1. Lindsay Haffner Sarah Metzger Emma Spinetto Ashley Will Unit I: Geography: Its Nature and Perspectives

2. Overview Globalization Diffusion Maps 5 Themes of Geography Possibilism vs. Environmental Determinism But first…

3. Terms in this Unit Geography: a science that deals with the description, distribution, and interaction of the diverse physical, biological, and cultural features of the earth’s surface Human Geography: the study of human creation and organization of space and society, as well as the interaction of humans across place and space Accessibility: ability to be reached or entered Connectivity: the state or extent of being connected or interconnected Pandemic: prevalent over a whole country or the world Epidemic: a widespread occurrence of an infectious disease in a community at a particular time

4. Globalization Definition: the set of processes that are increasing interactions, deepening relationships, and heightening interdependence without regard to country borders In other words, globalization is the set of outcomes that is felt from these global processes These outcomes are unevenly distributed and differently manifested all over the world

5. What does that mean? Well… Globalization processes occur at the world scale i.e. global financial markets, environmental change Processes of globalization do NOT automatically appear at the global scale What happens at local, regional, and national scales helps make the processes of globalization and shape the outcomes

6. Culture Culture: the arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively Identifies not only the whole visible lifestyle of peoples, but also their prevailing values and beliefs Learned, isn’t biological Cultural Hearth: the origin of a culture; where a culture began Cultural Trait: a single component of a culture Cultural Complex: unique, discrete combination of traits Independent Invention: when such a cultural trait develops in more than one hearth without being influenced by its development elsewhere

7. Diffusion Diffusion occurs when things (ideas, people, goods) move across space 2 broad categories of diffusion: expansion diffusion and relocation diffusion Types of expansion diffusion: contagious, hierarchical, and stimulus

8. Expansion Diffusion Definition: occurs when an idea/product moves but people stay put Contagious Diffusion—(when an idea/product spreads adjacently) occurs when everyone around the hearth of this good is a part of it/exposed to it/at the mercy of it Hierarchical Diffusion—occurs when an idea/product spreads to most linked people or places first, then it spreads to more and more people Stimulus Diffusion—occurs when an idea promotes a local experiment or change in the way people do things

9. Examples of Expansion Diffusion Contagious Diffusion Example: Silly Bandz Hierarchical Diffusion Example: Uggs Stimulus Diffusion Example: Because Hindus believe cows are holy, cows often roam the streets in villages and towns. The McDonalds restaurants in India feature a veggie burger instead of just meat.

10. Relocation Diffusion Definition—occurs when people with an idea move The main difference between expansion diffusion and relocation diffusion is that in expansion diffusion, it’s the actual good, idea, disease, etc. that is diffusing. In relocation diffusion, it’s the actual individuals who have already adopted that trait that are doing the moving

11. Relocation Diffusion Example Example: The nation-state model diffused to the Americas because of the immigration of Europeans to Western civilization in the hopes of colonizing the “new world”

12. Slowing or Preventing Diffusion Time/distance decay: Time: an idea or custom moving from generation to generation moves in and out of the accepted norm Example: 80’s clothes Distance: physical distance may weaken an idea or custom Example: the farther away from China, the less authentic the Chinese food Cultural Barriers: Prevailing cultural attitude rendering certain innovations, ideas, or practices unacceptable or unadoptable in that particular culture Example: Beer companies would have a hard time selling to people of a religion that prohibits the drinking of alcohol

13. Cultural Landscape Cultural Landscape: the visible expression of human activity The natural landscape as modified by human activities and learnings Example: religious buildings diffuse with people such as Hindus and Muslims to the places they go Sequent Occupance Refers to the sequential imprints of occupants, who’s impacts are layered one on top of the other, each layer having some impacts on the next

14. Maps Cartography: the science or practice of drawing maps Reference maps: show locations of places and geographic features Thematic maps: tell stories, typically showing the degree of some attribute or the movement of a geographic phenomenon Mental maps: maps in our minds of places we have been and/or merely heard of

