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GGR 221H1S L5101 New Economic SpacesSummer 2013
Instructor: Ben SpigelE-mail: [email protected]
hours: Tuesday/ursday 10-12 Sid Smith 5068 or by appointmentClass
time and location: Tuesday/ursday 2-4 Lash Miller 161Course
Website: Blackboard (portal.utoronto.ca); Tumblr
(www.GGR221.tumblr.com)
Class Description & ObjectivesEconomic geography is the
study of the interactions between people, their social environment,
andthe economy. is class provides an overview of major developments
in economic geography since1970. is includes the restructuring of
the resource, manufacturing and service sectors in Canadaand
abroad, as well as the rise of cultural industries and the
knowledge-based economy. Crises andchanges in the economy are given
particular attention, from the crisis of Fordism to the 2008
globalnancial crisis. Other topics covered include innovation,
regional economic development andclustering, economic geographies
of gender, and processes of globalization. By the end of this
class,you should be able to use a geographical perspective to
interpret and understand economicdevelopment and change.
Course InformationPerquisites: None
Exclusion: GGR220Y1
Breadth Requirement: Society and its Institutions (3)
Communications policy: I will do my best to return any e-mails
within 24 hours. For questions aboutassignments or exams, please
check the Tumblr page. Chances are your question has already
beenanswered, but if it havent chances are someone in the class has
the same question. Please always useyour University of Toronto
e-mail address for class related communications. is reduces the
chancethat your e-mail will be marked as SPAM or otherwise lost.
All class e-mail will be sent to your U ofT address. You are
responsible for maintaining your e-mail account: missing e-mails
will not be
accepted as an excuse. No assignments will be accepted via
e-mail.Late Penalty: Because this is an accelerated summer class,
meeting deadlines is critical. Assignmentsare due at the beginning
of class. Late assignments are subject to a 10% per day
penalty(weekends counted as one day). Assignments are not accepted
7 days after the due date. Extensionsare only granted with
appropriate documentation (a U of T student medical certicate). For
testsmissed due to illness or other emergencies, please contact me
immediately to reschedule the test afterproviding sufficient
documentation. Late assignments need to be deposited in the
assignment
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dropbox outside of the main Geography office on the 5thoor of
Sid Smith. e office closespromptly at 5, so please plan
accordingly.
Regrades - Im happy to look over a paper if you feel there was a
problem with the grade. In thesesituations, I will change the grade
if there was an error in how the paper was graded. In
thesesituations, please submit the marked paper along with a
type-written paragraph explaining exactly
what you think is at issue. Grades may be modied up or
down.Accessibility Services: e University of Toronto is committed
to accessibility. If you requireaccommodations for a disability, or
have any accessibility concerns about the course, the classroomor
course materials, please contact Accessibility Services as soon as
possible [email protected] or
http://studentlife.utoronto.ca/accessibility. Students may also
wantto contact Accessibility Services Office if they have problems
arising from chronic issues or injuriessustained during the term
that affect their ability to complete exams or other assignments.
For moreinformation, see
http://www.accessibility.utoronto.ca/staff/disclosure.htm. Please
feel free to informme if there are any other ongoing circumstances
(e.g. a full time job or parental responsibilities) thatmay affect
your participation in the class.
Academic Integrity: It is expected that everything submitted in
this class is original work prepared forthis class. Plagiarism is
not acceptable at this University. e University of Toronto denes
plagiarismas quoting (or paraphrasing) the work of an author
(including the work of fellow students) withouta proper citation.
is includes words and ideas from both academic sources as well as
materialfound on the internet. Details on the Universitys rules
about plagiarism can be found in the Arts &Sciences Calendar
(www.artsandscience.utoronto.ca/ofr/calendar/rules.htm) and
information onhow not to plagiarize can be found at
http://www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice/using-sources/how-not-to-plagiarize.
Turnitin: All students are required to upload their papers to
turnitin before submitting them in class.Papers that are not
uploaded will not be graded unless the student has discussed this
with me beforehand. Normally, students will be required to submit
their course essays to Turnitin.com for a review
of textual similarity and detection of possible plagiarism. In
doing so, students will allow their essaysto be included as source
documents in the Turnitin.com reference database, where they will
be usedsolely for the purpose of detecting plagiarism. e terms that
apply to the University's use of theTurnitin.com service are
described on the Turnitin.com web site"
You are welcome to opt-out of using Turnitin for any reason.
