Geography (GEOG)

This is an archived copy of the 2015-16 guide. To access the most recent version of the guide, please visit http://guide.berkeley.edu.

Courses

GEOG 1 Global Environmental Change 4 Units

Terms offered: Summer 2014 10 Week Session, Summer 2014 First 6 Week Session, Summer 2013 First 6 Week Session
The global pattern of climate, landforms, vegetation, and soils. The relative importance of natural and human-induced change, global warming, forest clearance, accelerated soil erosion, glacial/postglacial climate change and its consequences.

GEOG N1 Global Environmental Change 3 Units

Terms offered: Summer 2015 First 6 Week Session
The global pattern of climate, landforms, vegetation, and soils. The relative importance of natural and human-induced change, global warming, forest clearance, accelerated soil erosion, glacial/postglacial climate change and its consequences.

GEOG 4 World Peoples and Cultural Environments 4 Units

Terms offered: Summer 2014 10 Week Session, Summer 2014 Second 6 Week Session, Summer 2013 Second 6 Week Session
Historical and contemporary cultural-environmental patterns. The development and spread of cultural adaptations, human use of resources, transformation and creation of human environments.

GEOG N4 World Peoples and Cultural Environments 3 Units

Terms offered: Summer 2017 Second 6 Week Session, Summer 2016 10 Week Session, Summer 2016 Second 6 Week Session
Historical and contemporary cultural-environmental patterns. The development and spread of cultural adaptations, human use of resources, transformation and creation of human environments.

GEOG 10 World Regions, Peoples, and States 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Fall 2015
This course will provide a framework for recognizing and analyzing the major distinctive regions of the world in comparative context. The most important interrelations between environment, economy, ethnicity, and the national identity and viability of states will be explored.

GEOG 20 Globalization 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2016, Spring 2015
How and why are geographical patterns of employment, production, and consumption unstable in the contemporary world? What are the consequences of NAFTA, an expanded European Community, and post-colonial migration flows? How is global restructuring culturally reworked locally and nationally?

GEOG N20 Globalization 3 Units

Terms offered: Summer 2017 Second 6 Week Session, Summer 2016 10 Week Session, Summer 2016 Second 6 Week Session
Global economics and politics are undergoing a revolution. Transnational enterprises, international trade, and digitized finance are merging its formerly separate national economies. New regional and transnational treaties and institutions, from the EU and NAFTA to the IMF, the WTO and the World Bank, are arising to regulate the new global economy. Power is being transferred from
national states to these institutions, not always smoothly or in predictable ways. This course is about this medley.

GEOG 24 Freshman Seminar 1 Unit

Terms offered: Fall 2015, Fall 2014, Fall 2013
The Freshman Seminar Program has been designed to provide new students with the opportunity to explore an intellectual topic with a faculty member in a small seminar setting. Freshman seminars are offered in all campus departments, and topics vary from department to department and semester to semester. Enrollment limited to 15 freshmen.

GEOG 31 Justice, Nature, and the Geographies of Identity 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2014, Fall 2012, Spring 2011
The intersection of nature, identity, and politics pepper the pages of newspapers almost every day from stories of toxic waste sites, crime, genetic engineering to indigenous struggles, and terrorist tendencies. In all these and many other cases, ideas of race, class, and gender intersect with ideas of nature and geography in often tenacious and troubling ways. Our approach will be to understand these traditional ideas of environmental justice
as well as to examine less traditional sites of environmental justice such as the laboratory, the war zone, the urban mall, and the courtroom.

GEOG C32 Introduction to Development 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2015
This course is designed as an introduction to comparative development. The course will be a general service course, as well as a prerequisite for the upper division 100 series. It is assumed that students enrolled in 10 know little about life in the Third World countries and are unfamiliar with the relevant theory in political economy of development and underdevelopment. The course will be structured around three critical concepts: land, labor
, and work.

GEOG 35 Global Ecology and Development 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2014, Summer 2013 First 6 Week Session, Summer 2012 First 6 Week Session
Problems of Third World poverty and development have come to be seen as inseparable from environmental health and sustainability. The course explores the global and interconnected character of environment and development in the less developed world. Drawing on case studies of the environmental problems of the newly industrializing states, food problems, and environmental security in Africa, and the
global consequences of tropical deforestation in Amazonia and carbon dioxide emissions in China, this course explores how growth and stagnation are linked to problems of environmental sustainability.

GEOG 37 The Politics of Science and Technology 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2016, Spring 2014, Spring 2012
This course examines how shifting understandings of science and technology have radically remade some of our most basic social and biological categories and concepts. The course explores the field of science and technology studies. In particular, students will explore formations and understandings of truth, objectivity, universality of science and technology, and the consequences of these cultural formations in contemporary debates around
the world.

