Undergraduate Course: Fieldwork in Human Geography (GEGR10143)
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 | This is a course in advanced research methods and design that is taught through giving students the practice of fieldwork in real world social contexts. This course usually runs for 5-8 days in summer, is based in rural Scotland and provides close supervision in small groups to allow students acquire experience in interviewing, archival research, oral history and visual methods. |
| Course description |
Students pursue research projects working in small groups to collect original data which becomes the empirical basis for individual essays. The course draws on earlier research training, mentoring students in the creative application of qualitative methods in cooperation with local communities. The aim is to produce original research that speaks to wider themes in academic human geography.
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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, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: 20 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
196 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Coursework 100%
One 4,000 word project (100%) |
| Feedback |
Feedback will take the form of class discussions, small group discussions, dialogue during fieldwork, as well as both conceptual feedback on final essay and close direction of initial fieldtrip essay. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- critically assess a range of theoretical and conceptual issues in Human Geography with specific reference to Scotland¿s landscape, culture and society; and to apply these to wider empirical and theoretical contexts.
- acquire experience of designing, executing and writing an original empirical research project in academic social science.
- develop the capacity for improvised interpretation of the cultural landscape in field contexts.
- understand relationships between form and process in historical contexts.
- collect, interpret and analyse data using the techniques of qualitative social science
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Reading List
Reading List subject to location. Past readings include
Brady, E. 2012. The Environmental Sublime. In T. Costelloe, ed. The Sublime From Antiquity to the Present. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hunter, J. (1999) Last of the free: a millennial history of the Highlands and islands of Scotland, Edinburgh, Mainstream Pub.
Lawson, B (2012) North Uist in History and Legend, Birlinn, Edinburgh
Lorimer, J. 2008. Counting Corncrakes: The Affective Science of the UK Corncrake Census Social Studies of Science 38: 3, 377-405.
Macdonald, S. 1996 Reimagining Culture: histories, identities and the Gaelic renaissance, Berg, London
MacDonald, F. 2001. St Kilda and the Sublime. Cultural Geographies 8: 2, 151-174.
MacDonald, F 2014. The Ruins of Erskine Beveridge, Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers.
Mackenzie, A. F. D. & Dalby, S. (2003) Moving Mountains: Community and Resistance in the Isle of Harris, Scotland and Cape Breton, Canada. Antipode, 309-333.
MacKenzie, F. 2006. Against the tide: placing visual art in the Highlands and Islands, Scotland. Social and Cultural Geography. 7: 6, 965-985.
Parman, S 2004 Scottish Crofters: an historical ethnography of a Celtic community, Rinehart,
Parr, H., Philo, C. & Burns, N. (2005) 'Not a Display of Emotions': Emotional Geographies in the Scottish Highlands. IN DAVIDSON, J., BONDI, L. & SMITH, M. (Eds.) Emotional Geographies. Hampshire, Ashgate.
Warren, C. 2007. Perspectives on the alien versus native species debate: a critique of concepts, language and practice. Progress in Human Geography. 31:4, 427-446.
Warwick, H. 2012. Comment: Uist Hedgehogs lessons learnt in wildlife management. British Wildlife. 24:2, 111-116.
Woods, M. and P. Moriarty. 2001. Strangers in a Strange Land: The Problem of Exotic Species. Environmental Values. 10: 163-191. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Fraser MacDonald
Tel: (0131 6)57 3887
Email: Fraser.MacDonald@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Carry Arnold
Tel: (0131 6)50 9847
Email: Carry.Arnold@ed.ac.uk |
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