1100-1215,
TR
Dr. Andrew Herod, 209 GGS
Building. Tel: 542 2856
Email: AHEROD@ARCHES.UGA.EDU
[This syllabus is also posted at: www.ggy.uga.edu/courses/geog3620]
Office Hours: by appointment.
Course Description:
We hear much these days about the global economy and
its impact upon all of our lives.
Globalization is bringing with it a situation in which commodities,
money, people, and information all seem to be flowing across the planet in ever
greater quantities and with ever greater speed. Indeed, some have even argued that we are moving towards a
'borderless world' in which 'nothing is overseas anymore' and in which it is
possible to move between almost any two points on the EarthÕs surface in 24
hours or 48 hours. Such spatial
transformations are bringing with them myriad changes in the geography of
economic activity at the local, regional, national, and global scales,
recasting the interrelationships between economic actors located in different
parts of the world. In this class
we will examine some of these processes to ask the basic question of how
something that occurs in one part of the world has implications for someone who
may live thousands of miles away.
However, in seeking to understand the economic geography of a particular
place, region, country, or even the entire globe –and how that is ever
changing– we cannot simply look at economic factors. Other social, historical, political and
cultural influences also shape economic geographies. Thus, although in this course we will seek to examine how
processes of globalization are recasting patterns of economic development at a
number of different geographical scales, we will not rely solely on economics
for our explanations. Rather, we
will incorporate a much broader range of subjects to explain contemporary
economic geographies.
The class will be conducted partly as a
lecture course and partly as a seminar, with students discussing classroom
topics. Students are expected to
attend class and to participate in classroom discussions.
Required Text: A reader of course materials is available from Athens Blueprint and
Copy Shop, 269 W Dougherty St, 548 0656.
Important Dates:
Thursday, February 15: Term paper outline due.
March 12-16: Spring Break
Thursday, April 27: Last day of this class
Tuesday, May 8, 1200-300: Final
Exam.
Course Requirements:
Term paper (4/12): 50%
Final Exam (5/8): 20%
Class participation: 10%
Exams will cover lecture materials and class
readings. Each exam is cumulative.
Outline for Term Paper:
You will have to write a term paper as a major part of
your grade for this class. I am
pretty flexible about the topic, but it must relate in some way to the themes
of the course. Thus, the range of
potential topics is quite broad, bounded only by your imagination and the
constraints of picking a manageable topic. In your research paper you might want to address some of the
following issues: what is the geography of what you are studying? how do we explain how these
geographical patterns have come about? what changes are taking place in the
current geography of your chosen topic?
Are there local, national and global dimensions to your topic? The paper should be typed,
double-spaced with good grammar and no typos, and be approximately 15 pages
long (not including bibliography).
You must include a bibliography which lists all your
sources. If you take a piece of
information from a source and do not identify the source, this is called
PLAGIARISM. Plagiarism is a form
of academic dishonesty punishable by the University (see below).
You must provide a 1 page outline of your paper topic
on Thursday, Feb 15. Your term
paper is due on Thursday, April 12.
UGA policy on academic integrity (cheating): The
University rules on cheating (in all its forms) are quite clear. Students guilty of cheating can be
dismissed from the University. If
you are having problems with the material we are covering in class, it is far better
to come and see me and deal with the problem early than it is to leave it until
the day before an exam or paper is due!!
Course Outline:
Topic 1: Introduction
–What is Economic Geography?
–Basic Concepts
–The Shrinking globe
–Is there a difference between
economic internationalization and economic
globalization?
Readings:
Herod, A. (2005): 'Introduction,'
'Envisioning global visions,' 'Interpreting globalization,' 'Talking
globalization,' and 'Globalizing empires.' Forthcoming in Geographies of Globalization.
Dicken, P. (1998): 'A new
geo-economy.' In P. Dicken Global
Shift: Transforming the World Economy
(3rd edition), pp. 1-15.
Sjolander, C. T. (1996) 'The rhetoric of globalization: whatÕs
in a wor(l)d?' International
Journal 51: 603-616.
Topic 2: Precursors
to the Global Economy
–Uneven development and the legacy of colonialism
Readings:
Knox, P. and Agnew, J. (1998): 'Pre-industrial foundations.' In P. Knox and J. Agnew The Geography of the World Economy, pp. 123-147.
Franke, R.W. and Chasin, B.H. (1980):
'Farmers, herders and empires: West Africa before colonialism.' In Franke, R.W. and Chasin, B.H,
Seeds of famine: Ecological Destruction and the Development Dilemma in the West
African Sahel, pp. 40-62.
Franke, R.W. and Chasin, B.H. (1980):
'Planting the seeds of famine: European colonialism in the Sahel.' In Franke, R.W. and Chasin, B.H, Seeds
of famine: Ecological Destruction and the Development Dilemma in the West
African Sahel, pp. 63-83.
Topic 3: Restructuring
the global economy and the world of the transnational corporation
–Deindustrialization and the U.S.
economy
Readings:
Dicken, P. (1998): 'A brief historical
perspective', & 'The global economic map: trends in production, trade and
investment.' In P. Dicken Global
Shift: Transforming the World Economy
(3rd edition), pp. 19-70.