HUMAN GEOGRAPHY: Peoples, Places and Culture

SIS 210-001 Honors

Professor: Dr. Carolyn Gallaher

Office: Clark 213
Office Hours: T, F 2-5pm

Email: caroleg@american.edu
Office phone: 202.885.1827

REQUIRED TEXTS:
1. Places and Regions in a Global Context: Human Geography. Paul Knox and
Sallie Marston. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 3rd edition

2. Student Atlas of World Geography, 3rd edition. John Allen.

3. Reading Packet: I have compiled a reading packet for this class. Several copies of
the packet may be found in a crate outside of my office door and are available for
photocopying. Copies of the packet may only be borrowed for half-hour slots to
allow everyone access to them.

4. Map of DC: You should purchase a full street map of DC. These are available
through Triple A (AAA) and in local bookstores. If you purchase your map in a
bookstore, be sure that it includes the entire city.

GENERAL EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS:

Human Geography is a part of the University’s General Education Program. Specifically,
it is a level two course in Curricular Area 3, Global and Multicultural Perspectives,
cluster 2, Multicultural Experience. The Goals of Curricular Area 3 are the following:

• Understand those habits of thought and feeling that distinguish cultures from one
another.
• Explore comparative and cross-cultural perspectives.
• Develop analytical skills appropriate to the study of international and intercultural
relations.
• Understand concepts, patterns and trends that characterize international and
intercultural relations.
• Analyze systematically such major issues as war and peace, global order,
distributive justice, and the finite character of the earth’s resources.
This second-level course links with four foundation courses:
• ANTH-110G Culture: The Human Mirror
• LIT-150G Third World Literature
• RELG-185G Forms of the Sacred: Religions of the East
• SIS-140G Cross-Cultural Communication
• SOCY-110G Views from the Third World

Note that General education credit will be given for Human Geography only if the
prerequisite Foundation course has been taken for this course.

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES:

This course is designed to impart intellectual knowledge and focuses on 6 key
areas/skills:

1. The Importance of Place: Human Geography is designed to introduce

students to the importance of place. People imbue places with special
meaning. In this class we will talk about how these are constructed and how
they vary across cultures.

2. Processes that Lead to “unevenness” across Space: Characteristics ranging

from average housing costs and hourly wages to language and dress vary
across space. In this course we will talk about theories that explain why
social, cultural and economic phenomena vary across space as well as the
implications of “uneven” space.

3. Geography in the Social Sciences: This course will give you a sound
understanding of the discipline and its place in the social sciences.

4. Class, Race, and Gender: This course will introduce students to the
concepts of class, race, and gender. It will also teach students the key
geographic patterns regarding class, race, and gender relations across the
globe.

5. Analytic and Writing Skills: In this course you will learn how to analyze the
geographic dimension of human phenomena. You will also learn how to put
your analysis into well crafted written form.

6. Critical Thinking Skills: This course is designed to teach you to think

critically. You will be encouraged to question the validity of arguments rather
than accepting them at face value. You will also be taught to identify both the
strong and weak points of the geographic theories covered in the class.
BASIC EXPECTATIONS:

1. Be On Time: Coming to class late is DISRUPTIVE me and your peers.

2. Cell Phones Off: Turn off cell phones in class. Exceptions granted for
emergencies.

3. Proper Notification: Students are entitled to miss exams and assignment due
dates for the reasons listed below. In each case, students must provide proper
documentation. All other cases will result in zero credit for a missed
assignment/exam.
Religious holidays Illness requiring a doctor’s visit
Surgery
Death in the family Car wreck

4. Open Dialogue: During the semester unexpected problems may affect your
performance in this class. I am willing to work with you to overcome any
such difficulties. I can only do so, however, if you let me know WHILE
something is affecting you. Thus, it behooves you to keep me abreast of
issues as they occur rather than coming to me at the end of the semester with
an explanation for poor performance. At that point it is usually too late for me
to do anything to help you.

