GEOGR 12: CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY

FALL 2008

TTH 9:40A – 11:05A

TOYON 2

Ted Hamilton

Office: 217 Tamarack Hall

Email: hamiltont@yosemite.edu

 

 

 

THE ATLAS PROJECT

 

 

·          1ST Project: (50 Points) Due September 25th

 

·          2ND Project: (50 Points) Due October 30th

 

·          Final Project: (100 Points) Due December 11th

 

For each exam, at least 5 thematic maps are required, each demonstrating the most significant spatial patterns of human landscape in North America and a comparable region.

FIRST EXAM (100 POINTS)

 

1.      Why would a student of humankind invest in the study of geography?  Graph the strengths of geography as a discipline and provide specific examples of good and bad geography.  Should any discipline ignore geography?

 

2.      Provide a geographical interpretation of the concept of culture.  In your interpretation, be sure to describe and demonstrate the following:  key definitions, most significant processes, and critical variables.  Does culture make us unique?  Is there a useful distinction between a society, a culture, and a civilization?  What is “America” today?

 

3.      If “language is the lens of culture” and “religion is the cake of custom”, how can understanding, tolerance, and civilized interaction develop?  Select the most significant times and places to demonstrate how language and religion might be the most essential pieces of a mosaic of culture.

 

4.      There appears to be an acceleration of conflict between traditional religions and modernity.  Map the regions of earth where this conflict is most obvious and serious.  Select at least three significant regions which best demonstrate intense conflict.  Contrast these regions with at least three geographically harmonious regions.

 

5.      Present a cost/benefit analysis comparing and contrasting folk societies (if they exist) or the elements of “folk” with popular culture today.  In your analysis, be sure to distinguish between the costs & benefits to different types of individuals, groups, and regional concentrations.  Is “folk” desirable or even possible today?

 

  

 

Rules and Guidelines

n  Use the ‘Ten Criteria.’

n  Graphic presentations accompanying responses are strongly RECOMMENDED.

n  Essay breakdown should approximate one-third each of the following:  reading/class dialogue/original thinking (which does not mean opinion).

n  Students must have notes and text books approved by instructor before outlines are due for each exam.

 

Practice ‘Learned Resourcefulness.’ Avoid procrastination, develop appropriate help seeking behaviors, ask questions, learn to recognize & utilize resources (e.g. the library, fellow students, the instructor, tutoring, study groups, etc.) embrace realistic goals and priorities.

SECOND EXAM (100 POINTS)

 

1.      Demonstrate how geographers have interpreted ethnicity.  Why has there been such ignorance of ethnic geography, and why have the issues surrounding “things ethnic” become so prominent today?  Be sure to demonstrate the interactions between popular culture and ethnicity.

 

2.      Migration, immigration, emigrants, and immigrants demonstrate fundamental geographical themes.  For each of the above, select at least 3 examples and present the relevant themes and realities of each.

 

3.      Is the world crowded?  Describe and demonstrate the most significant perceptions and realities of human population today and in the past.  Assess the most likely prospects for the ecumene/human condition interaction and propose at least four viable solutions to the “population problem/paradox.”

 

4.      Why are people where they are on earth?  Why have they moved and why do we continue to be mobile?  Where have people been “most successful”?  What are the cost and benefits of mobility?

 

5.      The realm of political behavior has demonstrated some of the most dramatic examples of good and bad geography.  List and demonstrate the most significant consequences of geopolitics evident today.  Cite, site and situate at least 3 of the above which best demonstrate good and bad geography.

 

Rules and Guidelines

n  Use the ‘Ten Criteria.’

n  Graphic presentations accompanying responses are strongly RECOMMENDED.

n  Essay breakdown should approximate one-third each of the following:  reading/class dialogue/original thinking (which does not mean opinion).

n  Students must have notes and text books approved by instructor before outlines are due for each exam.

 

Practice ‘Learned Resourcefulness.’ Avoid procrastination, develop appropriate help-seeking behaviors, ask questions, learn to recognize & utilize resources (e.g. the library, fellow students, the instructor, tutoring, study groups, etc.) embrace realistic goals and priorities.

FINAL EXAM (200 POINTS)

 

1.  Why have people made cities?  Why is the city our destiny as humankind?  If “to civilize… means to citify”, why is humankind in great danger today?  Assess the costs and benefits of true urbanization. 

 

2.  Capitalism has turned public space into private property, thus revealing some of its contradictions.  Select at least five representative cities and two contrasting cities to analyze the presence of poverty in the midst of unprecedented wealth.

 

3.  The old economic problem was scarcity.  What has modernity, industrialization, capitalism, and credit consumerism done to the old problem?  Is scarcity the economic problem today?  List, describe and map the most significant economic problems and successes of the Industrial Revolution.

 

4.  List the most significant consequences of industrialization.  Can earth survive it?  Can civilization survive it?  Assess the impact of industrialization on the following: weather, climate, water, energy mobility, and violence.

 

5.  Select at least four significant problems which interest you and propose viable ways of defining & interpreting each, viable solutions for each, and assess the most significant forces opposing harmonious resolutions.  Be sure to select problems which are rooted in spatial conditions.

  

 

Rules and Guidelines

n  Use the ‘Ten Criteria.’

n  Graphic presentations accompanying responses are strongly RECOMMENDED.

n  Essay breakdown should approximate one-third each of the following:  reading/class dialogue/original thinking (which does not mean opinion).

n  Students must have notes and text books approved by instructor before outlines are due for each exam.

 

Practice ‘Learned Resourcefulness.’ Avoid procrastination, develop appropriate help-seeking behaviors, ask questions, learn to recognize & utilize resources (e.g. the library, fellow students, the instructor, tutoring, study groups, etc.) embrace realistic goals and priorities.