Can Religion Account for Early Animal Domestications? A Critical Assessment of the Cultural Geographic Argument,Based on Near Eastern Archaeological Data*

Cultural geographers often ascribe early animal domestications to the spiritual propitiation practices of ancient peoples, an interpretation that is not widely shared. This paper evaluates the sacrifice theory against Near Eastern archaeological data and refutes the idea that ritual sacrifice could have induced the earliest animal domestications of the Near East. The earliest domestications were the outcome of essentially ecological and economic processes which later gave rise to the sacrificial practices referred to by cultural geographers.     

Green infrastructure,green space,and sustainable urbanism: geography’s important role

ABSTRACT

This paper is a broad review of green infrastructure theory and practice relative to urban sustainability and the space for geographers in these discussions. We use examples from various urban sustainability plans to highlight ways in which green infrastructure is being conceptualized and implemented. We explore how geography contributes research on green infrastructure as well as the emerging practices as seen within sustainability plans. We identify four areas in which geographers can influence both green infrastructure theory and practice: 1) scale; 2) mapping distribution; 3) sensitivity to place and locale; and 4) equity and access. We conclude that in these areas geographers have tremendous opportunity contribute more deliberately to sustainable urbanism.     

Political Ecology and Cultural Change: Impacts on Swidden-fallow Agroforestry Practices among the Mopan Maya in Southern Belize

Little agroecological research examines indigenous agroforestry practices that appear to be unsustainable, and how such practices devolved from more environmentally sound land use strategies that have been documented by geographers and others. This paper discusses the political ecological factors that led the Mopan Maya to reject a diverse swidden-fallow management strategy for a system where an abandoned milpa provides few forest products. In doing so, this paper explains the process whereby cultural change, in this case rejection of certain agricultural traditions, leads to a less diverse agricultural landscape and ultimately a less diverse biological landscape.     

Methodological Issues in Researching Migration

Population geographers should consider a mixed methods approach to thestudy of migration. This methodological position arises in response to the challenges of contemporary social theory. It is argued that application of structuration theory favours use of a diversity of methods to investigate the recursive relationship between agency and structure. Similarly a realist stance, as advocated by Sayer (1992), leads to a mixing of methods in order to carry out the synthesising tasks expected of geographers. Postmodernism, when interpreted as method, also points the researcher to consider adopting flexible research practices in order to capture the multiplicities of meaning associated with migration and place. These points are illustrated by a case study of migration to and from Hong Kong.     

A Long Way to Go: Collective Paths to Racial Justice in Geography

Despite decades of recognition and worry about diversity, our discipline remains persistently white. That is, it is dominated by white bodies and it continues to conform to norms, practices, and ideologies of whiteness. This is a loss. At best, it limits the possibilities and impact of our work as geographers. At worst, it perpetuates harmful exclusions in our discipline: its working environments, its institutions, and its knowledge production. This remains deeply concerning for many geographers, and there has been important research, commentary, and institutional activity over the years. Yet, research shows us that little meaningful progress has been made. We know that mentoring is one vital part of the journey toward change. As such, we reflect here on our experience developing a research collective built on a transformative mentoring practice. We outline the key challenges, strategies, and tentative successes of the collective in supporting women of color undergraduate, graduate, and faculty geographers, arguing that such feminist formations are a vital part of the path to intellectual racial justice in our field. Key Words: diversity, feminist geography, higher education, mentoring, race.     

Changing the Way Albanian Geographers Look at Their Land

Abstract

Four geographers from the University of Nebraska held a workshop for Albanian geographers in Tirana in October of 1993.¹ Its purpose was to introduce concepts and technological developments that have been a part of American geographical training for 40 years. The meeting represents an initial step in helping the Albanians not only to develop a common background for collaboration with geographers of other countries, but also to assist them in contributing to the rebuilding of their own society. It is hoped that further training can take place to include the education of Albanian graduate students in the United States.     

