Module Outline

Module lecturers

There are a number of lecturers who contribute to this module, each of whom brings their own particular theoretical and methodological expertise to bear by running a seminar or practical session.

Module summary

The purpose of the module is to provide subject-specific research training in human geography. The module therefore covers core understandings of key concepts and approaches to human geography research; subject specific research and transferable skills; and qualitative and quantitative, subject specific methodological and presentation techniques. This module will equip students with the skills necessary to independently design and implement an extended piece of primary research.

Module structure Semester A

The first semester of the module is divided into two blocks. The first block aims to develop an advanced understanding of the making of sociological knowledge, by exploring a range of theoretical traditions and epistemologies from across the range of human geographical scholarship. It aims in particular to situate human geography within contemporary theoretical debates. Seminars will introduce and discuss key concepts that underpin geographical research; provide a wide-ranging appreciation of the contested nature of geography and geographical thought, both in the past and in the present; and provide a theoretical and conceptual foundation for undertaking research in geography. This part of the course is designed to be interactive and discussion-based. Tutors will set out the various debates and issues under discussion, but students are expected to contribute their own thoughts and to actively participate in the group discussions on the basis of the reading they have undertaken and from the perspective of their own particular research interests. The second block, which begins after Reading Week, builds on this by looking at the process of planning your own research project from initial ‘concept development’ through to practical strategies for undertaking this and the issues concerning the impact of research, once it has been produced.

There is no one text for this course. You will be expected to read widely and in line with the developing research project.

These core texts are highly recommended as reference texts for the course:

Agnew, J. and D. Livingstone. (2011) The SAGE Handbook of Geographical Knowledge. London: Sage.
Esson, J., Noxolo, P., Baxter, R., Daley, P. and Byron, M. (2017), The 2017 RGS-IBG
chair's theme: decolonising geographical knowledges, or reproducing coloniality?. Area, 49: 384-388. doi:10.1111/area.12371
Pulido, L. (2015) “Geographies of Race and Ethnicity I: White Supremacy vs White Privilege in Environmental Racism Research” Progress in Human Geography 39(6): 1-9.
Massey, D. (2005). For Space. London: Sage.
(see https://www.socialsciencespace.com/2013/02/podcastdoreen-massey-onspace/)
McKittrick, K. (2006). Demonic Grounds: Black Women and the Cartographies of Struggle. Minneapolis: Minnesota University Press.
Kobayashi, A. (2017). Human Geography. In International Encyclopedia of Geography: People, the Earth, Environment and Technology (eds D. Richardson, N. Castree, M.F. Goodchild, A. Kobayashi, W. Liu and R.A.
Marston). doi:10.1002/9781118786352.wbieg1094
Theodore, N., Jazeel, T., Kent, A. and McKittrick, K. (2019). Keywords in Radical Geography: An Introduction. In Keywords in Radical Geography: Antipode at 50 (eds Antipode Editorial Collective, T. Jazeel, A. Kent, K. McKittrick, N. Theodore, S. Chari, P. Chatterton, V. Gidwani, N. Heynen, W. Larner, J. Peck, J. Pickerill, M. Werner and M.W. Wright). doi:10.1002/9781119558071.ch1