Instructor:
Charles Heatwole
Email:
Charles.Heatwole@hunter.cuny.edu
Telephone: (212) 772-5323
Office: 1005 HN
Office Hours: Tuesday 10 AM - 1 PM
Wednesday 1PM - 5 PM
Thursday 11 AM - 2 PM
And by appointment
This is a required course for students enrolled in the Geography M.A. program. The principal goals are to acquire understanding of the history of American academic geography and its ancestry (as far back as classical Greece), and to help students understand and appreciate where they personally "fit" within the scope of the discipline. Emphasis will be placed on key figures in geography's history; principal trends, concepts, models and paradigms; the impact of technological change on our discipline; and geography's place in academia and society. The required term project affords students opportunity for in-depth study a course-relevant area of interest.
| Date | Topic | Chapter |
| 9/2 | Introduction and Overview | 1 |
| 9/9 | Classical Period | 2 |
| 9/16 | Discovery and "The New Geography" | 3-4 |
| 9/23 | "The New Geography" (the sequel) | 4-5 |
| 9/30 | Teleology and Darwin(ism) | 6 |
| 10/7 | Determinism, Probabalism, and Possibilism | 7 |
| 10/14 | NO CLASS - Monday class schedule today | |
| 10/21 | Regionalism and its critics | 8 |
| 10/28 | The Quantitative Revolution | 9 |
| 11/4 | Models and Modelers | 9 |
| 11/11 | Humanistic Geography | 9 |
| 11/18 | Radicals and Marxists | 9 |
| 11/25 | Feminists and Assorted Postmodernists | 9 |
| 12/2 | The next "big thing" | 10 |
| 12/9 | Reports on term projects |
Text: David N. Livingstone, The Geographical Tradition. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 1992 (reprinted 2004).
Various additional readings below.
Weekly Readings:
September 9
Preston James and Geoffrey Martin, All Possible Worlds, Chapter 2, "The Beginnings of Classical Geography."
_____. Chapter 3, "Geography in the Middle Ages."
September 16
Preston James and Geoffrey Martin, All Possible Worlds, Chapter 3, "Geography in the Middle Ages."
_____. All Possible Worlds, Chapter 4, "The Age of Exploration."
_____. All Possible Worlds, Chapter 5, "The Impact of Discoveries."
David Woodward, "Reality, Symbolism, Time and Space in Medieval World Maps," Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 75 (Dec., 1985): 510-21.
September 23
Edmunds V. Bunske, "Humboldt and an Aesthetic Tradition in Geography," Geographical Review, Vol. 71 (April, 1981): 127-46.
Preston James and Geoffrey Martin, All Possible Worlds, Chapter 6, "An End and A Beginning: Alexander von Humboldt and Carl Ritter."
Loren McIntyre, "Humboldt's Way," National Geographic, Vol. 168 (Sept., 1985): 318-350.
September 30
Richard Peet, "The Social Origins of Environmental Determinism," Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 75 (Sept., 1985): 309-333.
Henry M. Stanley, Through The Dark Continent, New York: Harpers, 1878. (Reading is from Vol. I, Chapter 5).
D.R. Stoddart, "Darwin's Impact on Geography," Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 56 (Dec., 1966): 683-698.
October 7
Harlan Barrows, "Geography as Human Ecology," Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 13 (1923): 1-14.
Harold M. Elliott, "Mental Maps and Ethnocentrism: Geographic Characterizations in the Past," Journal of Geography, Vol. 78 (Dec., 1979): 250-265.
Daniel W. Gade, "The Growing Recognition of George Perkins Marsh," Geographical Review, Vol. 73 (July, 1983): 341-344.
Ellsworth Huntingdon, "The Relation of Health to Racial Capacity: The Example of Mexico," Geographical Review, Vol. 11 (1921): 243-64.
Ellen Churchill Semple, "The Anglo-Saxons of the Kentucky Mountains: A Study in Anthropogeography," The Geographical Journal, Vol. 17 (1901): 588-623.
