January 2016 Geography 122 1

Geography 122
Geography, Modernity and Globalisation

January-April 2016
Instructors: Dr. Trevor Barnes (Rm. 140C), tbarnes@geog.ubc.ca; Dr. David Ley (Rm.221), dley@geog.ubc.ca
Office hours: Barnes F. 11:00-12:00 and by e-mail appointment; Ley W., F. 2:00-3:00

Section 201
Mon., Wed., Fri. 12-12:50, Geography 100 + discussion groups
Section 299
Mon, Wed., Fri. 1-1:50, Geography 200 + discussion groups

Teaching Assistants: Mikael Omstedt, mikael.omstedt@gmail.com; James Rhatigan, james.rhatigan@geog.ubc.ca;

Guillermo Bervejillo, gbervejillo@geog.ubc.ca; Connie Yang, cyang124@gmail.com; Idaliya Grigoryeva,
ida1257@yandex.ru; Rachael Brydolf-Horwitz, rbrydo@gmail.com; LaurenWarbeck, lauren.warbeck@geog.ubc

Geography 122 is an introduction to human geography and to the character of our modern, globalising,
interdependent world. Geography 122 deals with the emerging human geography of the last 70 years. Overall, the
course seeks to interpret geographical themes of modernisation and globalisation, their consequences, regional
expressions, and reactions against them.

Geography 122 is a semester-long, three credit course. There are three lectures and a discussion group each week, a
mid-term exam, final examination, and a written assignment. The mark for the course will be determined by:
discussion group attendance and participation (15%); mid-term exam on Friday February 5th (15%); assignment
outline (5%); assignment (25%); and final examination (40%).

READINGS: A listing of all the discussion group readings is found at the end of this course outline. You will need
to purchase from the bookstore the course reader Geography, Modernity and Globalization II: Custom Edition. This
package of readings, all of which come from non-journal publications, has been reset and bound in a regular cover
by Pearson publishers especially for this class. In addition, there are other mandatory readings on the course reading
list, and which will be discussed in the discussion group, that are available for download from the UBC Library web
site (UBCLIB). We also recommend that students consult a good thematic atlas. Additionally, The Dictionary of
Human Geography (2009, 5th edition) contains entries on many of the concepts discussed in the course.

Note there are no classes and no discussion groups for the entire week of March 28th. There is Easter Monday
holiday (March 28th) after which Trevor Barnes, David Ley and many of the teaching assistants are attending an
international geography conference in San Francisco. Lectures notes for the two missed lectures (Barnes’s on
March 30th, Ley’s on April 1st) will be posted on the UBC Connect web site. Material from those lecture notes will
be potentially examined on the final exam.

LECTURE SEQUENCE for GEOG 122

Lecture Date Topic

I Introduction (DL, TB)

1 Jan. 4 2016 Getting started (DL, TB)

2 6 Keywords: Modernisation, globalisation, human geography (DL)

II Changing Geopolitics (DL)

3 Jan. 8 The Cold War and since: a global arena

4 11 Cold War conflicts: the Horn of Africa
5 13 The geopolitics of oil
6 15 The geopolitics of arms
7 18 North-South: the map of global indebtedness
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III The Rise of Economic Globalisation (TB)

8 20 Welcome to the globalized world (TB).

9 22 How we got here (from the North)
10 25 How we got here (from the South)
11 27 Global corporations: Wal-Mart
12 29 Global commodities: the i-thing
13 Feb. 1 Come together: the annihilation of space by time
14 3 Big data, big machines, and big brother

15 5 IN-CLASS MID-TERM EXAM

8 BC FAMILY DAY NO CLASS

IV A Globalised Culture? (DL)

16 10 Is there a global culture?

17 12 The globalisation of sport

15-19 FEBRUARY MID-TERM BREAK NO CLASSES

18 22 Modern architecture: a global landscape?