GEOG 40 Introduction to Earth System Science 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Spring 2016
The goals of this introductory Earth System Science course are to achieve a scientific understanding of important problems in global environmental change and to learn how to analyze a complex system using scientific methods. Earth System Science is an interdisciplinary field that describes the cycling of energy and matter between the different spheres (atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, cryosphere, and lithosphere) of the earth system. Under
the overarching themes of human-induced climate change, stratospheric ozone depletion, and biodiversity loss, we will explore key concepts of solar radiation, plate tectonics, atmospheric and oceanic circulation, and the history of life on Earth.

GEOG 50AC California 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Spring 2016
California had been called "the great exception" and "America, only more so." Yet few of us pay attention to its distinctive traits and to its effects beyond our borders. California may be "a state of mind," but it is also the most dynamic place in the most powerful country in the world, and would be the 8th largest economy if it were a country. Its wealth has been built on mining, agriculture, industry, trade, and
finance. Natural abundance and geographic advantage have played their parts, but the state's greatest resource has been its wealth and diversity of people, who have made it a center of technological and cultural innovation from Hollywood to Silicon Valley. Yet California has a dark side of exploitation and racialization.

GEOG N50AC California 3 Units

Terms offered: Summer 2017 First 6 Week Session, Summer 2016 Second 6 Week Session, Summer 2015 Second 6 Week Session
California had been called "the great exception" and "America, only more so." Yet few of us pay attention to its distinctive traits and to its effects beyond our borders. California may be "a state of mind," but it is also the most dynamic place in the most powerful country in the world, and would be the 8th largest economy if it were a country.
Its wealth has been built on mining, agriculture, industry, trade, and finance. Natural abundance and geographic advantage have played their parts, but the state's greatest resource has been its wealth and diversity of people, who have made it a center of technological and cultural innovation from Hollywood to Silicon Valley. Yet California has a dark side of exploitation and racialization.

GEOG C55 Introduction to Central Asia 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Fall 2015
This course will introduce the student not only to ancient and modern Central Asia, but also to the role played by the region in the shaping of the history of neighboring regions and regimes. The course will outline the history, languages, ethnicities, religions, and archaeology of the region and will acquaint the student with the historical foundations of some of the political, social and economic challenges for contemporary post-Soviet Central
Asian republics.

GEOG 70AC The Urban Experience 3 Units

Terms offered: Summer 2017 First 6 Week Session, Spring 2017, Summer 2016 First 6 Week Session
We will track the historical evolution of the American city. We'll look at the economics of city life, at the organization of metropolitan political power, and at the aesthetics of the urban scene--to see how the core cultural themes of American urban life have endured over time while continuously adjusting to new circumstances. Our approach is to focus on major themes in urban life and to show how
various groups have had different kinds of experiences in these urban realms.

GEOG 80 Digital Worlds: An Introduction to Geospatial Technologies 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Fall 2015
An introduction to the increasingly diverse range of geospatial technologies and tools including but not limited to geographical information systems (GIS). Via a mix of lecture and lab-based instruction, students will develop knowledge and skills in web-mapping and GIS. How these tools are used to represent fundamental geographic concepts, and the wider socioeconomic context of these technologies will also be explored.

GEOG N80 Digital Worlds: An Introduction to Geospatial Technologies 4 Units

Terms offered: Summer 2017 8 Week Session
An introduction to the increasingly diverse range of geospatial technologies and tools including but not limited to geographical information systems (GIS). Via a mix of lecture and lab-based instruction, students will develop knowledge and skills in web-mapping and GIS. How these tools are used to represent fundamental geographic concepts, and the wider socioeconomic context of these technologies will also be explored.

GEOG C82 Oceans 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Fall 2015
This course offers multidisciplinary approach to begin answering the question "Why are oceans important to us?" Upon a physical, chemical, and geologic base, we introduce the alien world of sea life, the importance of the ocean to the global carbon cycle, and the principles of ecology with a focus on the important concept of energy flow through food webs. Lectures expand beyond science to include current topics as diverse as music, movies
, mythology, biomechanics, policy, and trade.

GEOG 88 Data Science Applications in Geography 2 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017
Data science methods are increasingly important in geography and earth science. This course introduces some of the particular challenges of working with spatial data arising from characteristics specific to such data. These issues will be explored in a series of modules deploying data science methods to investigate contemporary topics in geography and earth science, relating to climate science, hydrology, population census and remote sensing of environment. No prior
knowledge is assumed or expected.

GEOG 98 Directed Group Study 1 - 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016
Lectures and small group discussion focusing on topics of interest that vary from semester to semester.

