Geographies of Race and Racisms, Injustice, Difference and Identity (L022GRA)

30 credits, Level 6

Autumn teaching

On this module, you’ll explore geographical research on ‘race’ and ‘racisms’.

You’ll focus on what the axes of injustice, inequality, difference and identity influence in everyday geographies. You’ll engage with a range of theory and ways of thinking about such differences, including:

  • space
  • place
  • embodiment
  • intersectionality
  • essentialism vs. non-essentialism
  • representation
  • nonrepresentational theory.

By the end of the module, you’ll understand different social, cultural and political issues arising in research on the geographies of race, racism, difference and identity. You’ll also be able to apply your understanding to an in-depth case study of your choosing.

Themes include:

  • race and the politics of landscape (public space, the national park, the city)
  • race and geographies of the street
  • race and black histories
  • race at the museum
  • race and visual culture
  • race and the politics of the environment
  • race and environmental
  • justice (North and South)
  • race and the politics of indigeneity.

This experience of race in the cultural politics of the everyday is routed through histories of empire, land, earth, identity and the body. You’ll explore intersections of ethnicity, identity, ‘race’ and the theorisation of geographies of whiteness. Case study examples will be from published research in Geography, Sociology, Cultural Studies and beyond to assist focus on the specificities of racialisation and identity.

Teaching

100%: Practical (Workshop)

Assessment

30%: Coursework (Report)
70%: Written assessment (Essay)

Contact hours and workload

This module is approximately 300 hours of work. This breaks down into about 33 hours of contact time and about 267 hours of independent study. The University may make minor variations to the contact hours for operational reasons, including timetabling requirements.

We regularly review our modules to incorporate student feedback, staff expertise, as well as the latest research and teaching methodology. We’re planning to run these modules in the academic year 2026/27. However, there may be changes to these modules in response to feedback, staff availability, student demand or updates to our curriculum.

We’ll make sure to let you know of any material changes to modules at the earliest opportunity.

Courses

This module is offered on the following courses: