Feminism and Social Theory in Geography: An Introduction*

This essay introduces a collection of articles based on papers developed for a Fall 2004 speaker series at the University of Minnesota. The articles address the continued relevance of feminist geography and the unique contributions of feminist perspectives in various areas of geographic research. They also point out directions for needed future research. This introduction briefly reviews the successes of and remaining challenges to feminist geography, including material inequities yet unresolved in two other (nonresearch) “places” of academic life: teaching and the workplace. We discuss the ongoing underrepresentation of women and people of color on our faculties and in the front of classrooms.     

Establishing Preservice Partnerships: Geography and Social Studies

Abstract

Great strides have occurred in geographic education resulting in the development of new geographic teaching strategies and geography materials. Despite these developments, many social studies methods professors are still using outdated geographic materials, methods, and techniques. In 1992, the Missouri Geographic Alliance established a unique relationship with social studies methods professors in Missouri. This partnership was established at a four-day, intensive geography/social studies conference that used an innovative model for its development. The outcome of this conference was a strong partnership between social studies methods professors and geographers in Missouri. A result of this partnership has been an increase in the number of beginning teachers involved in the alliance movement, and ultimately, the use of up-to-date geographic teaching strategies, methods, and materials in their classrooms.     

Constructing a Social Justice Tour: Pedagogy,Race, and Student Learning through Geography

This article describes a high-impact learning project that combines geography, history, and ethnic studies. It describes the construction of the course, student outcomes, and the final and publicly presented collaborative project: the Social Justice Tour of Corvallis. Based on work in a small largely white town, this project presents a reproducible model for student learning and actively engaging with questions of race and geography.     

The Social Geography of Childhood Mortality,Toronto, 1901

Urban geographers and historians have long recognized the relationship between cities and poor health, though few have documented this relationship for cities in the past. While trends, and national or regional variations, of mortality rates are well documented for Britain and Europe, the picture is less complete for North America. Through the use of household data aggregated to the neighborhood scale, this paper explores the spatial variation of childhood mortality (deaths under the age of five) in relation to the social geography of Toronto, Canada, in 1901. Examination of individual records illustrate that the traditional dichotomous relationship between suburban and inner-city areas, in terms of health status (mortality), did not exist in turn of the 20th century Toronto. Rather, inner-city slums and suburban fringe areas were found to be equally likely to have high levels of childhood mortality. Furthermore, the neighborhood spatial patterns of childhood mortality were more affected by the residential segregation of religious groups (e.g., Catholics and Jews) than the distribution of households by social class or the housing conditions in which the people lived.     

Theory and Research in Geography Education

Abstract

Interim semester field trips provide a unique opportunity for undergraduate students to collect field data in support of their capstone research experience. We encourage students to participate in collaborative research projects prior to the semester for which they enroll in the capstone course. Students select a research project based on a field trip itinerary, submit a research proposal to faculty, conduct preliminary research prior to departure and collect data in the field during a January “Winterim” course. During the spring semester, students continue laboratory research, incorporating data collected in the field to complete their research project and prepare scientific presentations. Field trips provide an inherent mentoring system whereby faculty interact with students, and underclass students collaborate on capstone research projects. This approach facilitates learning by emphasizing preparation and planning, collaborative learning and integration of classroom knowledge into field research.     

Place and Health: Towards a Reformed Medical Geography*

An engagement with public health concerns and aspects of social theory such as the structure/agency debate is crucial to medical geography. The imperatives underlying this engagement center on place, a geographical concept which is prominent in both social theory and recent health philosophy. Without detracting from its distinguished heritage, this reformed medical geography will analyze issues such as the consequences of illness and health service provision for both personal well-being and the collective experience of place by communities.     

科学地理学的理论基础及其研究内容与学科性质

在科学与技术是不同的知识形态,科学史研究的地理思潮转向,地理学向“软”的一面转向并关注社会,科学史研究的地理思潮倾向于关注“社会→地理→科学”关系的历史解释,地理学家在科学史的地理解释思想上的贡献等理论基础上,拙文主要阐述科学地理学这一新学科在建构“科学—地理—社会”关系体系上的独特性:①建构关注过去的、现在的及未来的“社会→地理→科学”关系;②践行“以任务带动学科”和“任务学科并重”的地理学发展方略,主要建构“科学→地理→社会”关系;③聚焦于科学活动因素的区域性,注重区域相关性分析方法论。基于这种独特性和地理学方法论精髓,科学地理学研究的内容体系包括:①科学研究及其组织与传播的时空结构;②科学研究及其组织与传播的时空结构与地理环境、经济、技术、社会、文化等结构要素的时空结构及其相互关系;③科学研究及其组织与传播对自然景观、社会景观、文化景观等的影响;④科学研究及其组织与传播对“人地关系地域系统”演进的影响。科学地理学的理论基础、建构“科学—地理—社会”关系的独特性和研究内容决定了科学地理学的交叉性、综合性和区域性,这与地理学特征是一致的,促进着现代地理学微观上的“深”化发展和宏观上的“综合”发展。     

