Keele University Prospectus Undergraduate | 2016 | Page 122

NATURAL SCIENCES

Human Geography
Overview

Human Geography is the study of individuals,
communities, places and landscapes in a spatial
context and in terms of cultures, economies, societies
and resource bases, both in the present and the past.
A rapidly evolving subject, it encompasses a rich
diversity of strands. Besides providing an overview
of new developments in the subject, the course
at Keele focuses on a number of distinct themes
and intersecting areas: family and mobility, higher
education and social demography; international
migration, development, sustainability and cultural
economies; postcolonial life worlds and literary
representations of place and space, South Asian and
cross-cultural world literature; urban and rural policy,
community planning, state power, social inclusion;
geographical information systems and historical
cartography; and food geographies.
Relationships between people and the worlds they
inhabit are dynamic, complex and problematic;
the Human Geography course offers the opportunity
to explore and understand those relationships.
Fieldwork is an important part of the degree
programme with participation in two residential
field courses, one in a choice of overseas locations,
in addition to an independent research project.

Course content

First year
You will study:
• Human Geographies explores cultural,
social, population and development themes
in human geography.
• Practising Human Geography discusses the
approaches and methods used by human
geographers in examining those themes.
• People and the Environment discusses
contemporary approaches to environmental
change.
• Geographical Skills introduces a wide range
of geographical techniques incorporating those
for data collection, analysis and presentation
and including field survey, statistical analysis
and geographical information systems. It also
emphasises study skills such as problem
solving, group working and the presentation
of project results.

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Second year
You will study:
• Dynamic Geographies, which is a lecture based
module, introducing you to the sub areas in
human geography, environmental geography
and of population geography.
• Space and Society examines recent
developments in cultural geography
and social and urban geography.
• There are two practical based modules: Practical
Human Geography deals with data sources and
research techniques; while Geographical Research
Training is a course in research methods and
techniques culminating in an overseas field course.
Third year
Lecture based module choices include:
• Applied Geographical Information Systems
• Postcolonialism in South Asia
• Economic Development and Environmental
Transformation
• Geographies of Children and Youth
• Rural Geographies
• Inspirational Landscapes
In addition, you have the choice of either a single
or double module dissertation based on individual
research. It should be noted that the availability of
second and third year modules changes from time
to time.

Fieldwork

In the first year, you will undertake a range of field
activities based in the local area. In the second year,
you will participate in an overseas field course with
current venues including Barcelona and Singapore.
Financial support towards the cost of the field
course programme is provided by the university.
Consequently there is no additional cost for the
first field course although a contribution from students
is required for the second year overseas field course.
In order to help you manage your field course costs,
the payments are spread over the course of the
academic year.

Teaching and assessment

Teaching and learning are through a combination
of lectures, practical classes, tutorials and
fieldwork. Assessment is based on a combination of
examinations and coursework. In practical classes
and field courses all marks are based on individual
and group projects.