GEOG519 (HAM)
Crossing Boundaries
30 points
Coordinator: Professor Robyn Longhurst and Associate Professor Lynda Johnston
Email: robynl@waikato.ac.nz and lyndaj@waikato.ac.nz
Paper description
Internationally, there is a growing interest amongst geographers in ‘the body’ and its links to space and place. ‘The body’ is now being used in urban, social, economic, gender, medical and cultural geography papers and research.
Paper Overview
The paper begins with an introduction to various theories (such as phenomenology, poststructuralism, feminism, and psychoanalysis) on the body. We also focus on how and why geographers have become interested in the body. We address such questions as: what is the specificity (if any?) of geographers’ perspective on the body? In what ways is ‘the body’ a transdisciplinary topic?
Following this we examine a number of specific aspects of embodiment including gendered bodies, sexed bodies, ‘bodies at work’, ‘touring’ bodies, ‘racialised’ bodies, (dis)abled bodies, and animal bodies. During each of the sessions we will focus attention on the ways in which ‘place matters’ to bodies and how bodies and places are mutually constituted.
Paper Objectives
- To introduce graduate students to the study of ‘the body’ within the discipline of geography
- To enable students to contribute to contemporary theoretical debates in geography
- To develop students’ skills in critical thinking, reading and writing.
Assessment
Internal assessment/examination ratio is 1:0.
1. Semester participation - weekly questions 20%
2. Essay 25%
3. Seminar presentation on one of the weekly
readings (to be written up and handed in) 25%
4. Research Project 30%
Required Book
There is not a textbook for this paper, but a reading manual will be made available.
Timetable and Organisation:
Refer to the Online Timetable
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