Running Head: BIBLIOGRAPHIC ESSAY

Ada Castro
Bibliographic Essay
Ottawa University

BIBLIOGRAPHIC ESSAY
Abstract
This paper offers a detailed explanation to answer the research question are continental
models ideographs? To answer this, the project makes a complete and deep analysis of the
rhetorical and geographical implications that the lack of continental relativism leaves behind.
The focus on the paper is to proof that continental models are, in fact, ideographs and how the
social perpetuated model needs to be changed on a worldwide basis. The lack of geographic
relativism not only affects immigrants but educations systems as a whole; as this is why
analyzing this concept is so important to the further understanding of diversity and
comprehension.

BIBLIOGRAPHIC ESSAY
Definition of terms
The paper will develop by first studying meanings and basic background information.
Second, explaining the tenets that make up an ideograph. Third, applying the tenets of the
ideograph to the continental models and lastly, stating the implications of the lack of geographic
relativism: both rhetorical and geographic.
According to the book The Myth of Continents by Lewis and Wigen (1997), a
continental model is the way every culture geographically divides the world or how many
continents we say there are. Currently there are four major continental models: The five
continents model used by the United Nations (UN). The six A model, which adds Antarctica,
used by Spanish speaking countries. The six B model which combines Eurasia and separates the
Americas used by Russia, Japan and Western Europe and finally the seven continental model,
used in English speaking countries. Lewis and Wigen (1997) are recognized cartographers that
have been in the geographic field for more than ten years. This book has been reviewed over
eleven times and it offers in-depth descriptions of how the continents were formed, and therefore
how the models appeared later on. In this project, the focus is mainly in the understanding and
definition of the continental models that Lewis and Wigen analyzed in 1997. Although their book
is not the most recent, it is very important to highlight that in the geographic field the time scope
is much larger than just a couple of years, in order to consider something old. Lewis and Wigens
work contributed in a very intelligent way to the cartography industry and it will remain that way
until a better work is published.
In an attempt to prove that there were biases in Lewis and Wigens work, Michael Linds
reviewed the above mentioned book for the New York Times (NYT) on November 2 (1997). In
the review he says, our maps show us the world that we want to see. The word continents

BIBLIOGRAPHIC ESSAY
connotes issues of culture; a way of seeing (literally) the world. In order to understand the role
our continental models play in envisioning culture, we must ask a research question: Are
continental models ideographs? Lind gives insightful ideas to overcome the small biases that one
can encounter in Lewis and Wigens work. Linds review was very professional, plus the fact that
it was published by the New York Times adds up to its credibility.
To answer the research question, we must look at the article The ideograph: a link
between rhetoric and ideology by Michael Calvin McGees published in Readings in Rhetorical
Criticism in 2005. Ideographs are words or phrases that are pregnant with ideological
commitment. Can something as innocuous as continents be ideological? McGees (1997) article
was published in the Quarterly Journal of Speech. This is a huge privilege for those in the
rhetoric area and therefore implies McGees level of credibility. The article was originally
published in 1980, but it was not until 2005 that a well-known rhetoric book decided to publish it
among with the Quarterly Journal of Speech.
To answer the research question we will first examine McGees (1997) theorization of
ideographs, then apply them to the continental models before finally drawing very important
implications.
Tenets of an ideograph
McGee (1997) tells us four things must be present in order to be an ideograph. First, an
ideograph is an ordinary-language term found in political discourse: that means that in order to
be an ideograph, it needs to be understood widely. Depending on the culture, there are always
symbols and recognizable words and phrases that have a denotative meaning and connotative
ones. An ideograph is less dictionary; it is a literary measure to make sure the word or phrase is
socially recognized. A great example for this, is the phrase God bless America spoken by a

BIBLIOGRAPHIC ESSAY
politician. This phrase is not a call of prayer necessarily, but a phrase that evokes a sense of
nationalism as well.
Second, an ideograph is a high-order abstraction representing collective commitment to a
particular normative goal. These abstractions vary by culture: because what means something for
Japanese people sumo wrestling for example- represents a particular cultural commitment that
engages the values, beliefs and behaviors of society.
Third, an ideograph warrants the use of power, excuses behavior and beliefs that might be
perceived as eccentric or antisocial. Symbols can become powerful. Such as the left fist up, just
like on October 17 of 1968 when two Olympic medalists were forced to return their awards
because they raised their fists in a black-power salute during the medal ceremony. These terms
were highly controversial because of the power meant by the communicator.
And fourth, an ideograph guides behavior and beliefs into channels easily recognized by
a community. Ideographs are vehicles for clear messages. They are accepted broadly. Seeing one
provides a path: saying the word constitution is also a way of talking about democracy and the
nature of law; the American flag does not just represent 50 states, it also is a vehicle for
nationalism.
Application of McGees theory to the continental models
In this section, this essay presents a range of ideas of both ideographs and continental
models that explain and give examples just as the authors of the several sources did. Only that
this time, the project intertwines both concepts to formulate a better answer for the research
question presented above. This implies that because both McGees (1997) and Lewis and
Wigens (1997) work can be adapted in different settings, since the authors stated intelligent
ideas that contribute to the present project, taking into account their credibility factors, of course.

