Kim England

Courses Taught

In the academic year 2007/08 I am teaching:

Autumn 2007 Geog 476: Women and the City

Winter 2008 Geog 342: Geographies of Inequalities AND Geog 541: Feminist Geographies

Spring 2008 Geog 277: Geographies of Cities

Course Catalog Descriptions

NOTE: Online access to all course materials requires a UW password. The links generally only work in the quarters I am teaching the classes.

GEOG277: GEOGRAPHIES OF CITIES

This course will develop your understanding of the geographic nature of urbanization, urban systems (inter-urban geography) and the internal spatial patterns and activities within cities (intra-urban geography). Particular emphasis is placed on the US and Canadian experience, although examples will be occasionally drawn from other regions of the world. The course will explore: (1) system of cities – their location, distribution, and functions; (2) their internal structure – the location of activities within urban areas, including housing, economic activities and social geography; and (3) shed light on the major issues and problems facing contemporary urban society.

GEOG342: GEOGRAPHY AND INEQUALITY

This course considers the geographies of social, political and economic inequalities. The focus will usually be on urban areas, although other spatial scales will also be examined. The course begins with discussions of the theoretical underpinning of ‘inequality’. The remainder of the course builds on these ideas by exploring topics such as the spatial distribution of wealth and poverty, and the geographies of exclusion and discrimination in employment and housing. Particular emphasis is placed on the US and Canadian experience, although some examples are drawn from other regions of the world, especially Britain.

GEOG 476: WOMEN AND THE CITY

This course explores the reciprocal relations between gender relations, the layout of cities, and the activities of urban residents. Topics include: feminist theory and geography (women, gender, and the organization of space); women and urban poverty, housing and homelessness; paid employment; geographies of childcare; and women and urban politics. Particular emphasis is placed on the US and Canadian experience, although some examples are drawn from Europe, especially Britain.

GEOG 495: GEOGRAPHY OF DIFFERENCE

How do spaces and places operate in relation to the processes and politics of gender, class, ‘race’, ethnicity, age, (dis)ability, sexuality, and national identities? How do different institutions, processes and practices (re)shape these identities and these spaces? This course critically examines the ways in which social relations, social identities, and social inequalities are produced, their spatial variation, and the role of space in constructing them. We will explore the geographic dimensions of various facets of socially constructed categories of difference (such as gender, ‘race,’ and class) and the theoretical frameworks that geographers use to analyze them.

GEOG 541: FEMINIST GEOGRAPHIES (actual content subject to change)

This graduate seminar explores major research themes in feminist geographies. Particular attention is given to the concept that gendered identities and spaces are discursively (re)produced. And as recent feminist scholarship emphasizes diversity and difference, the seminar highlights the intersections between gender, ‘race,’ ethnicity, sexuality, class, and other social identities and divisions. This seminar draws on English language literature that focuses on North America and Western Europe. A typical seminar covers the history of feminist geography since the 1970s, current debates regarding appropriate methodologies in feminist geographies, and feminist geographers’ research around questions to do with the home, gendering everyday spaces, workplaces, the body, and the nation and globalization.

Return to Kim’s home page