Seminar Politische Geographie (423.1)
Dr. Tobias Hagmann, Prof. Dr. Benedikt Korf
Im Sommersemester, Mo, 13:00-15:45, Beginn: 18.2.2008
This graduate seminar explores contemporary issues of political geography with a particular emphasis on developing countries. A central concern is to familiarize students with the diversity of existing theoretical approaches and ongoing controversies about topics as diverse as civil wars, state collapse, environmental change or international development aid. Key questions that are at the centre of this seminar are: What are the spatial dimensions of international politics and how do political geography, political science and anthropology explain these phenomena? Which contemporary theoretical perspectives on the state, nature and multilocal solidarities confront each other? How can we explain development issues from a post-colonial viewpoint that integrates agency and structure, empirical fieldwork and more universal theories? What is the contribution of geography to foster a better understanding of complex development problems? Upon completion of the seminar, participants will have reflected upon the spatio-temporal dynamics of North-South politics, have dissected the hybridity of nature-society relations, and will be familiar with major contributions of contemporary political geography. Students are asked to critically engage with these and other issues both during the seminar and in their writings. Practicing scholarly skills including academic writing, presentations and debating in class is a major seminar objective.
The seminar consists of three thematic modules; ‘State, conflict and geographies of violence’ (module 1), ‘Nature, resources and geographies of power’ (module 2) and ‘Ethnographies of aid and moral geographies’ (module 3). Each seminar consists of a three hours session. In the first hour we will provide a synoptic overview of the course session’s topic on the basis of a lecture. The second hour is devoted to student presentation of an article and subsequent debate in class. The third hour will alternatively be used for group work, training in scientific writing or guest lectures.
Upon successful completion of the course students are entitled to 6 ECTS credit points.