Andy Turner's GEOG2300 Web Page @ School of Geography, University of Leeds

Blog
- DSG Meeting 2
  - Short individual discussion of ideas week commencing 2012-03-12
- DSG Meeting 1
  - 2012-03-09 First group get together
- One-to-one LeedsforLife meeting 3
  - ...
- 2012-02-14 Group Meeting 7: Presentation of initial ideas
  - Eleanor
    - Technology, cartography and politics
    - Actor Network Theory
    - Objective and subjective nature of geography
  - Tom
    - Local impacts and perception of Hungerford following the Hungerford Massacre
    - Future provision of health and social care services for the elderly
  - Emma
    - Notting Hill Carnival
    - Britishness
  - Greg
    - International Grocery Retailing
    - Effects of e-Commerce on the retailing landscape
    - Food waste/recycling
  - Anna
    - Borders Territiory and Migration
  - Joshua
    - Impacts of the recession on large scale developments
  - Rebecca
    - Travelling for medical care
    - Homelessness
- 2012-01-31 Group Meeting 6: What makes a good dissertation proposal?
  - Building on semester one's GEOG2300 lectures which explored various aspects of developing dissertation ideas, this tutorial is to focus more specifically on writing a dissertation proposal - your third and final piece of assessment for this module.
  - There is a form that sets out a structure for a proposal which can be found in the dissertation design section of the GEOG2300 VLE page. In this tutorial we are to examine this form and think about what kinds of information need to go in each section and how best to present it.
  - Here are some references to documents that might help you develop a dissertation topic:
    - Blaikie, N. (2010) Designing Social Research (2nd edition), Cambridge: Polity Press (see especially chapter 1 on preparing research designs).
    - Clifford, N.J., Valentine, G. (2003) Getting started in geographical research: how this book can help. In Clifford, N.J., Valentine G. (eds.) Key Methods in Geography, London: Sage, pp. 1-16.
    - Flowerdew, R., Martin, D. (2005) Methods in Human Geography: A Guide for students doing a research project, Harlow: Pearson (see chapter 3 on choosing a topic and chapter 4 on finding previous work on your topic).
    - Kitchin, R., Tate, N.J. (2000) Conducting Research in Human Geography, Harlow: Pearson (see chapters 1 and 2 on thinking about research and planning a research project).
- One-to-one LeedsforLife meeting 2
  - ...
- 2011-11-22 Group Meeting 5: Feminist Geography
  - Tutorial about the nature and potential of feminist geography.
  - Preparation
    - Moss, P. (2002) Taking on, Thinking about, and Doing Feminist Research in Geography. In Moss, P. (ed.) Feminist Geography in Practice: Research and Methods, Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 1-20.
      - Notes
        
        Harding (1987 page 2-3) defines "method as techniques used in gathering evidence, methodology as a theory and analysis of how research should proceed, and epistemology as a theory of knowledge", these are important "beginning points in understanding processes involved in undertaking feminist research." (page 2)
        
        "...method has to do with doing research, methodology had to do with approaching research, and epistemology had to do with knowledge associated with doing and approaching research." (page 2)
        "Doing Feminist research means actually undertaking the task of collecting and analyzing information while engaging in feminist politics" (page 3)
        
        Specific feminist geography topics
        
        "spatializing the construction of identities" (page 2)
        
        "contextualizing meanings of places in relation to gender" (page 2)
        
        "demonstrating how gender as a social construction intersects with other socially constructed categories within particular spatialities" (page 2)
        
        Waves (from page 4)
        
        First wave
        
        Social reform
        
        suffrage
        
        temperance movements
        
        Second wave
        
        equitable pay
        
        sexual liberation
        
        consciousness-raising
        
        Third wave
        
        difference
        
        speaking from the margins
        
        positioning self and other within multiple oppressions
        
        Femninist politics
        
        "pro-woman" (page 3)
        
        "anti-oppression" (page 3)
        
        "based on social justice" (page 3)
        
        "Geography as a discipline has privilaged a masculine subject position and reproduced binaries such as male/female, culture/nature, and object/subject where more value has been placed on the first part of the dichotomy" (Page 7)
        
