Universität Wien
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290020 SE Bachelorseminar aus Humangeographie: The major demographic challenges of the 21st Century (2021S)

4.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 29 - Geographie
Continuous assessment of course work

In Englisch
Moodle

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 25 participants
Language: English

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

Attendance is compulsory in the first unit (in case of absence: deregistration from the course).

  • Wednesday 03.03. 09:15 - 11:15 Digital
  • Wednesday 10.03. 09:15 - 12:00 Digital
  • Wednesday 17.03. 09:15 - 12:00 Digital
  • Wednesday 24.03. 09:15 - 12:00 Digital
  • Wednesday 14.04. 09:15 - 12:00 Digital
  • Wednesday 21.04. 09:15 - 12:00 Digital
  • Wednesday 28.04. 09:15 - 12:00 Digital
  • Wednesday 05.05. 09:15 - 12:00 Digital

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

Population geography can be considered as the study of the spatial variation and analysis of the demographic components of change: migration, fertility (births), and mortality (deaths and diseases). Demography is per se, the statistical analysis of parameters of these population changes.
The analysis of demographic structures and processes and their spatial differentiation are therefore an essential prerequisite to understand the main worldwide social, economic and political developments and issues.
The seminar enables students to learn the basic knowledge of population geography: population distribution and migration through the understanding and exploration of the world current demographic situation. At the end of the course, the students should be able to discuss critically a large range of global demographic topics, to read and interpret documents, graphs and data acutely and to apply academic knowledge to real world events.
Key issues of global, regional and local population trends and specific case studies will be jointly discussed (i.e family policies in developing countries, population aging in the world, declining sex ratio in Asia, demographic dividend in Africa, poverty and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), fertility and woman empowerment, … among others topics).

Assessment and permitted materials

The working methods used in the seminar will include joint analyses and discussions of relevant academic materials, own research of scientific sources, in class presentation of research results, and the writing of a term paper. Cooperative methods of working will be used whenever adequate and possible.
Thus, the following requirements must be fulfilled:
• regular attendance and active participation during the sessions
• session preparation
• in class presentation with handout
• writing of a short term paper (~10 pages)

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

In the case of valid reasons implying difficulties to take part in some of the compulsory activities (group work, submission of the portfolios, writing of the portfolio), please contact me directly.

Group work (35%) and term paper (45%) will be marked individually as well as portfolios & active participation on moodle (20%). Assignments have to be passed individually. An assignment is passed with a minimum grade of 4.

Grading scheme:
100 - 87,5 % - grade 1
87,5 - 75 % - grade 2
75 - 62,5 % - grade 3
62,5 - 50 % - grade 4
less than 50% - grade 5

A great motivation to research, read, present and discuss (in English) topics about population geography and demography is sought.

Examination topics

The examination will encompass the work items as outlined in the course requirements : the group presentation and term paper will be based on topics related to the contents of the course, i.e. theories, concepts and empirical examples of population geography.

Reading list

All texts for compulsory readings can be downloaded in the Moodle course. Additional literature research will be mandatory. For selected literature, see below:
Dorling, D., & Gietel-Basten, S. (2017). Why demography matters. John Wiley & Sons.
Lam, D. (2011). How the world survived the population bomb: Lessons from 50 years of extraordinary demographic history. Demography, 48(4), 1231-1262.
Gupta, M. D., Kim, D. S., Li, S., & Pande, R. P. (2017). Son preference, sex ratios and ‘missing girls’ in Asia. In Routledge Handbook of Asian Demography (pp. 151-167). Routledge.
Groth, H., & May, J. F. (Eds.). (2017). Africa's population: In search of a demographic dividend. Springer.

Association in the course directory

(BA GG 7.1) (BA UF GW 16)

Last modified: Fr 12.05.2023 00:22