This document provides a breakdown and descriptions of degree modules completed by Aimee-Mai in her BA (Hons) in Geography. It details modules taken in the 3rd, 2nd, and 1st years of study covering topics such as independent dissertation, gender and development, China's social and environmental development, geopolitics of media, and physical and human geography fundamentals. Fieldwork was an important element, starting with a week-long residential course in southern Spain during the first year.

1. Aimee-Mai BA (Hons) Geography
Breakdown of Degree Modules Passed with Descriptions
3rd Year of Study
GG3001: Independent Dissertation
Preparation begins during Year 2 and students are allocated a member of staff as a dissertation
adviser who will provide advice on research design, data collection and analysis. The final
dissertation is submitted in report format (ie; introduction, methodology, analysis and
conclusions). My dissertation was centered in the field of Geopolitics of films and discussed the
thoroughly how media impacts identity and behavior.
GG3076: Gender and Development
This course considers debates about gender and economic, social and political development
within a Latin American context. The regional focus allows students to consider spatial and
temporal variations in development definitions and practices, as well as to examine how
constructions of gender and gender relations vary. Topics covered include social constructions of
gender; NGOs and development agencies; gender and employment; gendered nature of Latin
American politics.
GG3086: China: Social, Economic & Environmental Development
The course explores key strands of thought (Western and Chinese) present throughout the 20th
century, before discussing how they play out when it comes to the key developmental issues of
China today. In doing so, it discusses industrialization and manufacturing in China, the rural-
urban divide, China’s diplomacy and aid-giving, urbanization and the city, and the environment
and activism.
GG3061: Geopolitics of Media & Communications
This course examines the relationship and interaction between geopolitics (and geopolitical
knowledge), the media and communications technologies. In particular, this module combines an
interest in both (i) the role of ‘the media’ (film, radio, television and journalistic output) in
communicating real life events and ‘geopolitical imaginaries’ to audiences, and (ii) the
emergence of the media and communications technologies as official devices of geopolitics and
‘statecraft’.
GG 3056: Geographies of commodities
This course explores the geographies of commodities and the commodification of geographies.
In capitalist societies, commodities are ubiquitous, the materials of our everyday lives and
places. The clothes we wear, the food we eat, the spaces we live in, even our own bodies and
minds, are all routinely bought and sold. This course offers the chance to reflect on the
geographical character and implications of this widespread commodification. Using case studies
it considers broader questions about the kind of spaces, places and geographical knowledges
produced through commodity culture.
GG3060: Post-Capitalist Cities
This course explores how contemporary cities are dominated by capitalist processes, but also
how people are forging new means of existence that lie outside of those processes. The modern
city is a complex set of inter-related processes, some of which aid in the urbanisation processes,
but also create inequality and social polarisation. Through innovate methods carried out in
London, this course allows learners to explore how cities can house activities that contest, react
and resist the dominant forces of capitalism.

2. Aimee-Mai BA (Hons) Geography
GG3046 Mammals in a changing World
This course enables students to examine mammalian responses to different environments and to
human intervention both during the Pleistocene and at the present day. Topics covered include;
mammalian evolution and the nature of the fossil record; mammalian biogeography and the
factors controlling past and present mammalian distributions; the physiological and behavioural
adaptations of mammals to polar, desert, forest, grassland and montane environments; current
threats to mammalian communities.
Second Year of Study
yyGG2001/2: Geographical Techniques II/ Geographical Techniques II: Geography/PIR
students
This compulsory course builds on your first year studies and focuses on developing skills in
research design, data collection and analysis. You will take a module on geographical
information systems (GIS) but can then choose whether to focus on research skills within human
or physical geography.
GG2052: Political Geography
This course introduces you to key concepts (such as space, territory, nation and power) and ideas
in political geography and geopolitics. It considers the relationships between politics and
geography at a variety of scales and how these have changed over time. Themes covered include
nationalisms, empire, Cold War geopolitics and environmental geopolitics (focusing on resource
wars and climate change).
GG2053: Cities: Economies and Societies
This course introduces the concepts and theories used to interpret and explain urbanisation and
urban processes. It promotes an appreciation of the interrelations between political, economic
and social change within the city. Focusing on the concepts and debates around the Global City,
mobility and urban social movements, the course analyses the social, economic and political
transformations occurring in the contemporary city.
GG2061: Cultural Geographies
This course is concerned with the character of place and culture in the modern world. It explores
both the material cultural transformations wrought by processes of modernisation, and how
people understand and imagine the places, spaces, times and environments they inhabit. Themes
addressed include: questions of place, identity and landscape, especially at the local scale, and
global geographies of cultural change, particularly the relationship between the local and the
global.
GG2071: Perspectives on Development
This course develops a comprehensive understanding and a critical perspective on contemporary
theories, discourse and policy debates about selected themes in global development, with
particular reference to the Global South. Topics covered include: the environment-development
interface and sustainability; rural development and agricultural change; the role of state and non-
state actors such as non-governmental organisations and transnational corporations.
1st year modules
GG 1001: Physical Geography I: Atmosphere, oceans & the geosphere
This course outlines the factors that control the physical, biological and chemical forces which
shape the Earth’s surface. You gain an understanding of Earth surface forms and of oceanic and

3. Aimee-Mai BA (Hons) Geography
atmospheric processes. Topics include atmospheric and ocean systems; plate tectonics;
hydrology and coastal processes; glaciation and arid environments.
First Year of Study
GG 1002: Physical Geography II: Biogeography, ecology & scales of change
This course focuses on understanding the complexity of the relationship between people and
environment. You will examine how and why ecosystems vary spatially and the impact of
human activity, such as deforestation and agriculture, on the physical environment. The course
also considers the nature of environmental change, including climate change, and how past
changes can be investigated.
GG 1003: Human Geography I: Cultures, Economies, History
This course allows you to engage with key issues in human geography. We think about human
geography as a distinctive way to approach the world, asking key questions about globalization,
inequality, identity and the nature of place. The main sections of the course consider approaches
to economic geography, cultural geography and historical geography. The final section thinks
about the development of the discipline, and celebrates geographers’ active involvement in the
challenges facing humanity.
GG 1004: Human Geography II: Politics, Society, Development & Environment
The course is divided into four sections which give an introduction to the sub-disciplines of
political geography, social geography, development geography and environmental geography.
The topics covered include geopolitics, sustainable development, non-governmental
organisations, and geographical perspectives on gender, race, class and age.
GG 1011/2/3: Geographical techniques
This course provides an introduction to modern methods for the collection, interpretation and
presentation of geographical information, both in the field and laboratory. Different types of data
are considered, from soil textures to interview responses. The skills acquired through this course
have application in other courses, as well as in independent work, and are highly regarded by
many employers.
GG 1032/3/4: Geographical research & field Methods I
Fieldwork is an important element in our degree programme, starting in the first year. All first
year students attend a week-long residential course, currently based in southern Spain, supported
by a series of lectures and tutorials. The trip consolidates material taught in the first term and
also introduces students to independent field-based project work