Human Geography Chapters 7+

Cultural Turn

A shift in social sciences in the 1980s that

• emphasized the importance of culture in understanding humans and their political and economic activities

• utilizes a critical geography approach

Social Construct

Something that is made real by societal agreement

Landscapes

The spacial constitution of culture

Focus on Differences

Questioning of static concepts and classifications

• Stems from a desire to examine

  • roles of power

  • how cultural hegemony can create identity

Race

A social construct

• classification of human beings based on skin colour and other phenotypes

Racialization

Groups are viewed through a culturally-invented racial framework

Three Myths of Race

1. Evolution is a ladder of progress (evolution produces a tree, not a ladder) Stephen Jay Gould

2. Race represents distinct human subspecies (physical traits are minor and change over time) 

3. Races can be classified according to their level of intelligence (evidence of single species)

Racism and Genocide

Organized, systematic effort to destroy a defined group

Requires

• distancing of group (they don’t belong)

• authority to promote hatred of group to justify attacks

Apartheid

European colonization practices

• emphasized ethnic differences

• imposed spatial seperation

Apartheid 

• South African policy spatially separating four ethnic groups between 1948 - 1994

• “Separate Development”

Dates of Abolition of Slavery

UK = 1834

France = 1848

Dutch = 1863

Racism and Migration

Historically, much migration has been involuntary

• Forced migration for labour reflects an unequal status of races or groups

• Prompted by Nativism, intense opposition to minorities by locals based on foreigner status

Indentured Labour

Began after abolition of slavery

• Contracted labour migration to work on plantations in colonies

Restrictive immigration policies

Direct restriction 

• Chinese Head Tax (1885)

• Chinese immigration was virtually prohibited in 1923

Indirect Restriction

• SA enforcing European language literacy requirement in 18897

• NZ did the same in 1899

Ethnicity

Difficult to define

Shared

• Cultural traits (language and religion)

• Racial Identity

• History

Ethnicity both includes and excludes

Ethnic Group

A group whose members perceive themselves as different from others because of a common ancestry and shared culture

• Swedes in Sweden are not an ethnic group; Swedes in the US would be

Racial Identity and Place

Immigrant ethnic group, moving into urban areas, experience social and spatial isolation

• Ghettos, Barrios, Trailer Parks, Reserve

• Chinatowns from 1885+, CPR

  • Social constructions of Chinatown include

    • Myths of social depravity (evil, lawless, opium dens)

    • Profitable Tourist Development (commodification of the Orient, and Exoticism, which is a Eurocentric view)

Chinese Laundromats

Laundromats as proxies of density of Chinese population

• Regulation to laundry = regulation to where Chinese can live

  • Lethbridge, 1910 to 1916 blocked areas from laundromats

Chain Migration

Migrants follow patterns of settlement of previous migrants

• progression from spatial and social isolation to assimilation or acculturation

• Created geographical patterns

Assimilation

Ethnic group absorbed into larger society, loses its own identity

Acculturation

Ethnic group absorbed into larger society, retains some aspects of distinct identity

Multiculturalism

Formal state policy where multiple cultures are tolerated and encouraged

• cultural heterogeny / pluralization

• Assimilation is resisted

• Ideal of equality and mutual respect

Canadian Federal Policies regarding Multiculturalism

Federal Policy dates to 1971

• Canadian Multiculturalism Act of 1988 recognizing all Canadians as full and equal participants of Canadian society

Indigenous

Inhabitants of a territory before colonization

• Strongly connected to land and territory

• Language to express indigenous identity is complex and can have negative connotations

  • “Indian” vs. “Indigenous”

Mechanisms for Colonization

Indian Act of 1876

• Legal means for assimilation

Residential School System

• adopted from US

Indigenous Social Movements

Three Themes

• Land title and autonomy

• Environmental Stewardship (Idle No More)

• Social Justice (Recommendations about Truth and Reconciliation) 

Gender

The socially constructed differences between men and women

• Involves power relations between males and females

• Varies greatly over time and space (West vs. Islamic Countries)

Feminist Geography

Focuses on Production of Differences

A need to move away from simple binaries: gender diversity

Reflections of Gender in Landscape

Landscapes reflect inequalities between men and women

• Statues, monuments reflect male authority

• Residential spaces for women (kitchen)

Modern economic and social structures reinforce gender roles

Gender and Work

• Domestic, reproductive, and nurturing duties from women remain undervalued

• Women encounter sexist practices and stereotyping in workplaces

Gender Relations in Agriculture

In some countries, women play key roles in agriculture

• Women have also been the focus of development efforts (education)

Gender and Health

Gender-specific health geography is often understudied and ignorant of gender differences

