Time Schedule:
Mona A Atia
GEOG 301
Seattle Campus
Analysis of the role of culture in the formation of landscape patterns; components of culture that contribute not only to a "sense of place," but also to the mosaic of settlement patterns and occupancy that can be traced to culture.
Class description
There are many different ways to approach the study of culture, but in this class we will study culture as a process where meanings and identities are produced and contested. We will examine the ways in which culture acts as a marker of sameness and difference and the way it works to produce particular subjects. Since culture does not exist in a vacuum, we will also pay attention to the way culture connects to economic, social and political practices. This seminar will discuss the key aspects that contribute to identity formation and the ways in which identities are inscribed in place and space as well as represented through the built environment, the economy, the body and art.
Student learning goals
to think about culture as a process and places as markers of culture
to analyze how place, space and culture are connected and mutually constituted
to identify how identities are reflected in and produced by spatial norms
to recognize and synthesize historical processes of exclusion with our reading of contemporary exertions of power
to critically analyze the ways in which narratives construct people and places in ways that produce and/or resist difference and inequality along lines of ethnicity, religion, gender and sexuality
to understand the complexity of identity and the to identify the various ways of defining culture in the context of the Middle East
General method of instruction
Seminar
Recommended preparation
Class assignments and grading
Class Participation, 1 In-Class Midterm, 3 Short Reaction Papers and a Final Research Paper.
