GEOG 372 - Topics In Human Geography

Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)

(Same as INTL 372) This seminar focuses on advanced debates in the socio-spatial organization of the modern world. The specific topic of inquiry varies from year to year. Students may repeat the course for credit if the topic changes. Previous seminar themes include the Geography & Social Movements, Lines, Fences and Walls, Political Ecology, and Ethnic Geography.

Topic for 2019/20a: Capitalist Imperatives and Space. Since the financial crisis in 2008, there has been surging intellectual discussion about the fundamentals and contradictions of global capitalism. Using selected influential writings by scholars such as Harvey, Piketty, Zuboff, A. Ong, E. Wright and others, this seminar explores the last decade theoretical analysis of the roles of space and territory in the accumulation and crisis of capitalism. These works underpin our understanding of uneven global development, spatial inequality, technology transformation, and environmental destruction. The following topics are discussed: Political economies of neoliberalism and its crisis, accumulation by dispossession, dynamics and insights from the global periphery; surveillance capitalism, and alternative economic systems.Yu Zhou.

One 3-hour period.

Course Format: CLS