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Spring 2015:
Geog 340: Economic geography: Core Concepts [11:10am-12:25pm, TR, BGB 301]
This course will familiarize you with basic concepts, theories, and practices in economic geography. This will help you understand how the economics and the production systems across the regions, sub-regions, cities, and metropolitan areas are interconnected and intertwined with each other to sustain the economic system. Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to (i) describe how the production and consumption of commodities and their interconnected with each other affect the flow of goods and services that keep the world economy running; (ii) how various types of economic activities performed at different locations in this world shape (and reshape) the social, economic and cultural landscapes and vice-versa; (iii) how different levels and types of economic activities vary from region to region, and become recognized as a region’s specialty (e.g., the American Manufacturing Belt or the Mo-Town of Detroit!!) and (iv) how the socio-economic characteristics and skills associated with human beings residing in different regions and locations of the world relate with their economic engagement that creates distinct spatial divisions of labor.
Geog 375: Geography of South Asia [12:30-1:55pm, TR, BGB 301]
Geography of South Asia is an upper division course being offered for the third time in the Department of Geography in the College of Arts and Sciences, University of Tennessee. This course will focus on major geographical issues within the South Asian region. Geography 375 counts as an upper level distribution (Foreign Studies - Asia). Asia is home to the earth’s 40% population, and three of the top ten most populous countries in the world are in South Asia (India-2nd, Pakistan-6th and Bangladesh-7th). India with its enormous human resources and growing economy within the South Asian region and as an emerging global competitor has transitioned through several stages of historical, colonial/post-colonial, economic and social evolutions that has made the country and the whole region as an emerging global (economic) partner. Sri Lanka, despite the Indo-Sinhalese Civil War, has now emerged as one of the strongest economic powers of the region, offering high quality of life, and quite comparable to those in the developed world. Pakistan has continued to dominate global geo-political news because of its standing (or lack thereof) on the Al-Qaida, November 2008 attack on Mumbai, and other regional peace issues. In this class, we will focus on several contemporary socio-economic, cultural and political topics of contention concerning all countries of the regions. We will also discuss economic (under)development and the global significance of India’s silicon valley and its connections with the Silicon Valley of USA, South Asian population explosion, domestic and regional migration, society and culture [e.g., caste system, arranged marriages, dowry, Sati, gender (in)equalities, diversity of foods, dance/music, the Bollywood and the Kollywood (i.e., the Kariwood-Pakistan’s film industry], nuclear proliferation and some geo-political debates along India-Pakistan border and its impact on local/global political-economy. In the process of learning about this region, we will read scholarly papers along with discussing and watching documentaries and movie clips that will introduce you to the contemporary life style of South Asian growing middle class population as well as those residing in the Dharawi slums of Mumbai.