Geography 500: The History and Methodology of Modern
Geography
Fall 2005
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Professor: Dr. Cynthia Pope Office: DiLoreto 208-001
Classroom: Diloreto 316 Phone: (860) 832-2799
Class
Hours: W
Office
Hours: T, R
And by
appointment
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COURSE INTRODUCTION:
Geography
500 is intended to introduce entry‑level graduate students to; a) the
history of the discipline and its relevance to modern geography, b) methods of
inquiry in modern geography, c) tools of inquiry in modern geography, and d)
standards of research and practice in modern geography. In doing so, the students will work towards
answers to these basic questions;
What is Geography?
What is not Geography? What are
its roots and how has it evolved? How
has that evolution paralleled that of the social sciences? How does that evolution shape modern
geographic thought? Who have been the
leaders of the discipline? How have they
left their marks on it? How is the
discipline different today at the end of the century than at its
beginning? How is Geography's
development reflected in the CCSU Geography Department faculty? What are the methods of modern
Geography? How do they differ by sub‑field?
What does it mean to say that you are a Geographer?
COURSE OBJECTIVES:
Through
this course the department intends that our graduate students develop knowledge
of some of the core literature, key figures, and modern methods of
Geography. Through the course students
will also become familiar with the basic standards for advance geographic
research. Beyond its primary intentions,
we envision this course:
a) Introducing students to the field of geography as
it is practiced in the
b) Introducing graduate students to the geography and
geographers at CCSU,
c) Helping the entering students to
direct their interests early enough to complete the graduate program in a
timely manner,
d) Building a sense of camaraderie among our graduate
students (even if it is through group
suffering).
COURSE
FORMAT:
Geography 500 will be a seminar course in two parts. The first part of the course, comprising
about two-thirds of the semester, will be a review of the history and
development of geographic study. This
will include readings related to the development of Geography as a discipline,
and additional work designed to get students “up to speed” in the science of
geographic research. The second part of
the course will introduce students to the core literature, current trends, and
research techniques of some of the sub-fields of modern Geography. This will
also involve visits by other Geography faculty members. Each week the faculty members will provide
2-3 core articles and 2-3 research readings from their respective sub-fields. The faculty members will also assign 5-6
research questions related to the readings as a basis for class discussions.
The class will be administered as a true seminar. Students will be prepared for class so that
they can discuss the materials in an authoritative manner. Lecturing will only be done as a means of
introducing the reading materials. This
reliance on student input is reflected in the value placed on class participation.
COURSE MATERIALS:
All items required for the course will be made available to the
students. Some readings will be provided
in the Geography 500 mailbox, and one is attached to this syllabus. However, the vast majority of readings will
be available on line through the electronic versions of the Annals of the Association of American
Geographers, Geographical Review (appears under different names
going back to 1859!), and Economic Geography. To access these readings, go to the J-Stor database directly at http://0-www.jstor.org.csulib.ctstateu.edu/.
You will have to log in to the CCSU library system in order to get access to
this database. Once you are on the J-Stor homepage, go to “browse,” and then
click on “geography in the next screen.” That will provide a list of journals
listed in this syllabus.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
The grade for Geography 500 will be based on three equally weighted
components. These are course
participation (1/3 of total), the research paper (1/3 of total), and the exam
(1/3 of total).
Participation:
The participation grade will be based on the student's preparation for and
participation in class discussions. This
means that the grade will be based not just on the degree of participation, but
also on its quality and how well it reflects an informed understanding of the
course readings. Quizzes may be added if it appears the class is not reading
the materials prior to class. Quiz grades will be rolled into the participation
grades.
Research Paper:
Each student will be required to prepare and submit a research paper. Several
options are available and students should give serious consideration to a topic
early in the semester. All topics should
be discussed with the instructor as early as possible and before undertaking
exhaustive research. The paper will be
20+ double‑spaced pages in length and will adhere to accepted standards
of content and form. It should give
evidence of a comprehensive understanding of the subject matter, extend well
beyond the course readings, reflect a critical approach to the material, and
should be fundamentally sound. The
instructor must approve the topic and students may be sent to other department
faculty to consult on their topics. The
research paper is due at the time of the exam.
