Class Meetings: TR 2-3:15pm via Zoom
Dr. Matthew W. Wilson
Email: matthew.w.wilson@uky.edu
Twitter: @wilsonism
Office: Patterson Office Tower (POT) 861
Office Hours: by appointment
Introduces students to geographic perspectives, theories, research and professional opportunities. Applied quantitative and qualitative approaches to geographic research are reviewed and examples from current literature presented and discussed.
This course is designed as an introduction to the discipline of geography for new majors, and as such will help students:
This course will be composed of lectures, discussions based on assigned readings, and student presentations.
There is no required textbook for this course. Assigned weekly readings will either be made available via Canvas, or students will be asked to locate the reading using library services.
Students will be assessed in this course using a variety of methods. Participation in and preparations for class discussions are fundamental to successful completion of the course. Assessment is distributed in the following ways, for a total of 100 points:
Final grades will be based on a standard scale, i.e., A=90-100%; B=80-89%; C=70-79%; D=60-69%; E=less than 60%. Grades for all assignments will be available via the University of Kentucky Canvas system (http://uk.instructure.com).
There are two exams: one at midterm and one final exam which will be comprehensive. Both will be held online via Canvas and students are encouraged to use their notes and readings.
Each week that there is an assigned reading, students will be asked to write a reading response, on Canvas. These will be used to gauge a student’s depth of understanding, to formulate exam questions, and to determine the course of the discussion. Each response must include:
Throughout the course, students will be asked to complete small exercises and projects, to better understand the range of geographical inquiry and research. These may require some field study as well as library research.
Students will write a report on a book written by a geographer on a topic of their choosing. The report should be no longer than 2,000 words and should answer the following four questions:
Review the course syllabus carefully, paying special attention to due dates and assignment instructions. If you have questions about course expectations as overviewed by this syllabus, please contact the instructor as soon as possible.
Attendance is not taken nor required, however, note that:
Students need to notify the professor of absences prior to class in writing (or within one week after the absence). S.R. 5.2.4.2 defines the following as acceptable reasons for excused absences: (a) serious illness, (b) illness or death of family member, (c) University-related trips, (d) major religious holidays, and (e) other circumstances found to fit “reasonable cause for nonattendance” by the professor.
Students anticipating an absence for a major religious holiday are responsible for notifying the instructor in writing of anticipated absences due to their observance of such holidays no later than the last day in the semester to add a class. Information regarding dates of major religious holidays may be obtained through the religious liaison, Mr. Jake Karnes (859-257-2754). Students are expected to withdraw from the class if more than 20% of the classes scheduled for the semester are missed (excused or unexcused) per university policy.
Students may be asked to verify their absences in order for them to be considered excused. Senate Rule 5.2.4.2 states that faculty have the right to request “appropriate verification” when students claim an excused absence because of illness or death in the family. Appropriate notification of absences due to university-related trips is required prior to the absence.
In accordance with University guidelines, students must wear UK-approved face coverings in the classroom and academic buildings (e.g., faculty offices, laboratories, libraries, performance/design studios, and common study areas where students might congregate). If UK-approved face coverings are not worn over the nose and mouth, students will be asked to leave the classroom.
Students should complete their daily online wellness screening before accessing university facilities and arriving to class. Students should not move chairs or barriers in classrooms and should socially distance at all times, leaving a six (6) foot radius from other people. Masks and hand sanitizer can be found at entrances to this building if needed. Students should leave enough space when entering and exiting a room. Students should not crowd doorways at the beginning or end of class.
The instructor may choose to remove a mask when pedagogically necessary at the front of the classroom and behind a clear barrier. The instructor’s mask will be replaced when it is no longer necessary to have it removed, or when the class meeting is complete.
Students are responsible for checking their UKY email account; the class listserv is what will be used to send communications outside class. Email is the best way to contact the instructor (place ‘GEO200’ in the subject heading). Please allow at least 24 hours for a response by email during weekdays. The instructor will not necessarily respond to emails over the weekends.
Students are strongly encouraged to exchange contact information with classmates, in order to facilitate the objectives of this course.
Meetings of this course may be recorded. All video and audio recordings of lecturers and class meetings, provided by the instructors, are for educational use by students in this class only. They are available only through the Canvas shell for this course and are not to be copied, shared, or redistributed.
