Readings
for Workshop 7
The following
material comes from Chapter 4 of Geography for Life. You
may read it here or in its complete form in your text. For additional
readings, go to Resources.
The National
Geography Standards for Workshop 7
The national
geography standards highlighted in this workshop include Standards
6, 10, 11, 13, 17 and 18. As you read, be
thinking about how the standards apply in lessons you may have
taught.
Standard
6: How Culture and Experience Influence People's Perceptions of
Places and Regions.
People's perception
of places and regions is not uniform. Rather, their view of a
particular place or region is their interpretation of its location,
extent, characteristics, and significance as influenced by their
own culture and experience. It is sometimes said that there is
no reality, only perception. In geography there is always a mixture
of both the objective and the subjective realms, and that is why
the geographically informed person needs to understand both realms
and needs to see how they relate to each other.
Individuals
have singular life histories and experiences, which are reflected
in their having singular mental maps of the world that may change
from day to day and from experience to experience. As a consequence,
individuals endow places and regions with rich, diverse, and varying
meanings. In explaining their beliefs and actions, individuals
routinely refer to age, sex, class, language, ethnicity, race,
and religion as part of their cultural identity, although some
of their actions may be at least partly a result of sharing values
with others. Those shared beliefs and values reflect the fact
that individuals live in social and cultural groups or sets of
groups. The values of these groups are usually complex and cover
such subjects as ideology, religion, politics, social structure,
and economic structure. They influence how the people in a particular
group perceive both themselves and other groups.
The significance
that an individual or group attaches to a specific place or region
may be influenced by feelings of belonging or alienation, a sense
of being an insider or outsider, a sense of history and tradition
or of novelty and unfamiliarity. People's perception of Earth's
surface is strongly linked to the concept of place utility - the
significance that a place has to a particular function or people.
For example, a wilderness area may be seen as a haven by a backpacker
or as an economic threat by a farming family trying to hold back
forest growth at the edges of its fields. The physical reality
of the wilderness area is the same in both cases, but the perceptual
frameworks that assign meaning to it are powerfully distinct.
A place or region can be exciting and dynamic, or boring and dull
depending on an individual's experience, expectations, frame of
mind, or need to interact with that particular landscape. The
range, therefore, of perceptual responses to a place or region
is not only vast, but is also continually changing.
Some places
and regions are imbued with great significance by certain groups
of people, but not by others. For example, for Muslims the city
of Mecca is the most holy of religious places, whereas for non-Muslims
it has only historical significance. For foreign tourists Rio
de Janeiro is a city of historical richness that evokes images
of grandness, energy, and festiveness, but for many local street
youths it is a harsh environment where they have to struggle for
daily survival. Around the world the names of such places as Hiroshima,
Auschwitz, Bhopal, and Chernobyl convey profoundly sad and horrific
collective images, but for the people who live there, the reality
of life tends to be how best to earn a living, raise a family,
educate children, and enjoy one's leisure time. At another level,
Disneyland or "my hometown" may evoke equally strong
but positive and idiosyncratic images among local inhabitants.
People's group perceptions of places and regions may change over
time. For instance, as settlement and knowledge spread westward
during the nineteenth century, parts of what are now Oklahoma,
Kansas, and Nebraska went from being labeled as within the Great
American Desert to being likened to the Garden of Eden. Then during
the drought years of the 1930s, these same areas changed character
yet again, becoming the heart of what was known as the Dust Bowl.
Culture and
experience shape belief systems, which in turn influence people's
perceptions of places and regions throughout their lives. So it
is essential that students understand the factors that influence
their own perception of places and regions, paying special attention
to the effects that personal and group points of view can have
on their understanding of other groups and cultures. Accordingly,
it may be possible for students to avoid the dangers of egocentric
and ethnocentric stereotyping, to appreciate the diverse values
of others in a multicultural world, and to engage in accurate
and sensitive analysis of people, places, and environments.
Standard 10: The Characteristics, Distribution and Complexity
of Earth's Cultural Mosaics.
Culture is
a complex, multifaceted concept. It is a term used to cover the
social structure, languages, belief systems, institutions, technology,
art, foods, and traditions of particular groups of humans. The
term is used to define each group's way of life and its own view
of itself and of other groups, as well as to define the material
goods it creates and uses, the skills it has developed, and the
behaviors it transmits to each successive generation.