Option A) Historical Definitions of Geography-Students selecting this
option will prepare a paper on one of the major historical definitions of
geography. This paper will be a critical
historical essay in which it would be necessary to identify major proponents of
the particular concept, discuss logical and practical consequences of such a
concept, identify arguments contrary to the view, and discuss the relevance of
the view to the historical reality of geography.
Option B) Biography-Students selecting this option will prepare a
biography of an influential geographer who is no longer active in the
discipline. In preparing his/her
biography, the student should consider what themes the subject believed were of
central importance to the discipline.
The student should seek to explain the particular approaches the subject
followed in published works. Possible sources of explanation might follow from
(1) the personal history of the subject; (2) the influences of contemporaries
upon the subject; (3) the influences of neighboring disciplines; (4) the
influences of accumulated traditions of geography; (5) the influences of the
times and events current during the subject's career. The analysis should reach some conclusions,
however tentative, and as such will be MUCH more than just a chronology of the
individual and his/her professional career.
Option C) Historical Development of a Subfield of Geography-Students
selecting this option will prepare a paper on the development of some subfield
of geography (urban geography, biogeography, medical geography, etc.). This paper should discuss the goals, methods,
and concepts of the subfield as related to the prevailing concepts of geography
as a discipline. There should be some
suitable time dimension, although the emphasis should be on recent materials.
Exam: The exam will call on students to synthesize
the course materials in informed responses to essay questions. It is open note/book/whatever. The exam will take place on December 17th.
GRADES AND
GRADING POLICIES:
Grades for the course will be based on
the following grading scale.
A 93-100% B 83-86.9% C 73-76.9% D 63-66.9%
A- 90-92.9% B- 80-82.9% C- 70-72.9% D- 60-62.9%
B+ 87-89.9% C+ 77-79.9% D+ 67-69.9% F Less
than 60%
The distribution of the grades for the course will be determined as
indicated in the Course Requirements section of this syllabus. If you ever have questions concerning your
performance, please see me during office hours or make an appointment.
LATE ASSIGNMENTS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.
READING LIST AND TENTATIVE CLASS SCHEDULE
The schedule of classes below is, as indicated, tentative. It may change due to any number of unforeseen
circumstances. What will not change are
the paper and exam due dates. In the
event that classes are cancelled due to the weather, we will schedule a make-up
class. It is expected that students will
come to class having read the assigned readings.
PART 1:
THE HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF GEOGRAPHIC STUDY
8/31 Week
1-Introduction to Course, M.S. Geography Program, and Each Other
Review the history and standards of Geographic research.
The Four Traditions of Geography, William Pattison, The Journal of Geography, Vol. 63
(1963), pp. 211-
216. SYLLABUS ATTACHMENT
9/7 Week 2-The Traditions of Geographic
Thought-What is Geography?
desJardins, Marie. 1994. How to be a good graduate
student.
http://www.cs.indiana.edu/HTMLit/how.2b/how.2b.html.
The Value of Geography to the Scholar, the Merchant,
and the Philanthropist, Joseph
P. Thompson, Journal of the American Geographical
and Statistical Society (later the Geographical Review), Vol. 1,
Issue 4 (1859), pp. 98-107.
The Circumference of Geography, Nevin M. Fenneman, Annals of the Association of American
Geographers, Vol. 9 (1919), pp. 3-11.
A Retrospect of Geography, W.M. Davis, Annals of the Association of American
Geographers, Vol. 22, No. 4. (1932), pp. 211-230.
Changing Currents of Geographic Thought in
The Nature of Geography: A Critical Survey of Current
Thought in the Light of the Past, Richard Hartshorne, Annals of the
Association of American Geographers, Vol. 29, No. 3 (1939), pp. 636-645.
9/14 Week 3-Antecedants of 20th Century
Geography
The Concept of Location in Classical Geography, F.
Lukermann, Annals of the Association of
American
Geographers, Vol. 51, No. 2 (1961),
pp. 194-210.
The Nature of Geography: A Critical Survey of Current Thought in the
Light of the Past,
Annals of the
Association of American Geographers,
Vol. 29, No. 3 (1939), pp. 211-
277.
Geographers, Vol. 56, No. 4 (1966), pp. 683-698.
9/21 Week 4-Environmentalism, Environmental
Determinism, Human Ecology and Responses
Principles of Geographic Description, W. M. Davis, Annals
of the Association of American
Geographers,
Vol. 5 (1915), pp. 61-105.
