Geography 124: "Elements of Cultural Geography (GS; IL)"

Culture in itself is a very exciting topic, it invokes diverse imaginaries of life, livelihood, modes of living, talking, entertaining, consuming, eating. In this course we will delve deeper to understand the 'how' and 'why' of culture, that is - how a particular cultural landscape, a mode of living is produced and why? What are the social relations, socio-cultural and economic motivations, which lead to the production of cultures? This course will introduce you to original works of famous theorists and thinkers in an attempt to go beyond 'just describing' exotic people and places, to actually analyzing 'why' and 'how' of people and places. For instance, we will study how and why early forms of capitalism emerged in the U.S.? What lies beneath the early New England mill towns? What happened subsequently to produce the modern landscapes of 'MacDonaldization', 'Barbization', 'Coca Colonization', or in other words how we became an avid consuming society? We will use Marx's notion of 'mode of production' to understand how 'value', or 'worth' is produced in different societies like hunting-gathering, kin-ordered, State-tributary and capitalist. We will then analyze how modern societies accord 'value' to commodities which define cultural life. With the help of Bourdieu's 'Habitus', we will understand how people classify 'others'. We will use Baudrillard's 'Sign Value' to understand how the media and the advertising world utilize culture as a tool to commodify post-modern reality, and also do a hands-on exercise in advertisement deconstruction. Globalization is an in-escapable force in the world today hybridizing and standardizing cultures at the same time, we will learn the nuts and bolts of globalization to understand why we have 'Sczeuan flavored potato chips' and 'Chipotle burger' today. The world is also ridden with conflict, resistance and violence -- culture is often the site for such violence, othering, and marginalization, we will delve into theories and examples of how culture can be violent too. Finally, we will learn about various social movements, which are increasingly using identity and culture to frame their resistance. The class lectures will simplify the complex perspectives of modern and post-modern philosophers and help glean out interesting conceptual tools to understand, analyze, and explain (not simply describe) cultural phenomena, not only for the purpose of class assignments, but also to enable you to better comprehend your everyday reality. Each of the above topics will be understood through a geographic perspective, where space and place will play a major role in your understanding and analysis. The lectures will be interspersed with documentaries, discussions, activities, and assignments to help you better internalize the class materials

Instructor: Dr. Ipsita Chatterjee