Course offered by the Swedish program for PhD courses in human geography
Time-geography – theoretical approach, notation system and methods
Course description
Aim
Time-geography is of the most internationally recognized contributions of Swedish human geography during the last 50 years. There are time-geographically inspired researchers around the world and the interest in time-geography has grown during the last decades. The time-geographic approach, with its methods and special notation system is applied in many different problem areas, like studies of individuals’ and households’ everyday life, division of labor in households, activity patterns at individual and aggregate levels, health and disabilities, migration nationally and internationally, transportation systems, policy formation, energy use in buildings and transportation, communication (including ICT), urban and regional accessibility, resource use and environmental effects of human activities and work organization in industry and services.
The aim of the course is to make the PhD candidates familiar with the time-geographical approach, its development, concepts and methods, and to give examples of how the approach has been used within various areas of application and in different disciplines. During the course the PhD candidates will have opportunities to explore and use time-geography in relation to their work on their thesis.
Goal for PhD candidates learning
After the course, the PhD candidates will be well oriented in time-geographical concepts and methods. They will have ability to reason time-geographically and use time-geographic tools in issues of interest for them.
Examination
The individual examination is based on a text that each PhD candidate writes and wherein a problem area of interest for the candidate is discussed and analyzed with time-geographical concepts and methods. We encourage the candidates to relate the examination task to the subject of their thesis.
The PhD candidates are expected to attend the seminars arranged during the course.
Course evaluation
A continuous course evaluation is performed (orally) and a written evaluation is performed after the course.
Location of the course in the time-space
The course will be offered during the autumn 2020 and is divided into two parts of three full days each. The first part (August 24-26) will be located in Lund and the second part (September 28-30) in Gothenburg. Home work is expected from the PhD candidates between the two parts of the course (reading, an exercise and the examination task). The teachers responsible for the course will have continuous contact with the PhD candidates in the meantime. There will be lectures and seminars, and the PhD candidates will have good opportunities to discuss with invited guests and the teachers responsible for the course. The examination task will be distributed during the first part of the course.
Teachers responsible for the course
Eva Thulin, Associate Professor, Department of Economy and Society, Gothenburg University (contact person)
Kajsa Ellegård, Professor, Department of Thematic Studies, Technology and social change, Linköping University
Åsa Westermark, PhD, Human geography, Jönköping University
Guest teachers
Guests doing research in human geography and other disciplines will contribute with lectures during the course.
The following guest teachers are confirmed
- Yanwei Chai, Professor, Peking University, Beijing, China.
- Kohei Okamoto, Professor, Nagoya University, Japan
- Steven Farber, Associate Professor, Toronto University, Canada
- Gunnel Andersson, Associate Professor, FoU Södertörn, Stockholm, Sweden
- Yan Zhang, Associate Professor, Beijing Union University, Beijing, China
Participants
Time-geography is interdisciplinary in its constitution and the approach is applied in several subjects. We welcome PhD candidates from various disciplines, universities and countries to attend the course. The number of participants are limited to 20 doctoral students.
Application
Deadline for applications: 15th of April 2020
Send application to: Eva Thulin (eva.thulin@geography.gu.se). The application should include: name and contact information, number of years in PhD Program, name of supervisor(s), short description of thesis topic.
Course Literature
- Ellegård, K (2019) Thinking time geography: Concepts, methods and applications. New York, NY: Routledge.
- Ellegård, Kajsa (1999) A time-geographical approach to the study of everyday life of individuals – a challenge of complexity. GeoJournal 48: 167–175.
- Ellegård, K. & Svedin, U. (2012) Torsten Hägerstrand’s time-geography as the cradle of the activity approach in transport geography, Journal of Transport Geography, 23: 17-25
- Hägerstrand, Torsten (1970) What about people in regional science. Regional Science Association Papers, Vol XXIV:7-21.
- Hägerstrand, Torsten. (1976.) Geography and the study of interaction between nature and society. Geoforum, Vol 7, 329-344.
- Hägerstrand, Torsten (1985) Time-Geography. Focus on the corporeality of man, society and environment. The Science and Praxis of Complexity. The United Nations University, Tokyo, s 193-216.
- Lenntorp, Bo (2005) Path, prism, project, pocket and population: an introduction. Geografiska Annaler: Series B. Vol 86, Issue 4, p 223-226.
- Papers related to each of the lectures will also be included in the course literature (not yet specified)