Week 1
Introduction to Geography
Sept. 1st
What is Geography?
-Most think of geography in terms of what they experienced in grade school, the memorization
of place names, countries, cities, and landforms. Now you will have to do that in this course, but
as we will see that is geography in its most basic form. The knowledge of such things provides
the skeleton around which geographers build this complex discipline.
-Geography is really a science that is defied by its approach rather than by what is studied.
Geographers take a spatial perspective with whatever specific topic they study. Geographers
study a very wide range of topics such as AIDS, agricultural production, crime, climate, trade, or
natural resource distribution.
-Here are a few famous quotes about what geography is:
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"The purpose of geography is to provide 'a view of the whole' earth by mapping the
location of places." - Ptolemy, 150 CE (very basic definition)
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"Study of human ecology; adjustment of man to natural surroundings." - Harland
Barrows, 1923
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"The science concerned with the formulation of the laws governing the spatial
distribution of certain features on the surface of the earth." - Fred Schaefer, 1953
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"Study of variations in phenomena from place to place." - Holt-Jensen, 1980
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"...concerned with the locational or spatial variation in both physical and human
phenomena at the earth's surface" - Martin Kenzer, 1989
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"Geography is the study of the patterns and processes of human (built) and environmental
(natural) landscapes, where landscapes comprise real (objective) and perceived
(subjective) space." - Gregg Wassmansdorf, 1995
-Essentially geography is partially a physical science (investigates landforms, geology, and
climate patters), partially a social science (investigates cultural phenomena), and partially a set of
techniques to collect and analyze spatial information (GIS).
-Geographic Information Systems: Complex computer programs that allow for the input,
storage, analysis, and display of spatial information. Give description of how I used GIS
in my research. There are GIS courses here at OLC in the math and science department.
-So what I am getting at here is that geography is not just knowing where things are. For
example it is not only important to know where Pine Ridge reservation is, but why it is there
(and not somewhere else), how its boundaries were drawn, what it is like, whether or not
lifestyles associated with it can be observed somewhere else in the world, and what this tells us
about economic and political patterns more generally.
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Week 1
Introduction to Geography
Sept. 1st
-Like it or not Maps are important tools in the field of geography. However, maps themselves
are created by humans and are thus an interpretation the world. Lets look at a few famous
examples.
-This map of the world is one most of you are probably familiar with. It is called the Mercator
Projection and is named after the cartographer (or mapmaker) Gerardus Mercator who made the
map in 1569. This map was designed for and works very well for nautical navigation. However
it has become the most common projection used for world maps in most educational
publications.
-Problem is that it distorts the size and shape of objects far from the equator. Look at
Greenland in this map; it looks the same size as Africa when in reality it is 14 times
smaller than Africa. Alaska looks the same size a Brazil but Brazil is about 5 times the
size of Alaska.
-Many also consider this map to be very Eurocentric. As we can see in this map Europe,
and modern day Belgium where Mercator was from, are near the center of the map.
When in reality Europe is a small northern continent.
-This map of the world probably looks a little less familiar to you. It is called the Gall-Peters
Projection. It is named after James Gall who first proposed the projection in 1855 and Arno
Peters who re-presented the projection as his own invention in 1973.
-Peters claims his map is superior to the Mercator projection because it causes less
distortion in relation to the equator. According to him much of the technologically
underdeveloped world is near the equator and these countries appear smaller on Mercator
maps. On Peters's projection, by contrast, areas of equal size on the globe are also
equally sized on the map. By using his "new" projection, poorer, less powerful nations
could be restored to their rightful proportions. Some so called “politically correct”
organizations have picked up on this but for the most part Mercator is still the most
common in educational publications.
-As you can see in this map does not have Europe at its center and country sizes are less
distorted.
-This map is called an Upside-Down Map or a South-Up Map, it is most popular with some
South American intellectual who like to use it to prove that most maps have a northern
hemisphere bias. In space there is no up or down so the north is up is just an arbitrary decision,
one that started with the ancient Greek astronomer Ptolemy.
-In reality however any flat map is going to have some distortion since the world is round. The
best way to look at the world is on a globe.
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Week 1
Introduction to Geography
Sept. 1st
-As I mentioned earlier maps are not the only thing geographers are interested in. Lets take a
look at a few topics that are of interest to modern geographers.
-Some geographers study health problems such as diabetes.
-Diabetes: where body does not produce enough insulin, or doesn’t respond well to it.
Insulin allows cells to digest glucose (sugar), to make energy. So too much glucose
accumulates in blood (leading to seizures, organ failure (pancreas, blindness, heart
attacks) and poor healing of cuts (gangrene to amputation).
-A geographer studying this problem won’t just look at the disease it self, they will look
for places where the disease is prevalent and see if environmental or social changes could
may have helped lead to the problem.
-We will use the Navajo reservation as an example of how this can be done. The Navajo
reservation in Arizona, Utah, and New Mexico is the largest Native American Reservation in the
United States.
The Problem:
-Early 1950s- Navajo res.: low incidence of diabetes (much lower than national average)
-Late1980s- same place: much higher frequencies than national average.
How could this happen in about 30 years?
