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WORLD REGIONAL GEOGRAPHY 120-910
Instructor: Lusiana Browning
Class Meeting Time: Mon- Thurs: 11:30 AM – 1: 15 PM
Lecture Room: Memorial Hall, Room 049
Office Hours: Before and after class.
Email: browning@udel.edu
Summer Session II: July 12-Aug 12, 2010
Course Objective
To form a general understanding of regional geography, learn its concepts and concerns. Presented is a
geographical survey of the environmental setting, historical formative periods, unique and spatial
characteristics that distinguish the major regions of the world. This is an introductory course that does
not require prior knowledge of geography.
Course Material
1) Text: World Today: Concepts and Regions in Geography (4th ed), by de Blij, Muller &
WinklerPrins, 2009 - required.
2) Media Guide: www.wiley.com/college/deblij (online study guide offering map learning &
map related exercises, online quizzing, blank outline maps, etc).
3) Goodes World Atlas – recommended.
Course Requirement
Student responsibilities: attending lectures, reading assigned material, completing 1 current geographic events
presentation, taking 6 map quizzes and 2 exams. The map quiz should help improve your knowledge of the
location of places, underscore why they are important and clarify how they relate to each other. Quizzes are due on
the dates specified in the syllabus.
Grade Distribution
The course grade will be distributed as follows: the quizzes will account for 35% of the course grade; exams 50%,
10% will come from the presentation project, 5% from class participation.
Attendance: If you are going to miss class, it is your responsibility to inform me of your absence. Participation is
important so attendance and active involvement in class discussion will be considered influential in your final grade
and in determining the course grade for those whose scores fall on the boundary between grade levels.
Academic honesty: University policies on academic honesty are expected to be followed in this course. Any
indication that work you submit as your own has been copied in whole or in part from another student, or in some
other ways does not represent your own work, will be dealt with under university policies for academic honesty.
Class Cancelation: There will be no class on Thursday, July 22.
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Date
Chapter
Topic/Themes
July 12
Introduction Chapter
pp. 2-25
July 13- 14
Chapter 1
pp. 27 - 73
Europe
Setting the boundaries, basic landforms and climate patterns.
Why Europe is becoming the world’s home for the aged
Europe’s unifying European Union hits several roadblocks
Islam; how it is changing Europe’s cultural geography
July 15
Chapter 2;
pp; 75-103
Russia and The Newly Independent States
Setting the boundaries, basic landforms and climate patterns.
The Geography of Russian Nationalism
Introduction
Course overview.
Geography as a discipline
Concepts in Geography
Key components of MAPS; concepts in map interpretation
The REGION as a concept
Discussion of Presentation: Current Events Enhanced by Geographic
Knowledge.
How Russia copes with distance and isolation
The Role of Women in Russia
Quiz 1: Europe and Russia
July 19
Chapter 9
pp. 301-341
July 20
East Asia (cont’d)
East Asia
Setting the boundaries, basic landforms and climate patterns.
Affects on agriculture, population distribution and density
China’s ancient roots to modern transformation
China’s global economic growth
Presentations: 2
Japan; still a regional powerhouse; how geography could reunite the Koreas,
Signs of Progress in Taiwan
Quiz 2: East Asia
Chapter 8
pp. 269-299
July 21
South Asia
(cont’d)
South Asia
Setting the boundaries, landforms and climate patterns.
Affects of Monsoon on agriculture, population distribution and density.
India’s population dilemma; the conflict over Kashmir
Presentations: 2
Hindu Nationalism in multi-cultural India
India’s economic growth: A Global Power
Quiz 3: South Asia
Presentations: 2
July 22
July 26
No class
Mid-Term Exam (will cover Chapters: Intro, 1, 2, 8, 9)
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July 27-28
Chapter 7
pp. 229-267
North Africa & Southwest Asia
Setting the boundaries, landforms and climate patterns.
How Islam transformed a realm
How will people get enough water to grow food?
Where the oil is – and is not. How have the huge fossil fuel reserve drive
globalization. Income disparity in the region
Causes and effects of the sources of hostility; the predicament of Israel
The low status of women; how it contributes to high population growth.
Quiz 4: North Africa & Southwest Asia
Presentations:
July 29
Chapter 6
pp. 191-227
Sub-Sahara Africa
Effects of landforms and climate on African development.
Outside influence on the region; consequences; difficulty of achieving true
Independence. Consequences of rapid population growth
Presentations:
The geography of HIV-AIDS.
Leading environmental problems; water scarcity, the limits of carrying capacity
Case Study: Apartheid of South Africa
August 2
Quiz 5: Sub-Sahara Africa
Presentations:
Aug 3, 4
Chapter 4
pp. 133-161
Aug 6
Chapter 5
pp. 163-189
Aug 9
Chapter 3
pp. 104-124
Middle America
Setting the boundaries, basic landforms and climate patterns of Middle &
South America
How NAFTA changed the economic geography of Mexico
Changes for the Panama Canal
Cuba: And its role in the Caribbean
Presentations
South America
Indigenous peoples demand recognition and rights
Gender and Democracy
The processes of global warming and deforestation: how they are linked
Presentations: 2
Quiz 6: Middle & South America
North America
Setting the boundaries, landforms and climate patterns.
The Changing Population Composition, population distribution
Similar landscapes; regional differences; wealth and poverty, increasing global
awareness and interaction
Presentation:
August 10
Guest Lecture by Ms.
Elsa Nickl
Global Warming & Global Dimming
Friday
FINAL EXAM
On What: Chapters: Introduction, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 & Guest lecture notes
When: 1:00 – 3:00 pm
Where: Memorial Hall 049
Aug 11
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