GEOGRAPHY EDUCATION

The spread of AIDS/HIV since the 1980s has varied greatly over time and space.  The red lines represent Sub-Saharan countries and the dark blue line on this interactive is the regional average of Sub-Saharan African countries.  The regional trend was on the rise at the end of the 20th century, but is now on a slight decline (but still an major impact on the continent).  Countries such as Botswana and Zimbabwe have made some significant strides in limiting the spread of AIDS (Zimbabwe is the country that ‘peaked’ in 1997 and has had the steepest decline).

Tags: Africa, medical, development, infographic, diffusion.

Quick facts about the “new” Mexico:

• Mexico has more international trade deals (44) than any other country.
• Mexico exports more manufactured products than all the other countries in Latin America combined
• Mexico’s GDP is expected to grow by nearly 4% this year, twice as fast as Brazil (and the USA).
• Mexico’s average income (PPP) is higher than China, India Russia or Brazil (Mexico could be a BRIC country if it didn’t ruin the acronym).

Does that help in explaining why Mexican aren’t leaving to go to the United States?  In fact, more Mexicans are leaving the United States than entering in a clear example of changing push and pull factors.

The recent resurgence of this issue had me looking through the archives and stumbled upon this 2011 article.  As urban expansion is booming in many Indian cities, the modern city expands into the countryside.  The cultural values of these two demographic groups are quite distinct.  Young, educated women are part of the modern cities’ workforce but in many conservative, traditional Indian villages, women working outside the home are seen as “lacking in virtue.”  In many of the recent gang rape cases, the perpetrators are less educated young men from surrounding villages and the victims are well-educated young working women that are a part of the new city.    

Public spaces, especially at night, are seen as masculine spaces in most traditional societies.  One of the mothers of an accused rapist succinctly explained this mindset thusly: “If these girls roam around openly like this, then the boys will make mistakes.”  This is seen as ‘Eve teasing,’ where women are perceived as responsible for the violence committed against them to maintain social order. 

This other NY Times article op-ed states, “India must work on changing a culture in which women are routinely devalued. Many are betrothed against their will as child brides, and many suffer cruelly, including acid attacks and burning, at the hands of husbands and family members.  India, a rising economic power and the world’s largest democracy, can never reach its full potential if half its population lives in fear of unspeakable violence.”

Tags: India, migration, South Asia, culture, urban, folk culture, megacities.