Rural Geography Course Description and Expectations

Rural Geography
Geog 174
Cheryl Morse
Spring 2013
MWF, 10:40-11:30
Lafayette 210
CRN: 13799
Course Description and Expectations
This course is an introduction to the field of Rural Geography. We will focus on the geographies of rural communities at three scales:
the global, regional within the United States, and the state of Vermont. The class will consider some of the most pressing and enduring
concerns in rural communities including: demographic change, the effects of economic restructuring, commodification of the
countryside, shifts in agricultural practices and economies, poverty, health, landscape change, resource-based economies, tourism,
spatial relations, and social service depletion. All the while we will ask how such phenomena impact the lives of the people who live in
rural places. Students will gain an awareness of the ways in which narratives about the rural are circulated in film, literature,
commentary, and music, and how these narratives either reflect or distort the rural experience. In the final portion of the term we will
examine how factors such as class, gender, race, sexual orientation, and age influence personal experiences of particular rural places,
sensitive to the fact that there are many ‘rurals’ across the globe, the United States, and within Vermont communities. Participants in
this class will attend lectures, contribute to discussions and activities, complete both in-class and out-of class assignments, write, work
in groups, listen to guest lectures, watch films, discuss literature, and write a university-level scholarly paper. Over the course of the
term I will give “scholarly tutorials” on the skills required to produce a high-quality research paper. Active participation in discussions
and activities, as well as full attendance are required.
Learning Objectives
To introduce students to a sub-discipline within the field of geography, including themes that cut across many fields of study
in geography including: demographic change, globalization, environmental concerns, landscape change, identity politics,
and global social problems.
To engage students in several different research methods.
To improve student writing skills, develop critical geographic analysis skills, and produce new knowledge about the rural.
Essential Information:
Blackboard site: https://bb.uvm.edu
On-line daily schedule: http://www.uvm.edu/~cemorse/RuralGeography/RuralGeogSyllabusS2013.html
Cheryl Morse, Instructor
Kristina Sweet, Teaching Assistant
email
[email protected]
[email protected]
office hours
Wednesdays 9:30-10:30
Fridays 12:00-1:00
and by appointment
203 Old Mill
Mondays 11:35-12:35
office location
344 Jeffords
Course Outline and Daily Schedule:
The course outline and detailed daily schedule are posted on our class Blackboard site. The detailed schedule is also posted on the
course webpage. All assignments are listed in the daily schedule and in the Assignments section of Blackboard. Please be sure to
check the schedule frequently as it will be update often.
Required Readings:
There is no required textbook for this course. All readings will be posted in digital format on Blackboard From time to time I will also
post a question or set of topics I’d like you to focus on as you read. You are expected to take detailed notes of each of the readings and
to keep these notes handy for the duration of the course. We will have unannounced writing assignments on the readings in class.
Lecture Guides and Assignments:
For some of the lectures I will post a lecture guide in the Lecture Guide section of Blackboard. These are intended to help you take
notes during class, and to identify the most important information, that which you are responsible for knowing on exams and in class
discussion. It is your responsibility to see if there is a lecture guide for an upcoming class. Please print out the lecture notes prior to
class and bring them with you.
Course Assessment I will use the Grade Center on Blackboard to post your grades. Please come to see me during my office hours or make an
appointment to ask questions or discuss your performance in the course.
Class Participation:
10%
You are expected to come to each class, to complete all readings and assignments before the start of class, and to participate in class
discussions, activities and assignments. If you are ill or have an emergency situation that forces you to miss class, please contact me
at once. Attendance will be taken at each class meeting. You will lose credit if you do not attend each class, or if you do not
participate in class. Should you miss a class, it is your responsibility to ask for notes from a classmate and to make up any missed
reading or work.
In-Class “Writes”
10%
There will be several unannounced writing assignments on the readings given in class. The “writes” are designed to have students
reflect critically on the readings and discussions. You may use your reading notes in class. I will drop your lowest writing grade.
Critical Reflections
30%
Over the course of the term I will post 6 writing assignments in Blackboard. You must complete 5 of these assignments. One of these
assignments involves attending an on-campus lecture outside of class. Please see the explanation below. If you do not complete a
assignment by the assigned date you will receive a 0 for that quiz. I will always post the questions on Blackboard one week in advance
of the due date. Most assignments will be submitted on Blackboard.
Food Systems Seminar Assignment
(counts toward one of the 6 Thursday writing assignments)
Students are required to attend one out-of-class food systems seminar that will take place on campus this spring, and to write a critical
reflection of the experience. “Food Systems” includes any lecture on the topic of agriculture, working landscapes, energy production,
food practices, or rural community development that includes food production in some way. I will post guidelines for this assignment on
Blackboard and announce upcoming seminars in class.
Rural Community Study (aka “The Rural Development Enhancement Grant Competition”) 25%
You will work in small teams for this project. You and your teammates will conduct a study of a rural county within the United States.
For this project you will collect a variety of data including agricultural and natural resource sector statistics, geographic and climate
data, economic data, demographic information, well-being indicators, and cultural information. Your group will analyze this data and
using it as a basis, develop an community development proposal to enter into a $1 million grant competition. Each team will present
their “pitch” in a group presentation. You will hand in group work as well as an individual analysis of one aspect of the rural geography
of this place.
Scholarly Paper
25%
Each student will write a 5-6 page original, fully-referenced paper on a topic of their choosing. I will provide you with specific
guidelines over the course of the term.