GEOGRAPHERS IN GOVERNMENT

Geographers are working in federal, state, and local government agencies in many diverse positions. Historically and presently, geographers have held key policy positions in government agencies. In recent years the employment base for geographers in government has been broadened. Geographers working in government generally must have a pragmattic outlook that enables them to do the tasks assigned regardless of how geographical those assignments may be.     

Teaching Social Justice: Reviving Geography's Neglected Tradition

Abstract

American students are encouraged to become globally competitive. I argue that in a world plagued by social inequality and environmental mismanagement, students should become globally cooperative. But this position is not new. Nineteenth century geographers such as Peter Kropotkin argued that geographic education should promote cooperation and tolerance of others. This article explores why geographers cast aside this progressive vision for geographic education. It hypothesizes that geography's pursuit of academic and scientific legitimacy prompted it to spurn “value-laden” methods. The article concludes by suggesting that geographers return to their social justice roots by adopting constructivist pedagogical methods of Paulo Freire.     

Geographic EducationResearch and the Changing Institutional Structure of American Education

Professional geographers are paying increasing attention to the development of a research agenda concerning geographic education. In doing so, it is essential that geographers pay close attention to fundamental changes in the structure of education itself. Traditional educational methods and procedures associated with industrial society are being replaced by new and innovative modes of education that are linked to post-industrial social organization. This article explores the implications of these changes for understanding the teaching and learning of geography in the future.     

Twisted Film,or: How I Learned to Stop the Movie and Teach the Truth

Abstract

The 1996 blockbuster Twister both entertained and exasperated geographers. Misrepresentations and unsafe field practices resonated deeply; still, the film possesses relevance for educators. Science-based reviews illuminating on-screen inconsistencies and pseudoscience might surprise students accepting movies at face value. This article uses a disaster movie to teach beneficial concepts, definitions, and insight by identifying, elaborating on, and correcting important ideas, dialogue, and terminology. It includes experienced commentary on storm chasing. Chasers must work together using latest technologies to remotely sense environments of future tornadoes during minutes preceding formation. Unlike movies, the mantra for students chasing should be “safety first.”     

A Seventh Grade Problem Study of Czechoslovakia

Abstract

Computer technology has a rich history in geography education. The Internet represents the latest in technological advancements that continue to have important effects on geography curriculum and instruction. Many geographers are involved with Internet-based instruction, which some educators believe has potential to facilitate changes in how we teach and even what we teach. This article describes how the Internet is being used by some geographers for instructional purposes and discusses opportunities for improving teaching and learning with the Internet.     

Geographers in the U.S. Government in Washington,DC, during World War II

Geographers in Washington, DC, during World War II and the agencies in which they worked are recalled through the naming of geographers engaged in wartime work during this seminal period in the development of the geography profession in the United States. The five agencies then employing the largest number of geographers were the Research and Analysis Branch of the Office of Strategic Services, the Topographic Branch of the Military Intelligence Division of the War Department, the Board of Economic Warfare (later the Foreign Economic Administration), the Board on Geographic Names, and the Office of the Geographer, Department of State. The impacts of this period on individual geographers, the professional organization of geographers, cartography, higher education, and the government are suggested.     

AN ANALYSIS OF DATA ON HOME JOURNEYS BY CHINESE IMMIGRANTS IN CANADA, 1892–1915∗

The Young Geographers, an informal organization of American geographers, flourished from 1936 to 1943. One of its projects in 1940 and 1941 was the compilation and publication of lists of contemplated research by some 170 Young Geographers. Their listed research interests were relatively narrow in subject and geographical area. The successor of the Young Geographers was the American Society for Professional Geographers which merged with the Association of American Geographers in 1948 under a democratic constitution which assured that young geographers and their research would be recognized.     

