Course Information
• Prof: Thomas Whitmore
• TAs:
Hélène Ducros
Rebekah Deeds
• Text: Diversity Amid Globalization
(& attached atlas)
• Course Blackboard homepage:
https://blackboard.unc.edu/bin/c
ommon/course.pl?course_id=_252
107_1
Blackboard course site
• Note the announcements – I use the
announcements for important info
• Note the links to the PowerPoint
lectures (lectures button)
Do not think that these are a
good substitute to good note
taking
Course Advice
• Importance of keeping up with text
readings - read ahead: Chapters 1 &
2 now
• See syllabus for reading
assignments and schedule
• See syllabus for “how to succeed”
• Importance of attendance: exams
drawn equally (or more) from
lectures and text
Evaluation
• (2) mid-term exams, each worth
about 100 points. You will need a
pencil and scantron sheet for all
exams
• (2) 5+ page papers - each worth 100
points each. (details on ‘assignments’
on Blackboard)
• (2) short written assignments each worth about 50 points
• A final exam worth about 100+
points
WWW site for the text:
• http://wps.prenhall.com/esm_rownt
ree_dag_3
Look over chapters on this site
On-line study guide with sample
questions
Virtual field trips with many links
to web sites of interest
Country data
Etc.
•
•
•
Maxims to understand the world
Everything takes place somewhere
 Things closer together are more
similar than those more distant
 Places/locations provide both
benefits and burdens
Everything & everybody is connected
to everything and everybody else
Resources are necessary
Maxims to understand the world
•
•
•
•
•
Change happens
 Different types of things change at
different rates
 Change is contested & messy
Conviction is necessary but overvalued
Categories are artificial and mutable
Things look different from afar or
close up
None of the above function alone
Globalization Amid Diversity
• Is this an oxymoron?
• Globalization
 Increasing interconnectedness
(changes in one part affect
others)
• Diversity
 Despite the interconnections the
world is NOT the same
everywhere!
Globalization
• Economic interconnections
• Communications
• Cultural borrowing
• Human movements (international
migration)
• Formal multi-state connections (e.g.,
NAFTA or European Union)
• Global-scale interconnectedness of
the environment (e.g., El Niño
and/or global climate change)
Economic Globalization
Kenworth Semi-tractors entering US (Texas)
from their construction plant in Mexico
Economic Globalization
Japanese electronics (Sanyo) assembly plant in Mexico
Economic Globalization III
Where was this picture taken?
Globalization of Communication
Interconnectedness
Satellite TV in Sri Lanka
Cultural Globalization:
Cultural borrowing
US convenience store in Mexico
Cultural Globalization
McDonald’s in Thailand…
Cultural Globalization II
…Vietnamese Market in the U.S.
Cultural Globalization
Cultural borrowing
Indian Restaurant in England
Environmental Globalization
hazards & change
Flooding monsoon in India
(also note the Shakey’s Pizza)
Diversity
• Despite the interconnections the
world is NOT the same
everywhere!
• Physical environments vary
• Human uses of local environment
vary
• Human/cultural landscapes vary
Natural Environmental Diversity
Western Australia
Natural Environmental Diversity
Nevado Calluncaya, Peru
Diverse Human uses of the
environment
Terraces near Tarma, Peru
Diverse human uses of the
environment, Iowa, USA
Diverse human
Cultural
Landscapes:
House
compound
in Ghana
Diverse human
Cultural Landscapes:
Spanish colonial heritage in a town layout in Venezuela
Diversity (continued)
• Human cultures vary (e.g.,
language, religion)
• Political systems vary
• Levels of development and
wealth vary
Diverse Cultures and wealth
“Typical” NC household and week’s food.
© P. Menhzel & F. D’Aluisio. 2005,
Hungary Planet, Ten Speed Press
Diverse
Cultures and wealth
“Typical” Chad household and week’s food.
© P. Menhzel & F. D’Aluisio. 2005,
Hungary Planet, Ten Speed Press
Economic Diversity I
Floor tile making in Saltillo, Mexico
Economic Diversity II
Steel making in Germany
© Thyssen Hutte Superstock
The core of Geography: the
interconnectedness–diversity duality
• What are the characteristics of
places -- how are they similar and
different?
 Location and situation
 Spatial organization and patterns
 Human uses
 Cultural landscape
 Environment
How are places interconnected?
How do they influence each other?
• Movement of people
• Transport of goods
• Communication of ideas
• Physical environmental processes
Geographer’s Tools
• Maps: key way to show/analyze
Spatial organization and patterns
General “road” maps
Thematic maps
Formal Regions
Flows
Organization of characteristics
into regions to simplify and enable
easy recall and comparison
Economic Globalization: World Trade
Economic Globalization: Illicit Trade
Figure 1.7
Annual per capita income
Lectures in this course themes similar to text’s themes
• Important elements of the natural
environment
• Key natural resources and their
extractive economics
• Economic development generally and
its local diversity
Lectures in this course - themes
similar to text’s themes II
• Population and Settlement issues
• Historical development and cultural
coherence and diversity
• Social issues generally and their
local diversity
• Other key issues (e.g., the role of
globalization and colonialism)
Development = bettering of society
or of a people (many definitions)
• Sustainable development
• Measures of development
 Economic measures
 Non-economic measures - $$
isn’t the best measure necessarily
Development Diversity: Income
Developed (rich, north) world
Undeveloped (poor, south) world
Development Diversity: Wealth
World Institute for Development Economics Research
United Nations University (UNU-WIDER) 2006
World Institute for Development Economics Research United Nations University 2006
Diversity: Internal Inequality
Rich Global “North” vs
Poor Global “South”
N
S
GNI (GNP) per Capita
Social Development
Development: Colonialism