BIBLIOGRAPHIC ESSAY
So, now that we have outlined the four tenets of McGee (1997), lets apply them to continental
models.
First, an ideograph must be an ordinary-language term found in political discourse. It is
important to understand that the word continents is used throughout the world in different
contexts. For example, as the United Nations general secretary, Ban-Ki Moon, as reported by the
UN News Center, on July 16th 2014 he said, It was remarkable journey of swimming between
five continents around the world (Moon, 2014). Here a political figure- uses the model in his
every day discourse and we know what he means. Thus satisfying the first aspect.
Second, an ideograph is a high-order abstraction representing collective commitment to
normative goals. Continents are abstractions, a way for us to understand what the world looks
like and what divides us physically but, the explanation for a 7 continents model is not the same
for those countries who teach the 5 continents model. People from the United States might never
know that people from Venezuela have different reasons to divide the world. Nations and school
systems teach a particular model and perpetuate them as normative in textbooks or on maps. As a
culture, it represents a collective commitment, creating a specific way of seeing the world.
Third, an ideograph warrants the use of power, excuses the eccentric. In the 7 continents
model, North and South America are named but Central America is completely excluded from
the panorama and exclusion is normally considered antisocial. Additionally, the six continents
model sees America as a supercontinent, however, that model still separates Europe from Asia,
but are not those cultural lines arbitrarily imposed? The models excuse behavior that might
otherwise be conceived as eccentric or antisocial.
Fourth, an ideograph guides behavior and beliefs into channels easily recognized and
accepted. Government and schools teach continental information to children through textbooks:

BIBLIOGRAPHIC ESSAY
revealing a system implementing this continental model. Most countries do not teach multiple
models and maps force students to see the world in a particular way. Let me ask you, when you
read at the beginning of the essay, there could be either 5, 6 or 7 continents in the world did
you think is this girl crazy or something? This is exactly what McGee (1997) means when he
describes ideographs as symbols accepted broadly by our culture; it is hard to go against what we
have been taught since kindergarten: we grow attached to these perceptions and defend them.
Now, returning to our initial research question: are the continental models ideographs? Because
all four components of McGees definition are met, we can answer: yes.
Implications of continental models being ideographs
So, what does all of this mean? Lets examine two important implications. First,
geographic and second, rhetorical.
First, geographic. Mark Monmonier in his book How To Lie With Maps suggests that
maps are subject to distortions arising from ignorance, greed, ideological blindness, or malice.
Because maps are the central way through which the continental models are communicated, we
must extend our analysis of ideographs to show how the maps alter perception. People from
diverse places and cultures see the world differently because they have grown up with different
versions of maps. Monmonier (1996) further explains that maps communicate an entrenched
vision of the world (and, in this case, a particular vision of how the continents are named) and
therefore we must be careful about perpetuating the antisocial in ideographs. Organizations like
schools, must be geographically relative in the way we see and divide the world. It is not just a
matter of books or magazines: Monmonier (1996) claims that entire educational systems could
be readjust in a tight space for diversity if the futures generations keep passing on the perception
of maps as measure of exclusiveness or even racism. Monmonier also has his own website in

BIBLIOGRAPHIC ESSAY
which readers and colleagues state their opinions about the book. Many writers and general
audience persons have given great reviews to the book and they state how helpful it is to
understand how cartographers manipulate the information that is printed in maps to perpetuate
what they want to. The fact that it has so many positive comments implies that it is a source that
has served our community before and therefore it is accurate to base studies on it due to its
extensive reference page section (Monmonier, 1996).
Second, rhetorically. In 1956 Edward Sapir and Ben Lee Whorf formulated a hypothesis
that now carries their names: the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis. It states that because people speak
different languages, they will have different perceptions. For instance, in Spanish the adjective
comes after the noun, so people will see the object before they see its characteristics. They see
that a jar is a jar before they see it blue. On the contrary, English speaking people put the
adjectives before the noun so they will first see the jar is blue before recognizing it as a jar. This
affects the way we think about words and articulate language. There are many sources that have
reviewed and analyzed this hypothesis from different perspectives. Some of them are: Carnes
(2014) in a recent source that has been peer reviewed. Carnes (2014) breaks down the SapirWhorf hypothesis to provide readers with a better understanding of linguistic relativism. This
works as a back-up source to give more credibility to the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis and its impact
on the linguistic field.
Reboul, (2012) stresses, instead the Everett hypothesis from this point of view by saying
that language is a cultural tool and we must learn to use it correctly in order to understand the
Sapir-Whorf hypothesis from a better point of view. These two sources go well together because
both authors give in-depth descriptions of these works in the linguistic field and they have both
been peer reviewed. An excellent feature about Reboul (2012), is that he offers a more recent