The University of Kentucky Student Code of Conduct defines Invasion of Privacy as using electronic or other devices to make a photographic, audio, or video record of any person without their prior knowledge or consent when such a recording is likely to cause injury or distress. As addressed in the Student Code of Conduct, students are expected to follow appropriate university policies and maintain the security of linkblue accounts used to access recorded class materials. Recordings may not be reproduced, shared with those not enrolled in the class, or uploaded to other online environments.
If the instructor or a University of Kentucky office plans any other uses for the recordings, beyond this class, students identifiable in the recordings will be notified to request consent prior to such use. In anticipation of such cases, students may be asked to complete an “authorization of use” form by a faculty member.
Video and audio recordings by students are not permitted during the class unless the student has received prior permission from the instructor. Any sharing, distribution, and or uploading of these recordings outside of the parameters of the class is prohibited. Students with specific recording accommodations approved by the Disability Resource Center should present their official documentation to the instructor.
All content for this course, including handouts, assignments, and lectures are the intellectual property of the instructors and cannot be reproduced or sold without prior permission from the instructors. A student may use the material for reasonable educational and professional purposes extending beyond this class, such as studying for a comprehensive or qualifying examination in a degree program, preparing for a professional or certification examination, or to assist in fulfilling responsibilities at a job or internship.
If you are having difficulty with any course material, please contact the instructor. There are also other resources which you should find useful:
Resources exist across campus to assist students with academic success, wellness, finances, and belonging. Learn more at https://www.uky.edu/basicneeds/home.
Meeting deadlines is an important professional practice. Consult the course schedule, below, for the due dates of the course assignments. A 10-percent deduction will be applied to the final score of your assignment for submissions after the deadline on the same calendar day, with an additional 10-percent deduction for each additional calendar day the assignment is late. If the assignment is not delivered by the next class meeting, the assignment will not be accepted.
This course, if successful, will expose you to a variety of concepts. You are expected to draw upon these various ideas, but you must be transparent and honest about your use of these ideas. Please get help if you’re uncertain about this expectation! Per university policy, students shall not plagiarize, cheat, or falsify or misuse academic records. Students are expected to adhere to University policy on cheating and plagiarism in all courses. The minimum penalty for a first offense is a zero on the assignment on which the offense occurred. If the offense is considered severe or the student has other academic offenses on their record, more serious penalties, up to suspension from the university may be imposed.
Plagiarism and cheating are serious breaches of academic conduct. Each student is advised to become familiar with the various forms of academic dishonesty as explained in the Code of Student Rights and Responsibilities. Complete information can be found at the following website: http://www.uky.edu/Ombud. A plea of ignorance is not acceptable as a defense against the charge of academic dishonesty. It is important that you review this information as all ideas borrowed from others need to be properly credited.
Part II of Student Rights and Responsibilities (available at http://www.uky.edu/StudentAffairs/Code/part2.html) states that all academic work, written or otherwise, submitted by students to their instructors or other academic supervisors, is expected to be the result of their own thought, research, or self-expression. In cases where students feel unsure about the question of plagiarism involving their own work, they are obliged to consult their instructors on the matter before submission.
When students submit work purporting to be their own, but which in any way borrows ideas, organization, wording or anything else from another source without appropriate acknowledgement of the fact, the students are guilty of plagiarism. Plagiarism includes reproducing someone else’s work, whether it be a published article, chapter of a book, a paper from a friend or some file, or something similar to this. Plagiarism also includes the practice of employing or allowing another person to alter or revise the work which a student submits as his/her own, whoever that other person may be.
Students may discuss assignments among themselves or with an instructor or tutor, but when the actual work is done, it must be done by the student, and the student alone. When a student’s assignment involves research in outside sources of information, the student must carefully acknowledge exactly what, where and how he/she employed them. If the words of someone else are used, the student must put quotation marks around the passage in question and add an appropriate indication of its origin. Making simple changes while leaving the organization, content and phraseology intact is plagiaristic. However, nothing in these Rules shall apply to those ideas which are so generally and freely circulated as to be a part of the public domain (Section 6.3.1).
Please note: Any assignment you turn in may be submitted to an electronic database to check for plagiarism.
Students should at all times be respectful of fellow students, the professor or teaching assistant(s), and the University of Kentucky. Some basic reminders:
If you have a documented disability that requires academic accommodations, please see me as soon as possible during scheduled office hours. In order to receive accommodations in this course, you must provide me with a Letter of Accommodation from the Disability Resource Center (725 Rose Street, Suite 407 Multidisciplinary Science Building, 8AM to 4:30PM, 859-257-2754, email address: jkarnes@email.uky.edu) for coordination of campus disability services available to students with disabilities.