19 24 Tourism: the developed world in the developing world
20 26 Immigration: The developing world in the developed world
21 29 Cultures resist: the fragmenting nation state

V Population and World Urbanisation (DL, TB)

22 March 2 Population growth DL

23 4 World cities TB
24 7 Planet of slums” TB

VI Nature and Environment (TB, DL)

25 9 From atmospheric pollution to global warming DL

26 11 Human and natural disasters: Predators of New Orleans TB
27 14 Diffusing deadly diseases: AIDS TB
28 16 Feast and famine: A geography of food TB

VII Great Transformations: Markets and Changing Regional Geographies (TB)

29 18 The Great Transformation: Western Europe after WW II

30 21 The Soviet Union and the command economy
31 23 After the Fall: The New Europe

March 25 GOOD FRIDAY NO CLASS

March 28 EASTER MONDAY NO CLASS

32 30 “Socialism with Chinese characteristics”

NO CLASS BUT LECTURE NOTES ARE ON THE COURSE WEB PAGE

VIII Against Modernisation/Globalisation (DL)

33 April 1 Post-modern landscapes

NO CLASS BUT LECTURE NOTES ARE ON THE COURSE WEB PAGE
34 April 4 Critical social movements
35 6 The Iranian Revolution and after
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36 8 LAST CLASS – REVIEW + COURSE EVALUATION (DL/TB)

ESSAY

Write an essay of 2,500 words, illustrated with maps, diagrams and sketches as appropriate. Due date is Friday
March 11, 2016 (by 4 PM). Your TA will assist you with your essay, and you will be required to draw up a one-
page formal outline in preparation for writing the paper that will be marked (out of 5 percent), and due in your
discussion group during the week of February 1st. Your task is to write a thoughtful, carefully-constructed essay on
ONE of these topics:

1. Discuss the changing geopolitical power of either the United States or the former Soviet Union since 1945.

2. Select a particular activity (e.g., world music, tourism) or event (e.g., Olympics, World Cup of Soccer) and
discuss the globalization of sport and leisure.

3. Discuss the relations between modernisation and environmental degradation, with specific reference to either air
or ground pollution, or forest clearance.

4. Choose a “natural disaster” that has occurred since 2000 and show how the social, political, and cultural (ie., the
non-natural) are integral to its understanding.

5. Compare and contrast news coverage of the Middle East or some other world region on CNN, Al Jazeera, and
BBC web-sites.

6. Choosing either an exotic fruit or an electronic consumer good, provide a commodity chain analysis.

7. Discuss the major economic and social changes that have occurred since 1945 in one of the following cities
(include maps): 1) Singapore, 2) New York, 3) Berlin (east and west), 4) Dubai.

8. With respect to economic development, compare and contrast the strategies and performances of China and
India since 1980.

NOTE: Style: The essay should be typed (double spaced), and should be properly foot- (or end-) noted, with a
bibliography. You must learn, early in your university career, how to use footnotes, how to write them correctly,
and how to make bibliographic entries. There are many guides; you should own one and be familiar with its system.
Remember that the essay must be your own work. Copying another’s work is plagiarism, and is a serious academic
offence. Of course, you will have to rely on others for information and ideas, but such dependence must be cited.
Then footnote, or direct references in the text (according to A. Brown (2012) …), are the common means of
identification. The sources of facts that are less common (especially if they are debatable) and of ideas that are not
your own must be identified. The person reading your essay should be able to check the sources of your information
and ideas. Try to write in your own words; where direct quotations are appropriate, be sure to use quotation marks
and to give a footnote reference. There are penalties for lateness. One half mark (out of 25) will be deducted for
every day the essay is late. Any essay handed in after the last day of our class (April 8th) will not be marked and will
receive a zero grade.

(Readings are available in a course readings package for purchase at UBC Bookstore and electronically at
UBCLIB),

Discussion Group Readings January-April 2016

Week 1 No discussion group meetings,

Week 2 M. Ogborn (2005). “Modernity and modernization’, pp. 339-349 in P. Cloke, P. Crang and M.
Goodwin (editors) Introducing Human Geographies (IHG). 2nd edn. London: Hodder Arnold.
CHAPTER 1 in course reader. P. Crang (2005) ‘Local-global’, pp. 34-50 in P. Cloke et al (eds.)
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IHG. CHAPTER 2 in course reader. J. Sharp (2005) ‘Critical geopolitics’, pp. 353-364 in P. Cloke et
al (eds.) IHG. CHAPTER 3 in course reader.

