¹û¶³Ó°Ôº

Infrastructure is a key conceptual tool in developing a critical understanding of socio-political life. Yet, as a significant development object in itself, infrastructure begs a careful engagement with the multiple ways in which it pervades our material world as a physical entity - pipes, wires/cables, roads and bridges - and more broadly as a particular form of ‘operational landscape’. How do these two approaches work together: in tandem or in tension? And do they actually come together in a discerning manner? The objective of this module is to explore ways in which geography has addressed these two aspects – infrastructure as an object, starting from a development perspective, leading now to a more sophisticated discourse of infrastructure as theory. In doing so, it will also consider ways in which these debates interact with similar approaches from other disciplines (primarily, development studies, anthropology, STS and planning) and what it means for our efforts to build a critical understanding of infrastructure.

The main body of the course will focus on 5 ‘infrastructural objects’ – water, waste, energy, roads, and logistics. These lectures will investigate the prominent ways in which these ‘infrastructural objects’ have informed infrastructure as theory, critically engaging with these approaches and exploring them as diverse encounters globally across the North and the South. This will allow us to also probe whether there are risks of stereotyping and if there is a discursive plurality that needs to be noted and addressed. The rest of the module considers new directions in infrastructural thought, at the very beginning, looking at the way infrastructure as development opens up to critical debates such as decolonising epistemologies, to later on in the term where the digital realm reveals new possibilities in terms of employing infrastructure as an analytical toolkit, alongside invocations of notions such as ‘infrastructural state’, ‘people as infrastructure’, ‘infrapolitics’, ‘material politics of infrastructure’, ‘infrastructure and time’ etc.

We generally conclude in the final session with either a guest speaker/practitioner who will discuss their engagement with infrastructural practices or finish with a field visit to an infrastructural project (permissions, etc. pending).

Course aims: The main aim of the module is to ensure that students develop a nuanced and sophisticated understanding of the different ways in which infrastructure has emerged as not only a key geographical concern but also a mode of analysis. To this extent, the module will focus on the following objectives:

1. To explore how infrastructure has evolved as a critical discourse distinctively within geography and how this relates to other disciplines.
2. To examine infrastructure as both an object and theory, as well as think about it in a relational manner, across global North and South.
3. To investigate infrastructure not only critically but also reflect on a critique of this approach as you consider the reality of infrastructure as practice and the need to engage with this crucial facet in a constructive manner.Ìý

Teaching method: This module follows an experimental format of teaching where smaller-group student-led seminars are embedded within the weekly schedule. One-hour lectures are accompanied by weekly small-group seminars with a focussed discussion related to the topics covered in the lecture. This will be undertaken either through a key literature, case example or debates around a relevant conceptual lens/idea. The seminar hour will also be used for helping you prepare the summative coursework (Social Impact Assessment Report).

Intended Learning Outcomes:

By completing the tasks assigned and participating in the discussions, you will not only develop your reading but also learn skills of critical thinking, reaching across disciplines. The idea of the Social Impact Assessment report is to help you prepare interventions in a critically evaluated manner, key to careers involving interdisciplinary contributions drawing on social science debates across government policy making, think-thanks (consultancy as well as NGOs) and academic research.

The module content is constantly updated to explore topical research areas and emerging debates (such as climate change/Anthropocene, Black Lives Matter, decolonising geography), drawing on active research within the department and incorporating more provocative/innovative perspectives, as well as inviting the participation of early career researchers. Case studies from our own research extending across different parts of the globe will be used to enrich your learning as you are encouraged to reflect on your own experiences and engagements with questions of infrastructure.

On successfully completing the module, you should be able to:

1. Discuss the range and significance of scholarship on infrastructure as well as explain and critically discuss these contemporary debates with a clear, reflective focus.
2. Engage with the diversity of readings (complementary and contradictory) not only accounting for this intellectual variety but also develop your own position vis a vis these references.
3. Think in terms of what this critical discourse means for key policy decisions asking how far can geographical concepts be carried outside the classroom?
4. Use case studies to consider the relevance of emerging themes for a more self-directed analysis.

Ìý