Space, Place, Location
01:450:103
Fall Semester, 2009
Recitation Instructor: Nate Gabriel
Email: nategabriel@gmail.com
Class Locations and Meeting Times
Section 02: Tue 2 (10:05-11:00 AM) Hardenbergh B2.
Section 03: Tue 3 (11:45 AM-12:40 PM) Frelinghuysen A4.
Study Materials
The course text is Bent Planet, available through the downtown Rutgers Bookstore (about $15).
Resources may occasionally be placed on Sakai by section instructors (go to sakai.rutgers.edu/
portal) and you will be notified of new postings via email. Wherever you see the (((Online)))
notation in the topic sequence, it means that content is provided online and there will be no lecture
that day. Section meetings are a combination of lecture, analysis and discussion. Any of the printed
and online material may be included in exams and you are responsible for studying it even though it
may not be discussed in class or section. Some of the material in Bent Planet is contentious and
although you are not required to agree with the views expressed it is expected that you become
familiar with the critical issues in contemporary geography and form your own opinions.
Course Overview
The spaces and places of our world are constantly being re-imagined and reshaped through the
power of human thought and action. This course explores the key drivers of geographic outcomes:
connectivity, migration, citizenship, cultural identity, politics and power. A central concept is the
unequal distribution of power, resources and opportunity and the challenges and struggles that these
inequalities create. This course fulfills three credits of the following requirements for the School of
Arts and Sciences (SAS) at Rutgers: social science; diversity; global awareness.
Exams
There are three exams plus a final exam. Each of these exams (including the final exam) uses a
multiple-choice format. The final grade for the course is the average of the final exam grade plus the
two highest grades earned from Exam 1, Exam 2 and Exam 3. The lowest grade earned from Exam
1, Exam 2 and Exam 3 is dropped.
Exam 1 is based on lecture and section material from the beginning of the course through Monday,
October 5th. Exam 2 is based on material from Thursday, October 8th through Monday, October
26th. Exam 3 is based on material from Thursday, October 29th through Monday, November 16th.
The final exam is cumulative and will cover all material from the beginning through the end of the
course, but emphasizing topics covered since Exam 3. Exams 1, 2, and 3 will be held during section
meetings. The final exam will be take place for all students at the same time and location. The final
exam is compulsory for all students. Exam results are posted on SAS Gradebook (NOT on Sakai) as
soon as possible after each exam. Makeups are granted only for cases of religious observance, family bereavement, illness, official
university business, military service or jury duty. Please do NOT request a makeup unless your
absence is covered by one of these situations. Documentation is required in all cases. There are no
extra-credit assignments available for this course.
Schedule for Recitations
Lesson
#
Date
Corresponding Lecture
Theme
1
Sept
15
Landscape
Zoo York (New Yorker). Making Cultural
landscapes
2
Sept
22
Identity, Migration, etc
Identity. Irish piece. Ask where people are from
3
Sept
29
Identity, citizenship,
ethnicity
Mexico, immigration, identity. Film. Class
discussion.
Exam 1 Oct 6
4
Oct 13
Borders, conflict, Kurdistan (Steinberg #5).
Lecture.
5
Oct 20 China, core/periphery
Core/Periphery. News articles on China
Exam 2 Oct 27
6
Nov 3
Ecological shock (Oct 26) Tragedy of the Commons lecture and Mexico
fishing thing
7
Nov 10 Cities, environmental
shock
Urban Environment, used lecture similar to RM
conference talk, plus dilemmas related to mgmt
Exam 3 Nov
17
8
Nov 24 Terrorism
Home assignment (Terrorism articles related to
Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan shootings)
9
Dec 1
Terrorism
Film and discussion on What is Terrorism?
10
Dec 8
production/consumption
(Nov 19)
How clothes are made, materials, environment
(Steinberg #7)
Producers and Consumers, Coffee (Steinberg #8)
Final
Dec 18