HUMAN GEOGRAPHY

Human Geography investigates the interactions between people and territories. The course explores cultural and spatial issues, ranging from geopolitics, to cartography and human rights. In particular students will engage with problems related to land, rights, and human interaction in Palestine and elsewhere. Through maps, field trips and texts, the course will analyze historical and contemporary developments in the politics of urban planning and space. The course will be structured around three main areas of investigation: A) The vertical prospective: topographical maps and areal photos. The “vertical representation” of the world has historically considered objective, scientific. However we know that maps where produce by the power and implicitly or explicitly they embody a certain ideological vision of the world. The students will learn how to read critically such “objective” form of representation and de-construct its hidden political agenda. In particular we will read historical and contemporary maps of Palestine trying to contextualize their social and political vision of the world. B) The horizontal prospective: view from the road and walking. We will associate to the more classical and established form of representation of territory an horizontal and dynamic prospective. This is a more subjective view but one that is nonetheless very useful for understating spatial transformation and the movements of people. Through the use of videos, photos, interviews with people we will learn how to map the territory from below. C) The vertical and horizontal approaches of investigation will be applied as strategies for reading phenomena such as colonization and decolonization, refugee camps and new towns.