Week 3 P. Le Billon and F. El Khatib (2004) ‘From free oil to 'freedom oil': Terrorism, war and US
geopolitics in the Persian Gulf’ Geopolitics 9 (1): 109-137. UBCLIB.
M. Sparke (2013) Globalization: Ties, Tensions and Uneven Integration. Malden, MA: Wiley-
Blackwell, pp. 165-74. CHAPTER 4 in course reader.

Week 4 T. L. Friedman (2005) ‘It’s a flat world, after all’ The New York Time Magazine, April 3. Available
on-line at: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/03/magazine/its-a-flat-world-after-all.html?_r=0
Christopherson, S. Garretsen, H., and Martin, R. (2008) ‘The world is not flat: putting globalization
in its place’ Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society 1 (3): 343–349. UBCLIB.

Week 5 M. Wright, Disposable Women and Other Myths of Global Capitalism, pp. 1-16, Routledge, 2006.
This reading has to be read on-line and cannot be downloaded. The following address needs to be
copied and pasted into your browser”
https://books.google.ca/books?hl=en&lr=&id=7Kj-
6T54PrcC&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=Melissa+Wright&ots=IlkYJkpUa7&sig=LoW3GYnBNcyJ9oxcR
dpRMjyBOJg#v=onepage&q=Melissa%20Wright&f=false
Cook, I.J., Evans, J., Griffiths, H., Morris, R., Wrathmell, S. (2007) “'It's more than just what it is':
defetishising commodities, expanding fields, mobilising change” Geoforum, 38 (6), 1113-1126.
UBCLIB

Week 6
M. Levinson, “The world the box made,” in The Box, pp. 1-15, Princeton University Press.
CHAPTER 5 in course reader.
D. Bromwich, “Diary”, London Review of Books, 35, 34-35, 2013. CHAPTER 6 in course reader.

Week 7 Allen Scott (2005) ‘Cinema, culture, globalization’ pp. 159-175 in Hollywood: The Place, The
Industry. Princeton: Princeton University Press. CHAPTER 7 in course reader.

Week 8 A. Gregg (2006) Identity crisis: Multiculturalism, a 20C dream becomes a 21C nightmare’ The
Walrus, March issue. UBCLIB.
P. Gruffudd (2005) ‘Nationalism’ pp. 378-388 in P. Cloke et al (eds.) IHG. CHAPTER 8 in course
reader.
J. Rath (2011) 'Debating multiculturalism', Harvard International Review, 6 Jan 2011, 4pp.
UBCLIB.

Week 9 Doreen Massey (2007) ‘Capital delight’ chapter 1 in her World City. Cambridge: Polity, 29-53.
CHAPTER 9 in course reader.
Mike Davis (2004) ‘Planets of slums: urban involution and the informal proletariat’ New Left
Review 26 (March/April): 5-34. UBCLIB

Week 10 Joel Kotkin et al (2012) The Rise of Post-Familialism. Singapore: Civil Service College, pp. 1-35.
https://www.cscollege.gov.sg/Knowledge/Documents/CGL/The%20Rise%20of%20Post-
Familialism.pdf
Karen Bakker (2005) ‘Katrina: the public transcript of “disaster”’ Environment & Planning D:
Society and Space 23: 795-802. UBCLIB. PLEASE READ ONLY UP TO PAGE 802.

Week 11 Campus field trip: Reading the landscape

Week 12 Tony Judt (2005) Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945. London: Penguin, 1-10. CHAPTER 10
in course reader.
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Katherine Verdery (1996) What Was Socialism, and What Comes Next? Princeton, NJ: Princeton
University Press, 19-38. CHAPTER 11 in course reader.
T. Wood “First Person,” London Review of Books, 37, 13-16, 2015. CHAPTER 12 in course reader.

Week 13 S. Žižek (2010) “Can you give my son a job,” London Review of Books, 32, 8-9, 2010. CHAPTER
13 in course reader.
Wu, F (2008). “China’s great transformation: neoliberalization as establishing a market society”
Geoforum, 39, 1093-1096 UBCLIB.
Frank Lechner (2009) Globalization: The Making of World Society. New Malden, MA: Wiley-
Blackwell, pp. 266-75 and pp. 182-91. CHAPTERS 14 and 15 in course reader.