        There are link to Marxist Geography and Quanititative Geography
        
        Key words
        
        reflexive
        
        qualitative
        
        identity
        
        subjectivity
        
        self
        
        ambiguities
        
        contradictions
        
        paradoxes
        
        certainties
        
        congruences
        
        method
        
        methodology
        
        epistomology
        
        knowledge
        
        power
        
        power relations
        
        social divisions
        
        social justice
        
        context
        
        discourse
        
        ethnography
        
        difference
        
        ethics
        
        politics
        
        equity
        
        equality
        
        anti-oppression
        
        experience
        
        praxis (putting theory into practice)
      - Pratt, G. (2009) Circulating Sadness: Witnessing Filipina Mothers' Stories of Family Separation. In Gender, Place & Culture, 16(1), pp. 3-22. [Online] http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09663690802574753 [Accessed on] 2011-11-28
        
        Notes
        
        An example Feminist Geography journal article
        
        A reflection of collaborative research based on a project that aimed to share similar stories of grief and bring a community together to "organize to end the conditions that create this grief" (page 17)
        
        A focus on the use of testimony in rasing awareness and changing spectators into witnesses of social injustice
        
        Key words
        
        affection
        
        testimony
        
        evidence
        
        witnessing
        
        milieu (physical or social setting in which something occurs)
        
        empathy
        
        identification
        
        family
        
        convention
    - Some questions to think about:
      - What are the key characteristics of feminist geography?
      - Do you have to be a feminist or a woman to do feminist geography?
      - To what extent is feminist geography research and practice a radical departure from 'traditional' human geography?
      - What are some of the critiques of feminist geography?
      - What are some of the challenges of using a feminist methodology - if you were to undertake the kind of research that Pratt describes in her work, then what might you find challenging about this kind of work?
  - Notes
    - Definition of feminist
      - Something or someone that raises awareness of the struggles of individuals and groups that have identifying characteristics. This may become more than awareness and take the form of direct action to mitigate in its attempt to change things for the better. It has its origins in the promotion of female groups, but seems to be becoming more broadly concerned with other identifyable groups that may seem in some way victimised.
      - "Feminism is a set of movements aimed at aimed defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminism).
    - Feminist Geography
      - The geographical study of feminist issues.
    - What are the key characteristics of feminist geography?
      - Political, engaged in issues of social justice and power relations
      - Overlaps more with marxist geography than it does with quantitative geography
    - Do you have to be a feminist or a woman to do feminist geography?
      - Not really, but engagement may be easier if one can empathise more with subjects from whome th research tries to extract opinion and reflection.
    - To what extent is feminist geography research and practice a radical departure from 'traditional' human geography?
    - What are some of the critiques of feminist geography?
      - What topics does feminist geography critique?
      - What are the criticisms we might have of feminist geography in general?
    - What are some of the challenges of using a feminist methodology - if you were to undertake the kind of research that Pratt describes in her work, then what might you find challenging about this kind of work?
      - It can be a long and drawn out process
        
        Idenitfying and developing a relationship with subjects takes time
        
        The study may be based on in depth interviews that take place over a long time frame
      - To be done well it may require a huge amount of planning and ethical consideration
      - It requires emotional understanding, empathy and appreciation of peoples differences
      - It struggles greatly with its own bias
      - Imposing prejudice and concerns about having done this (potential negative affects on the subjects) can overload the research
      - How to best disseminate reflections to a wider audience?
    - It was suggested that Geography is a male dominated discipline
      - This could be true, but nobody argued contrarily
    - Dissertations
      - Moving from topics to working titles and research outlines
      - Thinking about data and methods
      - Developing project proposal with risk assessments and ethical consideration forms
    - One-to-one meeting planning
- 2011-11-15 Follow up email from Group Meeting 4
  - John Holloway seminar series:
    - http://johnhollowayinleeds.wordpress.com/2011/10/17/rage-against-the-rule-of-money/
  - Robert Wright (2001) Non-zero: The logic of human destiny http://www.nonzero.org/
- 2011-11-15 Group Meeting 4: Marxist Geography
  - Tutorial about critically exploring the usefulness of Marxist perspectives in explaining and understanding the recent 'global' financial crisis.
  - Preparation
    - The RSA's animated version of Harvey's Crises of Capitalism lecture (11mins) (26th April 2010)
      - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOP2V_np2c0
      - Notes
        
        Crises of Capitalism
        
        Factors
        
        Human frailty
        
        Predatory instincts
        
        Instincts for mastery
        
        Delusions of investors
        
        Greed
        
        Institutional failure
        
        Regulation
        
        Accountability
        
        Obsession with Efficiency of a Free Market in a Global World comprised of Nation States
        
