GEOG& 200 - Human Geography

5 CR

Explores the relationship between humankind and the physical environment. Based on a series of case studies ranging from the streets of Havana to the soccer stadiums of Europe and the cultural adaptations of the Inuit as they adjust to the physical challenges of their homeland.

Course Outcomes
Recognize and explain in written form the role that geography plays in the analysis of culture and cultural attributes and the importance of the spatial dimension in modes of enquiry will be discussed as well as the insights that can be secured from a discipline that is inherently concerned with a sense of place. These concepts will be assessed through short answer tests.
Identify and analyze in both discussion and written essays, cultural attributes and the spatial dimension of such attributes, such as the traits that combine to allow a community to identify itself as a distinct ethnic group and the distributional patterns that can subsequently be found on the landscape.
Explain through short essays spatial interaction between different cultures. The student should be able to identify the diffusion of ideas as a consequence of both direct migrations of peoples, or as a result of the exchange of ideas, information, and technology without immediate, or with only limited contact of one community with another.
Explain in short essays and in-class discussion the ways by which cultural values and ideals can influence the demographic structure of a society, such as the relevance of the roles of the male and female in different cultural settings and the impact that these beliefs have on trends such as population growth and the median age of a society.
Identify and explain in writing the significance of such demographic outcomes on levels of economic growth and development of a cultural group, for example, the impact that cultural attributes exert upon economic components of a community and the ways in which divergent cultures respond to the location and exploitation of their economic resource base.
Accurately and informatively explain in short essays the forces of nationalism that can emerge from within a distinct cultural setting and the possibility of ethnic conflicts that may evolve from such perceptions of nationalist sentiments. The student should be able to use relevant case study material to consider and illustrate such concepts.
Identify through mapwork the spatial distribution of major linguistic, religious, political and economic regions of the world, together with a knowledge demonstrated through written work of variations that exist in levels of economic development; urbanization; land degradation; and human welfare in different major world regions.
Explain through both written work and discussion the increasing rate of contact between cultures as technological innovations reduce degrees of isolation. The part played in the contemporary world of international organizations; multi-national companies; global financial institutions; the United Nations and countries such as the U.S.A. and the media will be reviewed and assessed through discussion and short answer tests to identify the impact that such contacts exert upon the very fabric of a culture.

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