Searching for good practice in postgraduate education

Regional geography courses have declined in status and number at many North American universities. Yet it is regional courses which students with limited geographical education at the high school level may identify as typical geography, and thus regional courses may play a significant role in recruitment of geography majors. Regional courses on the students' country or state/province offer an excellent opportunity to showcase how geographic perspectives can enrich our understanding of the familiar, both in terms of place and discipline. This paper discusses the pivotal role a regional geography course has been given in a new university's geography curriculum, and the innovative structuring of the course so as to avoid some of the deficiencies of common instructional patterns which may deter some students from pursuing further geographic education.     

Two modes of peer teaching in introductory college geography

Abstract

Two modes of using undergraduate students as peer teachers in introductory courses have been developed at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Peer teachers are small group leaders in a human geography course built around role playing simulations; in two physical geography courses they are tutors in a self‐paced system. A separate course provides peer teacher guidance—a course‐within‐a‐course model. Socio‐psychological, pedagogical, economic, and political implications of peer teaching are interpreted after ten years' experience with the programme.     

The quality and appropriateness of forensic anthropological education in the UK

Abstract

Recently there has been a noticeable increase in the number of forensic anthropology courses, in a variety of guises, being offered by UK universities. Now is an appropriate time to examine this situation and discuss whether it is appropriate that such courses are available to students. If it is decided that such courses are indeed appropriate, one needs to continue by examining their quality. This paper examines these educational issues and serves to begin a dialogue to discuss them further within the young disciplines.     

Teaching economic geography in UK higher education institutions

Abstract

This paper examines how the changes in the last decade in economic geography have been reflected in the courses taught in the UK and assesses the impact of recent changes in teaching styles and methods on how the subject is taught. It summarises the findings from a survey of 50 UK Geography Departments. The paper covers three main topics: the significance of economic geography in UK degrees courses; the characteristics of introductory economic geography courses; and the issues involved in the teaching of economic geography.     

Changing tides of industrial democracy: Red Clydeside and the UCS work-in as political heritage

ABSTRACT

Drawing on labour history, critical heritage studies and sociological literature on the entrepreneurial city, this article focuses on the cultural legacy of the famous 1971/72 Upper Clyde Shipbuilders (UCS) work-in apropos Glasgow’s historical reputation as ‘Red Clydeside’. In doing so, the article considers the dispute’s continuing importance as a political resource for present-day debates about workers’ rights, Glasgow’s post-industrial identity, the rise of populist demagoguery and the future of Britain’s industry more generally.     

The Eighteenth-Century ‘Restoration’ of the West Portals of Saint-Denis and the Problem of the Lintels

Abstract

The west portals of Saint-Denis are believed to have incorporated lintels which would have been engaged with the doorposts below impost level. The lintels are presumed to have been removed in 1771 when various damaging work was carried out on the doorways. Irregularities in the upper courses of the doorposts appear to confirm this theory and many scholars have speculated upon the form of the lost lintels. It can be demonstrated, however, that the narrow nineteenth-century lintels in situ above impost level follow the original twelfth-century design: substantial lintels were at no time engaged with the doorposts. The disorder of the upper doorposts can nevertheless be attributed to the 1771 campaign. At that time the doorposts were dismantled and reassembled carelessly, without leaving enough room for the reinsertion of the upper courses: those of the central portal were merely trimmed while those of the lateral portals were replaced.     

Location of Memory versus Space of Communication: Presses,Languages, and Education among Czernovitz Jews, 1918-1941

Abstract

The history of Czernovitz, chief city and former capital of Bukovina, has long been veiled in a mythology based largely on romanticized accounts. In order to understand the background to this city’s rich literary production better, we have evaluated the German-language press which flourished in Czernovitz during the interwar period, when the city remained an enclave of German-language culture, highly intellectual, and predominantly Jewish, long after Bukovina itself came under Romanian rule in 1918. In this article, we challenge the romantic mythology of Czernovitz, stressing the city’s function as a modern space of communication rather than a location of memory. Our research is based on press articles, contextualizing archival material and testimonies of contemporaries born between 1908 and 1936. Its underlying conceptual framework is Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of the field of cultural production.     

From three Ottoman gates to three Serbian sites of memory: The performative rewriting of Belgrade from 1878 until today

ABSTRACT

This essay analyses how three entrances to Ottoman-era Belgrade have been reconstructed since 1878. It demonstrates how the rewriting of these places entailed silencing the Ottoman past and constructing sites of Serbian national memory. By examining city space as a palimpsest, it shows how a new national narrative has been written in relation to earlier Ottoman space, thus making the national narrative a mediator of the memory of the seemingly erased Ottoman past.     

