Writing in Undergraduate Geography Classes: Faculty Challenges and Rewards

Abstract

Numerous studies have shown both anecdotal and formal evidence of the benefits students obtain from doing writing activities in classes. Little formal discussion exists about how student writing in geography classes professionally affects faculty. In this article, focus shifts from student-derived benefits of writing in classes to faculty challenges and rewards for implementing writing in their classes. Based on the experience of participating in a Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) Fellows program, the authors discuss how faculty overcame challenges and reaped the benefits of student writing in their teaching and scholarly pursuits.     

Courtroom Ethnography: Researching the Intersection of Law,Space, and Everyday Practices

This article argues for a more sustained use of courtroom ethnography by geographers as a means to research legal phenomena, especially in matters of court trials. To do this, I begin by referencing two main threads of courtroom ethnographies conducted in disciplines outside geography, specifically the spaces of the courthouse and courtrooms and the study of emotion and bodily performances by sociolegal and sociology scholars. To then underscore the ways in which a geographical perspective can enhance this existing research and point to topical and theoretical interventions that courtroom ethnography might offer geography, I draw on my experiences with courtroom ethnography on the criminal trial against former Enron chief executives Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling. This experience produced a nuanced and lively understanding of how law, justice, and space comingle through the court’s physical spaces and performative embodiments. My conclusions emphasize courtroom ethnographies’ scholarly opportunities for researchers who study the intersection of law and space, while also reflecting on its challenges. Key Words: corporation, courtroom, Enron, ethnography, legal geography.     

人文地理学研究与学术论文写作漫谈

改革开放以来,中国的人文地理学研究取得了长足的发展,学术研究逐渐规范化,研究范围大为拓宽,研究手段不断更新,对政府决策及社会经济发展的影响不断加强。尽管已取得令人欣慰的进展,我们仍需在理论与方法上与国际接轨,紧跟学科发展理论前沿,充分应用规范的方法论指导。为提高国内人文地理学的研究水平,简要探讨了人文地理学研究的理论和方法,阐述了学术论文的范式及写作方法。最后,提出中国人文地理学需要强化三个转型：理论化、科学化、国际化。     

敦煌遗书中地理书卷的学术价值

敦煌遗书中保存了大批地理方面的书卷,依其内容可分为古地志、古行记和地理杂文书3大类,其中包含着大量的非常珍贵的自然和人文地理资料,具有十分重要的学术价值。     

孜孜不倦为地理学发展而思考的人——祝黄秉维先生八十寿辰

本文从50年代自然区划、黄秉维先生提出自然地理学研究三个新方向、中国自然地理的编写及对北京大学地理教育的关心等几个方面回顾了黄先生为地理学发展而孜孜不倦的思考。     

孜孜不倦为地理学发展而思考的人——祝黄秉维先生八十寿辰

本文从50年代自然区划、黄秉维先生提出自然地理学研究三个新方向、中国自然地理的编写及对北京大学地理教育的关心等几个方面回顾了黄先生为地理学发展而孜孜不倦的思考。     

Economic geography as regional contexts’ reconsidered – implications for disciplinary division of labour,research focus and societal relevance

ABSTRACT

The aim of the article is to discuss whether a definition of economic geography as contextual analysis still is viable and relevant. The author argues that the definition remains the key to the production of high quality and social relevant research. He concludes that contextual analysis represents the competitive advantage of economic geography among other social sciences and the best position to demonstrate its relevance to the broader society.     

Escalation: A Simulation of Contemporary Geo-Politics

Abstract

ESCALATION is a one-hour simulation game that treats international power politics from a geographic perspective. It has been pilot-tested in several high schools and two universities. ESCALATION is deemed appropriate for high school geography and social studies classes, and for introductory college geography courses. Three important geographic principles are dramatically demonstrated by the activity. First, students discover that traditional ways of viewing maps can create misleading geographic stereotypes. Second, students learn the importance of cultural conditioning in viewing international relations. Third, students learn that numerous interacting factors influence nations in their selection of allies. The activity elaborated in the article provides geography teachers with a practical, ready-made teaching activity that is powerful in concepts and dramatic in presentation. The classroom teacher simply needs to transform the map (Figure 1) into a transparency and briefly review the simulation procedures. The teacher then presents the four sequential stages in the ESCALATION game and conducts a post-simulation discussion of what happened and why. The activity, in short, provides geography and social studies teachers with a simulation activity that combines role playing, decision-making, and surprise to generate several important geographic concepts and principles. The surprise climax invariably produces considerable discussion.     

