GEOG30900 Overseas fieldtrip

Academic Year 2020/2021

We will have an introductory class in Week 2 (Week 19). In addition, we would suggest that even before then you should dig into the assigned readings from the start of term to mid-February. These readings are not optional! They are crucial to your understanding of the fieldwork location and to your ability to effectively design your research project. There is a lot of reading, but you won’t need to worry about lectures or seminars, so I expect you two read these books and journal articles, as well as any additional reading required for your projects. Preparation is after all, the key to successful fieldwork! You will be expected to actively discuss readings in class when we convene in February. Prior to fieldwork over the Spring Break, we will undertake virtual and classroom-based training on the concept and methodologies central to geographic field research. We will then break into groups to work on one of four projects:

1. Political Ecology and Water Politics - Consider the link between hydrographic basins and metropolitan areas and the hybridity of nature and culture in the city.

Initial reading: Cousins, J. and Joshua P. Newell (2015) ‘A political–industrial ecology of water supply infrastructure for Los Angeles’, Geoforum, 58 (38-50).

Film pairing: Chinatown (1971)

2. City of Crime - Using a Burglar’s Guide to the City (Manaugh 2019) as a guide, you will consider the cross sections between criminology and geography by considering, spatialization of crime, and critical geographies of policing in LA. You might also access the Human Rights and Civic Education at the Museum of Social Justice https://www.museumofsocialjustice.org/

Initial Reading: Kindynis, Theo (2014) “Ripping up the Map: Criminology and Cartography Reconsidered”, The British Journal of Criminology, 54(2): 222–243.

Film Pairing: Drive (2011)

3. Coastal Access, Public Space, & Climate Change - Consider whether the beach is the only ‘public’ space in Los Angeles, and the social and political implications of multi-million dollar houses in places like Malibu cutting off access to the coast and, most recently, slumping into the sea because of climate change.

Initial Reading: Davidson, R. & J. Nicholas Entrikin (2005) “The Los Angeles Coast as a Public Place”, Geographical Review, 95:4, 578-593.

Film Pairing: 2040 (2019)

4. Apocalyptic Analysis of the San Andreas Fault: Potential environmental, social and economic costs of geological activity.

Initial Reading: Olsen, K.B et al (2006) “Strong shaking in Los Angeles expected from southern San Andreas earthquake”, Geophysical Research Letters, 33(7).

Film Pairing: San Andreas (2015)

Your first assignment (in Week 7) will be a group project where you will put together your fieldwork plan. This will be worth 30% of your mark.

During your week of fieldwork in Los Angeles, you will be able to send out Dr Garrett to gather data for your projects. Each group will have one FULL day to direct his movements and methods. He will visit sites of your choosing and have a still camera and tripod, 360-degree video camera, audio recorder, and drone that can utilised to collect field data. You will supplement this with literature reviews, archival and internet research, and ethnographic interviews (over Zoom, Skype, phone etc., on your own time).

Your second assignment (in week 10) will be a set of critical notes about the fieldwork conducted. Critical Notes (Week 10) 30% Individual

In April, we will meet once more to debrief about the fieldwork. Dr Garrett and Dr Federico will be available in April for one-on-one guidance, if required, for working with your field data to put together a plan for the final report. Please note, this will require pre-booking and students will be met on a first-come, first-serve basis depending on our schedules at the time of booking.

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Curricular information is subject to change

Learning Outcomes:

At the end of this unit, students will have the ability to:

1. Implement the principles of research design.
2. Apply key concepts in social science research methodology, including ethnographic methods, situated knowledge, multi-media methodologies, and archival research.
3. Draw on some aspects of the human geography of Los Angeles.

Students will also be able to display an advanced grasp of a range of subject specific intellectual skills, including the ability to:

1. Assess the merits of a published piece of research.
2. Abstract and synthesise information from a range of different sources.
3. Structure conceptual and empirical material into a reasoned argument.

Students will also be able to display an advanced grasp of a range of subject specific practical skills, including the ability to:

1. Gather primary data through methods such as questionnaires, interviews, focus groups, field investigation, archival research and participant observation using a range of multimedia recording methods.
2. Review work in a defined area of knowledge, as part of a literature review process.
3. Design a research project that will address a set of well-defined research questions covering topics relevant to the field location.
4. Analyse qualitative data generated by research methods or obtained through published sources.
5. Use Open Street Map, Google Maps, or ArcGIS to create a thematically coded map of a city for fieldwork planning purposes.

Students who complete this unit will also develop a range of transferable/general (key) skills, most notably including the ability to:

1. Pursue knowledge in an in-depth, ordered and motivated way.
2. Marshall and retrieve data from library and internet resources.
3. Use photography, video, and audio recording methods critically and ethically.
4. Present information effectively and in a professional manner.

