51³ÉÈËÁÔÆæ

Course Description

Summary

Critical political geography, at its core, is a field interested in the relationship between space, place, and power. How are power dynamics enforced, and contested, through spatial practices and discourses? How do space and place shape intersections of power and resistance? This course will explore these questions in a variety of places, contexts, and scales, using a range of theoretical frameworks, including feminist, Marxist, postcolonial, anti-racist, queer, abolitionist, and other critical lenses. We will examine the production of place and space vis-à-vis key themes in political geography, such as territory and territoriality, borders, nationalism, citizenship, militarism, colonialism, and geopolitics. We will also consider the historical origins of contemporary productions of space, asking how processes of colonialism, imperialism, globalization, urbanization, and the emergence of capitalism have informed power and space over time. Lastly, we will use the theories, scholarship, and case studies from the course to better understand our own place in the world: on campus, in our own homes and neighborhoods, and in our encounters with others as we move in the world.