Honours Seminar in Human Geography II
one-way Exclusions
One 3-hour seminar per week
Please note that course information listed in the Arts and Science Course Calendar supersedes any information listed on the Geography and Planning website.
For the most current course offerings, registered Queen’s students should consult .
Course Description
Seminars offered by regular and visiting faculty on Geography topics related to their research interests. Consult the departmental homepage for further details of specific course offerings each academic year.
NOTE: Field Trip fees may apply in certain years; maximum cost $300.
2025-2026 Theme: Historical and Cultural Issues in Fieldwork
This course actively explores the histories, practises and cultural meanings of fieldwork. Geographical fieldwork is considered along with conceptions of the ‘field’ in allied disciplines such as ecology and anthropology. Constructions of the ‘field’ are addressed in terms of empire, nationalism, ‘nature’, pedagogy, translocalism, the lab-field border, performativity and in relation to its role as a gendered, ethical, racialized, imaginative, biopoliticized, sensory and affective space of knowledge and activity. Fieldwork has long had a key role in the making of knowledge in both social and natural sciences. Recent work in geography, sociology and the history of science has begun to explore diverse cultures of the field, raising a range of questions about the nature of field knowledge. Where is the field and for whom? The course focuses on case studies and currents pertinent to the study of field cultures within North America and elsewhere. The primary objective is to provide opportunities for in-depth discussion and activities to help understand and reassess the motives, practises and status of fieldwork. Both ‘human’ and ‘physical’ geography students (and students from other disciplines) are most welcome. Cross-listed with GPHY 870: Historical and Cultural Issues in Fieldwork.
Learning Outcomes
- Critically evaluate complex social issues using spatial and geographical analysis drawing on concepts such as place, space, and scale.
- Integrate theoretical and methodological approaches from various subfields of geography to analyze and explain social and environmental issues widely considered important.
- Apply advanced geographical methods to explore complex questions in human geography.
- Research and communicate complex geographical ideas and concepts in written and verbal forms through written assignments and classroom participation.
- Communicate key concepts from the course in plain language format to a non-academic audience to practice transferable skills beyond the class.
Assessments
Subject to Change
- Participation and presentations: 25%
- Field Journal Assignment: 30%
- Field Exercises: 45%