GEOG 100 Field Study of Cuba: Landscapes of Power, Production, Promise 6 Units

Terms offered: Summer 2016 First 6 Week Session
Field course in the cultural geography. Using the landscape as our reference, we will explore the historical transformation of Cuban cities, town, and countryside from colonial times up to the present. Focus our exploration through two particular perspectives: attention to production in key sectors of the Cuban economy at different historical moments, and the ways their attendant forms of labor, ownership, technology, and trade shape the cultural
landscape. The other major point of reference for this course is representations of Cuba as a place: what has Cuba stood for over time, to Cubans and to outsiders, and how have these stories played out in the forms and functions of the Cuban land

GEOG 109 Prehistoric Agriculture 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2014, Spring 2013, Spring 2012
Agricultural origins and dispersals in the light of recent biological and archaeological evidence.

GEOG 110 Economic Geography of the Industrial World 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Fall 2015
Industrialization, urbanization, and economic growth in the global North. Locational patterns in manufacturing, retailing, trade, and finance. Geographic dynamics of technical change, employment, business organization, resource use, and divisions of labor. Property, labor, and social conflict as geographic forces. Local, national, and continental rivalries in a global economy, and challenges to U.S. dominance.

GEOG C112 History of Development and Underdevelopment 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2016, Spring 2015
Historical review of the development of world economic systems and the impact of these developments on less advanced countries. Course objective is to provide a background against which to understand and assess theoretical interpretations of development and underdevelopment.

GEOG 123 Postcolonial Geographies 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2015, Fall 2013, Fall 2012
Postcolonial studies focus on how processes of colonialism/imperialism continue even after the formal dissolution of empire. A central argument of this course is that critical human geography can make important contributions to understanding the interconnections between forces at play in different parts of the world. Drawing on concepts of space, place, culture, power, and difference, its purpose is to provide a set of tools for grappling with
the conditions in which we find ourselves, and for thinking about the possibilities for social change.

GEOG 125 The American City 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2014, Spring 2010, Spring 2009
The American city, palimpsest of a nation. It all comes together in the modern metropolis: economy, society, politics, culture, and geography. Cities as the economic engines of capitalism, centers of industry, finance, business, consumption, and innovation. Cities as political powers and political pawns, and the government of cities, suburbs, and metropolitan areas. Cities as magnificent constructs, built of concrete, credit and land rents
, from skyscrapers to housing tracts, freeways to shopping malls, airports to open spaces. Cities as landscapes of social division by class, race and nationality, and the turf battles from mean ghetto streets to the hideaways of privilege.

GEOG 130 Food and the Environment 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2016, Spring 2015
How do human populations organize and alter natural resources and ecosystems to produce food? The role of agriculture in the world economy, national development, and environmental degradation in the Global North and the Global South. The origins of scarcity and abundance, population growth, hunger and obesity, and poverty.

GEOG N130 Food and the Environment 3 Units

Terms offered: Summer 2017 First 6 Week Session, Summer 2016 10 Week Session, Summer 2016 First 6 Week Session
How do human populations organize and alter natural resources and ecosystems to produce food? The role of agriculture in the world economy, national development, and environmental degradation in the Global North and the Global South. The origins of scarcity and abundance, population growth, hunger and obesity, and poverty.

GEOG C135 Water Resources and the Environment 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2016
Distribution, dynamics, and use of water resources in the global environment. Water scarcity, water rights, and water wars. The terrestrial hydrologic cycle. Contemporary environmental issues in water resource management, including droughts, floods, saltwater intrusion, water contamination and remediation, river restoration, hydraulic fracturing, dams, and engineering of waterways. The role of water in ecosystem processes and geomorphology. How water resources are
measured and monitored. Basic water resource calculations. Effects of climate change on water quantity, quality, and timing.

GEOG C136 Terrestrial Hydrology 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2016, Spring 2015
A quantitative introduction to the hydrology of the terrestrial environment including lower atmosphere, watersheds, lakes, and streams. All aspects of the hydrologic cycle, including precipitation, infiltration, evapotranspiration, overland flow, streamflow, and groundwater flow. Chemistry and dating of groundwater and surface water. Development of quantitative insights through problem solving and use of simple models. This course requires
one field experiment and several group computer lab assignments.

GEOG 137 Top Ten Global Environmental Problems 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2016, Spring 2015, Fall 2012
Conceptualizing global environmental problems is difficult because of the complexity of the issues, the magnitude of the problems, and the different time scales of action versus reaction. These issues apply both to the natural earth system as well as human societies. This course will examine the scientific basis underlying the largest environmental threats, and then reframe the issues to explore the societal basis of those problems. Class is
not open to freshmen.

GEOG 138 Global Environmental Politics 4 Units

Terms offered: Summer 2017 Second 6 Week Session, Summer 2016 10 Week Session, Summer 2016 Second 6 Week Session
Political factors affecting ecological conditions in the Third World. Topics include environmental degradation, migrations, agricultural production, role of international aid, divergence in standard of living, political power, participation and decision making, access to resources, global environmental policies and treaties, political strife and war.

