| Unit name | Decolonial Imaginaries for a Planetary Age |
|---|---|
| Unit code | GEOGM0074 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | M/7 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
| Unit director | Dr. Jackson |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units) |
None. |
| Units you must take alongside this one (co-requisite units) |
None. |
| Units you may not take alongside this one |
None. |
| School/department | School of Geographical Sciences |
| Faculty | Faculty of Science |
Our age is caught within the one and the many. On the one hand our planetary present has been shaped by modern cultural, political, and economic forces that, for at least the last 500 years, have tried to universalise ways and means of human understanding and living. The consequence has been catastrophic on many levels: ecological, cultural, economic, and social. At the same time, the experience of planetary oneness, together with its precarity, requires some kind of response. The only thing is, ‘we are facing modern problems for which there are no longer modern solutions.’ How we respond, therefore, and, crucially, how we imagine responding, will determine our futures and the possibility of their flourishing.
This unit begins by taking seriously Audre Lorde’s now famous maxim, ‘The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house’ (1979). It explores efforts to imagine flourishing futures, not through the same universalising tenets that have led us to our precarious conjuncture, but through an embrace of what some geographers call ‘planetary multiplicities.’ We will explore how new – and very old – geographical imaginaries from across the Global South are fundamentally transforming futural conceptions and practices at the end of modernity. Pre-figurative and many deeply established (if also silenced) geographical imaginaries about politics, culture, ecologies and environments, development, representation, economy, governance, and the meaning of society are subtly changing the horizons of what might be necessary, and possible, for imagining planetary futures. We will explore these imaginaries and their associated practices in analytical and critical ways.
The unit will do so by examining specific geographical places, cases, and contexts that work to reimagine and practice responses to our many planetary challenges in ways that are different from those modern frameworks, structures, and imaginaries responsible for our planetary present.
At the completion of this unit, students will able to:
The unit will be taught through a combination of:
Tasks which help you learn and prepare you for summative tasks (formative):
Students will have opportunities to receive feedback throughout the unit, through a combination of interactive discussion of key readings in seminars, and via an online forum where students can pose questions about concepts and ideas as they work towards their summative essays.
Tasks which count towards your unit mark (summative):
Research essay (100%). The assessment tests all the ILOs.
When assessment does not go to plan
Students will be offered an alternative assessment for completion in the summer reassessment period, of a similar format to that of the original submission.
If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.
If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. GEOGM0074).
How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours
of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks,
independent learning and assessment activity.
See the University Workload statement relating to this unit for more information.
Assessment
The assessment methods listed in this unit specification are designed to enable students to demonstrate the named learning outcomes (LOs). Where a disability prevents a student from undertaking a specific method of assessment, schools will make reasonable adjustments to support a student to demonstrate the LO by an alternative method or with additional resources.
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit.
The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. For appropriate assessments, if you have self-certificated your absence, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (for assessments at the end of TB1 and TB2 this is usually in the next re-assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any exceptional circumstances and operates
within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.