The human
world is composed of culture groups, each of which has its distinctive
way of life as reflected in the group's land-use practices, economic
activities, organization and layout of settlements, attitudes
toward the role of women in society, education system, and observance
of traditional customs and holidays. These ways of life result
in landscapes and regions with a distinctive appearance. Landscapes
often overlap, thus forming elaborate mosaics of peoples and places.
These cultural
mosaics can be approached from a variety of spatial scales. At
one scale, for example, Western Europe's inhabitants can be seen
as a single culture group; at another scale they consist of distinctive
national culture groups (e.g., the French and the Spanish); and
at yet another scale each national culture group can be subdivided
into smaller, regionally clustered culture groups (e.g., the Flemings
and Walloons in Belgium).
As Earth evolves
into an increasingly interdependent world in which different culture
groups come into contact more than ever before, it becomes more
important that people have an understanding of the nature, complexity,
and spatial distribution of cultural mosaics.
Given the
complexity of culture, it is often useful - especially when studying
the subject from a geographic point of view - to focus on the
languages, beliefs, institutions, and technologies that are characteristic
of a culture. The geographically informed person, therefore, is
an individual who has a thorough grasp of the nature and distribution
of culture groups.
Language both
represents and reflects many aspects of a culture. It stands as
an important symbol of culture. It is seen as a sign of the unity
of a particular culture group. It can be analyzed - in terms of
vocabulary and structure - for clues about the values and beliefs
of a culture group. Language is also a visible marker that provides
a way of tracing the history of a culture. The complex and often
tense relations between French-speaking and English-speaking people
in Quebec illustrate and reflect the importance of language to
culture groups and also the value of studying the geography of
language.
Beliefs include
religion, customs, values, attitudes, ideals, and world views.
A person's point of view on issues is influenced by cultural beliefs,
which in turn influence decisions about resources, land use, settlement
patterns, and a host of other geographically important concerns.
The complicated and often difficult relations of Hindus and Muslims
in India demonstrate how the spatial organization of a country
can be shaped by the geography of the region.
Institutions
shape the ways in which people organize the world around them;
for example, sets of laws, educational systems, political arrangements,
and the structure of the family shape a culture region. The Mormon
culture region of the western United States shows how institutions
are embodied in a distinctive place, demarcating it and influencing
practically every aspect of daily life.
Technology
includes the tools and skills a group of people use to satisfy
their needs and wants. Levels of technology range from the simple
tools used by hunters and gatherers to the most complex machines
and information systems used in modern industrial societies. Technologies
can be usefully understood as either hardware - the tools themselves
- or software - the skilled ways in which a society uses tools.
The Amish of south-central Pennsylvania have created a distinctive
landscape that is simultaneously an expression of technology,
institutions, beliefs, and language.
Whatever characteristic
of culture is considered, it is clear that the mosaics of Earth's
cultural landscapes are not static. Culture changes as a result
of a variety of human processes, migration and the spread (diffusion)
of new cultural traits - language, music, and technology - to
existing culture groups. The processes of cultural change accelerate
with improvements in transportation and communication. Each culture
in the world has borrowed attributes from other cultures whether
knowingly or not, willingly or not.
Students should
be exposed to a rich appreciation of the nature of culture so
they can understand the ways in which people choose to live in
different regions of the world. Such an understanding will enable
them to appreciate the role culture plays in the spatial organization
of modern society. Rivalry and tension between cultures contribute
much to world conflict. As members of a multicultural society
in a multicultural world, students must understand the diverse
spatial expressions of culture.
Standard 11: The Patterns and Networks of Economic Interdependence
on Earth's Surface.
Resources
are unevenly scattered across the surface of Earth, and no country
has all of the resources it needs to survive and grow. Thus each
country must trade with others, and Earth is a world of increasing
global economic interdependence. Accordingly, the geographically
informed person understands the spatial organization of economic,
transportation, and communication systems, which produce and exchange
the great variety of commodities - raw materials, manufactured
goods, capital, and services - which constitute the global economy.
The spatial
dimensions of economic activity and global interdependence are
visible everywhere. Trucks haul frozen vegetables to markets hundreds
of miles from growing areas and processing plants. Airplanes move
large numbers of business passengers or vacationers. Highways,
especially in developed countries, carry the cars of many commuters,
tourists, and other travelers. The labels on products sold in
American supermarkets typically identify the products as coming
from other U.S. states and from other countries.
