2019-2020 Academic Catalog

Apr 23, 2024

2019-2020 Academic Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

GEOG 386 - Special Topics

Devoted to a specific topic unique for each semester and instructor. May be repeatable for credit.; SPRING 2020 SEC. 1: GEOGRAPHIES OF POVERTY & INEQUALITY - The gap between the rich and poor is growing, prompting concerns about what intensifying inequality and poverty might mean for society. This course will provide students with an opportunity to think deeply about the diverse causes, consequences and experiences of inequality and poverty. We will focus primarily on the United States, but we will look at historical and international comparisons as well, to help us identify and analyze the underlying structural causes and consequences of poverty and inequality so we might envision alternatives.; SEC. 2: WRITER’S WORKSHOP SEMINAR - This course is designed for students who are seeking to advance and conclude a major piece of writing-whether a journal article, thesis or dissertation-during the semester. Using a workshop-style format, students will also have an opportunity to engage in the peer review process and will also be introduced to a variety of writing strategies, exercises and resources that will support the development of an academic writing habit. Students interested in the workshop must be prepared to write, revise and submit a major piece of writing by the end of the semester; a writing project with a clear scope and deadline are essential for success in this course.; SEC. 4: AGRARIAN QUESTIONS: LAND, LABOR, AND LIVELIHOODS - Agriculture has been foundational to the formation of the modern nation-state and the development of capitalism. The persistence of agrarian struggles worldwide is a testament to how the late nineteenth-century “agrarian question” (how capitalism takes hold of agriculture and with what political consequences) is still deeply relevant to this day. The seminar will expose students to classic debates and emergent issues in the interdisciplinary field of critical agrarian studies.; SEC. 5: GEOGRAPHIES OF RACE AND SPECULATION - Critical geographies call our attention to the ways in which practices of speculation have produced spaces of difference and domination. In this seminar, drawing from a range of critical geographical perspectives-anti- and post-colonial, feminist, black, and otherwise radical-we seek to explore two primary questions. The first, how does speculative action create architectures of difference (specifically “racial-sexual hierarchies”)? The second, how has speculative thought opened up ways of understanding human geographies that go beyond simply mapping intersections of racialized subjects and place, and instead, seek to imagine more livable worlds?; SEC. 6: POLITICAL ECOLOGIES OF THE ANTHROPOCENE: APARTHEID, DYSTOPIA, OR HOPE? - The future looks bleak in much popular culture. The realities and fears of accelerating climate change and related socionatural catastrophes of the Anthropocene foreshadow possible futures in which responses to radical ecological changes center on what a growing body of scholarship terms ‘apartheid ecologies.’ In this seminar, we will examine what a world structured along such lines might look like; whether it would represent the death knell or the apotheosis of capitalist modernity and liberalism; and potential intellectual and political responses and alternatives to these grim futures.; SEC. 7: HOW THE CITY WORKS - Based around the production of a “citizens guide,” students will examine different parts of the city - its economy, its government, its financing, its cultures. Students will review and critically analyze existing academic knowledge about the city’s functioning parts. We will then reach out beyond academic debates, exploring how to understand and explain to others how the city we live in works.; FALL 2019 SEC. 1: LAND AND ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE - This course focuses on the geographical and interdisciplinary fields of land system science, vulnerability science and socio-ecological systems. Emphasis on student-driven research projects, empirical analyses, and integration with conceptual frameworks and methodologies in complex systems research, with applications to the science-policy interface.; SEC. 2: HABITAT MODELING - Species distribution models (SDMs), are increasingly used to evaluate the impacts of global change on biodiversity, to assess protection status, and for protected areas planning. This 7 weeks course introduces students to habitat modeling methods and applications. The course starts with an introduction to ecological niche modeling, and continues with topics of data gathering, pre-processing, modeling (including statistical and machine learning algorithms), and validation. Topics will be covered through a combination of lectures, discussion of assigned readings and take home exercises. Undergraduates by permission.; SEC. 3 - ROGAN: URBAN FORESTRY - This special topics course will provide students in-depth experience with the interdisciplinary fields of arboriculture and urban greening. Relevant urban forestry literature will complement weekly field training in tree inventory and GIS mapping. Field inventory training and application will take place at a variety of sites in Worcester, but predominantly in the Clark University Hadwen Arboretum. Students can take advantage of arboriculture specialization certification opportunities while working alongside urban tree professionals affiliated with The Worcester Tree Initiative and the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation. A key goal of the course is to work with the City of Worcester to improve the condition of the Hadwen Arboretum. Fieldtrips for tree inventory locally every week up until late November. Interest in fieldwork is a key prerequisite. Database management and GIS analysis will also play a large role in this experience.

Anticipated Terms Offered: Every semester