ENS104 Geographic Thinking in the Social Sciences

Faculty of Social Studies
Spring 2019
Extent and Intensity
1/1/0. 8 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
RNDr. Petr Daněk, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
RNDr. Petr Daněk, Ph.D.
Department of Environmental Studies – Faculty of Social Studies
Contact Person: Bc. Petra Burišková
Supplier department: Department of Environmental Studies – Faculty of Social Studies
Timetable
Tue 16. 4. 16:00–17:40 U44, Tue 23. 4. 16:00–17:40 U44
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 17 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives
The main objectives of the course are the following:
introducing the concepts of space and place in social sciences, from the human geographic viewpoint;
identifying historical relationships among individual schools or approaches;
introducing philosophical underpinnings of individual approaches;
acquainting students with the key intellectuals shaping the geographical thought;
At the end of the course the students should be able to distinguish between different approaches to geography (past and present).
Learning outcomes
After passing out the course, students wil be able:
- to orientate themselves in theoretical approaches to the studies af place and space in social sciences;
- to distinguish and discuss key intelectual crises in the development of modern geographical thought;
- to understand tensions between idiographic and nomothetic conceptions;
- to understand interrelations between development of spatial concepts in geography and other social sciences;
- to introduce a key figure of modern geography and critically discuss her/his ideas.
Syllabus
  • 1. Plurality of approaches and traditions. How to explain history of geography? Hartshorne, Kuhn a Livingstone.
  • 2. Crisis of traditional regional geography and beginnings of modern geography. Theory of evolution and geography. Natural determinism and scientific racism. Humboldt, Ritter, Ratzel and Semple
  • 3. Anarchistic alternative. French, Berkeley and Chicago schools. Hartshorne and chorology
  • 4. Post-war crisis and systemic approach. Quantitative revolution. Controversy between idiographic and nomothetic traditions.
  • 5. Space cadets, regional science and Lund school. Critique of spatial science. Positivism and post-positivist approaches.
  • 6. Behavioral and humanistic critique. Phenomenology, existentialism and humanistic geography.
  • 7. Radical critique. Marxism and radical geography. Political ecology.
  • 8. Feminist critique. Feminist theory and feminist geographies. Geography of difference.
  • 9. Structure-agency debate. Theory of structuration. Controversy about nature of social phenomena: critical realism.
  • 10. Cultural turn and postmodernism. Geography of (post)modernity and postmodern geographies.
  • 11. From structuralism to post-structuralism. Post-structuralism in geography. Production of space
  • 12. Space, knowledge and power. Key concepts in geography: space, place, scale.
Literature
  • DANĚK, Petr. Geografické myšlení: úvod do teoretických přístupů. (Geographic Thought: Introduction to Theoretical Approaches.). první. Brno: Masarykova univerzita, 2013, 172 pp. ISBN 978-80-210-6694-6. Available from: https://dx.doi.org/10.5817/CZ.MUNI.M210-6694-2013. info
  • CRESSWELL, Tim. Geographic thought : a critical introduction. First published. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2013, 290 stran. ISBN 9781405169394. info
  • Key thinkers on space and place. Edited by Phil Hubbard - Rob Kitchin. Second edition. Los Angeles: Sage, 2011, xv, 510. ISBN 9781849201018. info
  • Geographic thought : a praxis perspective. Edited by George L. Henderson - Marvin Waterstone. 1st pub. London: Routledge, 2009, xvi, 378. ISBN 9780415471701. info
  • Key texts in human geography. Edited by Phil Hubbard - Rob Kitchin - Gill Valentine. First published. Los Angeles: Sage, 2008, xx, 236. ISBN 9781412922609. info
  • Approaches to human geography. Edited by Gill Valentine - Stuart C. Aitken. 1st pub. London: SAGE Publications, 2006, ix, 349. ISBN 0761942637. info
Teaching methods
The course is based on lectures and individual work with the study recourses.
Assessment methods
Final written test, short essay and seminary work. The exact conditions of the point evaluation for the test are be published in the section “Study materials”.
Language of instruction
Czech
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course is taught annually.
General note: Předmět bude vyučován v roce 2021.
Listed among pre-requisites of other courses
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2005, Spring 2006, Spring 2007, Spring 2008, Spring 2009, Spring 2010, Spring 2011, Spring 2012, Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018.
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