GEOG C139 Atmospheric Physics and Dynamics 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Fall 2015
This course examines the processes that determine the structure and circulation of the Earth's atmosphere. The approach is deductive rather than descriptive: to figure out the properties and behavior of the Earth's atmosphere based on the laws of physics and fluid dynamics. Topics will include interaction between radiation and atmospheric composition; the role of water in the energy and radiation balance; governing equations for atmospheric motion
, mass conservation, and thermodynamic energy balance; geostrophic flow, quasigeostrophic motion, baroclinic instability and dynamics of extratropical cyclones.

GEOG 140A Physical Landscapes: Process and Form 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2016, Spring 2015
Understanding the physical characteristics of the Earth's surface, and the processes active on it, is essential for maintaining the long-term health of the environment, and for appreciating the unique, defining qualities of geographic regions. In this course, we build an understanding of global tectonics, rivers, hillslopes, and coastlines and discover how these act in concert with the underlying geologic framework to produce the magnificent
landscapes of our planet. Through our review of formative processes, we learn how physical landscapes change and are susceptible to human modifications, which are often unintentional.

GEOG 140B Physiography and Geomorphologic Extremes 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Fall 2015
In this course we review the physical landscapes and surface processes in extreme environments: hot arid regions, glacial and periglacial landscapes, and karst terrane. Using this knowledge, plus an understanding of tectonics and temperate watersheds (gained from prerequisite courses), we explore how unique combinations of geomorphic processes acting on tectonic and structural provinces have created the spectacular and diverse landscapes of North
America. Regions to be explored include the Colorado Plateau, Sierra Nevada, North Cascades, Northern and Southern Rockies, Great Plains, Appalachian Highlands, and Mississippi Delta.

GEOG 142 Climate Dynamics 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Fall 2015
This course examines how various components of the climate system--the atmosphere, ocean, land, and cryosphere--interact in determining its observed state. Covered topics: observations of the climate system; the earth's energy balance; atmospheric radiative transfer; the surface energy balance; the hydrologic cycle; atmospheric circulation and its relation to the energy balance; the role of the ocean and the cryosphere. Additional topics, as time
permits, will cover climate change, natural and anthropogenic; and computer modeling of climate.

GEOG 143 Global Change Biogeochemistry 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Fall 2014, Spring 2013
How does the chemical makeup of Earth make it suitable for life? And how does life in turn alter the chemistry of our planet? Biogeochemistry is the field of science that explores the imprint of biota (including humans) on the chemistry of the ocean, land and atmosphere. This interdisciplinary field addresses global problems, including climate change feedbacks, air quality, land use change, and marine ecosystem health. We will provide an overview
of the major biogeochemical cycles, discuss the biogeochemistry of major ecosystems, and introduce the major biogeochemical questions being asked today. We also cover measurement techniques, including hands-on activities to introduce students to experimental methods and data analysis.

GEOG 144 Principles of Meteorology 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2011, Fall 2008, Fall 2004
Weather development in relation to different scales of atmospheric circulation including analysis and forecasting with examples from the Northeastern Pacific-Western North American area.

GEOG C145 Geological Oceanography 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2016, Fall 2011, Spring 2010
The tectonics and morphology of the sea floor, the geologic processes in the deep and shelf seas, and the climatic record contained in deep-sea sediments. The course will cover sources and composition of marine sediments, sea-level change, ocean circulation, paleoenvironmental reconstruction using fossils, imprint of climatic zonation on marine sediments, marine stratigraphy, and ocean floor resources.

GEOG C146 Communicating Ocean Science 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2016, Spring 2015, Spring 2014
For undergraduates interested in improving their ability to communicate their scientific knowledge by teaching ocean science in elementary schools or science centers/aquariums. The course will combine instruction in inquiry-based teaching methods and learning pedagogy with six weeks of supervised teaching experience in a local school classroom or the Lawrence Hall of Science with a partner. Thus, students will practice communicating scientific
knowledge and receive mentoring on how to improve their presentations.

GEOG 147 Communicating Climate Science 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Fall 2015
For upper division undergraduate students interested in improving their conceptual understanding of climate science and climate change through engaging in activities, demonstrations, and discussions, while also developing their science communication skills to advance the public’s climate literacy. The course will combine science content, active teaching and learning methods based on how people learn, and how to engage in effective interactions.

GEOG 148 Biogeography 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2015, Spring 2015, Spring 2014
Changing distribution patterns of plants and animals on a variety of spatial and temporal scales. The effects of "continental drift," Pleistocene climatic change, agricultural origins and dispersals. The ecology of invasions and extinctions. Island biogeography.

GEOG C152 Multicultural Europe 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2015, Spring 2007, Fall 2005
In this course, we will trace some of the substantive changes and transformations taking place in contemporary Europe in the areas of culture, society, and politics. In particular, we will look at the effects of massive migration flows--due to globalization processes--on the national culture of the core countries and examine the ways in which particular national cultures react to the increasing multiculturization of Europe. The goal of the course
is, first of all, to familiarize students with a variety of cultural, social, and political innovations that accompany the formation of multicultural Europe. This involves (1) an examination of the traditional concepts of nationhood and citizenship, and (2)a study of the Europeanization of culture.

