1. The Geographic Perspective: Social Science Aspects
Jill S. M. Coleman, Ph.D.
Department of Geography
Ball State University: Muncie, IN

2. Geography: Defining the Discipline
What is geography?
What topics do geographers study?
What makes geography different from other disciplines?

3. Geography: Defining the Discipline
Geographia (Greek origins)
Geo (earth) + graphein (to describe or write)
To write or describe the surface of the earth
The study of the spatial arrangement and association among elements on and/or in contact with the earth’s surface
Explaining the “big picture”

4. Geography: Defining the Discipline
Three defining questions…
What is located where?
Why are things located where they are?
What is the significance?
What: Geographic reference base
2) Why: interaction between places near and far, understand the decision making or physical process, landscape modification, involves spatial analysis
3) Significance: population clusters and movement, disease transmission, environmental degradation, etc., disaster risk

5. Modern Geography: Traditions
Spatial distributions of physical and cultural features
Relationship between people and the environment
Existence and evolution of regions
Physical characteristics of the earth
4 traditional areas of study
Examine the lands that support people (environment)
Look at the existence of distinctive areas or regions, including analysis and explanation of how they came to be formed
Physical geography—oldest of all geographic traditions, but often divided among other disciplines as well (geology)

6. Geography: Defining the Discipline
Linkage with the physical sciences and social sciences
Interdisciplinary
Variation across space
Degree of human impact assessment

7. Human Geography
Study of the relationship of human beings and their activities (past or present) to the surrounding environment and the consequences of these interactions
Focuses more on…
The cultural characteristics of a place
The processes that influence or shape that place
The interconnectedness of those places

8. Tools of the Trade Visual Representation Qualitative Techniques
Cartography
Remote Sensing
Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
Qualitative Techniques
Surveys
Personal Interviews
Spatial Quantitative Methods
Quantitative: PCA, gravity model (based on population and distance (in social aspects, more time consideration or travel cost) that the spatial interaction between two location tends to decrease with increasing distance, but at a given distance expands with increasing size).

9. Patterns and Distributions Example: Corpus Christi, TX Crime
Social Geography
Cartography
Corpus Christi, Texas crime distribution
GIS; Social Geography

10. Patterns and Distributions Example: Cocaine Export & Distribution
Economic geography
Colombia 70-80% world’s production
Coca has been an important cultivated crop in the Andean region for over 4,000 years and has been an integral component in the trade between the highland areas and the coast for nearly as long
The coca leaf contains less than 1% cocaine and has much the same effect as caffeine.
Coca plants can thrive in poor soil, have few pests or predators—an ideal crop for the bleak growing conditions in the Andes. After planting, leaves can be harvested by 6-12 months. Coca plants can yield 4-5 crops per year for years.
Grown today in other regions of the world, such as India and Indonesia, where the climate is similar to the Andean tropics,
In the southern coca-growing region, the temperature averages between 49.5 and 52 degrees Fahrenheit and there is light rainfall. Coca is normally grown between 3,300 and 6,600 feet above sea level.
There are three primary environmental consequences of coca and poppy cultivation: deforestation and the destruction of the habitat, soil erosion, and pollution of both air and water.
Due to the illegality of coca and poppy growth the farmers place their fields on hillsides, which are more difficult for the government agents to reach than fields located on the valley floors. Because the government does pursue an active eradication campaign, the farmers rarely expect to enjoy long-term cultivation of their fields and, consequently, rarely employ soil conservation techniques. The pesticides used by the growers travel through the soil into the ground water and eventually into the rivers and streams.
Economic
Geography

11. Patterns and Distributions Example: 2003 West Nile Virus Incidence
Medical Geography
Biogeography
Climatology
Medical Geography; Biogeography
People who contract WNV may have such minimal symptoms they might not even know they are infected. Others develop a mild flu-like illness that lasts for a few days or weeks. Severe symptoms can include a high fever, stiff neck, muscle weakness and neurological symptoms including coma, vision loss, numbness and paralysis. Illness can last for several weeks, and permanent central nervous system damage can result. Fortunately, just one person out of every 150 people infected will develop such serious illness.
Humans are not the only species affected by West Nile Virus. Certain birds and mammals are also at risk for infection. Birds, crows in particular, play a significant role as they readily harbor the virus. The common link between birds and humans is the mosquito.

12. Patterns and Distributions Example: 2007 West Nile Virus Incidence
Medical Geography
Biogeography
Climatology
Medical Geography; Biogeography
People who contract WNV may have such minimal symptoms they might not even know they are infected. Others develop a mild flu-like illness that lasts for a few days or weeks. Severe symptoms can include a high fever, stiff neck, muscle weakness and neurological symptoms including coma, vision loss, numbness and paralysis. Illness can last for several weeks, and permanent central nervous system damage can result. Fortunately, just one person out of every 150 people infected will develop such serious illness.
Humans are not the only species affected by West Nile Virus. Certain birds and mammals are also at risk for infection. Birds, crows in particular, play a significant role as they readily harbor the virus. The common link between birds and humans is the mosquito.

13. The Geographic Perspective The “Six Essential Elements”*
1. The World in Spatial Terms
2. Places and Regions
3. Physical Systems
4. Human Systems
5. Environment and Society
6. Uses of Geography
Studies the relationships between people, places and environments by mapping information about them into a spatial context. This can involve mental maps, statistical analysis, cartography, GIS, data acquisition, etc.
2. Identify the physical and human characteristics of places. Creation of region to interpret the Earth’s complexity. Understanding of culture and experience and how they influence people’s perception of place
Understanding of the physical processes that shape the earth, their physical distribution, patterns of the Earth’s surface.
Understand the characteristics, distribution, and migration of human populations. Cultural mosaics. Patterns and networks of economic interdependence. Division of the earth’s surface.
Human modification of the physical environment. Changes in resources.
How to apply geography to interpret the past, present and plan for future.
*Geography for Life: National Geography Standards 1994.

14. The Geographic Perspective
Understanding the ways in which humankind perceives and interacts with the Earth’s surface, its resources, and its people
Geography lies at the intersection of both social and physical sciences
Explain the processes that give rise to spatial distributions---it’s not all about maps!
Geographic landscapes are social creations
Looking locally and globally as well as over time
Landscapes are a social creation both locally and globally as people migrate, develop, reflect class, gender, ethnicity, politics, economics, etc.