Indicative Module Content:

Prior to leaving, we will undertake virtual and classroom-based training is the concept and methodologies central to geographic field research and break into groups. During your week of fieldwork in Malta, you will then set out as a group to tackle two of five projects. The projects are as follows:

1. The Secret City: Subterranean Valletta (With Marc Zimmerman from Malta Underground)
2. The Mediterranean Fortress: Geological Geopolitics (With artist Leanne Wijnsma)
3. Cultural Crossroads: Human Rights and Civic Education (with journalist Colm Regan)
4. Cruise Ships and Tax Dodging: Tourism in Malta (with Albert Dimech from the Valletta 2018 Capital of Culture)
5. Azure seas and Soft Sandstone: Mediterranean Geomorphologies (with Colm Casserly or Kate de Smeth of UCD)

Upon return to Ireland, we will analyse and write up our collected field data, closing the loop of the production of embodied knowledge from the field.

Student Effort Hours: 
Student Effort Type Hours
Lectures

8
Small Group

40
Tutorial

10
Field Trip/External Visits

50
Project Supervision

12
Autonomous Student Learning

80
Total

200
Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
In this module we will cover everything from designing a research project, to being introduced in detail to different methodological approaches, to learning how to analyse your research findings, to planning and logistics for the actual trip. Early in the course, you will sign up to research teams. These will be the groups that you will work with for two weeks prior to and during the fieldtrip. In these groups you will:

• work to prepare how you tackle your chosen research projects in Malta;
• work together each day in Malta;
• attend tutorials;
• and help discuss ideas during analysis.

However, all the assessed pieces of coursework are individual pieces of work. In other words, you will use the data collected by your group for your individual assessments.

We have prepared five different research project templates, of which you choose two that you can engage with in Malta. You will have the freedom to shape the project yourselves in terms of research questions, approaches, and methodologies. You will only need to write up one of these research projects in full upon our return. However, we expect you to carry the second research project to ensure you engage with a range of different research experiences. Field notes from this second project will serve as a field-based assessment. 
Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 
Assessment Strategy  
Description Timing Open Book Exam Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade
Journal: Critical Field Notebook Week 10 n/a Graded No

30
Assignment: Group Project Plan Week 7 n/a Graded No

30
Assignment: Individual Research Report Week 12 n/a Graded No

40

Carry forward of passed components
No
 
Remediation Type Remediation Timing
In-Module Resit Prior to relevant Programme Exam Board
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 
Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment
• Group/class feedback, post-assessment

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Feedback will be offered individually to students on the qualitative exercise and the field journals, as there are to be undertaken individually. However, on the final project groups can be formed (though they are not required). If projects are submitted as a group, feedback will be offered to the group and then individual letter grades will be assigned. Each person in the group will get the same letter grade as other group members.

Ethnographic methods:
Cloke, P, Painter J, Crang P, Philo C, Goodwin, M, Cook, I 2004 Practising human geography London, Sage. [See especially the final chapter of Part I: Observing, Participating and Ethnographies' in Crang, M. and Cook, I. (1995) 'Doing ethnographies.' SAGE, London.]
Cresswell, T. (2006) On the Move: Mobility in the Modern Western World, Routledge, London. (Chapter 9 – The Production of Mobilities at Schiphol Airport Amsterdam)
Katz, C. (1992) 'All the world is staged: intellectuals and the process of ethnography', Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 10: 495-510.
Parr, H. (2000) Interpreting the 'hidden social geographies' of mental health: ethnographies of inclusion and exclusion in semi-institutional places, Health and Place 6: 225-237. (Good example of an empirical ethnographic study).

Sense of place:
Basso, Keith (1996) Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Language Among the Western Apache. Sante Fe: University of New Mexico Press.
Cresswell, Tim (2013) Place: A Short Introduction, London: Wiley.
Frumkin, H. (2003) Healthy Places: Exploring the Evidence, American Journal of Public Health, Vol 93, No. 9
Massey, D. (2005) For Space, London: SAGE.
Relph (1979) Place and Placelessness, Pion Ltd. (2nd edition also available)
Seamon, D. & Sowers, J. (2008) ‘Place and Placelessness, Edward Relph’, In P. Hubbard, R. Kitchen, & G. Valentine (eds.), Key Texts in Human Geography, Sage, London, pp.43-51 (available at http://www.arch.ksu.edu/seamon/place_&_placelessness_classic_texts.pdf).
Tuan, Y-F. (1974) Topophilia: A study of environmental perception, attitudes,
and values, Englewood Cliffs, Prentice Hall, Inc., NJ.
Wylie, J. (2002). An essay on ascending Glastonbury Tor. Geoforum 33(4): 441-454.

Subterranean Space and Geopolitics:
Bradford, Erle (2014) The Great Siege, Malta 1565: Clash of Cultures, ereads.com
Bridge, Gavin (2013) Territory, now in 3D! Political Geography (34): 55–57.
Bishop, Ryan (2011) Project ‘Transparent Earth’ and the autoscopy of aerial targeting: the
visual geopolitics of the underground. Theory, Culture, and Society 28 (7–8): 270–286.
Chambliss, Wayne (2020) Spoofing: The Geophysics of Not Being Governed. In: Billé,
Franck (Ed.), Voluminous States: Sovereignty, Materiality, and the Territorial
Imagination. Duke University Press, Durham, NC.
Graham, Stephen, Hewitt, Lucy (2012) Getting off the ground: On the politics of urban
verticality. Progress in Human Geography 37 (1): 72–92.

Human rights and Civic Education & Subterranean Geomorphologies:
(Forthcoming)