Course Description

This course will introduce students to the systematic study of patterns and processes that have shaped human understanding, use, and alteration of Earth’s surface.  Students employ spatial concepts and landscape analysis to examine human social organization and its environmental consequences.  They will also learn about the methods and tools geographers use in their science and practice.

 

Key Concepts

Part I      Geography:  Its Nature and Perspectives

A.      Geography as a field of inquiry

B.      Evolution of key geographic concepts and models

C.      Key concepts underlying the geographical perspective

D.      Key geographical skills

E.       Sources of geographical ideas and data

 

Part II    Population

A.      Geographical analysis of population

B.      Population growth and decline over time and space

C.      Population movement

 

Part III   Cultural Patterns and Processes

A.      Concepts of culture

B.      Cultural differences

C.      Environmental impact of cultural attitudes and practices

D.      Cultural landscapes and identity

 

Part IV   Political Organization of Space

A.      Territorial dimensions of politics

B.      Evolution of the contemporary political pattern

C.      Challenges to inherited political-territorial arrangements

 

Part V     Agriculture and Land Use

A.      Development and diffusion of agriculture

B.      Evolution of the contemporary political pattern

C.      Rural land use and settlement patterns

D.      Modern commercial agriculture

 

Part VI   Industrialization and Development

A.      Key concepts in industrialization and development

B.      Growth and diffusion of industrialization

C.      Contemporary patterns and impacts of industrialization and development

 

Part VII Cities and Urban Land Use

A.      Definitions of urbanism

B.      Origin and evolution of cities

C.      Functional character of contemporary cities

D.      Built environment and social space

 

 

 

 

 

Course Requirements

Students are expected to attend class, take notes, participate, do the assigned readings, and complete all assignments.  Some assignments may be individual while others will be group projects.

 

Tests will be announced in advance and students are expected to take the test when scheduled.  Should circumstances arise that prevents the student from taking the test on time, arrangements must be made immediately to make up the test.

 

As this is an Advanced Placement course, students are required to maintain at least a “B” average.  Students are also required to take the AP exam at the conclusion of the course.

 

Required Books

                Text:  The Cultural Landscape:  An Introduction to Human Geography, Rubenstein

                Atlas:  Goode’s World Atlas, (20th Edition)

               

COURSE OUTLINE

 

Part I     Geography:  Its Nature and Perspectives (Chapter 1)

Basic Concepts

1.       Spatial (of or pertaining to space on or near the Earth’s service)

2.       Location (absolute, relative, site, situation, place name)

3.       Direction (absolute, relative)

4.       Distance (absolute, relative)

5.       Size

6.       Scale (implied degree of generalization)

7.       Cultural attributes (cultural landscape)

8.       Changing attributes of place (built landscape, sequent occupance)

9.       Environmental determinism

10.    Possiblism

11.    Spatial interaction (accessibility, connectivity, network, distance decay,  

frication of distance, time space compression) 

12.    Diffusion (hearth, relocation, expansion, hierarchical, contagious, stimulus)

13.    Distribution

14.    Density (arithmetic, physiological)

15.    Dispersion/concentration (dispersed/scattered, clustered/agglomerated)

16.    Pattern (linear, centralized, random)

17.    Region (formal/uniform, functional/nodal, perceptual/vernacular)

 

Geographic Tools

  1. Map
  2. Map scale
  3. Distortion and projection
  4. Grid (poles, longitude/latitude, Equator, Prime Meridian, International Date line)
  5. Map types  (thematic, statistical, cartogram, dot, choropleth, isoline)
  6. Mental map
  7. Time zones
  8. GIS – Geographic Information Systems
  9. GPS – Global Positioning System and Remote Sensing
  10. Model
  11. Geographer’s Models – Demographic transition, Epidemiological Transition, Gravity, Von Thunen, Weber, Stages of Growth <Rostow>, Concentric Circle <Burgess>, Sector <Hoyt>, Multiple Nuclei, Central Place <Christaller>, etc.

 

 

 

Part II   Population (Chapter 2,3)

 

  1. Geographical analysis of population

1.       Density, distribution, and scale

2.       Consequences of various densities and distributions

3.       Patterns of composition:  age, sex, race, and ethnicity

4.       Population and natural hazards:  past, present, and future

 

  1. Population growth and decline over space

1.       Historical trends and projections of the future

2.       Patterns of fertility, mortality, and health

3.       Regional variations of demographic transitions

4.       Effects of pro- and anti-nationalist policies

 

  1. Population movement

1.       Major voluntary and involuntary migrations at different scales

2.       Short-term local movements and activity space

 

Basic Vocabulary and Concepts

POPULATION

  1. Population densities
  2. Demographic regions
  3. Population distributions
  4. Natality
  5. Mortality
  6. Population explosion
  7. Thomas Malthus
  8. Demographic transition model
  9. Zero population growth
  10. Age distribution
  11. Population pyramid
  12. Cohort
  13. Sex ratio
  14. Gendered space
  15. Standard of living
  16. IFM - Infant Mortality rate
  17. Diffusion of fertility control
  18. Disease diffusion
  19. Maladaption
  20. Sustainability
  21. Epidemiological transition model
  22. Demographic equation
  23. Dependency ratio
  24. Rate of natural increase
  25. Doubling time
  26. J-curve
  27. S-curve
  28. Ecumene
  29. Overpopulation
  30. Underpopulation
  31. Carrying capacity
  32. Population projection
  33. New-Malthusim
  34. Demographic momentum

