Global Geography explores how human societies and physical environments are deeply connected and constantly changing. Learn how to analyze global processes including urbanization, uneven development and inequality, migration and identity formation, and environmental change. Combine approaches from the social sciences, humanities, and physical sciences to identify solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges.
As a Global Geography student, you will gain knowledge and skills through hands-on classroom activities, field- and lab-based exercises, and community engagement. You will acquire technical know-how and experience in geographical information systems, data analysis, research methods, and field techniques, while also enhancing your communication, reasoning and leadership skills to address societal and environmental issues.
Ultimately, you will be equipped with skills that will prepare you for a career in Canada and abroad in areas such as government, journalism and media, development agencies, private-sector corporations and the non-profit sector.
Students will explore these critical global issues:
- Human migration and identity
- Economic development and inequalities
- Geopolitical power
- Global urbanization
- Flows of knowledge, culture and data
- Changing global environments
At a Glance
4 years of study
Bachelor of Arts (BA)
Offered full time and some part time
Accepts applications for Fall (September), Winter (January), & Summer (May) Entry
Application Process
Hands-on Learning and Field Studies
Learning in the field is a key component in our program. Your courses will take you on location with field trips to various places in Toronto, across Ontario and in the workplace.
Field Studies in Physical Geography
This course applies geographic principles and field techniques to problems in physical geography during a residential field trip of around one week. In 2021 students explored the physical geography of the Bruce Peninsula near Tobermory.
Research Design & Field Studies in Human Geography
This course puts into practice what students have learned about geographical field techniques and combines on-campus preparation, data analysis and report writing with off-campus fieldwork during which data collection and preliminary analysis are carried out. In 2021 students explored the human geography of the Bruce Peninsula near Tobermory.
On Location: The Spatial Politics of Urban Placemaking
In this course, students learn through immersive on-site fieldtrips and activities, walking tours, guest talks, and discussions in public spaces and community venues across the city, providing students with a first-hand experience of the struggles, controversies, and possibilities of place-making practices.
Work Placement
Through Work Placement, students (who meet the requirements) have an opportunity to apply their classroom learning in a work placement with government, NGOs, community groups and/or businesses for credit. You will gain confidence and valuable work experience that will serve you well when launching your career post-graduation.
Career Possibilities
With issues of globalization, urbanization, migration, sustainability and equity at the forefront of the public consciousness, more organizations and businesses are looking to hire professionals with the technical and transferrable skills developed by studying geography. Along with developing hands-on geographic knowledge and experiences, students utilize in-demand transferrable skills including critical thinking, analysis and interpretation of quantitative and qualitative data, and communication, which open up career possibilities. Our graduates are working in both the public and private sectors in a variety of fields including education, business, finance and banking, science and technology, and government.
To help you succeed, our Experiential Education Coordinator provides a variety of career support services to our students including resume help, interview prep, and career planning workshops, and maintains an exclusive job board just for our students.
Sample Careers
- Data Analyst
- Geography Teacher
- Conservation Interpreter
- Urban Planner
- GIS Technologist
- Logistics Coordinator
- Policy Advisor
- Process Analyst
- Transportation Planner
Overseas Placements
Going global is optional in this program. You can choose to Study Abroad on an international Exchange program or take courses on our Semester Abroad at the Las Nubes EcoCampus in Costa Rica.
We also offer you the opportunity to complete a Global internship with York International.
The Official Global Geography Playlist
Have you ever wondered... which songs represent #YorkUEUC programs the best? Listen to The Official Global Geography Playlist 🎶
EUC Course Search Tool
The course listing provided here does not necessarily reflect courses that are being offered in any given year. Please check the York Courses Website for updated information on current offerings.
Examines how geographers design and carry out research, and the different philosophical bases for creating geographical knowledge. A range of approaches will be covered, including research in qualitative human geography, quantitative human geography, and physical geography. PRIOR TO FALL 2014: Course credit exclusion: AP/GEOG 3740 3.00.
