HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY
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- Versione italiana
- Academic year
- 2022/2023
- Teacher
- ALBERTO DIANTINI
- Credits
- 6
- Didactic period
- Secondo Semestre
- SSD
- M-GGR/01
Training objectives
- The course in Historical Geography aims to provide a solid background in the following aspects:
- knowledge of the relationships between geography and history, the evolutionary dynamics of territorial realities and the relationship between human communities and the environment;
- knowledge of the main interpretations of these interactions (possibilism, determinism, neo-determinism), according to their application both in the field of geographical and historical research and in the field of development policies, with reference to some significant case studies;
- knowledge of the concept of time and space in the relationship between territory and events;
- knowledge of the concept of accelerated change, with special attention to current social, environmental, climate and health emergencies;
- knowledge of the main methods and sources of historical geography.
In addition, the course aims to foster the development of skills of reflection and critical analysis in relation to the knowledge acquired, demonstrating the ability to correlate them and to be able to construct interpretative and expository schemes of the proposed content. Prerequisites
- There are no mandatory prerequisites
Course programme
- The course is divided into two parts, whose main topics are specified below.
Part 1. Times and spaces in historical geography.
- The relationship between humans and the environment in its interpretations (possibilism and "old" and "new" forms of determinism)
- Brief history of the world over the past thirteen thousand years (J. Diamond)
- Space-time dialectic: multiplicity of times and multiscalar and transcalar analysis in historical geography
Part 2. Accelerated change and global emergencies.
- The concept of accelerated change from a geographical perspective: space, time and power
- Global emergencies: social and environmental transformations, climate change, COVID-19 pandemic and other emergencies Didactic methods
- Synchronous frontal lectures during which space will be provided for discussion with students, viewing of videos, maps and graphs. There will also be a discussion on how to approach the study material.
A space in Google Classroom (access code gqoxbj2 dedicated to interactive communication outside the classroom and sharing of learning materials will be activated near the beginning of the classes; in addition, video-recorded lectures will be made available to support exam preparation, especially for non-attending students Learning assessment procedures
- The examination consists of a written test on the two parts of the course and will consist of assessing:
- the knowledge related to the content presented during the course and the required bibliography
- the ability to reflect, critically analyze and correlate the knowledge acquired. Reference texts
- For the first part of the course: J. Diamond, Weapons, Steel and Disease, Turin, Einaudi, 1998 (or following editions), Prologue, Chapters I- XI and Epilogue
For the second part of the course: T.H. Eriksen, Out of Control. An anthropology of accelerated change. Turin, Einaudi, 2017
Supplementary study materials will be presented and shared as the course progresses
Exam syllabus for non-attending students must be agreed with the lecturer (e-mail: alberto.diantini@unife.it)