The spatial
dimensions of economic activity are more and more complex. For
example, petroleum is shipped from Southwest Asia, Africa, and
Latin America to major energy-importing regions such as the United
States, Japan, and Western Europe. Raw materials and food from
tropical areas are exchanged for the processed or fabricated products
of the mid-latitude developed countries. Components for vehicles
and electronics equipment are made in Japan and the United States,
shipped to South Korea and Mexico for partial assembly, returned
to Japan and the United States for final assembly intro finished
products, then shipped all over the world.
Economic activities
depend upon capital, resources, power supplies, labor, information,
and land. The spatial patterns of industrial labor systems have
changed over time. In much of Western Europe, for example, small-scale
and spatially dispersed cottage industry was displaced by large-scale
and concentrated factory industry after 1760. This change caused
rural emigration, the growth of cities, and changes in gender
and age roles. The factory has now been replaced by the office
as the principal workplace in developed countries. In turn, telecommunications
are diminishing the need for a person's physical presence in an
office. Economic, social, and therefore spatial relationships
change continuously.
The world
economy has core areas where the availability of advanced technology
and investment capital are central to economic development. In
addition, it has semi-peripheries where lesser amounts of value
are added to industry or agriculture, and peripheries where resource
extraction or basic export agriculture are dominant. Local and
world economies intermesh to create networks, movement patterns,
transportation routes, market areas, and hinterlands.
In the developed
countries of the world's core areas, business leaders are concerned
with such issues as accessibility, connectivity, location, networks,
functional regions, and spatial efficiency - factors that play
an essential role in economic development and also reflect the
spatial and economic interdependence of places on Earth.
In developing
countries, such as Bangladesh and Guatemala, economic activities
tend to be at a more basic level, with a substantial proportion
of the population being engaged in the production of food and
raw materials. Nonetheless, systems of interdependence have developed
at the local, regional, and national levels. Subsistence farming
often exists side by side with commercial agriculture. In China,
for example, a government-regulated farming system provides for
structured production and tight economic links of the rural population
to nearby cities. In Latin America and Africa, rural people are
leaving the land and migrating to large cities, in part to search
for jobs and economic prosperity and in part as a response to
overpopulation in marginal agricultural regions. Another important
trend is industrialized countries continuing to export their labor-intensive
processing and fabrication to developing countries. The recipient
countries also profit from the arrangement financially but at
a social price. The arrangement can put great strains on centuries-old
societal structures in the recipient countries.
As world population
grows, as energy costs increase, as time becomes more valuable,
and as resources become depleted or discovered, societies need
economic systems that are more efficient and responsive. It is
particularly important, therefore, for students to understand
world patterns and networks of economic interdependence and to
realize that traditional patterns of trade, human migration, and
cultural and political alliances are being altered as a consequence
of global interdependence.
STANDARD 13: How the Forces of Cooperation and Conflict Among
People Influence the Division and Control of Earth's Surface.
Competing
for control of large and small areas of Earth's surface is a universal
trait among societies and has resulted in both productive cooperation
and destructive conflict between groups over time. The geographically
informed person has a general understanding of the nature and
history of the forces of cooperation and conflict on Earth and
the spatial manifestation of these forces in political and other
kinds of divisions of Earth's surface. This understanding enables
the individual to perceive how and why different groups have divided,
organized, and unified areas of Earth's surface.
Divisions are regions of Earth's surface over which groups of
people establish control for purposes of politics, administration,
religion, and economics. Each such region usually has an area,
a name, and a boundary. In the past even small groups inhabiting
vast territories divided space in accordance with their cultural
values and life-sustaining activities. For them some spaces were
sacred, others were devoted to hunting or gathering, and still
others were intended for shelter and socializing. In present-day
urban, industrial societies, earning a livelihood, owning or renting
a home in a safe neighborhood, getting a drink of clean water,
buying food, being able to travel safely within one's own community
- all of these activities are linked to how Earth is divided by
different groups for different purposes.
Often, conflicts
over how to divide and organize parts of Earth's space have involved
control of resources (e.g., Antarctica or the ocean floor), control
of strategic routes (e.g., the Panama or Suez Canals or the Dardanelles),
or the domination of other peoples (e.g., European colonialism
in Africa). Language, religion, political ideologies, national
origins, and race motivate conflicts over how territory and resources
will be developed, used, and distributed. Conflicts over trade,
human migration and settlement, and exploitation of marine and
land environments reflect how Earth's surface is divided into
fragments controlled by different political and economic interest
groups.
