I. General Information

1. Course Title:
Honors Cultural Geography

2. Course Prefix & Number:
GEOG 1460

3. Course Credits and Contact Hours:

Credits: 3

Lecture Hours: 3

4. Course Description:

Cultural geography is the study of cultural phenomena and institutions and their interactions in space. The course will examine human population patterns and migration, religion, agriculture, politics, economic development and urban patterns. This honors course will feature an increased emphasis on the theoretical basis for cultural geography. This will be accomplished in part through the recognition of a variety of cultural groups and the unique landscapes they create. We will examine the ways in which those landscapes reflect and reinforce cultural identity. Students enrolled in this honors course will be required to read additional (topical) literature, participate in team projects, and complete a capstone project. Activities may include (original) research, inquiry based investigation(s), collaboration, or other project types that the instructor deems worthy of the Honors’ designation. At least one extended field trip may be required. Courses in the Honors Program emphasize independent inquiry, informed discourse, and direct application within small, transformative, and seminar-style classes that embrace detailed examinations of the material and feature close working relationships with instructors. In addition, students learn to leverage course materials so that they can affect the world around them in positive ways.

5. Placement Tests Required:

Accuplacer (specify test):	Next Gen Reading	Score:	265
Other (specify test):	ACT English	Score:	24

6. Prerequisite Courses:

There are no prerequisites for this course.

7. Other Prerequisites

OR permission from the instructor or Honors Coordinator, or high school GPA of 3.5 or greater.

9. Co-requisite Courses:

There are no corequisites for this course.

II. Transfer and Articulation

1. Course Equivalency - similar course from other regional institutions:

SCSC, GEOG 270, 3 credits
Normandale CC, GEOG 1102, 3 credits

III. Course Purpose

2. MN Transfer Curriculum (General Education) Courses - This course fulfills the following goal area(s) of the MN Transfer Curriculum:

• Goal 5 – History and the Social and Behavioral Sciences
• Goal 8 – Global Perspective

IV. Learning Outcomes

1. College-Wide Outcomes

College-Wide Outcomes/Competencies	Students will be able to:
Demonstrate oral communication skills	Group Power Point presentation on one of the world’s great religions.
Discuss/compare characteristics of diverse cultures and environments	Examine and critique a particular folk or popular culture landscape of the student’s choosing.

2. Course Specific Outcomes - Students will be able to achieve the following measurable goals upon completion of the course:

• Employ the methods and data that historians and social and behavioral scientists use to investigate the human condition. MnTC Goal 5
• Examine social institutions and processes across a range of historical periods and cultures. MnTC Goal 5
• Develop and communicate alternative explanations or solutions for contemporary social issues. MnTC Goal 5
• Describe and analyze political, economic, and cultural elements which influence relations of states and societies in their historical and contemporary dimensions. MnTC Goal 8
• Demonstrate knowledge of cultural, social, religious and linguistic differences. MnTC Goal 8
• Understand the role of a world citizen and the responsibility world citizens share for their common global future. MnTC Goal 8
• Create and carry out a research project which employs the three key analytical functions of Cultural geography, space, place and landscape. MnTC Goal 5
• Evaluate a landscape for its inherent social, political and cultural content and significance. MnTC Goal 8
• Analyze global phenomena, e.g., global consumption and supply chains, agriculture and the world production of various commodities for world markets for their sustainability, equality and power relationships and potentials for conflict. MnTC Goal 8

V. Topical Outline

Listed below are major areas of content typically covered in this course.

1. Lecture Sessions

1. Place, space & culture
• Additional Honors material – Analyzing place and space
2. Themes in geography
• Additional Honors material – People, landscapes and time
3. Folk and Popular Culture
• Additional Honors material – The symbolic landscape
4. World Systems Theory and the shape of the modern world
5. Population and Migration
6. Political Geography
• Additional Honors material – Nations, homelands and belonging
7. Geography of Religion
• Additional Honors material – Locating culture
8. Agriculture
• Additional Honors material – Commodities and consumption
9. Economic Development
• Additional Honors material – Cultures of production
10. Urban Geography
• Additional Honors material – Self and other: writing space