The Anglo-Saxons of the
American Geographical Society (later the Geographical Review), Vol. 42,
Issue 8,
(1910), pp. 561-594.
The Relation of Health to Racial Capacity: The Example of
Geographical
Review, Vol. 11, Issue 2 (1921), pp.
243-264.
Geography as Human Ecology, Harlan Barrows, Annals of the Association of American
Geographers, Vol. 13, No. 1 (1923), pp. 1-14.
Environment, Village and City: A Genetic Approach to
Urban Geography; with Some
Reference to Possibilism, Griffith
Geographers,
Vol. 32, No. 1 (Mar., 1942), pp. 1-67.
Determinism in Geography, R.S. Platt, Annals of the Association of American
Geographers,
Vol. 38, No. 2 (1948), pp. 126-132.
9/28 Week 5-The Region
Morphology of Landscape, Carl O. Sauer, 1925. In Agnew
et. al. Human Geography: An
Essential Anthology,
IN RESERVE
A Detail of Regional Geography:
S. Platt, Annals of the Association of American
Geographers, Vol. 18, No. 2 (1928),
pp. 81-126.
The
Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 19, No. 2 (1929), pp. 67-
109.
Toward a Further Understanding of the Regional
Concept,
Association of American Geographers, Vol. 42, No. 3 (1952), pp. 195-222.
The Highest Form of the Geographer's Art, John Fraser
Hart, Annals of the Association of
American Geographers, Vol. 72, No. 1 (1982), pp. 1-29.
10/5 Week 6-The Quantification Revolution
"Academic War over the Field of Geography":
The Elimination of Geography at Harvard,
Neil Smith, Annals of the Association of American
Geographers, Vol. 77, No. 2
(1987), pp. 155-172.
Exceptionalism in Geography, F. Schaefer, Annals of the Association of American
Geographers, Vol. 43, No. 3 (1953), pp. 226-249.
Comment on "Exceptionalism in Geography",
Richard Hartshorne, Annals of the Association
of American Geographers, Vol. 44, No. 1 (1954), pp. 108-109.
The Functional Bases of the
Economic Geography, Vol. 34, No. 2 (1958), pp. 145-154.
A Multivariate Analysis of the Spacing of Urban
Settlements in the
King, Annals of the Association of American
Geographers, Vol. 51, No. 2 (1961), pp.
222-233.
A Classification of Map Projections, Waldo R. Tobler, Annals
of the Association of American
Geographers,
Vol. 52, No. 2 (1962), pp. 167-175.
10/12 Week
7- Marxist and Postmodern Geography
Population, Resources, and
the Ideology of Science, David Harvey, Economic Geography, Vol. 50, No.
3
(1974), pp. 256-277.
Inequality and Poverty: A
Marxist-Geographic Theory, Richard Peet, Annals of the Association of
American Geographers, Vol. 65, No. 4 (1975), pp.
564-571.
Structural Marxism and Human
Geography: A Critical Assessment, David Ley, Annals of the Association of
American Geographers, Vol. 72, No. 1 (1982), pp.
30-59.
The Social Origins of
Environmental Determinism, Richard Peet, Annals of the Association of
American
Geographers, Vol. 75, No. 3 (1985), pp. 309-333.
Postmodern
What Causes Poverty? A
Postmodern View, Lakshman Yapa, Annals of the Association
of American Geographers, Vol. 86, No. 4 (1996), pp.
707-728.
10/19 WEEK
8--Current Trends in Geographic Thought
Topics
in this part of the course will be as shown.
Copies of readings that are not available on-line will be placed on
reserve in the Geography 500 mailbox in DiLoreto 208.
10/26 Week 9-Urban Geography/Regional Planning—Prof. Sommers
11/2 Week 10-Tourism Geography—Profs. David Truly and
Richard Benfield
11/9 Week 11- Cultural Geography-Prof. Harmon
11/16 Week 12-Medical Geography-Prof. Pope
11/23 Week 13-THANKSGIVING
RECESS—NO CLASS—WORK ON PAPER!
11/30 Week 14- Physical Geography-Prof.
Button and Resource
Geography-Prof. Kyem
12/7 Week
15- Regional Geography and Sustainability-Prof. Rickard
12/12-17 FINAL EXAM WEEK
12/14—FINAL EXAM—
Your final paper is due on the same day
as your final exam.