Geography

This course introduces students to the field of social geography, its theoretical perspectives and substantive concerns, centered upon an understanding of societies as products of uneven and always negotiated relationships of power. Drawing on a social constructionist approach, and using mainly UK examples, students consider intersecting constructions of social class, gender, race, and sexuality, and how these constructions both shape, and are shaped by space at a variety of scales. The course includes a field walk assignment designed to develop skills of critical observation and interpretation.

Spatial thinking sits at the core of Geographical scholarship, and space and human societies are always mutually constitutive. This course explores how geographers have theorized space and place as central to understanding historical processes, social relations, and cultural practices. Focusing particularly on Africa and other regions of the global South, the course covers foundational Human Geography concepts including modernity, landscape, memory, heritage, identity, and inclusion. Through theoretical work and field-based experiential learning, the course examines how space and place both shape and are shaped by a range of power dynamics.

This course examines a geographical perspective on cities and the urban process in the context of contemporary globalization. It examines how differentiated livelihood possibilities and practices in cities across the globe have been shaped by global processes, local policies and initiatives, as well as the transformative possibilities of citizen agency. In other words, it will examine the interplay between the structuring forces of (primarily) capitalist globalization, on the one hand, and the agency and every-day actions of urban residents, on the other, in order to understand and explain cities and their transformations.

This course offers a work and labor-based perspective on the contemporary global economy, which is still predominantly studied from the viewpoint of firms and states in the social sciences. It profiles the vast range of work types and conditions that constitute the economy, and their wider societal implications. Moreover, it develops an explicitly geographical perspective, using the lenses of place, space and scale to reveal the inherent spatialities of worlds of work.

This course examines theoretical and practical aspects of Geographic Information Systems, including cartographic modelling, digital terrain models, management issues, and spatial interpolation.

This course examines how GIS is used to address and analyze pressing health problems from the geographical perspective. It covers such topics as theoretical and practical issues, simple disease mapping, disease pattern analysis, and environmental association through spatia modeling techniques. 

This course introduces factors that affect the Earth's climate system, oceans, landforms, and living things. The primary emphasis is on earth’s paleoenvironment, geomorphology, and the study of landforms and processes in different environments. The key landscape characteristics of Asia are covered, along with crucial environmental challenges.

This course examines forms of economic development; changing location of economic activities and functions; implications for government and politics; and local strategies for growth and equity.

This course examines food systems and environments around the world. Topics covered include global food production and trade, agribusiness, food culture and politics, genetic engineering and organic food, food security and sovereignty, healthy dietary habits, sustainable food policy, Hong Kong and Chinese food culture, and the future of food.