GEOG C155 Race, Space, and Inequality 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017
This course examines the the spatial configurations of inequality and poverty and their relationship to race through an analysis of the historical, theoretical and ethnographic conceptualizations, practices, and lived experiences of that relationship. The course will cover the topics of race, space, and inequality through four interwoven thematic lenses of formation, implementation, normalization, and resistances.

GEOG 157 The Politics of the Anthropocene 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017
This course seeks to trace the rise of the anthropogenic epoch as a political epistemology, changing material milieu, and amorphous and contested political signifier. The notion of the Anthropocene challenges the very boundaries of nature and culture that have plagued and defined modernity. Natural forces and inanimate objects from storms and bodies, ocean flows and river currents, soil layers and chemical reactions are more and more commonly understood as always
already natural/cultural. What are the differential ways that the universal categories of the human at the heart of the concept of the Anthropocene mask the differential responsibility and liability for these epochal changes?

GEOG C157 Central American Peoples and Cultures 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2014, Fall 2012, Spring 2011
A comparative survey of the peoples and cultures of the seven countries of the Central American Isthmus from a historical and contemporary perspective.

GEOG 159AC The Southern Border 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Fall 2015
The southern border--from California to Florida--is the longest physical divide between the First and Third Worlds. This course will examine the border as a distinct landscape where North-South relations take on a specific spatial and cultural dimension, and as a region which has been the testing ground for such issues as free trade, immigration, and ethnic politics.

GEOG 160B American Cultural Landscapes 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2016, Spring 1997, Spring 1996
Introduces ways of seeing and interpreting American histories and cultures, as revealed in everyday built surroundings--homes, highways, farms, factories, stores, recreation areas, small towns, city districts and regions. Encourages students to read landscapes as records of past and present social relations, and to speculate for themselves about cultural meaning.

GEOG C160A American Cultural Landscapes, 1600 to 1900 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2014, Fall 2013, Fall 2012
Introduces ways of seeing and interpreting American histories and cultures, as revealed in everyday built surroundings-- houses, highways, farms, factories, stores, recreation areas, small towns, city districts, and regions. Encourages students to read landscapes as records of past and present social relations and to speculate for themselves about cultural meaning.

GEOG C160B American Cultural Landscapes, 1900 to Present 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2015, Spring 2014
Introduces ways of seeing and interpreting American histories and cultures, as revealed in everyday built surroundings--homes, highways, farms, factories, stores, recreation areas, small towns, city districts, and regions. Encourages students to read landscapes as records of past and present social relations, and to speculate for themselves about cultural meaning.

GEOG 164 The Geography of Economic Development in China 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2015, Spring 2013
This course focuses on four issues in contemporary China: (1) the transformation of the socialist state, (2) the environmental politics, (3) the interplay of gender and class in the transitional society, (4) urban expansion and the changing rural-urban dynamics, and (5) global China. Each of these issues will be examined with reference to critical theories of development and histories of China's modernization. This is a lecture course designed
mainly for upper level undergraduate students with preliminary background in East Asian-Chinese studies or development studies.

GEOG 170 Special Topics in Geography 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016
This course is designed to provide a vehicle for instructors to address a topic with which they are especially concerned; usually more restricted than the subject matter of a regular lecture course. Topics will vary with instructor. See departmental announcements.

GEOG 171 Special Topics in Physical Geography 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Summer 2017 First 6 Week Session, Fall 2016
This course is designed to provide a vehicle for instructors to address a topic in physical geography with which they are especially concerned; usually more restricted than the subject matter of a regular lecture course. Topics will vary with instructor. See departmental announcements.

GEOG 172 Topics in Social Geography 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2012, Fall 2011, Spring 2010
This course is designed to provide a vehicle for instructors to address a topic in social geography with which they are especially concerned; usually more restricted than the subject matter of a regular lecture course. Topics will vary with instructor. See departmental announcements.

GEOG 173A Cross-listed Topics in Human Geography 1 - 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2010, Spring 2007
This course is designed to accommodate cross-listed courses offered through other departments, the content of which is applicable to geography majors. Content and unit values vary from course to course.

GEOG 175 Undergraduate Seminars 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2015, Fall 2014, Fall 2013
A reading and research seminar for undergraduate students. Topics will vary with instructor.

GEOG C179A GC-Maker Lab I: Skills and Theory 2 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2016
In the environmental and biological sciences, one of the biggest challenges in transitioning from student to researcher is learning how to measure something without an off-the-shelf device. This course will provide the theoretical background and the practice of building a Gas Chromatograph (GC) system for environmental research. The first semester is for students who seek to develop fundamental skills in instrumental development and design. The second semester
(c179b) is only open to those who have taken this first semester course and will entail the construction of a working gas chromatograph system. This class will be especially useful for students who wish to pursue research following graduation.