Total
100%
Grading Matrix :
A+ 98-100
B+ 88-89
C+ 78-79
D+ 68-69
A
93-97
B 83-87
C 73-77
D
A-
90-92
B-
C-
D-
80-82
70-72
F – below 60
63-67
60-62
Academic Integrity: You are a member of a scholarly community. Dishonesty not only interrupts your educational process but also
damages the integrity of the learning community. Academic dishonesty includes: plagarism (submitting someone else’s work as your
own), cheating, copying another’s work, and fabricating information or citations. Suspected academic dishonesty will be handled by the
Dean of Students’ Office. If you have questions about what constitutes academic dishonesty, please talk directly with me.
Religious Holidays: Students have the right to practice the religion of their choice. Students should submit in writing to me by the end
of the second full week of classes their documented religious holiday schedule for the semester. I will permit students who miss work
for the purpose of religious observance to make up this work/quiz.
Extracurricular Obligations: If you play on a varsity athletic team or participate in any other UVM-sanctioned activity which will cause
you to miss class, it is your responsibility to give a full schedule of your planned absences to me by the second full week of classes. I
will allow you to reschedule an assignment or quiz under these conditions.
Email and Office Hours: I look forward to getting to know you and helping you do your best in this course. The best way for me to do
this is by meeting with you during my office hours. If you cannot make my office hours, please email me to set up an appointment.
Please use email messages to set up appointments with me. Please do not use email to request missed lecture notes or assignment
announcements. Thanks for being considerate of this.
Access: If you have a disability or a learning difference which in any way interferes with your performance in class, or your access to
the classroom, please speak with me as soon as possible so we can make the proper accommodations.
Readings:
We will read a variety of academic journal and newspaper articles, essays, website pieces, reports, chapters, newspaper articles, and book excerpts
in this class. This is a partial list.
Bell, Michael. Farm Boys and Wild Men: Rurality, Masculinity, and Homosexuality. Rural Sociology, 65: 547-561.
Che, Deborah. 2005. Constructing a Prison in the Forest: Conflicts Over Nature, Paradise, and Identity. Annals of the Association of
American Geographers 95(4): 809-831.
Cronon, W. 1996. The Trouble with Wilderness, or, Getting Back to the Wrong Nature, in Uncommon Ground. W. Cronon, ed. New
York: W. W. Norton & Co. 69-90.
Ferarro-Ramirez, Eric. 2005. Troubled Fields: Men, Emotions, and the Crisis in American Farming. New York: Columbia University
Press.
Hinrichs, C. 1996. Consuming Images: Making and Marketing Vermont as Distinctive Rural Place. Creating the Countryside. E. M. D. a.
P. Vandergeest. Philadelphia, Temple University Press: 259-278.
Jarosz, L. and V. Lawson 2002. Sophisticated People Versus Rednecks: Economic Restructuring and Class Difference in America's
West. Antipode 34(1): 8-28.
Jensen, L. 2006. At the Razor’s Edge: bulding hope for America’s rural poor. Rural Realities series: 1(1). Rural Sociological Society.
Kimball, K. 2010. The Dirty Life: A Memoir of Farming, Food, and Love. New York: Scribner.
Lyson, T. 2004. Civic Agriculture: Reconnecting Farm, Food, and Community. Medford, MA: Tufts University Press.
Panelli, R., E. Robson, et al., eds. 2007. Young Rural Lives. London and New York, Routledge.
Palang, H., H. Soovali, M. Antrop, G. Setten, eds. European Rural Landscapes: Persistence and Change in a Globalising Environment.
Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Philo, C. 1992. Neglected Rural Geographies: A Review. Journal of Rural Studies, 8, 193-207.
Schubart, Bill. 2008. The Lamoille Stories. White River Jct, VT: White River Press.
Solnick, R. 2008. One Nation Under Elvis. Orion Magazine. March/April.
Woods, Michael. 2005. Rural Geography. London, Thousand Oaks, New Delhi: Sage Publications. (chapters on global agricultural
change, rural resource extraction communities and economies, cultural narratives of the rural)
Zeppa. Jaime. 1999. Beyond the Sky and the Earth. New York: Riverhead Books.
General Outline for Course
(the detailed daily schedule can be found at on-line syllabus)
Date
Class Topic
Jan 14-25
I. Introduction to Rural Geography
Jan 21
Martin Luther King Day- no class
Tutorials in Scholarly Research will be taking place over the course of the term
Jan 28 – Feb 15 II. Global Trends in Rural Places: Population Change, Economic Restructuring, Poverty and Wealth, Health,
Environment
Feb 18
No class
Feb 20 - Mar 20 III. Rural Nature: Agriculture, Food Systems, Logging, Mining, Tourism, Wilderness, Conservation, Hunting and
Fishing, Prisons
Feb 27
Rural Community Team Project due
Mar 4 - 8
Spring Recess – enjoy!
Mar 22 - Apr 8
IV. Rural Diversity: Men, Women, Children, Elders, Gay and Lesbian Communities, Indigenous Peoples,
Immigrants, Retirees, Refugees
April 10
Scholarly Paper and One-Minute presentations due
April 12 - 29
V. Rural Identity: Personal Experience, Stereotypes and Resistance in Media and Popular Culture
May 1
Rural Geography Team Challenge and final day of class
There is no final exam for this course.