COURSE SYLLABI

World regional geography invites us to explore how we see the world and how it came to be that way. This course provides an introduction to how geography makes sense of the world by organizing people, places, and environments into regions. Looking beyond a static definition of regions, we will be focusing on the interconnections and global processes that have shaped our understanding of the world. The course is first organized around historical transformations that have fundamentally changed the way we think about world regions and second how different regions have been shaped by those transformations.

Geography is primarily concerned with understanding the world and our place in it. However, the world as we know it is not absolute, prearranged, or even agreed upon; it is continuously remade through our everyday interactions with place, things and one another. Additionally, our understandings of the world are very much informed by our own perspectives and positions in the world in relation to the perspectives and positions of others. Understanding global inequality, social justice and possibilities for change requires a careful consideration of how these interactions and relationships are shaped by place, power and culture. In this class we will follow some of the major historical, geographic and cultural phenomena that have shaped and continue to shape our world today. From Colonialism to Big Data, we will investigate the larger structures and institutions as well as the situated knowledge and practices that go into making our world.

In the time of COVID-19, we are entering an unprecedented era of International Development. As the virus, social injustices, political upheavals, and economic crises rage on around the world, it is important for us to consider the role development has played in getting us to where we are today and what development will look like going forward. In this class, we will look at the origins and history of development as an international capitalist project as well as global attempts for better, more inclusive development.