Gender and Human Development

Women face barriers to education, health, work, and political expression

• Gender equality is a fundamental development goal

• Gender Inequality is incorporated in HDI measurements

Sexuality

Orientation, preferences, and practices are expression of identity

Different Dimensions of Sexuality

• Attraction, behaviour, claimed sexuality

Focuses on the challenges posed by a dominant heterosexual landscape

Queer Theory

Concern for people who have been marginalized due to their sexuality

• Recognizes fluidity in sexuality

Identities in Landscapes

Landscapes reflect dominant culture

• Imposing dominant cultures can create landscapes of resistance

Well-Being

The degree to which the needs and wants of a society are being met

Welfare Geography

Approach to human geography that maps and explains variations in welfare

7 (Original) Components of Well-being

Smith (1973)

I Love Pink Elephants Sitting Silently Recluse

1. Income, wealth, employment

2. Living Environment (housing)

3. Physical and Mental health

4. Education

5. Social Order

6. Social Belonging

7. Recreation and Leisure

New Metrics to Measure Well-being

Revolve around the perceived common goal to avoid harm (Doyal and Gough 1991)

• Requires satisfaction of physical health and informed decisions concerning personal behaviour

Two Major Disparities in Well-Being

Crime

• higher in inner city and poor areas

Health and Health Care

• Rural/Urban disparities

Geography of Happiness

How we perceive ourselves

• Cannot be measured objectively

• Close correlations to health, prosperity, and education

Characteristics of Elitist Landscapes

• Higher elevation

• Closer to water (lakes, rivers, oceans)

• Further from industrial pollution

• Near golf courses, specialty retail

Characteristics of Folk Culture

• Rural

• Resistant to change

• Strong sense of place

• Distinct ethnic, religious backgrounds

Characteristics of Popular Culture

• Emerged with industrialization, urbanization

• Rapid diffusion of new behaviours and attitudes (disposable income and time)

• Placeless

Tourism

Stems from

• Modern economic development

• Higher income

World’s largest economic activity by value (10% of global GDP, worth 8 Trillion USD)

Types of Tourism

Mass Tourism

Alternative Tourism

• Focus on unspoiled environments, local people

Ecotourism

• Environmentally-aware tourism

Social Construction of Tourism Destinations

Tourism destinations are constructed in terms of ethnicity, gender, food, and drink to emphasize differences to cause tourism

Based on the convergence of

• Place production by tourism industry

• Place consumption by tourists

Political Geography

Spatial manifestation of politics and political matters

• effects that states have on nations and individuals

Sovereign State

Self-governing political entity with well-defined and usually agreed upon boundaries

Sovereignty

The supreme authority or right of individual states (countries) to control political, economic, and social affairs within its territorial boundaries without external interference

Nation

A group of people sharing a common culture based on

• language

• religion

• ethnicity

• attachment to a particular terriroty

State

Area with defined boundaries

• Defined by other states

Nation-State

Political unit that contains one principal culture group that gives it its identity

• Egypt, Japan, Iceland, Bangladesh, Mongolia, Portugal are nation-states (85%+ population belongs to a single cultural group)

Nationalism

The belief that nation and state should be congruent

Arguments for Nationalism

• Only members of the national group have the right to live in the state.

• People from other national groups should not reside in the state.

• Political power should belong to the dominant cultural group

Why did national identity emerge as the standard for state delimitation?

1. A response to the rise of nationalist political philosophies during the 18th century

2. Humans want to be close to those of similar cultural backgrounds

3. The rise of nation-states was a logical outcome of the shift from feudalism to capitalism, benefiting those who controlled production through a stable state.

4. Nationalism is a logical accompaniment of economic growth based on expanding technologies

5. One-state culture emerges from the collapse of local communities and the need for effective communication within a larger unit

Multinational State

A political unit that consists of two or more cultural groups

• Many African countries, whose borders were drawn by Europeans

• Canada

• Belgium

Colonialism

External control of an area for of material and political gain,

• Exploits, displaces, or erases local population

European Colonialism

European colonialism was likely kickstarted by demands of the

• economic growth (most compelling), as well as

• internal social and

• political complexity, turmoil, and competition. 

Peaked in 1914

Decolonization

Began after WWII

• Resistance from some colonial powers

• Mostly peaceful in Commonwealth Countries

Geopolitics

How state power over space shapes int’l political relationships

• coined in the 20th century to argue that territorial expansion was a legitimate state goal

Geopolitical Theories

Heartland Theory (HJ Mackinder, 1904)

Geopolitik (Karl Haushofer, 1920s)

Rimland Theory (Nicholas Spykman, 1940s)

Heartland Theory

European-Asia landmass is the “World Island”

Comprised of Pivot Area and Marginal Crescent

Whoever controls the Eurasian heartland (East Europe) controls world domination

Geopolitik

Viewed states as organisms requiring expansion to fulfill nation-state destiny

• Ideology used and justified by Nazi Germany

Rimland Theory

Controlling the Rimland around the Eurasian heartland is the key to world domination