GEOG C179B GC-Maker Lab II: Instrument development 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017
In the environmental and biological sciences, one of the biggest challenges in transitioning from student to researcher is learning how to measure something without an off-the-shelf device. This course will involve the actual building a gas chromatograph (GC) system for environmental research. In addition, we will provide the option of building a mini datalogging sensor for measuring basic environmental parameters using the Arduino platform. This course offered in
the spring semester is only open to those who have taken this first semester course (c179A), which covers the fundamental skills required to undertake this project. This class is designed for upper division undergraduates to early graduate students.

GEOG 180 Field Methods for Physical Geography 5 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2016, Spring 2015
Field introduction to geomorphology, biogeography, and California landscapes. Students conduct field experiments and mapping exercises. Results of field projects are analyzed and presented as a technical report. Oral field reports are required for some trips.

GEOG 181 Urban Field Study 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2016, Fall 2015
Introduction to the metropolitan Bay Area: its history, economy, social makeup. Evolution of urban landscapes and spatial patterns. Social justice and conflict in the city. Business and industry location, real estate and housing, producing and consuming in the city. Regional characteristics of class, race, gender and politics.

GEOG 182 Field Study of Buildings and Cities 3 Units

Terms offered: Summer 2017 First 6 Week Session, Summer 2016 First 6 Week Session, Summer 2015 First 6 Week Session
Traveling on foot and by BART—and with on-site lectures and discussions about architecture, urban design, cultural landscapes, and spatial patterns in Berkeley, Oakland, San Francisco, and Pleasanton—students in this course will explore the historical geography of the American city since 1850. Enrollment limited to 25 students. No pre-requisites. Both undergraduate and graduate
students are welcome.

GEOG 183 Cartographic Representation 5 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016
Problems in the representation of quantitative and qualitative data on thematic maps.

GEOG 185 Earth System Remote Sensing 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2016, Spring 2015
This lecture-lab course is focused on Earth system remote sensing applications, including a survey of methods and an accompanying lab. This first part of the course will cover general principles, image acquisition and interpretation, and analytical approaches. The second part will cover global change remote sensing applications that will include terrestrial ecosystems, Earth sciences, the hydrosphere, and human land-use.

GEOG 187 Geographic Information Analysis 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2016, Spring 2015
A spatial analytic approach to digital mapping and GIS. Given that recording the geolocation of scientific, business and social data is now routine, the question of what we can learn from the spatial aspect of data arises. This class looks at challenges in analyzing spatial data, particularly scale and spatial dependence. Various methods are considered such as hotspot detection, interpolation, and map overlay. The emphasis throughout is hands
on and practical rather than theoretical.

GEOG C188 Geographic Information Systems 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Fall 2015
This course introduces the student to the rapidly expanding field of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). It addresses both theory and application and provides the student with a dynamic analytical framework within which temporal and spatial data and information is gathered, integrated, interpreted, and manipulated. It emphasizes a conceptual appreciation of GIS and offers an opportunity to apply some of those concepts to contemporary geographical
and planning issues.

GEOG H195A Honors Course 1 - 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Summer 2017 8 Week Session, Summer 2017 Second 6 Week Session
Required for Honors in Geography. Students will write a thesis. One or two semesters, at the instructor's option; if two semesters, credit and grade to be awarded upon completion of the sequence.

GEOG H195B Honors Course 1 - 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Summer 2017 8 Week Session, Summer 2017 Second 6 Week Session
Required for Honors in Geography. Students will write a thesis. One or two semesters, at the instructor's option; if two semesters, credit and grade to be awarded upon completion of the sequence.

GEOG 197 Field Study in Geography 1 - 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Summer 2017 8 Week Session, Summer 2017 Second 6 Week Session
Supervised experience in application of geography in off-campus organizations. Regular individual meetings with faculty sponsor and written reports required.

GEOG 198 Directed Group Study 1 - 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Summer 2017 8 Week Session, Summer 2017 Second 6 Week Session

GEOG 199 Supervised Independent Study 1 - 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Summer 2017 8 Week Session, Summer 2017 Second 6 Week Session

GEOG 200A Contemporary Geographic Thought 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Fall 2015
The class has several goals. One is to give students a sound basis upon which to judge arguments. A second is to help students see, think, and write geographically--that is, to interpret the making and meaning of our physical and human landscapes. A third goal is to introduce students to the tremendous range of geographical inquiry and what is probably the major strength of geography as a form of thought: to wit, making links across space, among
peoples, and between humans and the earth. Sequence begins in the fall.

