Welcome to Geography 262: Geographies of Everyday Life (Sp 2026)
Course Description:
This course explores the spaces, places and social relations of people’s everyday life. Geographical relations shape where people live, work and play; as well as the streets they regularly move along and the buildings marking their daily paths and routines. Focusing on geographies of everyday life provides a way to trace connections between the local and broader processes, practices and relations of power, such as government policy and economic globalization. The primary regional focus is the United States, with several examples from elsewhere. The class is designed to equip students with the conceptual skills and research tools to comprehend and analyze the socio-spatial context of everyday life in all its multiscalar complexities. The class is intended to serve as a general education course where students gain an introduction to geographical ideas.
The course is designed to help you:
- See the links between personal experiences of everyday life and various aspect of wider socio-spatial organization.
- Understand how the micro-level activities and experiences of everyday life are implicated in a sense of place as well as processes of social change and transformation.
- Explore how taken-for-granted aspects of everyday life are infused with relationships of social control, power and resistance.
- Develop a stronger understanding of the geographies of everyday life through the deep exploration of one case study.
- Sharpen your critical thinking skills and practice using social science methods to analyze the everyday.
Assignments:
Exams: First exam in week 5 (25%), Second exam in week 10 (25%). Assignments: research project, due week 9 (25%), short observation report, due week 3 (10%). Section participation and reading quizzes: all quarter (15%). All assignments will checked by Turnitin for indications of copying or plagiarism.
Approximate schedule of lectures:
The lectures are organized around the activities associated with a single day:
Week 1: Thinking about the everyday
Week 2: Understanding place and the everyday
Week 3: Breakfast
Week 4: Home
Week 5: Streets
Week 6: Public space
Week 7: Workplaces
Week 8: Built environments
Week 9: Green spaces
Week 10: Nightlife