Simon Fraser University
Engaging the World

Course Outlines

Spring 2023 - GEOG 328 D100

Labour Geographies (4)

Class Number: 2516

Delivery Method: In Person

Overview

  • Course Times + Location:

    Jan 4 – Apr 11, 2023: 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:

Class Day/Time: We 2:30 PM – 5:20 PM (with asynchronous online tutorial discussions)

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-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:

Students will:

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

Grading

  • Attendance and participation, including online tutorial participation: 15%
  • Writing assignments (2): 25%
  • Mid-term exam: 25%
  • Final Project: 35%

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.


REQUIRED READING NOTES:

Your personalized Course Material list, including digital and physical textbooks, are available through the SFU Bookstore website by simply entering your Computing ID at: shop.sfu.ca/course-materials/my-personalized-course-materials.

Registrar Notes:

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS

SFU’s Academic Integrity website 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