        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_market
        
        Cultural
        
        Home ownership
        
        Debt
        
        Policy Failure
        
        Wrong sort of regulation
        
        Failure to recognise and mitigate systemic risk
        
        Problems of capitalism
        
        Recognised by Karl Marx
        
        Internal conflict in capital accumulation
        
        Capitalism never solves its problems, it moves them around geographically
        
        Imbalances in the power of different groups in society leads to gross inequality, social unrest and crisis (maybe even revolution)
        
        Symptoms
        
        Wages have reduced in real time and indebtedness has increased
        
        Rising inequalities
        
        Growing social unrest and increasing class divisions in society
        
        Solution
        
        Time to talk and devise a new system?
        
        If there is to be a change, what system would be better and how does it get put in place?
        
        Are there local solutions to this global problem?
        
        The RSA Animate is a great format of communication and it puts the points across in a clear, entertaining and visual fashion.
        
        I question Harvey's suggestion that a solution to this may form from greater membership of anti-capitalist organisations.
        
        I do agree that broad based discussions are important and that we do at least make an attempt to right the wrongs of this world and create a new one.
    - Sen, A. (2009) 'Capitalism Beyond the Crisis', The New York Review of Books, March 26. [Online] http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2009/mar/26/capitalism-beyond-the-crisis/ [Accessed on] 2011-11-09
      - Notes
        
        "The question that arises most forcefully now concerns the nature of capitalism and whether it needs to be changed."
        
        Focuses on:
        
        The need for a "new world" based on pragmatism and social values that can be defended ethically.
        
        What economics is needed for this
        
        How to mitigate the current crises and change to the new world system.
        
        Provides definitions of capitalism and details of its history and its formulation based on systems of law, contracts, property rights and ownership.
        
        Identifies some problems with the current capitalist system
        
        How to resource capital payments that occur largely outside markets
        
        Social security
        
        Unemployment benefit, public pensions, other features of social security
        
        Local Public Service Provision
        
        Education, health care, refuse collection etc...
        
        Maintaining public security and supplying social services
        
        Adam Smith wrote of a need for a resource base for paper money.
        
        Something like a fixed exchange rate for gold or silver or some other finite material commodity.
        
        Adam Smith argued that 'humanity, justice, generosity, and public spirit, are the qualities most useful to others'
        
        "The insufficient regulation of financial activities has implications not only for legitimate practices, but also for a tendancy towards overspeculation.
        
        "The implicit faith in the ability of the market economy to correct itself, which is largely responsible for the removal of established regulations in the United States, tended to ignore the activities of prodigals and projectors in a way that would have shocked Adam Smith."
        
        "While Keynes was very involved with the question of how to increase aggregate income, he was relatively less engaged in analyzing problems of unequal distribution of wealth and of social welfare. In contrast, Pigou not only wrote the classic study of welfare economics, but he also pioneered the measurement of economic inequality as a major indicator for economic assessment and policy."
        
        Further reading
        
        Arthur Cecil Pigou
        
        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Cecil_Pigou
        
        Karl Marx
        
        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Marx
        
        Adam Smith
        
        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Smith
        
        John Maynard Keynes
        
        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Maynard_Keynes
        
        John Holloway
        
        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Holloway_(sociologist)
        
        http://johnhollowayinleeds.wordpress.com/2011/10/17/rage-against-the-rule-of-money/
        
        Adam Smith, An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Vol. I ed. R. H. Campbell and A. S. Skinner, vol. II of the Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1981). [Online] http://oll.libertyfund.org/title/220 [Accessed on] 2011-11-15
        
        Wikipedia Adam Smith: The Wealth of Nations
        
        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wealth_of_Nations
        
        Pigou, A.C. (1929) Industrial Fluctuations (London: Macmillan)
        
        Pigou, A.C. (1920) The Economics of Welfare (London: Macmillan)
        
        Atkinson, A.B. (1983) Social Justice and Public Policy (MIT Press, 1983)
        
        Champernowne D., (1984) Social Justice and Public Policy Review. The Economic Journal , Vol. 94, No. 373, pp. 167-169 [Online] http://www.jstor.org/stable/2232226 [Accessed on] 2011-11-15
    - Some questions to think about:
      - What are the key points of Harvey's argument?
      - What aspects of his argument would you describe as being Marxist in nature?
      - What potential weaknesses are there in his argument (e.g. think, for example, about Sen's comments about whether European and American economic systems are genuinely capitalist)?
      - Do you think that we witnessing a crisis of capitalism (as Harvey suggests) or a failure in the workings of particular (capitalist) financial institutions (as Sen perhaps suggests)?
      - How useful is Harvey's analysis in offering a way out of the crisis and an alternative economic future?
    - Additional videos/readings:
      - The full version of Harvey's lecture without the animations:is available via:
        
