GEOGRAPHY EDUCATION

“Ever since I researched the meanings of monuments in the cultural landscape in Mexico City, I’ve been fascinated by the cultural politics of memory and heritage. The removal of a statue is a cultural 180, acknowledging what was once honored and revered is now something that is not worthy of that distinction. This sort of change is not without protests on both sides and a cultural rearticulation of who ‘we’ are when ‘we’ make a public memorial.”

Source: geographyeducation.org

Cecil Rhodes was the namesake for the Rhodes scholarship at Oxford University and the colonial names of Zambia (Northern Rhodesia) and Zimbabwe (Southern Rhodesia).  He was deeply connected to British colonialism and was one of the most ambitious colonizers that expanded the British Empire.  This week a statue of Cecil Rhodes on the University of Cape Town campus was removed.  See the BBC article, Yahoo News!, and PRI podcastfor more details. 

Questions to Ponder: Why do you think this monument to Cecil Rhodes was established in 1934?  Why was it removed in 2015?  What does this say about South African politics and culture?  How might we characterize the supporters and opponents of the statue?

Tags: South Africa, Africa, historical, colonialism, political, landscape.

“Yes. It’s true. In the meantime, I’d also like to live. Except, nobody wants to let me live–they all want to remind me of how I’m going to die, or how I’m going to cause my children to die. I was packing my kid’s lunch the other day, and tossed in a Twinkie with a smile and stroke of endearment, when I happened to glance at my kid’s class newsletter on the table. It informed me that if I feed my child Twinkies, I might as well be feeding him rocket fuel.”

Source: www.insideoutminds.com

I can’t agree with everything mentioned in this article, but the overall message something that I do think is worth discussing.  Our society can be swayed by fear and a few statistics to wildly overreact to a situation (Ebola, Y2K, etc.).  So many movies tap into the our societal fears that an over dependence on technology or chemical alterations will destroy humanity (like Terminator, the Matrix, the Net, etc.).  The anti-GMO movement successfully taps into that cultural zeitgeist, and some like ‘the Food Babe’ stir up fear to the chagrin of many scientists.     

Tags: GMOs, technology, agriculture, agribusiness.

We asked a range of people, from writers and chefs to musicians and photographers, to share one experience from the last year that truly inspired them – something that, in no uncertain terms, reminded them why they love the world. Madly. Here’s what they told us.

Source: www.bbc.com

Fog envelops Table Mountain in Cape Town, South Africa, in this National Geographic Photo of the Day from our Your Shot community.

Source: photography.nationalgeographic.com

Source: www.johnnycashhasbeeneverywhere.com

This is more for the teachers than the students since this is most certainly not a current pop culture reference.  Still, what’s better than an interactive map displaying the locations where Johnny Cash has been while listening to him sing “I’ve Been Everywhere?”  (Tech support: Use Google Chrome or Safari to play and ignore the finger). 

Tags: music, transportation, mapping, tourism.

Clarissa Ward breaks down the history of differences between opposing sects of Islam

Source: www.cbsnews.com

The geography of the Sunni-Shiite division is incredibly important for a good understanding of world regional geography as well as modern geopolitics. This 5 minute video (as well as this NPR podcast) examine the historical and religious aspects of this split to then analyze the political and cultural implications in the Middle East today.  Additionally this Pew Research article highlights the 5 countries where the the majority of Muslims are Shiite, with some good demographic data to add to the analysis.  Take this quiz to test your knowledge.  

Tags: MiddleEast, Islam, religion, historical, culture.

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In ‘How to Make an Attractive City,’ a new video from the School of Life, London-based Swiss writer Alain de Botton offers a cheeky, thought-provoking, six-point manifesto on the need for making beauty a priority in urban architecture and design.”

Source: www.slate.com

Not everyone is a fan of Paris, but the author of this article feels that tourism can be seen as helpful proxy variable for what the general public perceives as good urbanism that makes for beautiful cities.  The six main points of this article are:

• Order and Variety
• Visible Life
• Compact
• Orientation and Mystery
• Scale
• Local

Tags: urban, planning, urbanism, culture, tourism.

“Based upon student reactions to their multiple choice exams, I can tell that the types of questions are NOT, ‘choose the correct definition for the vocabulary term.’ Instead, the types of questions are leading towards giving an example of a real world phenomenon and then requesting students to tell which term best applies. And though I have not seen an actual test, it sounds like the kids were saying that the questions require more reading than the answers (I would actually prefer that to the alternative).”

Source: magic.piktochart.com

This article (with the outstanding infographic above) from the Human Imprint is an excellent primer to get students ready for the APHG exam.    

Tags: APHG, infographic.  

“All over the continent, potential parents have shown reluctance to have more babies. Hence, governments and advocacy groups are becoming increasingly creative about getting their citizens to make babies.”

Tag: Europe, declining populations, population, demographic transition model.

Source: www.washingtonpost.com