry. Students will be expected to regularly attend lectures and tutorials, to actively participate in class discussion and activities, and to come to lectures and tutorials having prepared the readings.

Tutorials

Students will attend tutorial sessions every other week starting in week 5, so that students will either attend a tutorial in weeks 5, 7, 9, 11 or weeks 6, 8, 10, 12 of fall semester Sign-up sheets will be posted on the door of room 106 at the beginning of week 3. Tutorial times are as follows:

   Monday 4-5
   Tuesday 10-11
   Tuesday 11-12
   Wednesday 2-3
   Thursday 12-1

Each tutorial session will be capped at 30 students and enrolment will be on a first-come, first-served basis. Students are expected to keep the same tutorial time through both semesters of this course. Tutorial attendance is mandatory.

Queries relating to tutorial times and registration should be made to Clodagh Raleigh room 106; email: clodagh.raleighnuigalway.ie

Semester 1 Assessment

Tutorial & Lecture attendance and participation		up to 15%

Assignment 1:	Empiricist Theory and Practice (~3000 words) 50% individual written assignment assigned in tutorial during weeks 7 & 8, due two weeks later	50%

Assignment 2:	Positivist Theory and Practice in Human Geography 25% oral group assignment assigned in tutorial during weeks 9 & 10, presented in tutorial two weeks later	25%

Assignment 3:	Positivist Theory and Practice in Physical Geography 25% (~2000 words) written group assignment assigned in tutorial during weeks 11 & 12, due 2 December	25%

There is no exam for this course.

Assignment Feedback:
In Week 11, feedback workshops on assignment 1 will be held:
                  Section A: Wednesday, November 17, 9:00 am to 1:00 pm
                  Section B; Thursday November 18, 9:00 am to 1:00pm.
                  rooms: TBA

Lecture Structure (Semester One)

Week 1 – Course Introduction
Students will be introduced to the overall goals and structure of the course, and how this course fits within the Geography curriculum.

Weeks 2-4 – Origins of Geographical Theory and Practice
This set of lectures will introduce the history of geographic thoughts and provide students with a set of traditions or contexts within which geographers have constructed their knowledge and insights in the past. These lectures offer students an idea of how geography emerged as an academic discipline and how geographical knowledge has contributed to historical developments in the past.

Weeks 5-6 – Evidence in Geography: Production of Geographical Knowledge
This section focuses on the key determinant of doing any research: the evidence. Research in geography involves the employment of evidence from any number of sources; all of which pose significant challenges. Historical geographical research, for example, relies on the remnants, records and recollections of past worlds that we can no longer encounter or verify. This section, more broadly, outlines some of the key challenges of doing geography by concentrating on four crucial aspects of research and representation: the field, sources, interpretation and narration.

Week 7-8 – Empiricist Theory and Practice
These lectures discuss the empirical-analytical approach to knowledge with particular reference to empiricism. First we clarify the difference between ’empiricism’ as a philosophy of science and ’empirical’ enquiry. Empiricism in its extreme form holds that what we know about the world is that which the world wishes to tell us, in its own terms, through our five senses. It is not grounded in any particular theoretical frameworks and has been largely abandoned in academic geographical research. Empirical research, by contrast, remains a mainstream method of investigation in both human and physical geography. We consider its relationships with theory and concepts and the role assigned to methods of data collection and analysis.

Week 9-10 – Positivist Theory and Practice in Human Geography
These lectures outline the changing context for the generation of knowledge in human geography, marked by a move away from empiricist approaches to a search for knowledge based more upon the establishment of facts and truths. Under the broad heading of ’positivism’, it reflects a search for explanation through the use of scientific principles and methods. Its evolution in geography is explored, particularly, its position as the dominant philosophy underpinning quantitative geography during the 1950s and 1960s, and the subsequent identification of inherent flaws which undermined its validity. The continued relevance and application of critical (post) positivist approaches in contemporary geographical research is also examined.

Week 11-12 – Positivist Theory and Practice in Physical Geography
This set of lectures will examine the positivist tradition in physical geography, and the myriad of scientific approaches that place modern practice in physical geography beyond its positivist roots. Lectures will concentrate on the dominant paradigm within physical geography today, systems theory. This will be expanded to discuss cutting edge concepts and debates within the physical sciences, including chaos and complexity theory and process geomorphology.