        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26o22Y33h9s
      - Harvey's lecture is based on his new (2010) book, The Enigma of Capital and Crises of Capitalism. Chapter one of this will shortly appear on the VLE for those of you who want to read more about Harvey's ideas.
      - Below are also some reviews of Harvey's new book, that you might be interested in looking at:
        
        Buchan, J. (2010) Enigma of Capital and the Crises of Capitalism, New Statesman. [Online] http://www.newstatesman.com/books/2010/04/harvey-capital-class-nothing [Accessed on] 2011-11-09
        
        Gamble, A. (2010) Enigma of Capital and the Crises of Capitalism, The Independent, available online @ [Online] http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/the-enigma-of-capital-and-the-crises-of-capitalism-by-david-harvey-1958010.html [Accessed on] 2011-11-09
      - Barnes, J.T. (2009) "Not Only . . . But Also": Quantitative and Critical Geography. The Professional Geographer, 61 (3), pages 1-9. [Online] http://www.geog.ubc.ca/~tbarnes/pdf/PAPER_Not%20only_but%20also.pdf [Accessed on] 2011-11-15
  - Notes
    - Marxism/Capitalism, Marxist Geography, financial crises, social unrest, debt and inequality discussion
      - What are the key points of Harvey's argument?
        
        See above notes on the RSA Animate YouTube video...
        
        Need to change our way of thinking?
      - What aspects of his argument would you describe as being Marxist in nature?
        
        The imbalance of labour and capital power relations
      - What potential weaknesses are there in his argument (e.g. think, for example, about Sen's comments about whether European and American economic systems are genuinely capitalist)?
        
        He does not stand up an alternative resolution
      - Do you think that we witnessing a crisis of capitalism (as Harvey suggests) or a failure in the workings of particular (capitalist) financial institutions (as Sen perhaps suggests)?
      - How useful is Harvey's analysis in offering a way out of the crisis and an alternative economic future?
    - Matt Damon 'Inside Job' recession analysis
      - http://freeviewdocumentaries.com/tag/matt-damon/
    - Political Geography essays
      - Emma is tackling an essay on the theme of the influence of USA in Africa
      - Tom is tackling an essay on the theme of Afghanistan and Iraq and US security
    - Referencing...
- 2011-11-08 Group Meeting 3: Essay Feedback
  - There was a generally high standard of essays in this group and some exceptionally good work deserving of the highest marks
  - There were some issues with citation and referencing and minor deviation from the Harvard standard
  - Discussion
    - Preparation for next meeting
    - Bunching of deadlines towards the end of term
    - ...
- One-to-one LeedsforLife start of year meetings
  - Agenda
    - Check module choice/registration and advise or refer to local specialist as necessary
    - Review academic progress on programme overall to date, including discussion of feedback and marks for all assessments from the end of previous session
    - Academic planning (including balancing of students' extra-curricular work and commitments)
      - Exam preparation
      - Dissertation planning
      - Employability
      - Review and adapting strategy
    - Reflect on development of graduate skills and attributes
    - Recommend Careers Centre drop-in
    - Remind student of range of support and development opportunities at UoL
      - LeedsForLife Foundation
        
        https://leedsforlife.leeds.ac.uk/Foundation.aspx
      - Seminars
      - Careers Service
        
        http://careerweb.leeds.ac.uk/
        
        http://www.prospects.ac.uk
        
        http://mycareer.leeds.ac.uk
      - Web Content Serving
        
        http://www.personal.leeds.ac.uk
      - Language Centre
        
        http://www.leeds.ac.uk/homepage/249/language_centre
- 2011-10-04 Group Meeting 2
  - Essay Questions
    - Tutees let each other know what essay questions they were addressing:
      1. Critically assess the contention that "many of the underlying themes and discussions that emerged in [the age of European imperialism] continue to shape current geographical debates and institutional priorities" (Nayak and Jeffrey 2011, p. 3).
        
        Emma, Rebecca, Anna
      2. Evaluate the extent to which ideas of determinism dominate geographical thinking during the period from the mid-nineteenth to the early twentieth century.
        