分形论、界壳论与山地研究理论及地理学创新和发展

在概述分形论、界壳论基本概念的基础上，首先探讨了二者对系统自组织理论的完善以及对深化山地研究和地理学研究的方法论意义；其次，总结了分形论、界壳论在山地理论和地理学中的已有应用，最后针对应用现状，对山地理论和地理学中理论的应用创新和发展提出了若干对策。     

Inventing Geography: Writing as a Social Justice Pedagogy

Abstract

A critical geographic pedagogy of writing can help students participate in public life by gaining access to the means of knowledge production. Drawing on pedagogical and composition theory, this article analyzes student papers from an introductory-level geography course to show how geography teachers can create assignments that broaden the scope of student agency and expand access to power. This is one way to promote social justice in the classroom because it fosters habits and skills of critical citizenship and participatory democracy instead of passive, consumption-oriented attitudes. Students are better able to position themselves as active members of a community and as agents in the process of critically reshaping knowledge about the world.     

Geography and Politics of the United States in the Year 2000

Abstract

The future as a productive subject of scholarly inquiry has only recently been recognized by geographers. The discipline's concern with man's spatial behavior and structure in a social, economic, and political vein suggests that teaching, research, and planning efforts can be funneled in these directions. Predicting future events and processes in the social sciences and in most areas of geography is difficult, probably more so in political geography than in many other fields. For this reason studies of a political nature represent a ready challenge and opportunity to examine present political worlds and suggest the likelihood of future political events, problems, and processes. This study, which focuses on the United States, identifies six developments and characteristics that are expected to be representative of the nation's political geography by the year 2000. Specifically, it is believed that by that date boundaries will have less meaning, the city will become the focus of political attention (as opposed to the state), new political cultures will emerge accompanied by new voting patterns, centralized authority at the national level will continue, and political considerations will play a key role in environmental planning and protection.     

医学地理和环境健康研究的主要领域与进展

通过对近年国内外医学地理和环境健康相关领域的文献检索分析发现,人口健康是当前国际地理学和环境科学研究的核心内容之一,其研究趋势可以归纳为以下几个方面:①重视全球环境变化对人类健康的影响。包括全球大气组成改变(气候变化和臭氧层耗散)对健康的影响、土地利用/土地覆被变化与健康、全球环境变化与传染病、食物生产系统改变与健康和城市化与健康等;②环境健康风险评估领域进一步拓展,除重金属、持久性有机污染物等有毒有害污染物的健康风险外,有关生态、灾害和场地环境污染对健康影响的综合风险评估日益受到重视;③重视社会人文因素与自然因素交互作用对健康的影响,特别是经济发展和城市化过程中收入、产品和服务分配不均造成的卫生不公平对健康的影响;④重视人口老龄化过程的时空差异及其对社会的影响和老龄人口的健康、医疗与养老需求及其可达性研究;⑤地理信息系统和模型等技术被广泛用于疾病和健康的空间数据管理、空间分布规律和空间影响因素分析等领域,并为疾病监测、卫生管理和卫生规划提供了强有力的技术支撑。随着国内在相关领域需求和国际交流的增加,我国近年的相关研究有了较大的发展并得到国际社会的认可,医学地理作为一门学科,在我国人口健康研究中正发挥越来越重...     

色彩地理学理论及其在中国的研究进展

采用文献调查法对国内色彩地理学的研究进展和现状进行系统梳理,在介绍色彩地理学理论的产生背景、内容和研究方法的基础上,综述了国内学术界在城市规划中的色彩设计、建筑设计中的色彩应用、旅游开发中的旅游形象设计和景观规划等领域对色彩地理学的研究和应用成果,认为色彩地理学理论仍有较大的应用潜力,其理念和方法亟待在中国普及和推广。