5. Academic Integrity: All students are governed by American University's

Academic Integrity Code. The Academic Integrity Code details specific
violations of ethical conduct that relate to academic integrity. By registering,
you have acknowledged your awareness of the Academic Integrity Code, and
you are obliged to become familiar with your rights and responsibilities as
defined by the code. All of your work (whether oral or written) in any and all
classes is governed by the provisions of the Academic Integrity Code.
Academic violations include but are not limited to: plagiarism, inappropriate
collaboration, dishonesty in examinations whether in class or take-home,
dishonesty in papers, work done for one course and submitted to another,
deliberate falsification of data, interference with other students' work, and
copyright violations. The adjudication process and possible penalties are
listed in American University's Academic Integrity Code booklet, and is also
available on the American University website. Being a member of this
academic community entitles each of us to a wide degree of freedom and the
pursuit of scholarly interests; with that freedom, however, comes a
responsibility to uphold the high ethical standards of scholarly conduct.
EVALUATION:
Map Test 1 8%
Map Test 2 8%
Exam 1 20 %
Exam 2 20 %
Project 20%
Participation 4 %
Final 20 %
100%

Exams: On your two exams and your final you will be expected to write concise,
but well organized responses to a combination of short answer and essay
questions. Full-credit responses will address the factual information requested in
the question and will be written in a clear and logical fashion.

Map Tests: For you map tests you will be expected to mark the location of
physical and social features on a blank map. One week before each test I will
provide you with a detailed list of the features you are expected to memorize as
well as blank maps for practicing.

Project: In this project you will select a neighborhood in DC to survey. Your

survey will include demographic, economic, cultural, and political information
about your selected neighborhood. You will also be asked to review ‘pressing’
issues in your neighborhood, such as disputes over land-use, problems associated
with gentrification, or surges in crime.

Participation: I will take attendance (unannounced) 4 times during the semester.

GRADING SCALE:
A 95-100 B+ 87-89 C+ 77-79 D+ 67-69 F <59
A- 90-94 B 83-86 C 73-76 D 63-66
B- 80-82 C- 70-72 D- 60-62

Below is a guideline of what each letter grade ‘means’ in terms of your overall
performance in this class: Note that pluses and minuses indicate slight variations
(either above or below) the stated norm of each letter grade.
A: demonstration of superior work in fulfillment of course requirements

B: Good work in fulfillment of course requirements

C: satisfactory work in fulfillment of course requirements

D: assigned work is unsatisfactory or not completed

F: inadequate work or substantial amounts of uncompleted work.

Class Calendar:

T 1/13 Discussion of Class Syllabus

F 1/16 Introducing Geography

Chapter 1
__________
T 1/20 Cartography: The Visual Production of Places

F 91/23 Uneven Space: Core / Periphery relationships

Chapter 2

______________
T 1/27 The Debt Crisis

F 1/30 The IMF—a critical view from Mauritania

Reading 1

______________
T 2/3 Map Test 1

F 2/6 Population Geography

Chapter 3

______________
T 2/10 Migration: El Salvadorian migration to DC

F 2/13 Exam 1

______________
T 2/17 Cultural Geography
Chapter 5

F 2/20 Utopian Communities—heavenly landscapes?

The Shakers of Mout Pleasant, Kentucky
______________
T 2/24 Land Tenure
Chapter 8

F 2/27 Mexico’s Zapatistas—a fight for communal land tenure

Reading 2
______________
T 3/2 Map Test 2

F 3/5 Geography of Economic Development—Fordism to Just in Time

Chapter 7

______________
T 3/9 SPRING BREAK

F 3/12 SPRING BREAK

______________
T 3/16 Roger and Me, a film by Michael Moore

F 3/191 Roger and Me, a film by Michael Moore

Reading 3

______________
T 3/23 NAFTA—where Michigan’s jobs went?

F 3/26 Urban Geography

Chapter 10

______________
T 3/30 Exam 2

F 4/2 Gentrification: A case study in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor

Reading 4
______________
T 4/6 The Making of a Capital City—The District of Colombia

F 4/9 Immigration in the DC area

______________
T 4/13 Political Geography
Chapter 9

F 4/16 Territory in Northern Ireland

Project due
______________
T 4/20 Racial Redistricting in North Carolina

F 4/23 African borders—a brief history

**********
F 4/30 8:30-11:00 Final Exam