Simon Fraser University
Engaging the World

Course Outlines

Spring 2021 - GEOG 328 D100

Labour Geographies (4)

Class Number: 2785

Delivery Method: Remote

Overview

  • Course Times + Location:

    Jan 11 – Apr 16, 2021: Wed, 2:30–5:20 p.m.
    Burnaby

  • Prerequisites:

    At least 45 units, including GEOG 100 or LBST 101.

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

An examination of contemporary debates in Labour Geography, surveying geographical approaches to work and employment. Lectures will explore the relationships between space, place and labour market change in the context of globalization and uneven development. Students with credit for LBST 328 may not take this course for further credit.

COURSE DETAILS:

Introduces students to geographical approaches to work, employment and labour markets. We start from the perspective that workers’ experiences and agency are central to understanding processes like colonialism, uneven development, globalization and neoliberalism, and build on insights from political economy, Marxism, feminism and post-structuralism. Explores how geographies of global production, reproduction and migration shape labour markets in the global North and global South, how geographical approaches help us understand technological change and precarity, and the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on workers and the spaces, places and scales of work.

Course Requirements:

Lecture will be a blend of synchronous and asynchronous involving Zoom lectures and breakout groups (synchronous) and some recorded and online content for them to watch/read (asynchronous).

Tutorials will be asynchronous, organized around online discussions and online writing assignments in Canvas.

Midterm and final exam will be synchronous but administered online; open book paragraph answer and essay based exams that will be submitted via Canvas.

COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:

  1. Learn and apply geographical approaches and concepts to real-world issues affecting work, workers, and their
  2. Gain an understanding of Labour Geography and its development in response to critiques of geographies of labour and
  3. Be able to understand and analyze of critiques of, and challenges to, Labour Geography from more diverse labour
  4. Understand and analyze how the production of social difference through categories like race, gender, class, sexual orientation, and ability shape labour
  5. Explore research methodologies in labour geographies, including qualitative and mixed- methods

Grading

  • a) Attendance and participation, including online tutorial participation: 15%
  • b) Writing assignment 1: 10%
  • c) Mid-term exam (synchronous): 30%
  • d) Writing assignment 2: 15%
  • e) Final project: 30%

Materials

REQUIRED READING:

There are no required textbooks for this course, which draws on articles and book chapters, films and other texts. A complete list of readings will be provided in the full syllabus and through Canvas.


Registrar Notes:

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS

SFU’s Academic Integrity web site http://www.sfu.ca/students/academicintegrity.html is filled with information on what is meant by academic dishonesty, where you can find resources to help with your studies and the consequences of cheating.  Check out the site for more information and videos that help explain the issues in plain English.

Each student is responsible for his or her conduct as it affects the University community.  Academic dishonesty, in whatever form, is ultimately destructive of the values of the University. Furthermore, it is unfair and discouraging to the majority of students who pursue their studies honestly. Scholarly integrity is required of all members of the University. http://www.sfu.ca/policies/gazette/student/s10-01.html

TEACHING AT SFU IN SPRING 2021

Teaching at SFU in spring 2021 will be conducted primarily through remote methods. There will be in-person course components in a few exceptional cases where this is fundamental to the educational goals of the course. Such course components will be clearly identified at registration, as will course components that will be “live” (synchronous) vs. at your own pace (asynchronous). Enrollment acknowledges that remote study may entail different modes of learning, interaction with your instructor, and ways of getting feedback on your work than may be the case for in-person classes. To ensure you can access all course materials, we recommend you have access to a computer with a microphone and camera, and the internet. In some cases your instructor may use Zoom or other means requiring a camera and microphone to invigilate exams. If proctoring software will be used, this will be confirmed in the first week of class.

Students with hidden or visible disabilities who believe they may need class or exam accommodations, including in the current context of remote learning, are encouraged to register with the SFU Centre for Accessible Learning (caladmin@sfu.ca or 778-782-3112).