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Geography (GEOG)

GEOG 423Y (US) Historical Geography of North America (3) Exploration, settlement, and changing patterns of human occupance from the seventeenth century to the 1930's.

GEOG 423Y

GEOG 423Y Historical Geography of North America (3)
(US)

(BA) This course meets the Bachelor of Arts degree requirements.

This is an upper-division, writing-intensive course that presents an overview of current scholarship on the evolving historical geography of the continent. It does this through a set of lectures given by the instructor, through directed readings that will be the basis of class discussion, and centrally through research essays that offer students the opportunity to research, write and argue historical geographies. Research in historical geography is a process of engagement with partial evidence and with secondary material to open windows on aspects of past lives, past economies, and past places.

Since an introductory level overview of the historical geographies of the continent is presented in GEOG 102, The American Scene, this class does not offer a comprehensive survey of regions and periods. Rather, it focuses on three themes—colonization, industrialization, and the packaging of memory—as a way to expose students to primary evidence and current debates:

In the case of colonization, we focus on the Blathwayt Atlas of 1683, compiled for the use of Lords of Trade and Plantations in London, as a cartographic introduction to a broader literature on colonial experience.
For the unit on industrialization, we examine the iron community of Brady's Bend, Pennsylvania in workshops that illustrates how to tease out information from the manuscript census, county atlases and corporate histories; you will then pursue similar material for a locale of your own choice.
And for the closing unit, on the packaging of memory, we critically examine the way that historic sites are presented, and how interpretations have changed in response to shifting academic and popular concerns.

Lectures will be interspersed with discussions of readings, workshop demonstrations, and by student presentations. There will be eleven distinct writing exercises that are used as the basis of allocating the overall grade.

General Education: None
Diversity: US
Bachelor of Arts: Social and Behavioral Science
Effective: Spring 2007
Prerequisite: GEOG 122 3 additional credits in geography or 6 credits

Note : Class size, frequency of offering, and evaluation methods will vary by location and instructor. For these details check the specific course syllabus.

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