[/show_field_with_limit]This course begins with lectures on field research methodology. The second phase concentrates on defining a field problem, leading to data collection in the field. The final part of the course deals with data analysis, and reviews methodological implications. Includes lectures, seminars and workshops, and a three to four day field trip.Prerequisites: Students must be registered as Honours majors in Geography or Environmental Science and must have successfully completed AP/GEOG 2420 3.00 and one of AP/GEOG 2400 6.00, AP/GEOG 2500 3.00 or AP/GEOG 2600 3.00; or permission of the Instructor. Course credit exclusions: SC/MATH 3330 3.00, AP/GEOG 4540 3.00 (prior to Fall 2012), SC/GEOG 4540 3.00 (prior to Fall 2012).
[/show_field_with_limit]This course investigates conservation issues in Canada from a political ecology perspective, charting the history of the conservation movement along with some of the most pressing contemporary conservation issues unfolding within Canada including the social, economic, and political geographical processes and contexts from which they have emerged. We will ground our study of these issues by examining a number of conservation-related controversies and projects unfolding in the GTA. This will enable us to better understand how Canadian conservation issues play out within our own communities, both historically and today, how local conservation issues reflect national and global geographical processes, and the innovative ways local groups are working to address these issues. Prerequisites: EU/GEOG 1000 6.00 and 54 credits successfully completed or written permission of the instructor.
[/show_field_with_limit]This course surveys Black geographies worldwide, with a focus on the Americas. The course covers a diversity of landscapes, past and present: voluntary and forced migration, displacement, segregation, activist occupations, and rural and urban geographies. Taking a critical and feminist approach, the course emphasizes both how racial hierarchies are created and maintained through spatial orders and how Black communities and individuals have always been agents and place-makers.
[/show_field_with_limit]Geographical perspectives on the physical processes behind extreme natural events (volcanoes, tsunami, tornadoes, hurricanes) and their impact on people. Many case studies and the literature will be used to understand how physical geography impacts human activities and settlements. Prerequisite: AP/GEOG 2600 3.00 or SC/GEOG 2600 3.00.
[/show_field_with_limit]This course deals with the historical-geographical specificities of South Asia that are products of its own internal economic-political evolution and physical environmental context as well as of its historical and contemporary linkages to other parts of the world.Prerequisites: 54 credits successfully completed, including at least one of AP/GEOG 1000 6.00 or AP/GEOG 1410 6.00 or AP/SC/GEOG 1400 6.00, or written permission of the course director.
Course credit exclusions: None.
Prior TO FALL 2009: Prerequisites: 54 credits successfully completed, including at least one of AS/GEOG 1000 6.00 or AS/GEOG 1410 6.00 or AS/SC/GEOG 1400 6.00, or written permission of the course director. Course credit exclusion: AS/GEOG 3710 3.00.
[/show_field_with_limit]This course critically examines the changing geography and depletion of Africa's resources from the precolonial to the present, with an emphasis on current events. The course covers a range of topics, including agriculture, natural resource extraction, migration, the slave trade, and AIDS.
[/show_field_with_limit]This course examines political, economic, cultural, and environmental change in Asia-Pacific societies (such as China, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, and the Philippines). Emphasis is placed on understanding both historical and recent experiences in the context of regional and global processes. A consistent theme will be to identify the people and places who are the winners and losers in ongoing transformations.
[/show_field_with_limit]Examines the geographies of productive and reproductive labour at multiple scales, including global, national, regional, urban, domestic and personal.
[/show_field_with_limit]Learn more about the degree requirements in Global Geography
Key Contact Information
| Name | Title | Extension | Office No. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joseph Mensah | Professor | 66344 | HNES 229 | eucgg@yorku.ca |
| Brittany Giglio | Recruitment & Admission Officer | 22671 | HNES 125 | eucapply@yorku.ca |
| Sharrieffa Sattaur | Administrative and Records Assistant - Undergraduate Program | 30397 | HNES 130 | EUAdvise@yorku.ca |
