SAKS004 North American Cultural Geographies

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2025
Extent and Intensity
0/2/0. 8 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
In-person direct teaching
Teacher(s)
Mgr. Denisa Krásná, BA (Hons), Ph.D. (lecturer)
doc. PhDr. Tomáš Pospíšil, Ph.D. (lecturer)
doc. Jeffrey Alan Smith, M.A., Ph.D. (lecturer)
Jeffrey Alan Vanderziel, B.A. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
doc. PhDr. Tomáš Pospíšil, Ph.D.
Center for North American Studies – Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Tomáš Hanzálek
Supplier department: Center for North American Studies – Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Prerequisites (in Czech)
! AJ27073 NA Cultural Geographies
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
The capacity limit for the course is 18 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/18, only registered: 0/18, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/18
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
This course explores the diverse cultural landscapes of North America, examining the intersections of geography, history, and culture. Students will analyze the spatial distribution of cultural groups, the impact of historical events on cultural landscapes, and the ongoing processes of cultural change and adaptation, including settlement patterns and sources of regional diversity; immigration and ethnic subcultures; industrialization, urbanization and suburbanization; the development and geographical distribution of contemporary political cultures and identities; and the geographical dimensions of contemporary political and cultural conflicts. Furthermore, we will delve into the ways in which spaces and places are constructed culturally and unevenly, shedding light on the relations of power that shape the processes involved in their creation and maintenance.
Learning outcomes
Students will be able to present and explain key concepts of cultural geography and apply them to specific cultural regions of North America. They will be able to analyze contemporary events and developments in cultural-geographical terms, and will be prepared for further studies dealing with historical, cultural and political topics involving the North American continent. Students will also learn how our experiences of place are intricately shaped by our cultural histories and our positioning within various relations of power, encompassing dimensions like gender, class, race, and citizenship. This exploration will deepen their understanding of the nuanced ways in which cultural and spatial processes influence individuals' interactions with the environments around them.
Syllabus
  • Follow the course ELF page for a detailed schedule.
  • Major topics covered in the course:
  • - introduction: an overview of key concepts in cultural geography, political nations, and states vs. cultural regions
  • - envisioning the landscape, early settlement
  • - independence, expansion, the frontier (18th - 19th centuries)
  • - industrial growth and the changing landscape (19th century)
  • - industrialization, immigration, ethnic change (19th - 20th centuries)
  • - Southern exceptionalism (19th - 20th centuries)
  • - African and multicultural America (19th - 20th centuries)
  • - suburbanization - "sprawl", the Sunbelt, changing demographics (20th - 21st centuries)
  • - deindustrialization and new migrations (20th - 21st centuries)
  • - the politics of red, blue and white (21st century)
  • - urban areas today: gentrification, fentanyl epidemic, policing cities
  • - cultural landscapes of popular culture (music, film, literature), food and smell
Literature
    required literature
  • Colin Woodard, American nations: a history of the eleven rival regional cultures of North America. New York: Viking, 2011.
  • Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You
  • LEE, Erika. America for Americans: A History of Xenophobia in the United States. Basic Books, 2019, 432 pp. info
    recommended literature
  • Owen D. Gutfreund, Twentieth century sprawl: highways and the reshaping of the American Landscape. Oxford University Press, 2004.
  • James Axtell, After Columbus: Essays in the ethnohistory of colonial North America. Oxford University Press, 1990.
  • John Miller, Egotopia: Narcissism and the New American Landscape. University of Alabama Press, 1997.
  • Jonathan Halperin Earle, The Routledge atlas of African American history. Routledge, 2000.
  • David R. Roediger, The wages of whiteness: race and the making of the American working class. Verso, 1991.
  • Timothy L Hall, Religion in America. New York: American Experience / Facts on File, 2007.
  • Warren A Beck; Ynez D Haase, Historical atlas of the American West. University of Oklahoma Press, 1989.
  • The Settling of North America: the atlas of the great migrations into North America from the Ice Age to the present. Macmillan, ©1995.
  • REYNOLDS, Jason and Ibram X. KENDI. Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2020, 294 pp. ISBN 978-0-316-45369-1. info
  • BERLIN, Ira. The making of African America : the four great migrations. New York: Viking, 2010, 304 s. ISBN 9780670021376. info
    not specified
  • Byron E. Shafer and Richard Johnston, The End of Southern Exceptionalism: Class, race, and partisan change in the postwar South. Harvard University Press, 2009.
  • Jim Cullen, The American dream: a short history of an idea that shaped a nation. Oxford University Press, 2003.
  • Desmond King, The Liberty of Strangers: Making the American Nation. Oxford University Press, 2005.
  • William S Saunders, Sprawl and suburbia: a Harvard design magazine reader. Univ. of Minnesota Press, 2005.
  • James C. Cobb, Away Down South: A History of Southern Identity. Oxford University Press, 2005.
  • America for Americans: A History of Xenophobia in the United States
  • H.B. Cavalcanti, Gloryland: Christian Suburbia, Christian Nation. Praeger, 2007.
  • Noel Ignatiev, How the Irish became White. Routledge, 1995.
  • Michael Lind, The next American nation: the new nationalism and the fourth American revolution. Free Press, 1995.
  • Michael Lind, Made in Texas: George W. Bush and the Southern takeover of American politics. Basic Books, 2003.
Teaching methods
Readings, lectures, discussions, student presentations
Assessment methods
Participation (10%): Active engagement in class discussions and activities.
Reflections (30%): Short in-class reflection papers to test knowledge and reflections on readings.
Presentation (20%): Presentation on a specific cultural geography topic.
Final Exam or Research Paper (50%): Exam covering the entire semester's content or a Research Paper (student's choice).
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
The course is taught annually.
The course is taught: every week.
Teacher's information
See the course ELF page for posted assignments and other materials and updates.
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2024.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2025, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/spring2025/SAKS004