Providing students with a compass to navigate: teaching political economy to human geography students
(2025) In Journal of Geography in Higher Education p.1-10- Abstract
- Despite the centrality of economic theories (including political economic theories) in human geographic research, there is a massive shortage of courses covering this topic in many human geography departments. In this paper, we use the example of a third-semester elective MSc course in political economic theory designed for students in human geography to contribute to this point. The course aims to introduce some essential elements of economic theory, map competing trends and paradigms in economic theory, and teach how economic theories are operationalized in geographic research. As such, it seeks to provide students with a compass to be able to navigate the sprawling field of economic geography. Lakatos’ theory of science and an... (More)
- Despite the centrality of economic theories (including political economic theories) in human geographic research, there is a massive shortage of courses covering this topic in many human geography departments. In this paper, we use the example of a third-semester elective MSc course in political economic theory designed for students in human geography to contribute to this point. The course aims to introduce some essential elements of economic theory, map competing trends and paradigms in economic theory, and teach how economic theories are operationalized in geographic research. As such, it seeks to provide students with a compass to be able to navigate the sprawling field of economic geography. Lakatos’ theory of science and an interpretation of Kolb’s cycle influenced the pedagogical approach used to design (and structure) this course. The course treats paradigms in a competitive and intellectually contextual environment, and students engage with them in a reflective process culminating in the operationalization of economic theories into geographic research. In this paper we reflect on the challenges we have come across in teaching this course and whether we have managed to live up to the aim of providing a compass. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/cbcb5817-14b6-4079-95c7-106e3c169cd2
- author
- Farahani, Ilia LU and Barbesgaard, Mads LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2025
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- epub
- subject
- keywords
- Teaching political economy, Course design, operationalization, Imre Lakatos
- in
- Journal of Geography in Higher Education
- pages
- 10 pages
- publisher
- Routledge
- ISSN
- 0309-8265
- DOI
- 10.1080/03098265.2025.2593016
- project
- From economic structures to local dynamics: low-income communities and the post-pandemic volatility of housing markets
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- cbcb5817-14b6-4079-95c7-106e3c169cd2
- date added to LUP
- 2025-11-20 09:11:29
- date last changed
- 2025-11-20 14:23:48
@article{cbcb5817-14b6-4079-95c7-106e3c169cd2,
abstract = {{Despite the centrality of economic theories (including political economic theories) in human geographic research, there is a massive shortage of courses covering this topic in many human geography departments. In this paper, we use the example of a third-semester elective MSc course in political economic theory designed for students in human geography to contribute to this point. The course aims to introduce some essential elements of economic theory, map competing trends and paradigms in economic theory, and teach how economic theories are operationalized in geographic research. As such, it seeks to provide students with a compass to be able to navigate the sprawling field of economic geography. Lakatos’ theory of science and an interpretation of Kolb’s cycle influenced the pedagogical approach used to design (and structure) this course. The course treats paradigms in a competitive and intellectually contextual environment, and students engage with them in a reflective process culminating in the operationalization of economic theories into geographic research. In this paper we reflect on the challenges we have come across in teaching this course and whether we have managed to live up to the aim of providing a compass.}},
author = {{Farahani, Ilia and Barbesgaard, Mads}},
issn = {{0309-8265}},
keywords = {{Teaching political economy; Course design; operationalization; Imre Lakatos}},
language = {{eng}},
pages = {{1--10}},
publisher = {{Routledge}},
series = {{Journal of Geography in Higher Education}},
title = {{Providing students with a compass to navigate: teaching political economy to human geography students}},
url = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/233542004/Providing_students_with_a_compass_to_navigate_teaching_political_economy_to_human_geography_students.pdf}},
doi = {{10.1080/03098265.2025.2593016}},
year = {{2025}},
}