13717 - Communication Geography (M-Z)

Course contents

At least in part, the story of geographical exploration represented a concern to move from the myth to map, to convert cosmographical theory into cartographical reality. The geographers and cartographers were themselves participants in myth-making through their own manufacture of imaginative, exotic geographies. Their geographies thus created an imaginative geography of America as powerful as the mythologies of "the Pacific" and the "Darkest Africa". The aim of the course is to explore the history of geography and the discourse of maps in the context of political power. Maps will be regarded as part of the broader family of value-laden images. Both in the selectivity of their content and in their signs and styles maps are a way of conceiving, articulating and structuring the human world which is biased towards, promoted by, and exerts influence upon particular sets of social relations.
First module (30 hours): Introduction to the history of geographical and cartographical knowledge. Recommended reading: D. N. Livingstone, The Geographical Tradition. Episodes in the History of a Contested Enterprise, Oxford, Blackwell, 1993; F. Farinelli, Geografia, Torino, Einaudi, 2003;
Second module (30 hours): Maps in the three geographical phases.  Recommended reading: J. B. Harley, Nature of Maps: Essays in the History of Cartography, London, Hopkins University Press, 2001, D. Gregory, Geographical Imaginations, Oxford Blackwell, 1994.

Readings/Bibliography

F. Farinelli, Geografia, Torino, Einaudi, 2003
A. Bonazzi, Manuale di geografia culturale, Laterza, 2011;
S. Torresani, A. Ludovisi, Storia della cartografia, Bologna, Patron, 1996;
P. Sloterdijk, Il mondo dentro il capitale, Roma, Meltemi, 2006.

Teaching methods

Lectures

Assessment methods

Oral examination, comprising of a series of questions that aim to ascertain student's understanding of the course.

Teaching tools

Overhead projector

Office hours

See the website of Alessandra Bonazzi