The Archaeology of Jerusalem — Between Post-Modernism and Delegitimization

Abstract

The study of the motivations, influences, and agendas of Israeli archaeology has always been the centre of heated debate, the profession today finding itself under the full, and usually highly critical, glare of modern archaeological theory and/or political polemics. This paper addresses the motivations of some these critics and from under the mesh of often over-stated argumentation, tries to provide a more level appreciation of current archaeological work in Jerusalem. Quite contrary to the impression given by some of the recent scholarship, it is argued that the great majority of the published and excavated archaeology of Jerusalem of the past decades presents the finds of the multiplicity of periods of the city’s history, quite divorced from overt and even covert influence of the surrounding volatile political situation.     

“Who teaches,learns”: writing groups in geographical education

Abstract

The ability to communicate is acknowledged by employers to be a valuable attribute of a university graduate. That ability is also vital in fulfilling geography discipline objectives of mutual understanding and emancipation. Writing groups have been used in geography departments in Australia and the USA as a means of improving student skills in written communication as well as to stimulate positive attitudes to writing, intellectual growth and rhetorical skills. From the point of view of teachers, writing groups were employed to fulfil pedagogic objectives and to free up time for instructional improvements and other academic business. This paper outlines the rationale for using writing groups in geography courses, means by which they might be applied, and their merits and shortcomings.     

The Birmingham Button Industry

Abstract

The city of Birmingham has been the birthplace of many industries and, somewhat surprisingly, one of the most important of these is the button industry, since this small but indispensable item appears to have been a major factor behind the increasing prosperity of 18th- and 19th-century Birmingham.     

Italian masculinities

Abstract

After both world wars Italy struggled to have territories in the Upper Adriatic, among them the port city of Trieste, included within its national borders. Italy’s hopes to utilize Trieste as a barrier against incursion from the east and the city’s symbolic importance as an outpost for the defense of italianità are well known, but the city’s role as a conduit to former Habsburg provinces in Central Europe remains overlooked. In fact, regional associations with Mitteleuropa, seen by those on the peninsula as indications that the city was distant or foreign, formed one facet of a regional identity which proved compatible with national expectations. From annexation in 1918, the competing visions of Trieste as a bulwark against the east and as a junction in Central Europe shaped local identity and carved a niche for the city within the national framework.     

Spatiality,sweatshops and solidarity in Guatemala

Uneven development in Guatemala has been fuelled by international investment flows and a 1984 law that established a patchwork pattern of each factory as its own free-trade zone. The spatial and social flexibility of this form of labour regulation requires workers to be creative in defending their rights. Our paper explores the creative potential of transnational worker/consumer/student alliances, or mixed coalitions as we call them, to influence global production. We analyse one international solidarity campaign (1991-1999) focused on a shirt factory of Phillips-Van Huesen, the world's largest manufacturer of men's shirts. A co-ordinated strategy linking Guatemalan workers with the US-based anti-sweatshop movement led to the approval of the first collective bargaining agreement in the maquila sector in Guatemala, yet long-term results proved illusive. The factory shut down shortly after the contract was signed and production moved to lower-wage maquilas in the same city. The struggle at the Phillips-Van Huesen shirt factory illustrates the importance of critical geographical knowledge for labour organizing and solidarity politics.     

Editorial II

Abstract

This paper begins by outlining some recent initiatives to encourage the incorporation of ‘enterprise skills’ in British higher education and discusses the response of the academic community. Geographers are at the forefront of these developments. The second part of the paper illustrates how a first year practical course in geography was redesigned into a set of largely resource‐based group projects which incorporate many of the personal transferable skills emphasised in the various enterprise initiatives. It is concluded that the inclusion of enterprise skills is relevant to geography courses, but they are best integrated into mainline courses rather than taught as separate courses.     

Crossed gazes over an old city: photography and the ‘Experientiation’ of a heritage place

Abstract

The paper analyses a group of photographs of the old city of Porto, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The photograph is used as a medium to elicit the ways different social agents experience and relate to Old Porto as a heritage place. The photographs were collected as part of a wider research project on the way sense of place of Porto’s old city was differentially constructed by local inhabitants, tourists and the City Council. Illustrated postcards were also analysed. The findings demonstrate the usefulness of this particular form of image-based ethnographic research in understanding the forms in relation to a heritage lived-in place.     

