Course Description
Essential concepts include the interconnectedness of people and places, interactions between society, culture, and nature, and the relationships between development, difference, and inequality. Topics include: population dynamics; cultural differences and identity; urbanization; globalization; geographies of power; natural and built human environments; food systems and agricultural geographies; economic development.
Athena Title
Human Geography
Equivalent Courses
Not open to students with credit in GEOG 1101, GEOG 2010H
Non-Traditional Format
This course will be taught 95% or more online. Each topic has a dedicated module consisting of a PPT file of lecture notes, a recorded teaching video, a quiz, and a checklist of items to be completed. Each student is expected to have a computer running a Windows operating system or a Macintosh platform that allows the use of interactive technology and internet access. Students will use the eLC software available after registration.
Semester Course Offered
Offered summer semester every year.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
Successful completion of this course will provide the following learning outcomes that address the Environmental Awareness Policy criteria: A basic understanding of the planet’s political, economic, cultural, social, and urban geography as forces affecting environmental problems and policies An appreciation of the diversity of political, economic, cultural, and social practices and environmental interactions among different populations at regional and global scales An awareness of how geographic location and environmental differences impact human political, economic, cultural, and social practices, and how those human practices vary geographically An ability to think critically about how various parts of the planet are connected spatially, such that human actions in one place may have consequences in environments hundreds or thousands of miles away A greater cognizance of the importance of geographic knowledge and human-environment interactions in understanding the everyday functioning of our planet, and its crucial role in informing policy decision-making This course meets the following General Education Abilities by accomplishing the specific learning objectives listed below: Communicate effectively through writing. This is met by a series of writing assignments associated with laboratory exercises that emphasize political, economic, cultural, social, and urban geography forces affecting environmental problems and policies. Communicate effectively through speech. This is met by oral presentations, discussion leading, and classroom participation on the interconnectedness of people and places at local, regional and global scales. Computer Literacy is addressed through course administration, student-faculty electronic interaction, and data analysis activities and assignments. Critical Thinking is central to the learning objectives of this class and includes the following elements, which are accomplished through laboratory activities and assignments, lecture, and classroom discussion/inquiry-based learning efforts: Consider and engage opposing points of view Support a consistent purpose and point of view Assimilate, analyze, and present a body of information Analyze arguments Moral Reasoning (Ethics) is an important element of this course, as it seeks to link an understanding of the diversity of human cultures, languages, and economic systems with fundamental environmental resource inequalities and global systems of production and consumption. Moral reasoning is developed through lectures, critical writing assignments, classroom discussion, and inquiry-based learning activities addressing ethical forces affecting the environment and environmental policies.
Topical Outline
Introduction to the Course Regions of the World The Politics of Representation: Maps and Map Projections Population Geography: Population dynamics and the interconnectedness of people and their environments Agriculture and Development: Environmental influences on agriculture, food systems, and agricultural geographies Regional Cultural Systems: How cultural differences and identity are influenced by the environment Geography and Language Regional Economic Geography: How urbanization is both influenced by and influences the environment The Geography of Uneven Development: How environments affect the geographies of power and the differences between natural and built human environments Legacy of Colonialism for Less Developed Countries New Political Geographies in the Post-Cold War Era: Human impacts on the environment Case Study: Nationalism, racism, and “ethnic cleansing” in Bosnia