2000年以来中国社会地理学发展的回顾与展望

2000年以来,中国社会地理学呈现出良好的发展态势。梳理和分析该时期中国社会地理学的发展,对了解当前国内本学科的现状和指导未来一段时期的发展都具有重要意义。首先对社会地理学的发展进行简要介绍,探讨了社会地理学的研究主题。通过对大量文献和著作的梳理,在对2000年以来中国社会地理学发展的总体分析基础上,从城市社会地理学与乡村社会地理学两方面对社会地理学研究的主要内容进行了归纳和评述,最后对中国社会地理学未来的发展进行了讨论和展望。在未来的学科建设与研究中,中国社会地理学应积极合理地借鉴西方地理学与其他学科优秀成果,继续拓展并深化已有的研究内容,探索建立具有中国特色的社会地理学理论框架,同时发挥社会地理学问题指向性优势,提高解决实际问题的能力。     

地理学区域研究与区域历史地理学的取向

地理学的区域研究传统由来已久,后形成了独立的分支学科——区域地理学,经历了古代地志的分区书写、区域差异的描述解释、空间关系的定量分析和社会过程的深度建构4 个阶段的发展过程。区域地理学演进中遭遇的计量革命与理论创新,实质上是对传统区域学派过分强调区域所导致的静止、孤立的研究僵局的打破与修正,是区域地理学不断总结和完善自身的发展之路。区域历史地理学的学科性质、研究范式与研究内容和方法深受区域地理学的影响和启发,并形成了连续的地理剖面复原研究、区域的景观文化生态研究、区位与结构—功能体系研究和分区分类分级的综合研究等多个分支。与西方相比,中国区域历史地理学的研究在研究内容和方法方面显得比较滞后,今后应加强对特定地方的社会、文化及经济空间的深度剖析,进一步深化人地关系理论及研究方法,不断拓展研究思维的深度和广度,争取有更多、更有影响力的区域历史地理研究成果问世。     

近年我国文化地理学研究的新进展

以改革开放以来中国文化地理学的进展作了综述,在评述了其理论体系构建及主要通论性菱的基础上,按文化景观,文化生态、等几个主要对我国文化地理学的发展进行了全面阐述。     

从图书出版透视近100年来中国人文地理学发展脉络

本文基于1912-2015年的中国人文地理学出版图书,分析中国人文地理学发展的一些基本脉络,发现：①根据出版总量可划分为1912-1940、1941-1980、1981-2015年3个时期,其中第二个时期著作出版极少;②从出版结构变化来看,在研究期内出版的图书中以政治地理学最为稳定,其他领域均存在明显的波动;③出版的著作具有明显的“基础先行、社会影响、应用助推”阶段性特征;④1981年以来,各分支领域出版的图书平衡增长,其中以历史人文地理、文化地理、旅游地理、GIS在人文地理学中的应用方面增长迅速并与其它学科交叉形成了系列新兴领域,但民族和边疆领域略显弱势;⑤当前中国人文地理学图书出版存在一些结构失衡。基于以上脉络文章讨论了中国人文地理学与科学和社会的关联,认为：①中国人文地理学体现了地理学的跨学科特征,不同分支领域具有与自然科学、社会科学、哲学人文学科不同的交叉倾向,与这些学科交叉形成的新兴领域有望在未来进一步提升中国人文地理学对科学的贡献;②中国人文地理学的发展一直受社会因素的影响,应用研究倾向明显,由此也导致部分领域被弱化及分支领域内研究主题失衡的问题,未来研究在注重社会贡献的同时也当考虑学科内领域间的平衡。     

Transformations in the discipline of geography experienced over 60 years by a Norwegian geographer

ABSTRACT

The article presents the changes in the discipline of geography over 60 years as experienced both in fieldwork and in practice by a Norwegian geographer. Based on diaries and collections of memoirs, the author, Arild Holt-Jensen, presents his life story and how it has been impacted by people, places and special events. His intention is to show how geography and his own work reflect social, political and intellectual changes since the late 1950s. Initially, a regional geography approach was adopted in the fieldwork for his master’s thesis but the approach was challenged by new ideas and methods from both the spatial science school and model thinking. As a young lecturer in 1968, the author was shocked by the positivism debate and critical philosophy, and his spatial science and quantitative approach in his PhD project had to be adapted. His political engagement and interest in planning led him to research social exclusion in European neighbourhoods. His need to trace the identity of geography as a discipline resulted in a textbook that throughout the years has been updated by following up on research trends to the present. Thus, the book and the article show Holt-Jensen’s shifts in disciplinary identity and research practice.     

