[NUS Module Review] GE2221: Nature and Society

(INTRODUCTION)

Sometimes I'm still wondering why am I taking geography modules despite me not really liking geography much. Oh, right, it is a level 2k module that I could possibly SU in case I screw it up. So why not, right?

Hais, to be honest, the only reason why I took this module was because the only other blog review for this module clearly described this module as an easy module. And for a period of time, I actually agreed with that person. But sadly, when I took this module, everything turned out to be different. :(

(LECTURERS)

The lecturer/facilitator for this module is Dr Miles Kenney-Lazar. Since I'm pretty new to the landscape of Geography, I can't compare him to other Geography lecturers. I can admit though that Dr Miles is a really nice lecturer that really knows his stuff even without looking at them. Maybe this is consistent with other Arts lecturers, not really sure about this. He makes you really think of an answer rather than providing one and he is someone that really facilitates active discussion. So if you're hoping that tutorial classes could be a time for you to chill, hop on to the next module. However, he is certainly not the best lecturer, or one of the best lecturers I've met. Maybe it's because his teaching style doesn't fit my learning style, thus making it hard for me to truly understand this module. So do make your own judgement yeah, or don't lol. 

(EXPANSION OF TOPICS COVERED)

The topics covered include:

• Environmental Determinism and Cultural Ecology
• Political Ecology
• The Anthropocene
• Neo-liberal Natures and its States 
• Urban Animal Natures
• Sustainability and Justice

After taking this module, I felt like all these terms are largely foreign to me. I do understand them on the surface, but as for the in-depth understanding, it is more confusing than one would think. I never thought that human Geography would be such a pain until this module. Although the topics may seem simple, but every topic sparks a million questions and yet so little answers. I guess that's probably the best way for me to put it.

Environmental determinism will focus more on how the difference in the environment determines the social and cultural differences. Cultural ecology will show the adaptations of humans biologically and chemically to the environment through an organic relationship. Lastly, political ecology shows the relationship between human and the environment shaped by political and economic forces. For nature, all you need to know are the words 'pristine', 'wilderness' and 'untouched'. And as for Anthropocene, you might need to explain it to me instead lol.

(PASSING THE ASSESSMENT)

The grading for the assessments in this module are as follows:

• Attendance - 10%
• Individual Essay - 30%
• Presentation - 20%
• Final Exam (2 Essays) - 40%

I believed they kinda changed the percentages a little bit here and there due to COVID-19. However, despite me not getting some of the content at all, I could pretty much focus on the things I know when I'm doing the essays or the presentation. The individual essays require you to write 3000 words on a certain topic that you learnt. This can be related to the presentation that you would be doing around that time. For the final exams, there are two essays that need to be completed; both 1500 words each. 

(SCHEDULE)

There will be a two hour lecture per week and a two hour tutorial on every alternate week. Usually, if you are unable to attend a tutorial, you will need to do a mini-essay to show Dr Miles what you have learnt from the week's lecture. If I'm not wrong, it's about 300 words. So do attend the tutorials to avoid this hassle. 

(EXPERIENCE AND FINAL GRADING)

I still could remember this module being the first lesson of my semester. And boy, what a way to start the semester. In a nutshell, I slept midway through the lecture. A million English words flew past me and yet I could barely understand any of them. Already, the first lesson drew blanks with me as I wondered why did I take this module or better yet, dragged two of my friends to take it with me.

If you thought that was bad, I would have a scheduled 6-hour lab session before the GE2221 lecture. It would have been a miracle if I could stay awake after having the grueling lab sessions. Alas, nothing actually went in anyways, so I spent most of my time struggling to catch up back at home. The lectures were very information driven, but yet, mainly focused on the bigger picture and less on the micro details. This makes it hard to understand if you are used to studying in-depth and not the breath of things. 

My individual essay was about 70-80% based on my group's presentation. Not that if I wrote anything else it would have been any stellar anyways. As for the group's presentation, we focused mainly on Political Ecology (anything after that topic is just a black hole to be honest) since it's the one me and my group are most familiar with. In particular, we focused on the Minamata Disease. Long story short, the presentation went super well, or at least I think it did, but not so much for the individual essay sadly.

After the Political Ecology topic, everything else became a real blur. Anthropocene?? Really? But anyways, it didn't really matter as long as the exam question didn't have a compulsory question on Anthropocene. Thanks to COVID, the final exam turned into a take home 6 day exam and all we needed to do was simply two essays. To be honest, it can't get any easier than this.

The final exam came and there was one compulsory essay and a five choose one essay. I remembered the compulsory question was a question that truly focuses on the essence on Environmental Determinism, Cultural Ecology and Political Ecology, as well as how do these three intertwine with each other but yet have their own examples to represent them. Hehe, one essay in the bag for me because those were topics that I largely understood and could answer easily. Next, it was the five choose one essay. Thank goodness that Anthropocene was one of the optional five and I wasn't forced to write it. In the end, I took on the essay on Wilderness and how the Congo tribes were being discriminated out of their "home" in an effort by the WWF to reclaim and protect the Wilderness. So writing that was pretty easy too. 

In the end, I got a decent grade and for the amount of effort placed in this module, I think it's not a bad job yeah!

(CONCLUSION AND TIPS)

Unless you do have a flair for Geography and really like nature in general, no, love nature in general, then do consider taking this module. If you're just in Geography just for the sake of taking modules that you could SU, you may still consider taking this module. It will only leave you more question marks in your head, but hey, if you could SU it, why not right? I highly recommend people who could debate their way out of a wormhole to do this module because realistically, the best students are the ones who could debate just about anything out of nothing.

Ratings out of 5⭐:

• Should you take this module - Highly discourage this module unless you truly love human geography
• Degree of Difficulty - ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• Effort Required - ⭐⭐
• Timetable Impact - ⭐⭐

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