Gaps,Intellectual Enthusiasms,Personal Insecurities: Response to “Stages on Journeys”

Abstract

The Department of Geography at Arizona State University implemented a field exam as part of its PhD program requirements. This field exam requires students to develop an independent field-based research project based on a general question in the student's specialty area. A survey of current and former PhD students and faculty members document how the field exam assists students in developing skills necessary for continuing graduate research and for preparing them for the rigors of academic employment. The outcomes of the exam include both long-term, process-related benefits and more immediate tangible rewards. For some students, the preliminary fieldwork and results redirect student interests and form the basis for their eventual dissertation. The field exam is adaptable to a diversity of geography research methods, subject areas, and graduate degree programs, while remaining grounded in the discipline's vibrant, widely respected fieldwork tradition.

     

Applying the Political Geography of Scale: Grassroots Strategies and Environmental Justice

The grassroots environmental movement often protests locally unwanted land uses. Many grassroots groups have, however, expanded their agenda to the scale of environmental justice. Explanations for this scale transformation include historical circumstances, individuals' radicalization through activism, and the growth of environmental justice networks. This case study, grassroots environmentalists' opposition to a proposed electricity transmission line in Monroe County, WV, explores another explanation: appeals for environmental justice are also a strategic response to siting regulatory procedures. With concepts emerging from the political geography of scale, I interpret the Monroe Countians' efforts and show how their strategies link the grassroots scale with that of environmental justice.     

AN ANALYSIS OF THE RANGE AND SPATIAL GRADIENT OF URBAN RECREATIONAL HINTERLANDS

Because medical geography is a dynamic and developing area of thought, a number of conceptual and empirical problems are, as yet, relatively unexplored. This essay constitutes an attempt to delimit these problems, which include the application of geographical analysis to ascertaining disease causation, the prediction of future disease patterns and disease diffusion, and evaluation of the importance of maximizing geographical access to health care facilities.     

MISCELLANY

The geomorphic sciences will continue to be dynamic in the coming decade. Among other developments, there is a trend toward increased dependence on field reserch, more realistic expectations from reserch tools, a resurgence of interest in man-land relations with a renewed dependence on the historical approach, a reinvestigation of morphogenetic regions, study of planetary surfaces other than earth's, and involvement with applied problems, as well as cooperation and collaboration with scientists in related fields. The greatest need is the development of connections between academic and nonacademic geographers at all levels.     

THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIAL THEORY: TOWARDS AN ARCHITECTURAL GEOGRAPHY ∗

Strategic planning is a technique from the commercial world which could assist geography departments in adapting to today's more demanding administrative environments and thereby further the development of the discipline. This paper sets out the fundamentals of planning as a prelude to a generic departmental plan. Key inclusions are explained and certain problems of application are discussed, should departments adopt such an approach.     

SCALING TECHNIQUES IN THE ANALYSIS OF ENVIRONMENTAL COGNITION DATA∗

The utility of nonmetric, multidimensional-scaling techniques is demonstrated for the analysis and collection of environmental-cognition data. By comparing the multidimensional-scaling solutions of a real-setting map to scaling solutions for sketch maps and two psychophysical, distance-scaling procedures, we demonstrate that magnitude estimation of actual interpoint distances is comparable in accuracy to sketch maps when produced without constraints, or when subjects are given a specified list of landmarks to include on their maps. Triadic comparisons of actual interpoint distances were less accurate than the three other techniques.     

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF POTENTIAL-DENSITY REGRESSIONS

Strong correlations have been observed between potential indices and the densities of spatial variables. The conventional null hypothesis of bivariate regression is inappropriate for testing their significance. A randomization test is proposed and is applied to 1975 US population data by state. The resulting relationship has a significant correlation, but its slope could occur frequently under the null hypothesis. The correlation is shown to be related to the spatial autocorrelation of densities by constructing arrangements with prescribed values of the modified Moran index.     

GEOGRAPHERS' RANKINGS OF FOREIGN GEOGRAPHY AND NON-GEOGRAPHY JOURNALS

Questionnaires sent to 500 geographers randomly selected from U.S. graduate departments solicited opinions on the quality of scholarship of articles in 65 journals: 33 foreign geography journals and 32 non-geography journals. The five highest ranked were Science, Geological Society Bulletin, Journal of Atmospheric Sciences, Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, and Journal of Ecology. When familiarity and quality were considered together, the top five were Science, Canadian Geographer, Progress in Human Geography, Geographical Journal, and Transactions of the IBG. Specialty of respondent proved most significant in explaining ranking variations.     

A Debt to the West: Recent Developments in the International Financial Situation of East-Central Europe

East-Central Europe is undergoing a rapid political and economic transformation. The unprecedented depth and speed of the economic reforms have produced serious questions about the stability of the region, and its future relations with western Europe and the world economy. This paper surveys and evaluates the size and character of existing debt stocks owed to the West by Hungary, Poland, and Czechoslovakia. The future political and economic stability of East-Central Europe and the European Community depends, to a large extent, on the ability of the Western financial system to respond to the long-term needs of the region.