Undergraduate Course: Geographies of Mobility (GEGR10129)
Course Outline
| School | School of Geosciences |
College | College of Science and Engineering |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 4 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | In this course, we will examine mobility as a geographical basis of social power- its creation, maintenance and transformation through an examination of mobility at various scales. Examples will range from the movement of the human body through various technologies of everyday mobility such as the car and the train to the contemporary concern with transitions to low carbon futures. |
| Course description |
In this course, we will examine mobility as a geographical basis of social power- its creation, maintenance and transformation through an examination of mobility at various scales. Examples will range from the movement of the human body through various technologies of everyday mobility such as the car and the train to the contemporary concern with transitions to low carbon futures. The dialectic relationship between society and space expressed in the idea of 'spatiality' will be central to the course. We will see how spaces and mobilities of one kind or another are created in order to produce power and particular kinds of relations between social groups. Examples include the politics of walking, the role of the railroad in the creation of American mythology, the threat of the tramp and vagabond and the significance of airport terminals to postmodern theory. In addition to an examination of power we will also look at the way space and mobility comes into play in the transformation of power through innovative forms of resistance such as dancing, joyriding, train-jumping. through these explorations we will focus on a range of historically marginalized groups including children, poor people, LGBTQ people, disabled people and ethnic and racial minorities. Students will come away from the course with the theoretical tools necessary to understand the variety of relations between mobility and power and a firm knowledge of the way this works on the ground.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2021/22, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 0 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 22,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
174 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
100% Coursework (4,000 words):
The assessment will take the form of a reflective course journal with approximately eight 500-word entries. Students will be expected to demonstrate three skills in the entries which are mapped on to the learning outcomes for the course. These are:
1) critical engagement with key readings,
2) interpretation of news stories, video, films, creative literature, art or other forms of media in light of the themes developed in the lectures and through the readings, and
3) reflection on personal or shared life experience in relation to themes developed in the lectures and through the readings.
Assessment deadlines:
formative: Week 4
summative: Week 11 |
| Feedback |
Feedback will happen in the following ways:
a) written formative feedback will be given on journal entries four weeks into the course,
b) feedback will be given during classroom discussion,
c) students are encouraged to use office hours to get feedback on ideas,
d) feedback will be given on the final journal. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate an understanding of the role of mobility in the creation, maintenance and transformation of social relations in a wide range of contexts at different scales
- Display knowledge of the development of theoretical perspectives on mobility in geography and in the social sciences and humanities in general
- Show an appreciation of how these theoretical approaches apply to the empirical study of mobility
- Develop a range of skills in note-taking, utilization of readings, critical reflection, close reading of sources, independent work and writing
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Reading List
Peter Adey (2017) Mobility 2nd Edition (Routledge)
Tim Cresswell (2006) On the Move: Mobility in the Modern Western World (Routledge)
Tim Cresswell (2011). Mobilities I: Catching up. Progress in Human Geography, 35(4), 550-558.
Tim Cresswell (2012). Mobilities II still. Progress in human geography, 36(5), 645-653.
Tim Cresswell (2014). Mobilities III Moving on. Progress in Human Geography, 38(5), 712-721.
Mimi Sheller (2019) Mobility Justice (Verso)
Mimi Sheller and John Urry (2005) ¿The New Mobilities Paradigm¿ Environment and Planning A 2006, volume 38(2) February, pages 207 ¿ 226
Mi Po Kwan and Tim Schwanen (2016) ¿Geographies of Mobility¿ Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 106(2): pp.243-256
Peter Merriman (2015). Mobilities I Departures. Progress in Human Geography, 39(1), 87-95.
Peter Merriman (2016) Mobilities II: Cruising¿. Progress in Human Geography , 40 (4), 555-564 |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Writing, close reading, interpretation of various media, working to deadlines, critical thinking |
| Keywords | Mobility,transport,cultural geography,spatiality,power |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Prof Timothy Cresswell
Tel: (0131 6)50 9137
Email: tim.cresswell@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Carry Arnold
Tel: (0131 6)50 9847
Email: Carry.Arnold@ed.ac.uk |
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