-Typical meals in 1920:
morning: soup of cornmeal, goat milk, wild celery, maybe bit of rabbit, seasoned with local rock
salt.
afternoon: corn bread, blue bread (from wild seeds), roasted wild game (rabbit, deer, antelope),
squash, boiled dried apricots (seasonally), wild tea
Typical meals 1930s:
introduction of sheep herds, overgrazing (less veg cover, less groundwater, more arroyos)
so less wild plants (but still family gardens), people going hungry- diet starts to change
trading posts: wheat flour, potatoes, sugar, coffee, lard, salt (but not everyone in vicinity)
typical meals in 1950s
breakfast: corn mush (cornmeal + goat milk)
lunch: corn bread, goat cheese, boiled dried peaches or raisins
dinner: goat stew with potatoes or corn, blue bread, piñon nuts
Indian health service (1955):
- gov’t food rations distributed
-flour, cornmeal, rice, powdered milk, peanut butter, dried beans, cheese, chopped meat
Construction Interstate highway (1957)and the growth of Phoenix:
increased availability of alcohol
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Week 1
Introduction to Geography
Sept. 1st
Food Stamp program (1974):
-distribution to remote communities
-every month familes got: canned meats and vegetables, powdered milk, cheese, pasta, rice,
cornmeal, white flour, canned fruit juices, butter, lard, corn syrup, raisins
*(only half familes still had gardens)
1980s- Gila River goes dry:
(farmers upstream diverting water to commercial farms and ranches) along with increased access
to interstate highway
-very little family gardening, increased dependence on cheap food (junk food, soda is typically
very high in sugar and salt)
So over all we have:
 environmental changes- less water
 cultural changes- growth of Phoenix, farms and ranches
 economic-political changes in gov’t distribution
These Changes helped lead to:
 increasing poverty
 trends toward less fiber, less wild foods
 more meats (less vitamin C), more alcohol, more sugar, more salt
-All of these changes lead to a drastic increase in diabetes and obesity on the Navajo
Reservation.
-So after conducting such a study a geographer may want to expand the question and see if such
a trend is repeated on other Native American reservations. Do you think they would find similar
results? (Diabetes rate for Native Americans is ¼ of population, much higher than national
average).
-Another interesting topic Geographers study is Geopolitics which essential looks at political
trends using a spatial perspective.
-US election map from 2008. Do you see any common features for blue or red states?
-US election map looking at counties rather than states. So what does this map tell us, is
it more or less informative?
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Week 1
Introduction to Geography
Sept. 1st
Globalization:
-For out last topic today I will briefly introduce you to the term Globalization. Your
textbook and therefore this class focus upon this term. What does it mean to you?
-Your book calls globalization “the growing interconnectedness of people and places
through converging processes of economic, political, and cultural change.”
-Globalization is driven by economic activities however the consequences affect all
aspects of our life.
-In this class we will look at all aspects of globalization but look at each of the world’s
regions by first focusing on their cultures. We will look at cultural differences and
similarities and see how modern globalization is affecting local cultures and creating a
new “global culture”.
-So think about these things as you are reading chapters one and two for next week.
-Informal Survey on topics they are most interested in.
Research Paper Assignment:
-Finding Sources in the Library:
www.olc.edu  Library  Databases  Infotrac or Proquest 
If you are off campus you will need to enter the bar code from the back of your Library Card and
your last name as your password.  Search for your topic.
Demonstration Using Proquest:
Advanced Search: Tourism and Peru
1st and 3rd articles no good only have abstracts on-line. 2nd article (Through a New Mirror…)
very good has full-text, is a scholarly journal, and has lots of references.
Plagiarism:
Plagiarism (copying the work of others, or using the work of others without proper citations) will
not be tolerated and will lead to a failing grade on this paper and could possibly lead to a failing
grade in this class, or even expulsion from the college. For an experienced instructor, like
myself, plagiarism is easy to detect, so don’t even think of trying to turn in a paper that has been
intentionally plagiarized.
Oftentimes students plagiarize without intending to do so. So I would like to give you a
few simple guidelines that you can use to avoid accidental plagiarizing a source.
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Week 1
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Introduction to Geography
Sept. 1st
It is never acceptable to simply cut and paste text from another source into your papers
without proper citation.
You obviously need to cite authors when you use their exact words or quotes; you need to
indicate you are using a quote by using quotation marks or italics.
You also need to cite authors when you paraphrase them or even just refer to their ideas.
If you use more than 60% of an author’s exact words, you must cite the page number.
You can turn in rough drafts of your paper until Nov. 16th, this way if I notice any
accidental plagiarism I can help you correct your mistakes.
1) When you are using a direct quote from a source in your paper you need to put the
quote in quotation marks and then at the end of the sentence put in the citation including
the page number where you found the quote. The format will be (Author’s last name
Year of publication: page number). See the following example:
During the time of the Prophet Muhammad veils “did not conceal but rather announced
the religious status of the women who wore them” (Fernea & Fernea 2000: 255).
2) When you use a direct quote from a source and use the author’s name(s) in your text
you only need to follow the author’s name with the year of publication and the page
number where you found the quote. See the following example:
According to Fernea and Fernea (2000: 255) during the time of the Prophet Muhammad
veils “did not conceal but rather announced the religious status of the women who wore
them”.
3) When you paraphrase the ideas or concepts written by an author you need to put a
citation at the end of a sentence that includes the authors last name(s) and the year of
publication. See the following example:
When Islam was just emerging as a faith on the Arabian Peninsula, women chose to mark
themselves as followers of the Muslim faith by donning the veil (Fernea & Fernea 2000).
4) When you use numbers or figures taken from a source but don’t directly quote that
source’s text you still need to cite in the same format as #1 using the author’s last
name(s), the year of publication, and the page number where you found that data you are
using. See the following example (Note this example is not from the above paragraph
since it contains no numbers):
The Enga of Papua New Guinea live in small patrilineal groups consisting on average of
about 33 members (Johnson 1989: 199).
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