Introduction

Through an interdisciplinary examination of place, locale and landscape this course will introduce students to what cultural geographer Doreen Massey describes as space as the co-constitutive product with social relations/interactions. Often space is treated as if it is an inert surface upon which human history plays out and conversely, social relations often are investigated with little attention given to the spatial organization of society. In this course, we will break down this dualism by exploring the social history of places and by spatially locating social experiences. The course readings will combine social theory, cultural geography, rural sociology, history, discussions of community and globalisation, and environmental studies. In this regard the course might be of interest to students who have chosen the Global Change, Cultural Studies, Community Studies, Canadian Studies, Historical Studies MAIS Areas of Inquiry, as well as those who have an interest in environment, spatial theory, and rural sociology.

Course Outline

1. Spatial Patterns We will begin the course by exploring the importance of meanings of place and space and human impacts on the landscape. We will discuss the relationship between space and place and consider the importance of place from both a geographical and environmental perspective. As a part of this we will also look at the relationship between place and community.
2. Changing Configurations of Space We will call into question the notion of geographic essentialism and consider how both places and the meanings ascribed to them change over time. As a part of our discussion we will consider how nature is socially constructed, that is how the same natural environment has variable meanings.
3. Mapping Race, Class and Gender We will explore diverse experiences of place and landscapes by investigating geographies of absence and presence. This section of the course will include in the discussion the intersections of power, inequality and privilege with place and space. One way to ground the abstract principles of "spaces of exclusion" would be to explore the historical geography of Canada and consider how different identities are ingrained in the fabric of this country. Specifically this might include considering the experiences of pioneer women and men, and the interactions of Natives, French and English in the European settlement of Canada. This examination might be juxtaposed against a discussion of Said's Orientalism in order to bring forward for discussion how geography and identity intermix and the ways in which West exercises power and domination over the East.
4. The Production and Consumption of Global and Local Landscapes In this section we will examine the impact of the forces of globalisation on rural localities as a means of investigating the relationship between the global and the local. We will also draw some threads together by considering how globalisation has affected community dynamics and spaces of interest to environmentalists such as wilderness areas.