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GEOG20260

Academic Year 2025/2026

Social Geographies (GEOG20260)

Subject:
Geography
College:
Social Sciences & Law
School:
Geography
Level:
2 (Intermediate)
Credits:
5
Module Coordinator:
Professor Kath Browne
Trimester:
Spring
Mode of Delivery:
On Campus
Internship Module:
No
How will I be graded?
Letter grades

Curricular information is subject to change.

This module will introduce social geographies as a topic to geographers, and geographies as a key consideration for a broad range of scholars interested in social studies, particularly power relations, difference, precarity and inequalities. It will focus on our contemporary worlds to understand the operationalisation of power across various scales. Working across gender, sexualities, race, class, disabilities and other forms of social difference, the module will both explore the power relations that result in precarities and the possibilities of contesting these. At its core this module will encourage students to explore how where we are matters to how our lives are lived, and how they might be lived better.
The module is based on the book Social Geographies. It will ask students to consider how the concepts and examines in class apply or not as they move through their everyday worlds.

About this Module

Learning Outcomes:

On successful completion of this module, students will:
• have an understanding of key concepts in social geographies
• understand how place, space and environment co-create social lives, and vice versa
• be able to identify resistances, solidarities and contestations that create more liveable worlds
• have a broad awareness of contemporary inequalities and power relationships, including those that shape their lives

Indicative Module Content:


Week 1&2
Introduction to the module
What are social geographies?
Place, space
Power
Reading: Introduction

Week 3&4
Geographies of activism and resistance
Geographies of Solidarities and communities
reading: Chapter 1

Week 5&6- Rachel Bayer
Geographies of differences
Reading: Chapter 2

Weeks 7&8
Geographies of precarity
Reading: Chapter 3

Weeks 8&9
Mobility, Movement and Migration
Reading: Chapter 4

Weeks 10&11
Journeys in and through social geographies: A Student perspective
Possibilities for next year and beyond
Reading: Conclusion

Student Effort Hours:
Student Effort Type Hours
Lectures

24
Autonomous Student Learning

76
Total

100

Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
This module will be lecture based. The lectures will focus on introducing key concepts that are developed through reading the book social geographies. Students will be expected to have read the entire book by the completion of the module, which requires one chapter to be read over 2 weeks. Beyond this students will be encouraged to explore their everyday spaces thinking how these concepts are seen as they move around the world, and where/how they fail to apply. Further reading is recommended for broader understandings and better marks but is not essential.


No generative AI can be used for this module- without explicit written permission from the module leader. That means AI that creates content is not permitted to generate ideas, to engage with the literature or to produce written text. AI can be used to check grammar.

Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 

Assessment Strategy
Description Timing Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade In Module Component Repeat Offered
Assignment(Including Essay): 1,000 words on a contemporary example of activisms, communities, resistances, solidarities. This must draw on concepts in the introduction and chapter 1 of the Social Geographies book Week 6 Alternative linear conversion grade scale 40% No
33
 Yes
Reflective Assignment: 2,000 words on your journey into and through social geographies. This should draw on at least 3 examples that relate to different chapters and concepts in the Social Geographies book. Week 12 Alternative linear conversion grade scale 40% No
67
 Yes

Carry forward of passed components
Yes
 

Resit In Terminal Exam
Summer No
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 

Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment
• Group/class feedback, post-assessment

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Not yet recorded.

Timetabling information is displayed only for guidance purposes, relates to the current Academic Year only and is subject to change.
Spring Lecture Offering 1 Week(s) - 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 Wed 11:00 - 12:50
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