Grading Book Review Assignments

Abstract

Geographers have a tradition of using novels in the classroom. Given our busy schedules, however, and the need for students to write, instructors may find that it takes too much time to grade writing assignments. This paper provides an efficient method of grading book review assignments. It requires students to use headings and subheadings, which may be internalized as a future organizational scheme for writing assignments. Experience has shown this method to be “grader-friendly” for instructors, making it easier to comment and score.     

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.     

近40年来的中国人口地理学——一个跨学科研究领域的进展①

本文对20世纪80年代以来中国人口地理学的发展进行了全面综述。尽管近年来中国人口地理学在地理学科领域给人留下的是萧条、甚至被边缘化的印象,但从跨学科的角度看,该学科还是取得了巨大进展。人口地理学者在复兴中国的人口学研究中发挥了不可或缺的作用,并在这一跨学科研究领域中占据了重要地位。人口地理学者从地理学的视角出发,在人口迁移流动、城镇化、人口分布、人口与资源和环境之间的关系、老龄化、婚姻模式和移民犯罪等众多人口问题的研究上作出了重要贡献,尤其是在人口迁移流动研究和人口城镇化若干问题的研究中占据着领先地位。中国人口地理学者自20世纪80年代以来与社会科学领域学者间的交流互动不断增加,在促进学科发展的同时,也出现了一种逐渐偏离主流人文地理学的倾向;今后,中国人口地理学应更多地回归地理学领域,在人口学和人文地理学两个领域间寻求健康、平衡的定位,以促进其在跨学科领域中获得进一步发展。     

社会资本的地理学研究进展

随着社会资本在促进民主、发展经济、健康身体、解决贫困等方面的作用逐渐被人们认知,社会资本吸引了众多学科的关注,地理学者也意识到社会资本对地理现象的解释作用,并结合具体问题开展了一些实证性研究,但由于在地理学中引入社会资本的研究历史较短,国内迄今尚缺乏系统性的梳理和研究架构的探讨。本文在研读近年来国内外相关文献的基础上,对基于空间尺度、地域性差异的社会资本研究,以及社会资本在经济地理、城市社会地理、健康地理等领域的研究进行梳理和总结,并从社会资本的地理学研究思路与框架、测量指标、以及研究领域的拓展等方面进行了展望,以期促进社会资本在地理学领域研究的深入展开,丰富社会资本的理论与实践。     

犯罪地理国际研究进展

犯罪地理学是犯罪学和地理学研究的交叉学科。近30 年来, 随着GIS 技术的发展, 国外犯罪地理学在研究内容和研究方法上发生了许多转变。从5 个方面简述了国外犯罪地理研究的发展:①解释理论, 简述了不同理论的不足及发展;②犯罪活动空间分布, 全局关系和局域关系上犯罪活动空间分布的判别和可视化;③计量模型, 空间依赖和空间异质效应的计量;④虚拟犯罪, 犯罪活动预测的地理计算;⑤研究尺度, 从大尺度到小尺度的转变。最后总结了地理学对犯罪学研究的贡献, 并提出了国外的发展对国内研究的借鉴。     

人文地理学的别样写作——《阅读与感知：人文地理笔记》阅读有感及其他

世界人文地理学的学术写作丰富多彩,有专著、指南、手册、教材、期刊论文、评论、书评、科普评论等。我们目前只重视论文和专著。在这种背景下,唐晓峰的非专著写作很独特,很吸引人。以《阅读与感知：人文地理学笔记》为例,分析了唐老师写作的特色。我们应当重视学术写作的多样性,尤其是教材和科普作品。     

西方劳工地理学研究进展及对中国的启示

与新古典工业区位论和新马克思主义经济地理学论将工人视为一种生产要素和抽象劳动力不同,劳工地理学将工人视为具有能动性的社会主体,研究工人如何按照自身的意愿创造有助于自身生存和再生产的空间。这种劳工认识论的转变在国际经济地理学界产生了极大和持续的反响,促使劳工地理学发展成为具有独特概念体系的经济地理子学科。本文梳理了近20年西方劳工地理学的研究进展,围绕工人能动性的概念、表现形式、形成机制以及它与空间、尺度、地方、全球生产网络之间的关系展开分析。最后基于劳工地理学前沿问题的分析,认为中国劳工地理研究应重点关注中国特色工会体制下工人能动性的构成、经济地理影响与形成的地域条件,并探索有助于社会升级的制度安排。开展劳工地理研究有助于拓展经济地理学的劳动力研究范畴,对认识中国市场经济深入发展时期面临的劳资矛盾和探索共享发展政策具有重要的现实意义。