 

 

MIGRATION

  1. Push-pull factors
    1. Voluntary
    2. Forced
    3. Transmigration
    4. Refugee
    5. Place utility
    6. Migration patterns

                                                                           i.      intercontinental

                                                                          ii.      interregional

                                                                        iii.      rural-urban

  1. Activity space
  2. Personal space
    1. space-time prism
    2. gravity model
    3. distance decay
  3. step migration
  4. chain migration
    1. intervening opportunity
    2. cyclic movement
  5. migratory movement
  6. periodic movement
    1. transhumance
    2. internal migration

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Part III  Cultural Patterns and Process (Chapter 4, 5, 6, 7)

  1. Concepts of culture

1.       Traits and complexes

2.       Diffusion

3.       Acculturation

4.       Cultural regions and realms

 

  1. Cultural differences

1.       Language

2.       Religion

3.       Ethnicity

4.       Gender

5.       Popular and folk culture

 

  1. Environmental impact of cultural attitudes and practices

 

  1. Cultural landscapes and cultural identity

1.       Values and preferences

2.       Symbolic landscapes and sense of place

 

Basic Vocabulary and Concepts

CONCEPTS OF CULTURE

  1. Acculturation
  2. Assimilation
  3. Cultural adaption
  4. Cultural core/periphery pattern
  5. Cultural ecology
  6. Cultural identity
  7. Cultural landscape
  8. Cultural realm
  9. Culture
  10. Culture region
    1. Formal – core, periphery
    2. Functional – node
    3. Vernacular (perceptual)
  11. Diffusion types
    1. Expansion
    2. Hierarchal
    3. Contagious
    4. Stimulus
  12. Innovation adoption
    1. Maladaptive diffusion
    2. Sequent occupance

 

LANGUAGE

1.       Creole

2.       Dialect

a.       Indo-European

b.       Isogloss

c.        Language – family – group- subfamily

d.       Language franca

e.        Linguistic diversity

f.        Mono/multilingual

g.        Official language

h.       Pidgin

3.       Toponomy / Trade language

FOLK AND  POPULARE CULTURE
  1. Adaptive strategies
  2. Anglo-American landscape
  3. Architectural form
  4. Folk culture
  5. Folk food
  6. Folk housing
  7. Folk music
  8. Folklore
  9. Material culture
  10. Non-material culture
  11. Popular (Pop) culture
  12. Survey systems
  13. Traditional architecture

 

RELIGION

  1. Animism
  2. Buddhism
  3. Cargo cult pilgrimage
  4. Christianity
  5. Confucianism
  6. Ethnic religion
  7. Exclave/enclave
  8. Fundamentalism
  9. Geomancy (feng shui)
  10. Hadj
  11. Hinduism
  12. Interfaith boundaries
  13. Jainism
  14. Judaism
  15. Landscapes of the dead
  16. Mono/polytheism
  17. Mormonism
  18. Muslim pilgrimage
  19. Muslim population
  20. Proselytic religion
  21. Reincarnation
  22. Religion
  23. Religious architecture
  24. Religious conflict
  25. Religious cultural hearth
  26. Religious toponym
  27. Sacred space
  28. Shamanism
  29. Secularsim
  30. Sharia law
  31. Shintosim
  32. Sikhism
  33. Sunni/Shia Islam
  34. Taoism
  35. Theocracy
  36. Universalizing
  37. Zoroastrianism

 

 

 

 

ETHNICITY

  1. Acculturation adaptive strategy
  2. Assimilation
  3. Barrio
  4. Chain Migrations
  5. Cultural adaptation
  6. Cultural shatterbelt
  7. Ethnic cleansing
  8. Ethnic conflict
  9. Ethnic enclave
  10. Ethnic group
  11. Ethnic homeland
  12. Ethnic landscape
  13. Ethnic neighborhood
  14. Ethnicity
  15. Ethnocentrism
  16. Ghetto
  17. Plural society
  18. Race
  19. Segregation
  20. Social distance

 

GENDER

  1. Dory death
  2. Enfranchisement
  3. Gender
  4. Gender gap
  5. Infanticide
  6. Longevity gap
  7. Maternal mortality rate

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Part IV  Political Organization of Space (Chapter 8)

 

  1. Territorial dimensions of politics

1.       The concepts of territoriality

2.       The nature and meaning of boundaries

3.       Influences of boundaries on identity, interaction and exchange

 

  1. Evolution of the contemporary political pattern

1.       Territorial assumptions underlying the nation-state ideal

2.       Colonialism and imperialism

3.       Internal political boundaries and arrangements

 

  1. Challenges to inherited political-territorial arrangements

1.       Changing nature of sovereignty

2.       Fragmentation, unification, alliance

3.       Spatial relationships between political patterns and patterns of ethnicity, economy, and environment

 

Basic Vocabulary and Concepts

CONCEPTS OF CULTURE

1.       Annexation

2.       Apartheid

3.       Balkanization

4.       Border landscape

5.       Boundary

6.       Buffer state

7.       Capital

8.       Centrifugal centripetal

9.       City-state

10.    Colonialism

11.    Confederation

12.    Core/periphery

13.    Decolonization

14.    Devolution

15.    Domino theory

16.    EEZ

17.    Electoral regions

18.    Enclave/exclave

19.    Ethnic conflict

20.    European Union

21.    Federal

22.    Forward capital

23.    Frontier

24.    Geopolitics

25.    Gerrymander

26.    Global Commons

27.    Heartland/rimland