2/254 - Human Geography (AD)

EXPECTED LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course provides the basic knowledge for an understanding of the main themes and issues that characterize contemporary geography, formed by a set of territorial, theoretical, and applied knowledge that have diversified throughout the millennia-long history of Western culture. The human geography course, aimed at training cultural mediators and future teachers, focuses on the acquisition of critical tools to interpret the social, political, cultural, and economic dynamics that shape global spaces and the different territorialities that characterize them. In highlighting the fundamental links between geographical knowledge and power, particularly for the strategic role played for political-military purposes in territorial control, within the context of the third millennium, torn by a "fragmented" third world war, the course will delve into the debate surrounding the most well-known categories and reflections on war and the silences surrounding an authentic theory of peace and disarmament.

The objectives and expected outcomes prioritize:

The acquisition of basic methodological skills in the diachronic spatial analysis of territorial structures and formations;

The ability to observe the changing relationships between society and territory at different scales, including a transcalar perspective to also develop intercultural competencies in various spatial contexts;

The understanding of cultural processes, developed in different geopolitical and geo-economic contexts, which are also useful for cultural mediation in various areas of language learning and the teaching of languages of the countries of the world in schools;

The critical analysis of conceptualizations on war (iustum bellum, ius ad bellum, ius in bello, ius post bellum), contemporary geopolitical dynamics, and the isolation of pacifist movements.

ABILITY TO APPLY KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING

Students will need to demonstrate the ability to critically rework the proposed topics, using the specific vocabulary of the discipline, and examine the cartographic representations relevant to the issues discussed.

The arguments should be clear and show a methodological acquisition of the disciplinary topics related to territorial, social, political, and economic dynamics of the contemporary world, through appropriate scale transitions, also in light of the continuous changes in the global context from a historical and socio-spatial perspective.

The conceptualization of the following thematic cores will be fundamental:

Space, place, territory, territoriality, environment-society relations;

Ecological problems at the global scale;

Formation of the modern state, regionalization processes, supranational organizations and bodies, EU rescaling policies; main theories of political geography and geopolitics;

Development theories in the 20th century, territorial effects of development policies, critiques of the capitalist development model;

Demographic trends and human mobility;

Rural geography, agricultural and industrial supply chains, financialization of the economy;

Development theories, social and territorial inequalities at the global scale;

Cities, urban systems and networks;

Material and immaterial communication networks, logistics, and transformations of tourism flows.

ADDITIONAL EXPECTED LEARNING OUTCOMES

Judgment autonomy:

Mastery of the basic themes of human geography at different territorial scales and the fundamental methods of geo-cartographic representation, supported by a conscious critical elaboration.

Communication skills:

Acquisition of the specific language of the discipline to frame contemporary world phenomena, connecting different geographical themes in a transcalar and multicultural perspective.

Learning skills:

Autonomy in learning and judgment will be stimulated through guided study of the texts. By the end of the course, students should demonstrate the ability to learn based on a historical-geographical approach, with a conscious use of concepts, the various approaches of human geography, and the role that geographical knowledge can play in an interdisciplinary perspective.