Site preservation at Gordian,an Iron Age city in Anatolia

Abstract

Since excavations began at the Citadel Mound of Gordion in the 1950s, the site has been exposed to the extreme weather conditions of Central Anatolia. The architectural remains, including a unique palace quarter and citadel, are deteriorating to the extent that the legibility of the site is threatened.

The excavated area within the mound, comprising more than two hectares, is too vast to be covered by protective sheltering given the current budget. Conventional backfilling is also precluded, as this would obscure key topographical elements of the site and distort the stratigraphical context of the city within its surrounding citadel.

To preserve the site under these conditions, a technique of sandbag buttressing and clay capping has been implemented at Gordion. Using locally available materials, this system of interpretive stabilization not only preserves the architecture of the ancient city within its stratigraphical context, but improves the legibility of the site as a whole.     

Structural preservation of the Temple of the Oracle in Siwa Oasis,Egypt

Abstract

The Oracle of Siwa, in the Libyan Desert, was one of the important cult sites in the classical period. For almost 1000 years the oracle was a place of pilgrimage, famous especially because of the visit of Alexander the Great in 332 BC. The temple itself was dedicated to the Egyptian god Amun and was constructed by Greek architects using alternating courses of solid binders and stretcher courses of massive limestone slabs enclosing a rubble-mortar core. Throughout its 2500-year history the temple complex was used by various groups for different purposes.

Situated near the rim of a hill the temple itself was threatened by continuous erosion of the hill slopes. During the first visit in 1993 it was decided to undertake immediate structural preservation of the critical parts of the building. In 1994 a reversible temporary reinforcement of the northern wall was applied. This was done in order to make future interventions more secure. Early during the damage assessment, the need for an extensive reinforcement of the bedrock was discussed. Before critical interventions took place the site was fully surveyed. Due to the high salt content of the anhydrite mortar and the building stone the interventions were carried out with a minimum of water. In the course of three campaigns in 1997, 1998 and 1999, the northern, the western and the opposite southern walls were reinforced by pre-stressed stainless steel anchors and secured by anchor plates. In 1999 the fissures and cracks of the bedrock were grouted with gunned concrete. The temple should be structurally stable for the next hundred years, but the problems of nonstructural decay of the walls have still to be addressed.     

Cartography and Urban Planning: The City Plan of Barcelona by Miquel Garriga i Roca (1856–1862)

ABSTRACT

Due to the passing of Spanish laws that promoted the creation of urban cartography and the need to redevelop an overcrowded city, the Barcelona City Council commissioned the architect Miquel Garriga i Roca in 1856 to create a municipal plan. During the following six years he compiled what is known as the Plan of Barcelona, a collection of cartographical documents that depicts with unprecedented levels of detail how Barcelona appeared right after the demolition of the city walls. This paper explains how and why the maps were commissioned, how they were made, and the resultant cartographical output.     

International geography field courses: practices and challenges

Abstract

This paper introduces a special issue of the Journal of Geography in Higher Education on the practices and challenges associated with taking undergraduate geography students abroad on field courses. I argue that geography is positioned to benefit from both the internationalization of higher education and the demand by students for global experiences. The papers in this special issue focus on three aspects of international field courses: curriculum design and international partnerships, student engagement during short-duration field courses, and how encounters with place can be aided through reflection and play. I conclude with suggestions for future research on international field courses.     

Energy efficiency left behind? Policy assemblages in Sweden’s most climate-smart city

ABSTRACT

Smart city experiments have the potential to reshape urban climate change governance. Smart city initiatives have been supported by international technology companies and the European Union for many years and continue to be promoted by national and municipal governments. In relation to sustainability and climate change, such initiatives promise more efficient use of resources through the use of information and communications technology in energy infrastructure. Experiments with smart city technologies such as urban smart grids have shown the potential to restructure relationships between energy utilities, energy users and other actors by reconfiguring the dynamics of energy supply and demand. But do urban experiments lead to institutional change? The aim of the article is to provide a better understanding of how smart city experiments reshape the urban governance of building energy use. Hyllie, a new city district in Malmö, Sweden, was home to two smart city experiments that contributed to the institutionalization of urban smart grid technology. However, the analysis of Hyllie’s policy assemblages shows that this institutional change could redefine sustainability at the expense of energy efficiency.