The primary
political division of Earth is by state sovereignty - a particular
government is recognized by others as having supreme authority
over a carefully delimited territory and the population and resources
within that space. With the exception of Antarctica, Earth's surface
is exhaustively partitioned by state sovereignty. These political
divisions are recognized by the United Nations and its member
states, which discuss and act on issues of mutual interest, especially
international peace and security. However, the partitioning is
not mutually exclusive. Some nations exert competing claims to
certain areas (e.g., the islands in the South Atlantic Ocean,
which are claimed by Great Britain as the Falkland Islands and
by Argentina as the Malvinas).
Regional alliances
among nations for military, political, cultural, or economic reasons
constitute another form of the division of Earth's surface. Among
these many alliances are the North Atlantic Treaty Organization,
the Caribbean Community and Common Market, the Council of Arab
Economic Unity, and the European Union. In addition, numerous
multinational corporations divide Earth's space and compete with
each other for resource development, manufacturing, and the distribution
of goods and services. And non-governmental organizations such
as the International Red Cross and various worldwide religious
groups divide space to administer their programs.
Events of
the twentieth century illustrate that the division of Earth's
surface among different groups pursuing diverse goals continues
unabated at all scales of human activity. World wars, regional
wars, civil wars, and urban riots often are manifestations of
the intensity of feeling humans hold for the right to divide Earth
according to their particular perceptions and values. Traditionally,
most territorial disputes have been over the land surface, but
with the increasing value of resources in the oceans and even
outer space, political division of these spaces has become a topic
of international debate. Cooperation and conflict will occur in
all of these spatial contexts.
At smaller
spatial scales, land-use zones in municipalities, administrative
districts for airports and other essential services such as water
supply and garbage disposal, and school districting within counties,
states, and provinces are all examples of the local division of
space. Franchise areas, regional divisions of national and multinational
corporations, and free-trade zones indicate the economic division
of space. City neighborhood associations, suburban homeowners'
associations, civic and volunteer organization districts, and
the divisions of neighborhood space by youth gangs on the basis
of socioeconomic status, race, or national origin illustrate the
power of social and cultural divisions of space.
The interlocking
systems for dividing and controlling Earth's space influence all
dimensions of people's lives, including trade, culture, citizenship
and voting, travel, and self-identity. Students must understand
the genesis, structure, power, and pervasiveness of these divisions
to appreciate their role within a world that is both globally
interdependent and locally controlled.
STANDARD 17: How to Apply Geography to Interpret the Past.
Geographers
and historians agree that the human story must be told within
the context of three intertwine points of view - space, environment,
and chronology. The geographically informed person understands
the importance of bringing the spatial and environmental focus
of geography to bear on the events of history and vice versa,
and the value of learning about the geographies of the past.
An understanding
of geography can inform an understanding of history in two important
ways. First, the events of history take place within geographic
contexts. Second, those events are motivated by people's perceptions,
correct or otherwise, of geographic contexts. By exploring what
the world was like and how it was perceived at a given place at
a given time, the geographically informed person is able to interpret
major historical issues. For example, why did the land invasions
of Russia by Sweden under Charles XII, France under Napoleon,
and Germany under Hitler all fail? And why did people want to
build the Panama and Suez Canals?
Answering
such questions requires a geographic approach to the spatial organization
of the world as it existed then and as that world was seen by
the people of those times. In the case of the land invasions of
Russia, the failure of the invaders can be linked to the dimensions,
conditions, and constraints of the physical and human environments
involved: the harsh weather conditions to be endured, the prevalence
of rivers and marshes to be crossed, the vehicle-impeding mud
to be overcome, the vast distances to be traversed, the shortages
of food and other supplies, and the hostility, determination,
and home-ground advantage of the defenders. As all three invasions
demonstrated, space and environment form a context within which
people make choices.
The geographic
approach to the past also requires looking at the ways in which
different people understood and assessed the physical and human
geographical features of their spatial and environmental contexts.
In the case of the Panama and Suez Canals, the geographic approach
involves an assessment of how people and governments perceived
and valued transportation costs in terms of both money and time,
the topography and geology of the area, the available technology
and labor force, the political forces operating in Central America,
Europe, and Southwest Asia, and the economic returns that would
ensue. Such an assessment leads to understanding that the canals
were constructed because it was determined that the efforts and
costs would be worthwhile in terms of the resulting economic and
political gains.
