Spring 2018 - GEOG 221 D100

Economic Geography (3)

Class Number: 10890

Delivery Method: In Person

Overview

  • Course Times + Location:

    Jan 3 – Apr 10, 2018: Mon, 10:30 a.m.–12:20 p.m.
    Burnaby

  • Exam Times + Location:

    Apr 13, 2018
    Fri, 3:30–6:30 p.m.
    Burnaby

  • Prerequisites:

    GEOG 100.

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

The basic concepts of economic geography, involving consideration of the spatial organization and development of economic and resource based systems. Breadth-Social Sciences.

COURSE DETAILS:

This course introduces several on the ground economic geographical processes and the models and theories that try to explain them. These are processes that we all participate in or bump up against all the time – like watching towering container ships unloading at one of Vancouver’s port terminals, playing a video game that used to be designed in Vancouver but is now designed in Montreal, or working part-time serving caffeine-hungry customers in the new Tim Horton’s. In this course we ask how these and other seemingly mundane economic processes came to be, how they shift and move, and what their effects are for people, places and ecologies. The overarching theme of the course is economic inequality and how economic inequality plays out spatially in repetitive distributions of wealth, industry, and jobs (and what kind of jobs). Why does inequality persist – and in some places and not others? After introducing the theme of inequality as it is addressed in economic geography, the rest of the class carries this theme through several general sectors of the economy: the extraction of primary goods; manufacturing; creative and financial industries; trade and circulation; and retail and services. Throughout, we also pay attention to organized struggles for equality.

Note: There will be no tutorials during the first week of class 

Grading

  • In-class mid-term exam 30%
  • Commodity chain paper 30%
  • Final exam 30%
  • Weekly question on a reading (submitted in person in tutorial) 5%
  • Tutorial participation 5%

NOTES:

Evaluation Subject to Change

Materials

REQUIRED READING:

Economic Geography: A Contemporary Introduction – Second Edition (Coe, Kelly & Yeung)

Registrar Notes:

SFU’s Academic Integrity web site http://students.sfu.ca/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

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS