Time Schedule:
Douglas Mercer
GEOG 342
Seattle Campus
Geographies of social, political, and economic inequality. Focus is usually on North American cities. Examines the theoretical underpinning of inequality. Explores topics such as the spatial distribution of wealth and poverty, the geographies of exclusion, and discrimination in paid employment and housing.
Class description
Students will: • become familiar with various spatial patterns of inequality at multiple scales. • understand geography as an active in the production and amelioration of inequality, not simply the site upon which inequality is expressed. • analyze inequality from various moral/ethical perspectives. • learn about services for the poor; • consider their vulnerabilities to becoming poor.
Student learning goals
General method of instruction
Format Overview This is a seminar-structured course with one major paper and several smaller assignments. Once during the quarter groups of students will lead discussion. All students will work in a group in a service learning or research project.
Recommended preparation
At least three of the following: introductory courses in geography, political science, anthropology, environmental studies, economics, sociology, women's studies, ethnic studies
Able to interpret basic statistical analysis.
At least two 200/300 level courses in the above curricula
Class assignments and grading
Pop Quizzes There are five pop quizzes over the course of the quarter. They are straight-forward questions about the required readings designed to test preparedness.
Course Research (two options)
A. Service Learning and Presentation Most of you will work with an organization that deals with issues of inequality. Some of you have been or are poor. For you the benefits of the experience will be more with an unfamiliar population and how particular service sites operate. Your group will make a presentation of your experience at the end of the quarter. The mock audience for this presentation is potential funders. In constructing your presentation your group ought: • Describe the mission and purpose of the institution you worked for; • Describe the clientele and community it serves; • Explain the sources of funding for the institution and its future prospects; • Clearly identify a rhetorical approach that you think will work with your audience. For example, politicians invoke the ideas of opportunity society, ownership society, personal and civic responsibility. • Use what you know of your clients to put a human face on your presentation.
Follow this link for more information on service learning.
B. Poverty Research and Presentation Those of you who do not have the benefit of a service learning organization will conduct interviews with local, state and federal representatives on the issue of poverty reduction. You will develop research questions and an interview protocol that elicits answers that will help you answer that research question. Your group will present your findings at the end of the quarter to a mock State subcommittee on health and human services.
Personal Vulnerability Analysis (Due October 27)
Your assignment is to write an 800 word essay that analyzes your vulnerability to becoming poor. • What were your personal vulnerabilities to becoming poor? • What were the broader forces (industrial transformation, political, cultural, etc.) that could contribute to your poverty? • How might geography contribute to your vulnerability? • What insulates your from becoming poor?
Seminar Presentation Once during the quarter your service learning/research group will guide seminar. Your group and I will sit in a circle surrounded by the rest of class. Your Abstracts and Reading Questions are due at the beginning of the period.
A. Reading Questions. On your first seminar day we will do a round robin on your Reading Question(s). We will spend 10-12 minutes per person. Here are some different types of reading questions: • Clarification questions ask for help making sense of a method, argument, or concept. For example: Why does Smith refer to Rawls’ theory of justice as “deontological”? I understand what deontological means in a dictionary sense, but Smith’s use doesn’t make sense to me. • Challenging questions interrogate the logical premises or the empirical veracity of an argument. For example: Glasmeier suggests that uneven development must be eliminated to end poverty. Capitalism needs poverty to work. Poverty is a signal to the impoverished to move to a new location or change skills to adapt to a dynamic economic geography. We mute those signals when we soften poverty and the overall system becomes less efficient. • Connections questions put two or more authors in “conversation” with each other. Massey and Diken argued that relationships between capital and labor can mitigate inequality. The findings of Labao, et al. suggest otherwise. What would Massey and Diken say to Labao?
B. Abstracts The second day we will we focus on the arguments you proposed in your abstract. Abstracts are a short summary of what you plan to do in your paper. It should have a crystal clear statement of purpose and must relate to geography in some way. The objective for this period of time is to help you develop your proposed Analytical Paper. There are several approaches you might take in your Abstract such as proposing a literature review and future research question, an analysis of a case using a concept from the readings, or an argument about poverty based on what we have read. For suggestions see the description below of the Analytical Paper. Note that an abstract of your paper is due on the first day you lead seminar (required). It is a highly recommended option to turn in a draft of your Analytical Paper instead of the abstract.
Analytical Paper (Due one working week after your seminar topic was covered)
Your Analytical Paper must relate to geography in some way and must be framed as a question. For example you may ask (probably more specifically)… • …how is geography implicated in perpetuating or ameliorating poverty? • … how thinking geographically influences particular ethical or moral frameworks when making judgment about poverty?
Your paper must draw from at least THREE relevant readings from the Course Packet, and in addition there should be at least FIVE additional, high quality citations. (IMPORTANT: By high quality citations I mean books, reports or papers that have passed some form of peer review. It does NOT include uncited, unreviewed Internet text, newspaper or popular magazine articles.) The total citations should thus be a minimum of EIGHT.
The Analytical Paper is due one working week after your seminar second seminar day. For example, if you lead seminar on November 3rd and 8th the due date for the analytical paper will be November 15th.
You may format your paper in a variety of ways in answering your question. It may be structured as… • …an analysis of a case using a concept(s) from the readings. You may be interested in a particular case, perhaps inspired by your service experience, that you wish to analyze through the lens of feminist scholars, for example. • …a literature review leading to key research questions. Your abstract could describe your prospective paper’s synthesis of the readings to date arriving at a crucial question that you think needs to be answered in future research. Best is that the research question is something you can imagine conducting in a future class. • …an argument you wish to make about poverty or inequality. Here you might take sides with one scholar over another, or take them all on proposing an alternative explanation/theory.
Quizzes 20% Personal Vulnerability 15% Analytical Paper 30%
Seminar responsibilities 20% including: Abstract and Reading Questions all individually graded. Course Research Presentation 15% Group grade