15. Generalization in Maps All maps simplify the world because they cannot show every place on Earth or every event that ever happened—cartographers generalize the information they put on maps The purpose of this is to help us see general trends

16. GPS, GIS, and Remote Sensing GPS (global positioning system): Allows us to locate things on the surface of each with accuracy Researchers collect data quickly and easily in the field GIS (global information system): Used to compare a variety of spatial data by creating digitized representations of the environment, combining layers of spatial data, and creating maps in which patterns and processes are superimposed Also used to analyze data, which can give us new insights into geographic patterns and relationships REMEMBER THE LAYERS Remote Sensing: Used to monitor the earth from a distance Data is collected by satellites and aircraft and are often almost instantaneously available

17. 5 Themes of Geography What are they? In the 1980s, four major geographical organizations in the US came together They formed the Geography Educational National Implementation Project The purpose of this was to bring together the many subfields of human geography and explain what geographers do These are the people that introduced the five themes of geography

18. Theme # : Location Why is location important? Location highlights how the geographical position of people and things on Earth affects what happens and why Location underlies almost all geographical work because it helps establish the context within events and processes Location Theory—element of contemporary human geography that looks for answers to lots of questions

19. Let’s Take a Closer Look Absolute location—the location of a place that is determined using a coordinate system that allows for the precise plotting of where something is on Earth (latitude and longitude) Relative location—relative location describes the location of a place in relation to other human and physical features Difference between the two—absolute locations do not change, but relative locations are constantly modified and changed over time

20. Theme # : Region A region is defined by features that are concentrated in particular areas To be more specific, geographers use fieldwork and both qualitative and quantitative methods to develop descriptions of different regions For example, a region might be defined by natural features, or it might be defined by something that occurs in the area

21. Let’s Take a Closer Look Formal region: a region that is defined by a shared trait (can be cultural or physical) Functional region: a region that is defined by a particular set of activities or interactions that occurs within it Perceptual region: an idea of a region that we have never been to; geographers do not all agree

22. Theme # : Place One of the purposes of geography is to study the special character and meaning of places Place itself is a particular position or point in space, has both physical and human characteristics Sense of place—people develop a sense of place by giving a place a meaning or emotion (by remembering events that happened there, or by labeling it with a character) Perception of place—people develop perceptions of places we have never been to

23. Let’s Take a Closer Look Physical Characteristics of Place: includes mountains, rivers, soil, beaches, wildlife, etc. Human Characteristics of Place: are derived from ideas and actions of people that result in changes to the environment, such as buildings, roads, clothing, and food habits.

24. Theme # : Movement Movement refers to the mobility of people, goods, and ideas across Earth Movement is the expression of interconnectedness of places (movement shows how places are connected) The spatial interaction between places depends on the distances between places, accessibility, and the transportation and communication connectivity between places—all of this reflects movement

25. Theme # : Human-Environment Interactions Human-Environment interactions is all about spatial perspective Spatial perspective—having a spatial perspective means considering the relationship between phenomena in individual places, including the relationship between humans and the physical world

26. Cultural Ecology and Political Ecology— Possibilism vs Environmental Determinism Possibilism and environmental determinism both fall under the category of cultural ecology Cultural ecology—the idea that culture is shaped by the way we interact and treat our environment Political ecology—the study of the relationships between political, economic, and social factors with environmental issues and changes

27. Possibilism The idea of possibilism is that anything is possible because human ingenuity can harness nature—that nature was the clay to be molded by humans Possibilism says that people are the primary architects of culture and cultural landscape—instead of nature and the environment

28. Environmental Determinism The idea of environmental determinism is that the ENVIRONMENT DETERMINES how a culture develops—humans were the clay to be molded by nature Says that the physical environment provided a dominant force in shaping cultures

29. Summary! Globalization-the set of processes that are increasing interactions in the world Culture: people’s beliefs and values 5 themes of geography-location, human- environment interaction, region, place, movement Possibilism vs. Environmental determinism- opposites of each other Diffusion-expansion (contagious, hierarchical, stimulus) and relocation Maps-reference, thematic, mental, generalization in maps