GEOG 200B Contemporary Geographic Thought 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2016, Spring 2015
The class has several goals. One is to give students a sound basis upon which to judge arguments. A second is to help students see, think, and write geographically--that is, to interpret the making and meaning of our physical and human landscapes. A third goal is to introduce students to the tremendous range of geographical inquiry and what is probably the major strength of geography as a form of thought: to wit, making links across space
, among peoples, and between humans and the earth. Sequence begins in the fall.

GEOG 203 Nature and Culture: Social Theory, Social Practice, and the Environment 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Fall 2011
The relationship between societies and natural environments lies at the heart of geographical inquiry and has gained urgency as the rate and scale of human transformation of nature have grown, often outstripping our understanding of causes and effects. The physical side of environmental science has received most of the emphasis in university research, but the social basis of environmental change must be studied as well. Recent developments in social
theory have much to offer environmental studies, while the latter has, in turn, exploded many formerly safe assumptions about how and what the social sciences and humanities ought to be preoccupied with. This seminar allows students to explore some classics in environmental thought as well as recent contributions that put the field on the forefront of social knowledge today.

GEOG 214 Development Theories and Practices 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2011, Spring 2010, Spring 2009
This course examines how concepts and theories of "development" have been produced, maintained, used, and challenged in different regions of the world economy. It will offer a framework for analyzing how changing and contending models of development both reflect and shape social processes and practices.

GEOG 215 Seminar in Comparative and International Development 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2016, Spring 2015
This seminar is designed for students intending to do research on topics of comparative development, the organization of work, and access to resources in different regions of the world economy. Participants in the seminar will be expected to write a research proposal and to participate actively in reading and responding to each other's work.

GEOG 220 Capital, Value, and Scale 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2013, Spring 2009, Spring 2007
This seminar focuses on major works in political economy and social theory concerning capitalism, human action, and space-time. We grapple with what "value" means in "Capital", paying particular attention to issues of historical specificity, abstract labor time, and the "value theory of labor." We spatialize the argument by a close reading of David Harvey, and we look at attempts to understand capital's relation
to human action and other forms of value, in anthropology and the work of Pierre Bourdieu. Finally, we take up the issue of scale in hope of formulating a coherent conceptual framework for integrating across scales, from the human-body (or even smaller scales) up to global, economic, cultural and ecological processes

GEOG 228 Spatial Simulation Modeling 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2016, Spring 2015
Simulation is now a widely adopted approach to science. This class will examine what simulation models are, and why and how they are used. Models that focus
on spatial processes (aggregation, segregation, diffusion, movement, growth) will be closely considered. A particular concern will be to explore how simulation
models may help elucidate the relationships between processes and the spatial outcomes they produce.

GEOG C241 Glaciology 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2015, Fall 2012
A review of the mechanics of glacial systems, including formation of ice masses, glacial flow mechanisms, subglacial hydrology, temperature and heat transport, global flow, and response of ice sheets and glaciers. We will use this knowledge to examine glaciers as geomorphologic agents and as participants in climate change.

GEOG 244 Complex Environmental Systems 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2016, Spring 2014, Spring 2013
Applying a complex-systems approach to environmental problems can yield valuable insight into risk, potential drivers of change, likely outcomes of perturbation, and whether it is even possible to forecast or manage system behavior. This course explores complex-systems theory and applications in geography, ecology, and earth science. Case studies include climate change, coupled human-environmental systems, vegetation community change, river
networks, forest fires, earthquakes, and peatlands.

GEOG 246 Geomorphology of California 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2011, Fall 2009, Fall 2006
Numerous tectonic and Earth surface processes act in concert to produce the physical landscapes of our planet. This course examines three major regions of California (the Sierra Nevada, the Basin and Range, and the Southern Coast Ranges) as specific case studies for demonstrating how landscapes can be understood using concepts from tectonics, geomorphology, and geography. Two four-day field trips and preparatory readings for them will illuminate
the integrated action of tectonics, geologic structure and lithology, drainage network development, hydraulics, soil production, hillslope transport, fluvial transport, aeolian transport, and glacial/perigicial processes. A term project will be required.

GEOG 249 Spatiotemporal Data Analysis in the Climate Sciences 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2008
This graduate seminar teaches objective techniques for spatiotemporal data analysis focusing primarily on Empirical Orthogonal Function (EOF) analysis and its derivatives. The context will be climate data analysis, but the technique is readily translatable to other fields. The goal is to get the student sufficiently comfortable with the technique so they can use it in their research.

GEOG C250 Seminar in Sociology of Forest and Wildland Resources 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2014, Spring 2014, Fall 2013
Individual projects and group discussions concerning social constraints to, and effects of, natural resource planning and management. Application of sociological theories to problems of managing wildland ecosystems. Students will examine topics of individual interest related to the management of wildland uses. Enrollment limited.

GEOG 251 Topics in Cultural Geography 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2016, Spring 2015
Research seminar on selected topics in cultural geography.