Geographic perspectives on urban sustainability: past,current, and future research trajectories

ABSTRACT

The 21st century has been called the “century of the city” and compounded concerns that current development pathways were not sustainable. Calls for scholarship on urban sustainability among geographers cites strengths in the human-environment and urban subfields that positioned the discipline to make unique contributions to critical research needs. This special issue reflects on the contributions that geographers have made to urban sustainability scholarship. We observe that that integration across human-environment and urban subfields reflects broader bifurcations between social theory and spatial science traditions in geography. Piggy-backing on the rise of sustainability science, the emergence of urbanization science compels geographers to reflect upon the ways in which we are positioned to make unique contributions to those fields. We argue that those contributions should embrace systems thinking, empirically connect social constructs to biophysical patterns and processes, and use the city as a laboratory to generate new theories.     

Geographical Research about African Americans: A Survey of Journals, 1911–1995

This paper surveys research about African Americans in six geography journals between 1911 and 1995. 176 journal articles about African Americans were identified. A chronological analysis of a subset of these articles shows that it was not until the 1960s that African Americans were studied to any appreciable degree by geographers. Since that time, geographers have continued this research, but unevenly; annual output varies widely. Popular topics have included considerations of spatial distributions, social problems, political participation, the development of black residence areas, and historical and cultural studies of African Americans. Recent research in this area has problematized the concept of “race” and investigated the mutual constitution of racial identity and place.     

Commentaries on “Automated Geography”. Automated Geography and the DIDS (Decision Information Display System) Experiment

Age profiles of geographers having varying topical and areal subfields are compiled using the Guide to Graduate Departments of Geography in the United States and Canada, 1983–1984 and the 1982 AAG Directory. Major retirement trends for the next 10 to 20 years suggest that replacement of faculty may raise key appointment issues and priorities that may significantly change the nature of academic geography.     

The National Geography Standards and Your Undergraduate Curriculum: The Opportunity That Knocks More Than Once

Abstract

Geography For Life: National Geography Standards 1994 offers university geographers opportunities in the areas of program assessment and development. This article describes an assessment process that is applicable to both individual courses and geography programs. The process can strengthen programs by making them more consistent. As a result, geography may have a more powerful presence in teacher certification programs. Additional techniques for enhancing geography's role in preservice education curricula are also outlined. Finally, the article expresses concern that geographers at the university level will not take the recently published National Geography Standards seriously, thinking they apply only to K-12 education. They are challenged to extend the Standards' scope and content to the baccalaureate degree.     

Changing Formulations of the Man-Environment Relationship in Anglo-American Geography

Abstract

In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries most geographers possessed a firm belief in the causal dominance of the physical environment in human affairs. In the face of observation the argument proved difficult to sustain in the simple forms in which it was proposed, and by reaction there was a turn away from man-land studies towards the spatial and area studies traditions in Geography which also had their origins in ancient Greek writings. Geography did not however abandon the search for causal explanations, and the debate on man-land relationships continued vigorously as geographers searched for a more acceptable formulation than direct environmental determinism. If anything the concern for the issue has increased at a time when geographers turn to studies of environmental management and conservation. Figure 1 sets out in diagrammatic form six formulations of the man-nature relationship which have been current since 1900 in Anglo-American geography: the arrangement indicates an approximate chronology.     

THE ORIGINS OF PROFESSIONAL GEOGRAPHERS IN THE UNITED STATES 1972–1977

The two following reports offer complementary perspectives on the spatial distribution of geographers in the United States. The first of these looks at the changing sources of doctoral degrees and the second addresses the question of where degree holders are currently most successful in practicing their profession.     

We Are All Makers: The Method of Keyword Selection in Teaching and Learning Human Geography

Abstract

Geographers continue to engage in public debate “inside the Beltway” by participation within and through federal agencies and through the National Research Council. Several examples illustrate the level and kind of this engagement, which has been concentrated on environmental and spatial data and analysis themes. Most professional geographers have the opportunity to engage in this form of public debate through participation in the activities of the National Research Council. The level of this participation has been surprisingly strong, given the small size of the community of professional geographers, and has helped to shape both U.S. and international research agendas relevant to geographic research. Participation, however, is concentrated in a few programs and individuals, raising questions about the sustainability of geography's voice in this public activity.