Subject to change. Page assignments will be confirmed a week prior to the scheduled discussion.
| Week | Topic | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| 1: Jan. 26, 28 |
Introductions | Harrison, Pile, Thrift, “The Curious, the Exalted, the Occult, the Passion”, in Patterned Ground (2004) |
| 2: Feb. 2, 4 |
Nature-Culture | Harrison, Pile, Thrift, “Science and the Landscape” and “Developing Patterns: Ethologies and the Intense Entanglements of Process”, in Patterned Ground (2004) |
| 3: Feb. 9, 11 |
Discipline | Heffernan, “Histories of Geography”, in Key Concepts in Geography (2003) |
| 4: Feb. 16, 18 |
Research | Harrowell, Davies, Disney, “Making Space for Failure in Geographic Research”, in The Professional Geographer (2018) |
| 5: Feb. 23, 25 |
Method | Rose, “Situating Knowledges”, in Progress in Human Geography (1997) |
| 6: Mar. 2, 4 |
Theory | Demeritt, “Social theory and the reconstruction of science and geography”, in Transactions of the IBG (1996) |
| 7: Mar. 9, 11 |
Review and Midterm Exam | - - - |
| 8: Mar. 16, 18 |
Cities & Societies | Bonds, “Race and Ethnicity II”, in Progress in Human Geography (2020) |
| 9: Mar. 23, 25 |
Cities & Societies, cont. | Eaves, “The Imperative of Struggle”, in Gender, Place & Culture (2019) |
| 10: Mar. 30, Apr. 1 |
Environment | Hovorka, “Animal Geographies III”, in Progress in Human Geography (2019) |
| 11: Apr. 6, 8 |
Environment, cont. | Sundberg, “Diabolic Caminos in the Desert and Cat Fights on the Rio”, in Annals of the American Association of Geographers (2011) |
| 12: Apr. 13, 15 |
Mapping & GIS | Leszczynski, “Digital Methods III”, in Progress in Human Geography (2020) |
| 13: Apr. 20, 22 |
Mapping & GIS, cont. | Fields, “Automated Landlord”, in Environment & Planning A: Economy & Space (2019) |
| 14: Apr. 27, 29 |
Book Review Presentations | - - - |
| 15: May 4 |
Review for Final Exam | - - - |
Final Exam Due: Tuesday, May 11th, 5pm on Canvas
Bonds, Anne. 2020. “Race and ethnicity II: White women and the possessive geographies of white supremacy.” Progress in Human Geography 44 (4):778-788.
Demeritt, David. 1996. “Social theory and the reconstruction of science and geography.” Transactions of the IBG 21 (3):484-503.
Eaves, LaToya. 2019. “The imperative of struggle: feminist and gender geographies in the United States.” Gender, Place and Culture 26 (7-9):1314-1321.
Fields, Desiree. 2019. “Automated landlord: Digital technologies and post-crisis financial accumulation.” Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space.
Harrison, Stephan, Steve Pile, and Nigel Thrift. 2004. “Grounding Patterns: Deciphering (Dis)Order in the Entanglements of Nature and Culture.” In Patterned Ground: Entanglements of Nature and Culture, edited by Harrison, Pile and Thrift, 15-41. London: Reaktion Books.
Harrowell, Elly, Thom Davies, and Tom Disney. 2018. “Making Space for Failure in Geographic Research.” The Professional Geographer 70 (2):230-238.
Heffernan, Mike. 2003. “Histories of Geography.” In Key Concepts in Geography, edited by Sarah L. Holloway, Stephen P. Rice and Gill Valentine, 3-22. London: Sage.
Hovorka, Alice J. 2019. “Animal geographies III: Species relations of power.” Progress in Human Geography 43 (4):749-757.
Leszczynski, Agnieszka. 2020. “Digital methods III: The digital mundane.” Progress in Human Geography 44 (6):1194-1201.
Rose, Gillian. 1997. “Situating knowledges: positionality, reflexivities and other tactics.” Progress in Human Geography 21 (3):305-320.
Sundberg, Juanita. 2011. “Diabolic Caminos in the Desert and Cat Fights on the Rio: A Posthumanist Political Ecology of Boundary Enforcement in the United States–Mexico Borderlands.” Annals of the Association of American Geographers 101 (2):318-336.