| Unit name | Placing Knowledge and Performativity |
|---|---|
| Unit code | GEOGM0005 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | M/7 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
| Unit director | Dr. Dewsbury |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department | School of Geographical Sciences |
| Faculty | Faculty of Science |
Questions of knowledge and performativity have become central to debates in human geography. Whereas many approaches consider one or the other, this unit considers their inter-relationship. The unit questions the nature of knowledge from both the geographical and performative turns. It demonstrates how knowledge is situated and networked and embodied and open. Drawing on a blend of historical and contemporary examples, the unit considers two key themes: durability and embodied practice. Durability is concerned with the development and stabilisation of the content and distribution of knowledges and with the power relations entailed. Simultaneously, emphasising practices as embodied speaks to the under-determined, singular and visceral aspect of what counts as knowledge. Topics that run through the unit include: the event; the specialised and the quotidian; affect and performance; documentation and dissemination; the acquisition and apprehension of knowledge; embedded technologies; memory and the memorial; gender and sexuality; and the body.
