GEOG3331

An invisible, not-quite-dead, not-quite-alive entity—the coronavirus—forced us, rudely and tragically, to reckon with space. As we try and maintain social distance from other bodies, wear masks to disrupt the virus’ pathways of diffusion, confront shortages in grocery stores, home supply outlets, and car dealerships, adjust to interruptions in many services, and either choose to, or are forced to stay at home, in our cities, in our countries, we are thinking and acting spatially. And we are reminded that “stuff”—food, medicines, toilet paper—reaches us often through geographically extensive and logistically intricate webs of economic production and distribution.

We will learn what it means to think geographically about the capitalist economy as a spatial, relational formation. In doing so, we will challenge dominant ways of understanding and analyzing the economy, and of what counts as economic. We will also examine two simultaneous aspects of the world economy—fixity and flow. On the one hand, the economy propels and is propelled by flows—of goods, of services, of people, of labor, and of finance. On the other hand, physical infrastructures are rooted in place on the earth. After all, even the digital worlds of Facebook, Google, and Amazon are enabled by vast server farms. The course will also highlight the production and proliferation of inequalities—between social groups, states, countries, and regions—in and by the world economy. In fact, we will ask: Is economic unevenness a mere byproduct of capitalist economic growth, or the condition of possibility for it? Finally, we will discuss the relationships between global phenomena and local events. Crises like global climate change, overflows of waste matter, COVID19, and the 2008 financial meltdown make it clear that the global and the local are intimately entangled. Not only do global events impact individual livelihoods, including yours and mine, but economic jitters in one place can escalate, sending shockwaves across the world.

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