TI251 Semester One

Week	Lecture Dates	Instructor(s)	Topic	Tutorial
1	Sept 8	A. Stanley & K. Reilly	Course Introduction	No
2 3 4	Sept 15 Sept 22 Sept 29	U. Strohmayer & K. Lynch	Origins of Geographical Theory and Practice	No No No
5 6	Oct 6 Oct 13	S. Leahy & K. Lynch	Evidence in Geography: Production of Geographical Knowledge	Yes Yes
7 8	Oct 20 Oct 27	K. Reilly & M. Cawley	Empiricist Theory and Practice (empirical data collection)	Yes Yes
9 10	Nov 3 Nov 10	M. Mahon	Positivist Theory and Practice in Human Geography (surveys, statistics, spatial science)	Yes Yes
11 12	Nov 17 Nov 24	K. Hickey K. Lynch	Positivist Theory and Practice in Physical Geography (systems theory, representation)	Yes Yes

Course Readings

All Readings will be made available on Black board.

Week 1 – Course Introduction

No readings for this week.

Week 2-4 – Origins of Geographical Theory and Practice

Gould, Peter. 1985. The old roots of geographic curiosity. In: The Geographer at Work, Routledge, London, pp. 8-21.

Harrison, Stephan. 2005. What Kind of Science is Physical Geography? In N. Castree, A. Rogers, and D. Sherman (eds.), Questioning Geography, Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, pp. 80-95.

Palmer, Trevor. 2003. Perilous Planet Earth: Catastrophies and Catastrophism through the Ages, Cambridge University Press, pp. 5-41.

Livingstone, David. 1992. The Geographical Tradition. Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, pp. 177-215.

Weeks 5-6 – Evidence in Geography: The Production of Geographical Knowledge

Morrissey, John, Y. Whelan, U. Strohmayer, and B. Yeoh. 2009. Evidence and representation. In: Key Concepts in Historical Geography, Sage Press, 16 pp.

Rhoads, Bruce L. 1999. Beyond pragmatism: The value of philosophical discourse for physical geography. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 89: 760-771.

Richards, Keith. 2003. Geography and the physical sciences tradition. In S.L. Holloway, S.P. Rice, and G. Valentine (eds.), Key Concepts in Geography, Sage Publications Ltd, London, pp. 23-50.

Weeks 7-8 – Empiricist Theory and Practice

Bowen, Margarita. 1981. Empiricism and Geographical Thought: From Francis Bacon to Alexander von Humboldt, Cambridge University Press, pp. 1-7.
Cloke, Paul, I. Cook, P. Crang, M. Goodwin, J. Painter, and C. Philo. 2004. Practising Human Geography, Sage, London, pp. 1-33.

Cloke, Paul, I. Cook, P. Crang, M. Goodwin, J. Painter, and C. Philo. 2004. Practising Human Geography, Sage, London, pp. 1-33.

Ward, Kevin, C. Fagan, L. McDowell, D. Perrons, and K. Ray. 2007. Living and working in urban working class communities. Geoforum 38: 312-325.

Weeks 9-10 – Positivist Theory and Practice in Human Geography

Kitchin, Rob. 2006. Positivistic geographies and spatial science. In: S. Aitken and G. Valentine (eds.), Approaches to Human Geography, Sage, London, pp. 20-29.

Phillips, Martin. 2005. Philosophical arguments in human geography. In: M. Phillips (ed) Contested worlds: An introduction to human geography, Ashgate, Aldershot, pp. 13-25.

Shepperd, Eric. 2001. Quantitative geography: representations, practices, and possibilities. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 19: 535-554.

Weeks 11-12 – Positivist Theory and Practise in Physical Geography

Inkpen, Rob. 2005. Systems: the framework of physical geography. In: Science, Philosophy, and Physical Geography, Routledge, London, pp. 103-116.

Inkpen, Rob. 2005. Change and complexity. In: Science, Philosophy, and Physical Geography, Routledge, London, pp. 117-136.

Scheffer, Marten, S. Carpenter, J.A. Foley, C. Folke, and Brian Walker. 2001. Catastrophic shifts in ecosystems. Nature 413: 591-596.

Department of Geography
National University of Ireland, Galway, University Road, Galway, Ireland.
Phone: +353 (0)91 492643
This page was last updated Friday, September 03, 2010