GEOGRAPHY EDUCATION

Technological change demands linguistic change.  The technological world in which our societies are immersed changes our lived experiences and aspects of culture such as language. For example, vinyl disks were simply called records until compact discs, audio tapes and digital files flooded the music market.  An artist may still cut a record today, but the record probably won’t be available in vinyl.   Vinyl, then, is a ‘retronym’ to now describe what was once called a record, which now has other meanings and connotations. This list has 14 other examples of retronyms, which exemplifies the cultural patterns and processes that create pop culture.  

Tags: language, culture, popular culture, technology.

We like to think that the Earth beneath our feet is solid and that the configuration of the landforms in our neighborhood will be unchanging.  This a dramatic reminder that Earth’s physical processes don’t ever stop–even if we’ve built a city in that spot.

Tags: physical, geomorphology, erosion, landforms, weather and climate, urban ecology.

The World Bank has produced a report entitled “Prosperity for All.”  In this the extremely poor are defined as making less than $1.25 a day.  Two thirds of the extremely poor live in just 5 countries (India, China, Nigeria, Bangladesh and DR Congo). 

Tags: poverty, development, economic, globalization, labor, NGOs.

I enjoy activities that challenge students to map out vernacular regions since it forces them to establish some criteria and consider the attributes of particular places.  So what does your ‘South’ look like? 

Tags: mapping, the South, regions.

This article is highlights what we already know; China is a dominant force in global trade (although the map should be centered on the Pacific to show China’s real shipping lanes and interregional connections).  Containers are symbols of global commerce that enable economies of scale to be profitable and the outsourcing of so many manufacturing jobs to developing countries (almost 90% of everything we buy arrives via ship).  The invention of these containers have changed the geography of global shipping and the vast majority of the world’s largest ports are now in East Asia. 

Tags: transportation, globalization, diffusion, industry, economic.

This isn’t the only international border dispute that is displayed differently in Google Maps.  Google uses over 30 distinct versions of international borders.  This brings up more questions than it answers–How is the Kashmir displayed in India?  Pakistan?  The West Bank in Israel or Egypt?  If you haven’t explored Google Maps in other languages, consider this your invitation to read maps as you would a text and to think about the political implications of making a map.   

Tags: google, mapping, borders, political.

We might be more terrified of large-bodied predators, but mosquitoes are the main vector of some deadly diseases.  Mosquitoes kill more people in 4 minutes that sharks do in an entire year.  The distribution of mosquitoes is a critical component in the geography of development.  This isn’t just a nuisance; it’s a matter of life or death.  

Tags: medical, development.