Introduction to Human Geography: Concepts and Research
Assignment Overview and Deadlines
Deadlines: The first set of assignments is due on Tuesday of next week at 11:59 PM.
Syllabus Quiz:
This counts as the reading assignment for the week.
Questions cover the attendance policy, late work, and extension policies.
Students should have the syllabus open in a separate tab while completing the quiz.
Attendance Policy:
Attendance is required and points are awarded for being present in every class.
If a student cannot attend, they must notify the instructor within 48 hours of the absence to receive resources to keep up with the course.
Active Learning Assignment: This week's assignment is divided into three separate parts due to Canvas limitations.
Goal: These assignments serve as a pretest to gauge how students think about geography as a discipline at the beginning of the semester. A similar assignment will be given at the end of the semester to measure changes in thinking.
Part 1: Attitudes Survey: Questions relate to levels of interest in geography and personal views of the world. Students are encouraged to answer quickly and instinctively.
Part 2: Concept Map on Well-Being:
Task: Create a simple concept map explaining why large differences in well-being exist between different communities.
Tools: Students use an external tool (often requiring a log-in or launching from Canvas). If the tool fails, a hand-drawn map sent via photo is an acceptable backup.
Duration: Should take no more than 15 minutes.
Part 3: Career and Discipline Videos:
Requires watching approximately 20 minutes of video regarding careers in geography and geospatial technology.
Students must write a paragraph of at least 100 words discussing if the videos changed or expanded their understanding of geography.
Concept Quiz:
A straightforward multiple-choice quiz based on lecture content.
Students may refer back to lecture slides found in the Canvas modules section while taking it.
Defining the Discipline of Geography
Comparison to History: Geography is most similar to history. While historians study various topics through the lens of time, geographers study various topics through the lens of space.
Focus, Not Topic: Geographers are not defined by what they study (as they study markets, culture, politics, and more) but by their spatial perspective.
Core Geographic Questions: All geographers ask two basic questions:
Where? (The spatial distribution of a phenomenon).
Why there? (The explanation for that particular spatial pattern).
Example: Water Quality Research:
The "Where" involves identifying locations in the United States lacking safe and affordable water.
The "Why there" involves analyzing histories of communities, racial lines, colonial status, economic histories, and how communities manage debt and finance.
Sub-disciplines and Geospatial Technology
Human Geography: The study of the location of people and their activities across the earth's surface and the reasons for their distribution.
Physical Geography: The study of natural systems, such as water systems, climate, mountain ranges, and sediment formations (similar to environmental science).
Geospatial Technology: Technology used by both human and physical geographers to document and analyze spatial data.
Examples: GPS systems and map navigation apps on phones.
Geographic Information Systems (GIS): A computerized mapping system used to analyze patterns and solve community problems, such as coordinate-based humanitarian response in emergencies.
Contemporary Research and Scholarly Focuses
Evelyn Clothop (University of Minnesota): Studies urban inequality and gentrification, focusing on why uneven investment occurs across space.
Saskia Sassen: Researches the geography of finance, specifically why cities like New York, London, and Tokyo become influential global hubs.
Ruth Wilson Gilmore: Specializes in the geography of mass incarceration, asking where prisons are located and why the system confines specific populations in specific places.
Ariane Laney (Health Geographer): Investigates the geography of audiology and healthcare access, specifically where gaps in hearing-related assistance exist.
Noel Castry: Connects global climate change to capitalism and its spatial effects.
Political Geography: Studies include gerrymandering (the spatial manipulation of election districts) and territorial governance.
Brian Jordan Jefferson: Researches the geography of surveillance, specifically the distribution and effects of block cameras in communities.
Francois Ray: Studies gender and rural-to-urban migration in India.
Geography of Sexuality: Jack Giesegan researches "queer geographies," specifically within New York City, to understand where and why spaces for queer expressions exist.
Children's Geographies: Explores how public spaces for unsupervised children are shrinking due to curfew laws and supervision requirements.
Foundational Vocabulary
Space: The defining concept for geographers. It refers to the wide expanse of terrain or locations where human and natural activities occur. It can be represented as a series of latitudes and longitudes.
Place: A human-defined, meaningful portion of space. It is a specific point on the earth's surface characterized by unique attributes and a sense of belonging or attachment.
Doreen Massey’s Definition: Every place is a distinct mixture of "nearer and farther social relations." This means a place's uniqueness comes from a specific combination of its role in the global economy, flows of people, history, and natural environment.
Scale: The geographic extent of a study (e.g., neighborhood level vs. global level). Explanations for phenomena often change depending on the scale. For example, water quality issues might be explained by local government at a small scale, but by the global privatization of water at a large scale.
Human Environment Interactions: The relationship where humans modify natural systems (e.g., agriculture) or where natural systems modify human behavior (e.g., the invention of air conditioning to handle heat and humidity).
Mobility: The movement of goods, people, and ideas across space, ranging from global shipping lanes to an individual's walk home.
Power: The ability of one agent (a person or institution) to influence the actions, attitudes, thoughts, or opportunities of another. Power is embedded in social structures and informs how places are created and managed.
Case Studies: Place and Power
Place and Perspective: The Michigan Primer:
Refining the character of a place involves noting its economic indicators (e.g., the "chained factory gate" representing the auto industry decline) and environmental factors (e.g., gray skies causing seasonal affective disorder).
Cultural landscapes, such as a mosque appearing amidst cornfields in Ohio, illustrate the mixture of immigrant histories and religions in a physical space.
Power and Naming: Rhodesia to Zimbabwe:
Rhodesia: A former British colony in Southern Africa named after Cecil Rhodes, a wealthy businessman, colonizer, and diamond miner. This name reflected the power of European colonizers in the late 1800s.
Zimbabwe: Following decolonization, the territory was renamed to reflect indigenous history. It is named after an ancient, medieval trading city that once housed 18,000 people. This change in name signifies a shift in power and priorities.
Questions & Discussion
Question: Is there a way a spatial perspective could be interesting or helpful in understanding something that you care about?
Response 1 (Campus Design): It is useful in understanding how university campuses are designed. Campuses are built intentionally to promote interaction between people. Currently, some geographers are looking at how to redesign campuses to serve older, nontraditional students rather than just the 18 to 22-year-old demographic.
Response 2 (Legal Geography): It helps in studying how certain laws are introduced and how they spread or adapt from place to place.
Response 3 (Economic Inequality): In places like Mexico City, you can see wealthy gated communities directly adjacent to informal settlements. A spatial perspective helps explain why that specific pattern occurs.
Response 4 (Technology Adoption): It explains the "leapfrogging" of technology, where developing nations skip older infrastructures like landlines to move directly to cell phone access.
Response 5 (Local Customs): A student mentioned a town where people plant lilacs or put flowers on bridges during specific months. Geographers ask why these local customs happen in those specific locations.