What is Human Geography?
Chapter 1
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Introducing Human Geography
What do Geographers do?
• Definition: Human Geography
• Major Subfields
http://www.geog.okstate.edu
What is Human Geography? (cont’d)
Nature and Culture
• Dualism of Nature vs. Culture
• Why is this dualism
rejected by many?
• Cultural Ecology
What is Human Geography? (cont’d)
Cultural Ecology: Four Approaches
1. Environmental
Determinism
• Definition
2. Possibilism
• Definition
• How is it a Criticism of
Environmental
Determinism?
• Actor-Network Theory
What is Human Geography? (cont’d)
3. Humans as Modifiers of
the Earth
•
•
Natural vs. Cultural
Landscape
Nature as a Social
Construction
4. Earth as a Dynamic,
Integrated System
•
Two Key Principles
What is Human Geography? (cont’d)
Cultural Landscapes and Regions
Types of Regions:
• Formal
• Functional
• Perceptual
What is Human Geography? (cont’d)
Cultural Landscapes and Regions
Types of Regions:
• Formal
• Functional
• Perceptual
What is Human Geography? (cont’d)
Cultural Landscapes and Regions
Types of Regions:
• Formal
• Functional
• Perceptual
What is Human Geography? (cont’d)
Cultural Landscapes and Regions
Types of Regions:
• Formal
• Functional
• Perceptual
What is Human Geography? (cont’d)
Cultural Landscapes
and Regions (cont’d)
• Culture: Definition and Attributes
• Q: What is a “Cultural Region?”
Are Cultural Regions formal,
functional, or perceptual?
Can you think of any examples?
Thinking Like a
Human Geographer
Place
• Site
• Situation
Thinking Like a Human Geographer (cont’d)
Space
• Absolute vs.
Relative
Space
• Spatial
Variation vs.
Spatial
Association
• Distribution
Thinking Like a Human Geographer (cont’d)
Spatial Diffusion
•
•
•
•
Relocation
Contagious
Hierarchical
Stimulus
Thinking Like a Human Geographer (cont’d)
Spatial Interaction and Globalization
• Globalization
• Spatial Interaction
– Definition
– Three Factors
• Distance-Decay
• Time-Space
Convergence
Thinking Like a Human Geographer (cont’d)
Spatial Interaction and Globalizatio
Thinking Like a Human Geographer (cont’d)
Geographic Scale
•
•
•
•
•
Large vs. Small
Verbal
Ration
Fractional
Graphic
Thinking Like a Human Geographer (cont’d)
What a Geographer Sees:
Cartographic Scale
Q: If you were asked to make a map of
a particular place, how would you know
which scale to use?
Geographical Tools
Remote Sensing
• Definition
• Examples
Geographical Tools (cont’d)
Global Positioning System (GPS)
•
•
•
•
Definition
Ethical Concerns
Geoslavery
Q: Can you think of
any examples of
potential ethical
issues related to
GPS?
Geographical Tools (cont’d)
Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
• Definition
• How it works
• Criticisms
Geographical Tools (cont’d)
Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
Introducing Human Geography
• Q: Have you ever used
remote sensing
geographical tools?
• These tools have helped
enable people all over the
Earth to be “geographers.”
• And now it’s your
opportunity to be one!