Undergraduate Course: Geographies of the Sea (EASC10088)
Course Outline
| School | School of Geosciences |
College | College of Science and Engineering |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course introduces students to the emerging field of maritime (human) geographies, focusing particularly on understanding the role of the sea and different modes of seafaring in the making of global worlds in the past and the present. Through a range of conceptually and empirically engaging examples, students will explore the manifold ways in which the seas have been, and continue to be, important in many aspects of human life, shaping diverse relations between people, societies and cultures. The course will be delivered primarily through a combination of lectures and class discussions, with the addition of a film screening, a field-visit to Leith docks (to be confirmed) and a student-led seminar. The ultimate aim of this course is to provoke in students a more critical attitude towards the place of the sea and seafaring in different historical and contemporary contexts, and thereby foster a greater understanding of the complex social, cultural and political processes that unfold in our world at different scales. |
| Course description |
This course introduces students to the emerging field of maritime (human) geographies, focusing particularly on understanding the role of the sea and different modes of seafaring in the making of global worlds in the past and the present. Through a range of conceptually and empirically engaging examples, students will explore the manifold ways in which the seas have been, and continue to be, important in many aspects of human life, shaping diverse relations between people, societies and cultures. The course will be delivered primarily through a combination of lectures and class discussions, with the addition of a film screening, a field-visit to Leith docks (to be confirmed) and a student led seminar. The ultimate aim of this course is to provoke in students a more critical attitude towards the place of sea and seafaring in different historical and contemporary contexts, and thereby foster a greater understanding of the complex social, cultural and political processes that unfold in our world at different scales.
1. Introduction
2. All at sea: Theorising the 70%
3. Explorers: Mobility, knowledge and encounter
4. Sugar: Globalisation, capitalism and labour I
5. Pirates: Sovereignty and the limits of law
6. Wreck: The sea¿s nature
7. Containers: Globalisation, capitalism and labour II
8. The Forgotten Space: film screening and discussion
9. Seminar: Student presentations
10. Conclusions
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
| Additional Costs | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- To introduce emerging geographical approaches to the study of the seas and seafaring
- To develop understanding of key social, political and cultural processes at different scales and the key concepts (such as empire, nation-state, resistance, etc ) that help us make sense of these
- To encourage students to think about particular contexts in the past and the present through critical engagement with conceptual lenses from social theory and empirical materials from archives and other sources.
- To foster analytic, research and writing skills through two classwork projects, one individual report and one group work presentation based on empirical research.
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Reading List
Benton, L. (2010) A Search for Sovereignty: Law and Geography in European Empires, 1400-1900 (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge).
Graham, B. and Nash, C. (Eds) (2000) Modern Historical Geographies (Longman, Harlow).
Linebaugh, P. and Rediker, M. (2000) The Many-Headed Hydra: Sailors, Slaves, Commoners, and the Hidden History of the Revolutionary Atlantic (Beacon Press, Boston).
Mack, J. (2011) The Sea: A Cultural History (Reacktion Books, London).
Ogborn, M. (2008) Global Lives: Britain and the World, 1550-1800 (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge).
Peters, K. (2010), Future Promises for Contemporary Social and Cultural Geographies of the Sea, Geography Compass, 4 (9): 1260¿1272.
Peters, K. and Anderson, J. (2013) Waterworlds: Human Geographies of the Ocean (Ashgate, Farnham).
Steinberg, P. (2001) The Social Construction of the Ocean (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge).
Special Issues of Journals:
Oceans Connect, 1999, in The Geographical Review 89 (2)
Atlantic Geographies, 2005 in Social and Cultural Geography 6 (3)
Historical Geographies of the Sea, 2006, in The Journal of Historical Geography 32 (3)
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Group work; oral presentation; primary research and ¿data¿ gathering; writing |
| Keywords | Sea, Historical, Globalisation, Place, Connections |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr William Hasty
Tel: (0131 6)50 2526
Email: |
Course secretary | Ms Beth Muir
Tel: (0131 6)51 1513
Email: |
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