SOCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Learning objectives

Knowledge and understanding:

Knowledge of the main global socio-ecological and socio-political probematics.

Basic knowledge of the broad outlines of economic and ecological crises.

Knowledge of survey methods and theories on human settlement, environmental inequalities, socio-environmental conflicts.

Knowledge of the debate on colonialism and its historical consequences, postcolonial and decolonial theories.

Knowledge of the debate on patriarchal socio-cultural systems and movements that have emerged in recent years.

Use of the basic tools of geographical analysis for understanding or studying global cultural processes.

Ability to Apply Knowledge and Ability to Understand:

Identify the main issues to be dealt with also in relation to their territorial development.

Ability to apply theoretical debate to case studies and current issues.

Ability to connect the debate of the discipline to the various issues of major cultural areas.

Ability to analyse major processes such as migration and ecological transition by adopting the methods and debate of the discipline.

Communication skills:

Correct identification of the processes and phenomena dealt with and refer to socio-territorial development.

To be able to give examples and link different issues in an analytical discourse on the major processes at work.

Learning skills:

Demonstrate good knowledge of research methods for geographic information using popular scientific and technical information tools (e.g. databases and online repositories, as well as commonly used geographic information tools)

The course will present an overview of some of the major nodes in the transition of global society: the social responses to the ecological crisis and the pandemic, the re-proposition of the struggle for overcoming colonial and patriarchal models, and the proposals to construct a decolonised cultural model.

The transformation processes taking place on a planetary scale redefine the cultural areas and geopolitical relations that have underpinned the entire history of modernity. Within this framework, the various movements that in recent decades have innovatively proposed the question of overcoming the patriarchal model have also become an essential node for understanding global society. The social movements that have arisen all over the planet in response to the great socio-ecological crisis are also an expression of a profound change in social systems and indicative of a transformation in the construction of the space of politics. Part of the course will be devoted to the study of the legacy of the colonial project and the main implications for the structure of the contemporary world. The question of the emergence and diffusion of the debate on the decolonisation of power and the ways in which it has spread to different planetary contexts will be addressed. Finally, the question of the role of geographical knowledge in the contemporary public debate will be addressed.

1. bell hooks, Elogio del margine, Roma, Tamu, 2020.

2. Barca S., Forces of reproduction, Cambridge, Cambridge university press, 2020.

3. Torre S., Public Geography. In Bifulco, L. e Borghi, V., Handbook of Public Sociology, Cheltenham Glos, Edward Elgar, 2023, pp. 104-113.

4. Torre S., Benegiamo M., Dal Gobbo A. 2020. Il pensiero decoloniale: dalle radici del dibattito ad una proposta di metodo. ACME: An International Journal for Critical Geographies, 19 (2), 448-468.