Students who opt-out of using Turnitinare required to meet with me
to discuss alternative arrangements to ensure assignments are
thestudents own original work.
Students will need to set up an account at turnitin.com if they
have not already. If this is your rsttime using turnitin, please
see the instruction guide at
http://www.teaching.utoronto.ca/Assets/CTSI+Digital+Assets/PDFs/turnitin-guide-students.pdf.
To register for the class, please use the
class code 6524040 and the password upscxt
http://www.teaching.utoronto.ca/Assets/CTSI+Digital+Assets/PDFs/turnitin-guide-students.pdfhttp://www.teaching.utoronto.ca/Assets/CTSI+Digital+Assets/PDFs/turnitin-guide-students.pdfhttp://www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice/using-sources/how-not-to-plagiarizehttp://www.artsandscience.utoronto.ca/ofr/calendar/rules.htmhttp://www.accessibility.utoronto.ca/staff/disclosure.htmmailto:[email protected]://studentlife.utoronto.ca/accessibilityhttp://www.teaching.utoronto.ca/Assets/CTSI+Digital+Assets/PDFs/turnitin-guide-students.pdfhttp://www.teaching.utoronto.ca/Assets/CTSI+Digital+Assets/PDFs/turnitin-guide-students.pdfhttp://www.teaching.utoronto.ca/Assets/CTSI+Digital+Assets/PDFs/turnitin-guide-students.pdfhttp://www.teaching.utoronto.ca/Assets/CTSI+Digital+Assets/PDFs/turnitin-guide-students.pdfhttp://www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice/using-sources/how-not-to-plagiarizehttp://www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice/using-sources/how-not-to-plagiarizehttp://www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice/using-sources/how-not-to-plagiarizehttp://www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice/using-sources/how-not-to-plagiarizehttp://www.artsandscience.utoronto.ca/ofr/calendar/rules.htmhttp://www.artsandscience.utoronto.ca/ofr/calendar/rules.htmhttp://www.accessibility.utoronto.ca/staff/disclosure.htmhttp://www.accessibility.utoronto.ca/staff/disclosure.htmhttp://studentlife.utoronto.ca/accessibilityhttp://studentlife.utoronto.ca/accessibilitymailto:[email protected]:[email protected]
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Assignments and Grading Scheme
Assignment Weight Due Date
Reading Responses 20% July 11th; August 1st
Mid-term Exam 20% July 23rd
Essay Assignment 30% August 8th
Final Exam 30% TBA
Assignment Descriptions
Reading Response
Reading responses are an opportunity for you to apply what you
learn through the readings and inclass with a current topic or
issue. Each reading response will feature an essay or piece of
journalismthat tackles contemporary issues or topics along with a
question that asks you to draw on yourunderstanding of the course
readings and lecture material. Each reading response will be
between 1-2pages (250-500 words). Both the readings and the reading
response question will be posted onBlackboard 1 week before they
are due and will focus on that weeks lecture topic.
Geographies of Commoditiese objective of this assignment is to
choose amanufacturedconsumer product in your householdand write a
commodity chain analysis of the product, paying particular
attention to the productionand consumption sites in its chain.
e aim of this assignment is not simply to describe the commodity
chain. Rather, the goal is totrace the product and analyze the
processes and institutions involved in the production
andconsumption of the good from the perspective of economic
geography. Include a discussion of therelationship between sites,
explain why the commodity chain is organized the way that it is.
What arethe implications of this organization? Why is it important
to examine this commodity chain?
Your assignment should be about eight pages double spaced.
Include a bibliography including a listof articles and websites
consulted (and the date accessed for websites). Any style of
referencing is ne,but consistency in style is essential. Your paper
should include a minimum of 2 academic sources.Youcan attach copies
of advertisements, logos, photographs, or maps if you wish. ese are
not included
in the page limit.