Looking at
the past geographically requires that attention be given to the
beliefs and attitudes of the peoples of bygone times regarding
the environment, human migration, land use, and especially their
own rights and privileges versus those of others. Such information
can be obtained through the use of contemporary newspapers and
other firsthand accounts. It also can be obtained through the
study of visible remains of buildings and other facilities, which
offer clues to what occurred and why. A careful geographical analysis
of today's cultural and physical landscapes is a valuable resource
for learning about the past.
The geographies
of past times carry important messages for today's people. The
events of human history have been played out on a vast and complex
geographic stage, and countless generations have had to make the
best of what Earth has provided in the form of climate, land and
water resources, plants and animals, and transportation routes;
all of these things are shaped by the ongoing interactions of
physical and human systems and have created the contexts in which
history has unfolded. The study of history, without these rich
contexts, is one-dimensional. Understanding the geographies of
past times, therefore, is as important as understanding the geography
of the present. Students must appreciate that viewing the past
from both spatial and chronological points of view can lead to
a greater awareness and depth of understanding of physical and
human events, and is an essential ingredient in the interpretation
of the world of today. Students must also understand that the
geographic approach helps to explain why events did happen in
a particular way but not necessarily why they must have happened
in that way.
STANDARD 18: How to Apply Geography to Interpret the Present
and Plan for the Future.
Geography
is for life and not simply an exercise for its own sake. As the
world becomes both more complex and more interconnected - as a
result of economic development, population growth, technological
advancement, and increased cooperation (and, to some extent, conflict)
- the need for geographic knowledge, skills, and perspectives
increases among the world's peoples. Geography is the key to nations,
peoples, and individuals being able to develop a coherent understanding
of the causes, meanings, and effects of the physical and human
events that occur - and are likely to occur - on Earth's surface.
Consequently,
the practical applications of geography (along with other aspects
of geographic literacy) need to be fostered in all students in
preparation for life as the responsible citizens and leaders of
tomorrow.
Through its
spatial emphasis, geography enables students to comprehend spatial
patterns and spatial contexts; connections and movements between
places; the integration of local, regional, national, and global
scales; diversity; and systems. Through its ecological emphasis,
geography enables students to comprehend physical processes and
patterns; ecosystems; the physical interconnections between local
and global environments; and the impact of people on the physical
environment.
Taken together,
these sets of understandings enable students to pose and answer
geographic questions about the spatial organization of the world
in which they live. At a local and personal level students need
to understand the reasons for and implications of decisions about
such issues as community recycling programs, the loss of agricultural
land to new housing, the choice between spending tax dollars on
a sewage treatment plant or housing for senior citizens, the expansion
of the runways of a local airport, or the introduction of air
quality standards. They also need to be aware of the impact of
such decision-making on their own lives and the lives of others,
and that eventually, as community members and voting citizens,
they will be asked to participate in the decision making process.
Such participation demands the knowledge and judgment of geographically
informed people who know where to find relevant information, how
to evaluate it, how to analyze it, and how to represent it.
Geographic
literacy also has great significance at a more global and less
personally immediate level. With a solid foundation in the interlinked
knowledge, skills, and perspectives of geography, students will
be better able to analyze and reach informed opinions about a
variety of issues - ranging from the implications of resource
depletion and the economic and social tensions caused by exponential
population growth to what will happen within the family of nations
as old political structures change, new alliances are formed,
and realignments cause mass migration of refugees seeking asylum,
security, and economic opportunity.
With a solid
understanding of geography, people are better able to decide where
to live and work, how and where to travel, and how to assess the
world in spatial terms. In a world where people are competing
for territory, resources, markets, and economic positions, knowing
too little about geography is a liability, which compromises the
capacity of people to function successfully at home or abroad.
Creating effective and lasting solutions to the world's pressing
problems requires that today's students mature into adults who
can make skilled and informed use of geographic knowledge, skills,
and perspectives to identify possible solutions, predict their
consequences, and implement the best solutions. That is why it
is imperative that all students in the United States achieve geographic
literacy.
The above
material is from Geograpy for Life: The National Geography Standards,
1994. The Geography Education Standards Project.
© 1994 National Geographic Societly, Wahington, D.C.
Reprinted with the permission of the National Goeographic Society.
