CPLT/SPTR 327 Maps and Mapping

 

Spring Semester, 2007
M 2:00-4:30  Cauthen 134

Professor: Ricardo Padr—n

Office Hours: TR 3:30-4:30 and By Appt., Wilson 119

Email: padron@virginia.edu

AIM: ricpadron

Phone: 924-7543 (w)

 

I.                 Course Description


Maps are a ubiquitous part of our lives.  We see them on the news and in the newspaper.  We use them when we travel both far away and close to home.  We follow the stories that we read, both factual and fictional, on their geographies.  Yet we rarely think about the fact that maps have a history, that there was a time when people in western culture did not have access to them, and barely even had a name for them, or that their history is tied up with the ways that we perceive time and space themselves.  This course will explore the nature and history of maps and mapping, asking questions about how they affect and even determine the ways we relate with the world on a variety of levels and in a variety of ways.  

 

II.              Pre-Requisites:

 

There are no formal pre-requisites for this course, but students should bring a strong interest in the subject, a willingness to work and think hard, and a desire to participate actively in class conversations.  No previous academic study of maps or mapping is expected.

 

This course is a Second-Year Seminar and preference will be given in registration to students in their second year in the College of Arts & Sciences at UVA. 

 

III.           Expectations and Requirements:

 

 

Participation
20% of the final grade

Students will be expected to come to class having read the dayÕs assignment, and prepared to discuss it.  Class attendance is obligatory.  Any student missing more than two class meetings will suffer a deduction from their final grade.

 

Reaction Papers
20% of the final grade

Students will be expected to write several 2-3 paragraph reactions to specified readings, and to post these reactions to the Toolkit website by 8pm the night before the appropriate class meeting.  These written reactions will provide the basis for the next dayÕs discussion.

 

Final Project
60% of the final grade

Students will be expected to submit a research paper of 10-12 pages at the end of the semester, on a topic chosen in consultation with the professor.  Alternative projects will be allowed.

 

IV.           Texts:

 

1.       Harley, J. B., and Paul Laxton. The new nature of maps : essays in the history of cartography. Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001.

2.       Harmon, Katharine A. You are here : personal geographies and other maps of the imagination. 1st ed. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2004.

3.       Mundy, Barbara E. The mapping of New Spain : indigenous cartography and the maps of the relaciones geogr‡ficas. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996.

4.       Thongchai, Winichakul. Siam mapped : a history of the geo-body of a nation. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1994.

5.       Turchi, Peter. Maps of the imagination : the writer as cartographer. San Antonio, Texas: Trinity University Press, 2004.

6.       Wilford, John Noble. The mapmakers. Rev. ed. New York: A.A. Knopf, 2000.

7.       Wood, Denis, John Fels, and Thomas Leiper Kane Collection. The power of maps. Mappings. New York: Guilford Press, 1992.

8.       Other texts will be made available via the Toolkit. 

 

 

V.              Course Readings

 

Available on the net:

 

http://www.people.virginia.edu/~rp2d/Readings.CPLT327.Spring07.html

 

 

Please Note:

 

The Department of Spanish, Italian and Portuguese supports an environment in which all students, regardless of race, gender, age religious affiliation, sexual orientation, or physical disability are encouraged to learn and to develop their skills.  If you have comments, suggestions or objections in this regard please do not hesitate to contact your instructor.  If you would prefer to speak with someone other than your instructor, please call our Department Ombudsman at 924-7159.