Try to cite academic articles that provide a general
understanding of commodity chains, commoditycircuits or commodity
networks. You may also nd articles on the particular commodity or
industryyou have chosen, or alternatively you may be able to draw
parallels with articles discussing othercommodity chains or related
sectors. You may also be able to identify issue oriented papers
that havesome link to your commodity such as articles on stop
sweatshop campaigns or fair trade and relatesome of the key
arguments to your case study.
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To compile your portrait of the production and consumption of
this commodity, you can considerthe following sources: newspaper or
magazine articles; corporate websites; corporate codes of
conduct(usually found on a companys website); union and other
labouroriented websites (such as UNITEHERE, Ethical Trade
Initiative, National Labor Committee); and product
advertisements.
Remember: be conscientious and critical in amassing and
presenting the sources that formulateyour argument.
Readings
Textbook: Economic Geography: A Contemporary Introduction 2nd
edition by Coe, Kelly and Yeung(Coe et al.) Blackwell Publishing
2013. ISBN: 978-0-470-94338-0. e book is also on short-termloan at
the library. It is expected that you will have read the required
material before coming to thelecture.
Outside Readings: Assigned readings not in the textbook can be
found on the blackboard site.
Date Topic Readings
July 2 Introduction Coe et al., Chapters 1 & 2
July 4 Fordism, Post-Fordism, and Other-isms Knox et al. Chapter
7; Danielset al., 2005 Chapter 14
July 9 e Changing Role of the State and theCorporation
Coe et. al. Chapter 4 & 10
July 11 Uneven Development in a Global &Regional World
Coe et. al. Chapters 3 & 6
July 16 Commodity Chains Coe et. al. Chapters 8; Dicken
2007 Chapter 3; Leslie andReimer, 1999
July 18 Environmental Economic Geographies Coe et al. Chapter 5;
Barnes2011 (Staples eory;Brownsey, 2007
July 23 Mid-Term Test No Reading
July 25 Institutions, Culture &e New Economy Review Coe et.
al. Chapter 4;Aoyama et al., 2011 Chapter5.3; Gertler 1995
July 30 Geographies of Innovation Coe et. al. Chapter 9;
Giuliani2007
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Date Topic Readings
August 1 Clusters and Agglomeration Economies Coe et. al.
Chapter 12; Henryand Pinch, 2000
August 6 Regional Economic Development & Growth Scott and
Storper, 2003;Florida, 2002
August 8 Geographies of Crisis Dore, 2008; French et
al.,2009
Coursepack Readings
Knox, Agnew and McCarthy (2008) "e Geography of the World
Economy." Chapter 7 SpatialReorganization of the Core
Economiespp.192-200. Hodder Education Press.
Daniels (2005) Human Geography: Issues for the 21st Century
Chapter
14
e Global Production System: From Fordism to Post-Fordism
pp.314-336. Prentice Hall. Gertler (1995) Being there: Proximity,
Organization, and Culture in the Development andAdoption of
Advanced Manufacturing Technologies. Economic Geography 71(1) pp.
1-26
Dicken (2007). "Global Shift: Mapping the Changing Contours of
the World Economy" Chapter5 Webs of Enterprise: e Geography of
Transnational Production Networks pp. 138-172 eGuilford Press.
Leslie and Reimer (1999) Spatializing Commodity Chains. Progress
in Human Geography 23(3)pp. 401-420
Brownsey (2007) e New Oil Order: e Post Staples Paradigm and the
Canadian Upstream Oiland Gas Industry. Canadian Political Science
Review 1(1) p. 91-106
Aoyama, Murphy and Hanson, (2011). Institutions Chapter 5.3 Key
Concepts in Economic
Geography pp. 167-173 Sage Press. Giulani (2007) e selective
nature of knowledge networks in clusters: evidence from the
wineindustry. Journal of Economic Geography 7(1) pp. 139-168.
Scott and Storper (2003) Regions, Globalization, Development.
Regional Studies 36(6-7) pp.549-578
Florida (2001) e Economic Geography of Talent. Annals of the
Association of AmericanGeographers 92(4) 743-755
Dore, Ronald (2008) Financialization of the Global Economy.
Industrial and Corporate Change17(6): 10971112.
French, Leyshon and rift (2009) A Very Geographical Crisis: e
Making and Breaking of the2007-2008 Financial Crisis. Cambridge
Journal of Regions, Economy and Society 2 pp. 287-302