• Rimland = Western Europe, Middle East, and Asia

Centrifugal Forces

Forces that divide a nation-state

• language, religion, cultural divisions

Centripetal Forces

Forces that bind a nation-state

• Shared history, mythologies, cultural practices

• Most Powerful is a strong raison d’être and clearly delimited boundaries

Federalism

Divides power between central and regional governments

Boundaries

Mark the limits of a state’s sovereignty

• Antecedent Boundaries

  • Established before significant settlement began (US-Canada border on 49th parallel)

• Subsequent Boundaries

  • Defined after an area has been settled

Unstable States

Nation and state boundaries usually differ

Three general situations

• Secession Movements

  • Nation’s desire for a separate state

• Nations within other states may wish to form a new nation

  • Basques in France and Spain

• Irredentism

  • When a state seeks the return of a people or territory that used to belong to it

Nation and State Discordance in Africa

Existing state and ethnic boundaries were ignored when Europe set boundaries

• Boundaries reflected colonial needs

African Union (est. 2002) hopes to enhance national identities and encourage cooperation.

• Not sympathetic to secessionist movements as the rights of one group may impede the rights of another group

• Federalism encouraged

Nations and States in Europe

States usually correspond to nations

Differences determined on two axes

• North-South (Protestant vs Catholic)

• East-West (Commerce vs Industrial Economy)

Four Prerequisites for a State

Economy

Law

Political Power

Culture

Devolution

Process of transferring power from central to regional authorities

Former USSR

Functioned more as an Empire

• Most former republics are now nation-states

  • Russians are notable minorities 

South Asian Conflict

British created nation-states defined by religion which resulted in forced migration of 7 million people between Pakistan and India

Two Key Trends of Groupings of States

1. Unstable states with regions seeking independence

2. Groups of states actively choosing to unite

European Union as a Group of States

Formed as a counterbalance to power exerted by US and USSR

The Role of the State

States provide services consumed by citizens and residents

States affect everyday lives of residents

• Economic modes of production

• Evolution with society

In this way, citizens are largely tied to their state

Capitalism

Social and economic system for the production of goods and services based on private enterprise

Socialism

Social and economic system that involves a common ownership of the means of production and the delivery of services

Democracy

Involves free and fair elections, openness and accountability, civil and political rights, and the rule of law

Monarchy

Rule over a state by the hereditary head of a family

Oligarchy

Rule by an elite group of people, typically the wealthy

Dictatorship

Authoritarian, oppressive, and anti-democratic form of government in which the leader is often backed by the military

Fascism

Places nationality and race above the rights of the individual and supports a centralized government headed by a dictatorial leader

Socialist Less Developed States

• Response to failings of capitalism which kept the poor in poverty

• Strong anti-colonial, nationalist undertones

Two Key Features of Socialism

1. Aim to remove features of capitalism

2. Establish state powers to make substantial social change

Exercising State Poweer

Exercised through

• political and legal systems

• military or police force to enforce state power

• mechanisms to regulate economy, like central banks

Critical Issue in Exercising State Power

In order to solve global environmental issues, international cooperation and regulation of markets is needed

Social Movements and Pressure Groups

Informal endeavours to instigate change

• Addresses change in policies, governments, or political systems

Elections

Setting boundaries can reflect differing ideals about voter distribution

• Community patterns

• Overall diversity

Manipulation of voting boundaries can effect voting patterns

• Gerrymandering (manipulating existing boundaries)

• Malapportionment (creating new districts with uneven populations)

Legitimacy of Elections and Voter Turnout

1 in 4 elections are compromised globally

Social media affects voting in MDCs

Voting and Place

Voting patterns reflect social spatial patterns

• Economic class, ethnic identity, regional divisions

Local influences on voting include

• Sectional, Environmental, Campaign, and Contextual effects

Local Influences on Voting

Sectional: Local political cultures produce different outcomes

Environmental: Societal events (mass layoffs, terrorism) can change the outcome of the election

Campaign: More established candidates are preferred

Contextual: Daily interactions can affect voting behaviours

Geography of Peace and War

Rise of nation-states made wars state-sanctioned and formal

Shift from inter-colonizer conflicts to ideological conflicts after WWI

Five Categories of Conflicts

1. Traditional Conflicts Between States

2. Independence movements against foreign domination or occupation

3. Secession conflicts

4. Civil wars that aim to change regimes

5. Action taken against states that support terrorism

Civil Wars

Reflect economic inequality more than ethnic differences

Failed States

State structure is critically weak and not functioning for various reasons

• Poses national and global risks as they may harbour criminal and terrorist activity

Terrorism

No formal definition

• “…criminal acts intended or calculated to provoke a state of terror in the general public… for political purposes”

Labels depend on international opinion, and the motives of ruling and rebel groups