University:
University of Wyoming
Course:
POLS4013 | Political Geography
Academic year:

2023
Views:

290

Pages:

1
Author:

Allison B.

The first lines of the course description in the syllabus say that, "geographic space mediates political action and is transformed by it," and that "political geography is a practice of studying and establishing relations between politics, in its various forms, and space (the dimension of life examined by geographers, including spatial forms like place, landscape, and territory)." In this essay,you demonstrate your emerging ability to think geographically about politics or about the exercise of power. Completing this essay involves the following two tasks: 1. Identifying an example of a political phenomenon of your choice (for example, national identity formation, state formation, policymaking, social movement mobilization, everyday social differentiation, "regulation" and re-regulation, etc.) 2. Revealing, through discussion of that phenomenon, its spatiality (that is, the way space matters to your example -- how one spatial form or another is produced as part of "politics" in this particular case, how existing spaces influence it, how geographic space "mexdiates" this example of political action (per the syllabus), etc.) You will complete these tasks approximately in 1,250 words, which is approximately five double-spaced pages if you use a typical font type (e.g., Times New Roman, Garamond, etc.) and font size (11 or 12 point font). I expect the essay to be written in the form of a traditional academic essay, which is to say, with a clear thesis/argument at the outset, and with a series of paragraphs that substantiate your thesis/argument. You must cite at least three chapters or articles from the course material so far as you write this essay. These course materials can be useful for substantiating your claim, either by way of a concept or theory from the reading, or by way of an example offered by the author(s). Your citation style is up to you (e.g., APA, MLA, Harvard, or whatever), so long as you are consistent and your citations function to direct me to the corresponding passages in the texts to which you refer.