GEG-40006 - Module Specification
School of Geography, Geology and the Environment
Faculty of Natural Sciences

Programme/Approved Electives for 2024/25

Available as a Free Standing Elective

Co-requisites

None

Prerequisites

None

Barred Combinations

GEG-30016

Description for 2024/25

Are economic development and environmental concerns always opposed? Why doesn't environmental conservation seem to work? And what areas should be conservation priorities to sustain global ecosystems? What does international development assistance do for the people who depend most directly on their local environments for their livelihoods? This module helps students find their own answers to some of these pressing questions by introducing them to development geography. Students explore key ideas from this subdiscipline including political ecology - the study of environments as products of social action - and performative economy - the idea of 'economy' as an abstract realm we bring into being by describing it. The coursework involves using in-depth case studies of economy and ecology to evaluate different pathways towards - and definitions of - 'development.'

This module aims to provide students with an understanding of economic development and environmental transformation through an exploration of current debates in Human Geography. It introduces students to some of the key issues within the sub-discipline of development geography as well as allied debates in political and economic geography. The module aims to familiarize students with geographical understandings of economic and environmental history, including local resistance to 'green grabbing' and conservation. It introduces the sectoral, area-based, and conceptual approaches that characterise much development geography research through case-studies of global economic and environmental concerns and local resistance to transnational environmental actions. Assessing case-study material drawn from across the developing world will develop the skills necessary for students to evaluate and critique explanations of the diversity of global development and conservation outcomes.

Intended Learning Outcomes

systematically evaluate conceptual approaches to economic development and environmental transformation in detailed case studies to generate a consultancy report: 1
identify and critically assess different theories of economic development and environmental transformation, especially in relation to the ways these theories explain spatial inequalities among and within nation states and global regions: 1
select and interpret relevant literature to analyse the strengths and weaknesses of theoretical approaches and research methodologies in development geography: 1
describe and then critique the empirical basis on which differing geographical theories of development were formulated, placing their interpretations in the context of wider debates in social sciences: 1
identify and account for, in terms of theories of development, expressions of resistance to conservation and 'green' development among indigenous, peasant and marginal groups, contextualising that resistance in transnational and networked activism: 1,2

Study hours

20 x 1 hours in situ activities
40 hours active learning via Talis-Aspire and asynchronous resources on Teams
80 hours independent report preparation
10 hours group Sway presentation preparation via Teams

School Rules

None

Description of Module Assessment