This course is designed to provide a critical survey of the key issues and problems in the construction of the field of Geography throughout history and its relationships with other fields of enquiry. This will provide a background to a survey of the contemporary methodological and philosophical debates about its nature, from such issues as: the scientific approaches of the 1960s and their utility; the humanistic reactions; through structuralism and post structuralism; radicalism; the new ecological and technical approaches; gender geography; post modernism; and the new hermeneutic perspectives, especially the critical practice approach and the new cultural geography. In addition, questions such as the decline and relevance of traditional fields such as regional geography, and the new trends such as globalization will be addressed.
This course may be repeated for credit.

Sections

This course will be offered next in Winter 2009.