BIBLIOGRAPHIC ESSAY
paradigm than Sapir and Whorf does. Nonetheless, these two sources are major contributors to
this project and their fields because of their advanced yet understandable ideas for those who are
general readers. Another author that studies the final results in the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis is
Ciutacu, (2008). This source is recent and its accuracy in the examination of the hypothesis says
a lot about the research that the author did in order to achieve such a well-structured piece.
As a culture, Americans try not to discriminate against peoples languages; we
acknowledge that cultures are different; we teach our children that there are several languages in
the world, regardless of whether we speak them. This is a concept that the book Interpersonal
Communication by Gamble & Gamble (2008) used to describe the essential difference between
language, discrimination and culture. Then, if we teach inclusivity with one kind of ideograph, in
this case, languages, then why not do that with other ideographs like continental models? The
point is that we must train ourselves to see and appreciate the many ideographs around us. Who
are we dividing with our rhetoric? We must learn to be more conscious about it. Madani,
Kayedian & Mohammadi, (2013) made this claim in their peer reviewed article, where they
offered three main theories to support their ideas: Mould theories, Sapir-Whorf theory and Cloak
theories. These last three come together to comprehend the Sapir-Whorf claim from other points
of view.
The fact that this essay presents over five sources to back up the Sapir-Whorf theory, says
that this theory has been researched and analyzed in-depth and therefore the main authors of it
(Sapir and Whorf) gain credibility like other researchers in this field. These sources share a
common characteristic: their authors are not afraid to bring up the escalated argument between
the biased cartographers and the insanely upset immigrants that are tired of expressing the lack
of linguistic relativism in the United States.

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BIBLIOGRAPHIC ESSAY
Conclusion
This project has examined McGees definition of ideographs, then showed how
continental models are, in fact, ideographs and finally we looked at some implications, both
geographical and rhetorical. The way we see the world affects how we treat the world. This is the
main claim the author of this project makes in order to solve controversial issues presented in
both, the United States and the worldwide community.

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BIBLIOGRAPHIC ESSAY
References
Ban-Ki-Moon. (2014). Secretary-General's address to joint session of congress. United Nations.
Retrieved from http://www.un.org/sg/statements/index.asp?nid=7870
Burnton, S. (2012). 50 stunning Olympic moments No13: Tommie Smith and John Carlos salute.
The guardian. Retrieved from
http://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2012/feb/08/olympic-moments-tommie-smithjohn-carlos
Carnes, R. (2014). A Perceptual Model of the Whorfian Thesis. etc:
A Review Of General Semantics, 71(3), 263-271
Ciutacu, S. (2008). Whorf and His Aftermath Revisited. Scientific Bulletin Of The
Politehnica University Of Timisoara. Transactions On Modern Languages / Buletinul
Stiintific Al Universitatii Politehnica Din Timisoara. Seria Limbi Moderne, 7(1/2), 7-14.
Gamble, M & Gamble, T. (2008). Contacts: Interpersonal communication in theory, practice &
context. Boston: Houghton Mifflin
Madani, D., Kayedian, M., & Mohammadi, F. A. (2013). The Interaction between People's
Learned Language and Their Habitual Thinking Patterns. Language In India, 13(10),
270-278.
McGee, M. C. (1980). The "Ideograph": A Link Between Rhetoric and Ideology. Quarterly
Journal Of Speech, 66(1), 1-16.

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Monmonier, M. (1996). How to lie with maps. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Monmonier, M. (1996). How to Lie with Maps. Retrieved from
http://www.markmonmonier.com/how_to_lie_with_maps_14880.htm
Lewis, W. & Wigen, K. (1997). The Myth of Continents: A Critique of Metageography.
Berkeley: University of California.
Lind, M. (1997, November 2). Ever Since Gondwanaland [Review of the book The myth of
continents] The New York Times. Retrieved from
https://www.nytimes.com/books/97/11/02/reviews/971102.02lindlt.html
Reboul, A. (2012). Language: Between cognition, communication and culture. Pragmatics &
Cognition, 20(2), 295-316. doi:10.1075/pc.20.2.06reb