Course Description
This course studies major regions of the world, focusing on the relationship of humans with their environment, the movement of people and goods, and the ways regions are formed and undergo change. IAI: S4 906.
Prerequisite(s)
Appropriate assessment score or ENGL 1422 with a grade of C or better - Must be taken either prior to or at the same time as this course.
At the end of this course, students will be able to:
- Know the reasons geographers divide the world into regions for study
- Be able to divide the world into regions of various kinds with examples that include the political, the economic, the cultural, and the physical
- Be able to use spatial analysis of traditional and digital maps to assess how regions evolve, interact, and change over time
- Know the dominant physical ad cultural traits of each major world region
- Be able to describe how the dominant physical characteristics of each major region influence settlement and cultural patterns (i.e. human-environmental interaction)
- Be able to explain the uneven distribution of human activity using analytical and critical thinking skills
- Be able to demonstrate knowledge of your own society and how it differs from the cultures of the other major world regions
Topical Outline
- Introduction: Global Connections
- A World of Difference: Why Geography Matters; How Regions are Defined; Geographer’s Toolbox; Mapping People; Cultural Coherence and Diversity; The Geography of Wealth and Power; A Systems Thinking Model; The World as Space-Time: The Geography of World Time Zones
- Global Context: Geology as a Base; Current Geopolitical Framework; Globalization; Water: Scarcity, Privatization and Gender Issues
- Central America and the Caribbean: Cocaine Capitalism, the Narco Economy, and the Narco State; The Real Pirates of the Caribbean; The Plantation System and Monocropping
- South America: Coffee; The Galapagos; Issues for Indigenous Peoples; The Amazon: Water and Deforestation Issues
- Europe: The EU; the East-West Divide and the North-South Divide; Can Fertility Rates be Increased?; The Impact of Refugees on Europe; Brexit; Rivers and Canals
- Russia and Its Neighbors: Chernobyl; Cultural Conflict and Survival; Exclaves in the Post-Soviet World
- East Asia: Population and Pollution; Okinawa
- Southeast Asia: Smoked: Deforestation; Exports: Seafood, Opium and Female Workers; Heritage Tourism; Informal Economy and Slums
- South Asia: Movements: Conservation, Yoga, Peace; Bollywood; Monsoon; again, Informal Economy and Slums
- The Middle East and North Africa: Water vs Oil; Refugee Highways; Dubai’s Race Against Time
- Sub-Saharan Africa: Deforestation: Palm Oil, Cacao, Coffee and Fuel; Health Issues; Colonial Legacies; Single-Export Economies
- Australasia and Oceania: Pacific Island Challenges; Obesity in South Pacific Islands; Indigenous Issues
- North America: Engineering Rivers; Oil, tar sands, fracking, and pipelines; hurricanes
- Investigating Geography through Film, Literature, and Participation