GEOG 252 Topics in Economic Geography 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2016, Spring 2015, Fall 2013
Research seminar on selected topics in economic geography.

GEOG 253 Topics in Urban Geography 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2014, Fall 2013, Fall 2012
Research seminar on selected topics in urban geography.

GEOG 254 Topics in GIS 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2016
Research seminar on selected topics in GIS.

GEOG 255 Topics in Political Geography 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2016, Fall 2015, Spring 2015
Research seminar on selected topics in political geography.

GEOG 257 Topics in Climatology 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Fall 2015
Research seminar on selected topics in climatology.

GEOG 260 Topics in Biogeography 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2016, Spring 2015
Research seminar on selected topics in biogeography.

GEOG 279 Statistics and Multivariate Data Analysis for Research 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2016, Spring 2015
An introduction to advanced statistical methods for research. Topics include hypothesis testing, distribution fitting, ANOVA and MANOVA, PCA, cluster analysis, ordination, discriminant analysis, regression, time series analyses, causality, and data mining techniques. Students will complete assignments that use real datasets and will gain feedback in working with their own datasets.

GEOG 280 Advanced Field Study in Geography 3 - 7 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016
All day Saturday. Each additional unit requires four hours of field work per week. Extended field project required.

GEOG 282 Geographic Information Systems: Applications in Geographical Research 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2009
This course introduces graduate students to a range of applications of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in geographical research, and theoretical considerations of the meaning, strengths, and limitations of the methods. We first review, in general, how geographic variables can be represented in a database. This leads to an extended discussion of the application of GIS methods to a variety of problems in physical and human geography, using topographic data, census
data, and other sources, manipulated by widely used GIS software. Students build skills and understanding through work on example problems. Finally, the broad question of how GIS represents geographic variables, and the strengths and limitations of the technique, are re-visited using perspective gained from examples. Students will be expected to elaborate these issues in the context of their own research programs.

GEOG 285 Topics in Earth System Remote Sensing 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2016
Questions asked about a changing planet are strongly influenced by data collected across a variety of spatial and temporal scales. Remote sensing of globally distributed ecosystems and human landscapes enables the exploration of questions not possible without the extension of those dimensions. This course will focus on developing scalable Earth system research questions using a variety of tools including advanced remote sensing methods, image acquisition including
UAV systems, data synthesis and analytical approaches, literature review, progress reporting, and student presentations.

GEOG 295 Geography Colloquium 1 Unit

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016
Invited lectures on current research and field work.

GEOG 296 Directed Dissertation Research 1 - 12 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016

GEOG N296 Directed Dissertation Research 1 - 4 Units

Terms offered: Summer 2017 8 Week Session, Summer 2017 First 6 Week Session, Summer 2017 Second 6 Week Session

GEOG 297 Directed Field Studies 1 - 6 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016

GEOG 298 Directed Study for Graduate Students 1 - 6 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016
Special tutorial or seminar on selected topics not covered by available courses or seminars.

GEOG 299 Individual Research 1 - 8 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016
Individual research for graduate students in consultation with staff member.

GEOG N299 Individual Research 1 - 4 Units

Terms offered: Summer 2017 8 Week Session, Summer 2017 First 6 Week Session, Summer 2017 Second 6 Week Session
Individual research for graduate students in consultation with staff member.

GEOG 301 Professional Training: Teaching Practice 1 - 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016

GEOG C301 Communicating Ocean Science 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2016, Spring 2015, Fall 2014, Spring 2014
For graduate students interested in improving their ability to communicate their scientific knowledge by teaching ocean science in elementary schools or science centers/aquariums. The course will combine instruction in inquiry-based teaching methods and learning pedagogy with six weeks of supervised teaching experience in a local school classroom or the Lawrence Hall of Science with a partner. Thus, students will practice
communicating scientific knowledge and receive mentoring on how to improve their presentations.

GEOG C302 Effective Scientific Communication 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2009, Fall 2007
This course will introduce methods of organizing and delivering oral presentations, initating and organizing manuscripts, and utilizing digital communication methods, such as web-based media. Students will develop effective communication techniques through in-class experience. This class will have an emphasis on the sciences but will be useful and open to graduate students of all disciplines.

GEOG 601 Individual Study for Master's Students 1 - 6 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016
Individual study for comprehensive or language requirements in consultation with the field adviser.

GEOG N601 Individual Study for Master's Students 1 - 3 Units

Terms offered: Summer 2017 8 Week Session, Summer 2017 First 6 Week Session, Summer 2017 Second 6 Week Session
Individual study for comprehensive or language requirements in consultation with the field adviser.

GEOG 602 Individual Study for Doctoral Students 1 - 6 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016
Individual study in consultation with the major field adviser, intended to provide an opportunity for qualified students to prepare themselves for the various examinations required of candidates for the Ph.D.

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