        Tom, Eleanor
      3. Discuss and evaluate the following statement: "It is more urgent than ever before to reassess the role of quantitative geography and to question why quantitative methodologies cannot be part of critical geographies" (Kwan and Schwanen 2009: 287).
      4. Critically explore the relationship between positivism and quantitative geography.
        
        Greg
  - Discussion of Academic Journal Articles
    - Articles discussed
      - Taafe, E.J. (1993) 'Spatial analysis: development and outlook', Urban Geography, 14(5), pp. 422-433.
      - Fotheringham, A.S. (2006) 'Quantification, Evidence and Positivism' in Aitken, S. and Valentine, G. (eds.) Approaches to Human Geography, London: Sage, pp. 237-250.
      - Kwan, M.-P. and Schwanen, T. (2009) 'Quantitative Revolution 2: the critical (re)turn', The Professional Geographer, 61 (3), pp. 283-291.
  - Discussion of the impact of positivism on the development of quantitative geography and spatial analysis by critically engaging with the following questions:
    - What is positivism and what role did positivism play in Geography's 'Quantitative Revolution'?
    - To what extent does positivism influence contemporary quantitative geography?
    - Is there an antagonism between critical and quantitative geographies? If so, why do you think this antagonism exists and is it justified?
    - Is the divide between critical and quantitative geographies as wide as some commentators suggest?
- 2011-10-04 Group Meeting 1
  - Essay Questions
    - We had a look at these and the tutees were asked to choose one, let me know, do some reading, and come to the next group meeting with details of the reading they have done ready for discussion.
  - Discussion of Academic Journal Articles
    - Articles discussed
      - Maddrell, A. (2010), Academic geography as terra incognita: lessons from the 'expedition debate' and another border to cross. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 35: 149-153. doi: 10.1111/j.1475-5661.2009.00372.x [On-line] http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-5661.2009.00372.x/ [Accessed on] 2011-10-04
      - Kearns, G. (1997), The Imperial Subject: Geography and Travel in the Work of Mary Kingsley and Halford Mackinder. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 22: 450-472. doi: 10.1111/j.0020-2754.1997.00450.x [On-line] http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.0020-2754.1997.00450.x/ [Accessed on] 2011-10-04
    - Maddrell (2010)
      - Short and made some good points
      - Suggests that works like Kearns (1997) are overly academic and warns against such work
      - Identified the need for open access publishing
      - Some URLs and references provided in the text are not in the reference list
    - Kearns (1997)
      - Long, possibly over cooked and not very useful
      - Provides a record of some imperial history and the attitudes of some imperialists
  - Web content and developing your profile and professional network
    - Leeds for Life
      - The leedsforlife personal tutoring portal
        
        https://leedsforlife.leeds.ac.uk/
    - Personal Web Domains and Third Party Services for hosting Web Content
      - If you already serve out your own web content you are probably a step ahead
      - Be wise in your use of Walled Gardens
        
        A Walled Garden in this instance is web content that is restricted only to users of a particular service and where a gatekeeper prevents others making that content publicly available
      - Take care in linking your profiles and try to maintain a seprate professional profile
      - If you make use of University Personal Web Content Serving beware that it will only persist for a matter of a year or so after you have left the university.
      - A service I use and suggested that might be of use is Google docs
        
        https://docs.google.com/
      - How long specific web content will persist and how its links break over time is a general issue
        
        The Internet Archive seems to be a persistent and useful resource which keeps snapshots of web content and makes these available via the following URL:
        
        http://www.archive.org/
      - University Personal Web Content Serving
        
        All with a university username and M: drive mapping can push content onto the Web by creating a directory named WWW in the root of their M: drive. Anything the placed in this directory will be accessible via a web browser using a URL containing the username and name of the file.
        
        For further details about setting up your own web pages see the web page via the following URL:
        
        http://www.personal.leeds.ac.uk/
        
        By default an index.html file is viewed by a browser and this file can be used to index the web content.
        
        Example
        
        A URL to my university M: web content is:
        
        http://www.personal.leeds.ac.uk/~geoagdt
        
        The source index.html can be copied and used as a template for other web pages
- Tutees
  - Anna Babic
  - Gregory Bromley
  - Rebecca Dashfield
  - Emma Fazakerley
  - Thomas Harrison
  - Joshua Jackson
  - Eleanor Kirton

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