Ellen Churchill Semple, Influence of Geographic Environment on the Basis of Ratzel's System of Anthropo-geography. New York: Russell and Russell, 1911.
George Tatham, "The Rise of Possibilism," in Griffith Taylor, Geography in the Twentieth Century, (New York: Philosophical Library, 1953): 151-59.
October 21
Trevor J. Barnes and Matthew Farish, "Between Regions: Science, Militarism, and American Geography from World War to Cold War," Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 96 (December 2006): 807-26.
Nevin Fenneman, "The Circumference of Geography," Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 9 (1919): 3-11.
Carl O. Sauer, "The Morphology of Landscape," University of California Publications in Geography, Vol. 2 (1925): 19-54. Reprinted in John Leighly, ed., Land and Life: A Selection from the Writings of Carl Ortwin Sauer (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1969): 315-50.
Fred Schaefer, "Exceptionalism in Geography: A Methodological Examination," Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 43 (1953): 226-49.
Neil Smith, "'Academic war Over the Field of Geography': The Elimination of Geography at Harvard, 1947-1951," Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol 77 (1987): 155-72.
October 28
Brian J.L. Berry, "Approaches to Regional Analysis: A Synthesis." Reprinted from Annals of the American Geographers, Vol. 54 (1964): 2-11.
Ian Burton, "The Quantitative Revolution and Theoretical Geography." Reprinted from The Canadian Geographer, Vol. 7 (1963): 151-62.
Peter Gould, "Geography 1957-1977: The Augean Period," Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 69 (1979): 139-51.
Torsten Hagerstrand, "A Monte Carlo Approach to Diffusion." Reprinted from European Journal of Sociology, Vol. 6 (1965): 43-67.
Leslie King, "A Quantitative Expression of the Pattern of Urban Settlements in Selected Areas of the United States." Reprinted from Tijdschrift Voor Econ. En Soc. Geographie, Vol. 53 (1962): 1-7.
November 4
William Bunge, Theoretical Geography (Lund, Sweden:C.W.K. Gleerup, 1962), pp. 5-37, 195-97. (Reprinted in Fred E. Dohrs and Lawrence M. Sommers, Introduction to Geography: Selected Readings. New York Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1967, pp. 346-59.)
Peter Gould. "Man Against His Environment: A Game Theoretic Framework," Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 53, No. 2 (September 1963): 290-97.
_____. "Theory in Geography: A Matter of Some Gravity." Chapter 6, The Geographer at Work (London: Routledge, 1985): 57-64.
_____. "Towns as Central Places." Chapter 9, The Geographer at Work (London: Routledge, 1985): 89-103.
Richard Morrill, "The Negro Ghetto: Problems and Alternatives," Geographical Review, Vol. 55 (1965): 339-61.
November 11
Ian R. Burton and Robert W. Kates, "The Floodplain and the Seashore: A Comparative Analysis of Hazard-Zone Occupance," Geographical Review, Vol. 54 (July, 1964): 366-85.
Peter Gould, "On Mental Maps." Reprinted from Michigan Inter-University Community of Mathematical Geographers, Discussion Paper 9, 1966.
Yi-Fu Tuan, "Humanistic Geography," Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 66 (June, 1976): 266-76.
_____."The City: Its Distance from Nature." Geographical Review, Vol. 68 (January, 1978): 1-12.
Julian Wolpert, "Behavioral Aspects of the Decision to Migrate." Papers and Proceedings of the Regional Science Association, Vol. 15 (1965): 159-72.
John K. Wright, "Terrae Incognitae: The Place of the Imagination in Geography." Reprinted from Annals of the Association of American Geographers, vol. 37 (1947): 1-11.
November 18
William Bunge, "A Report to the Parents of Detroit on School Decentralization." Reprint of Discussion Paper No. 2, Department of Geography Field Notes, Michigan State University.
David Harvey, "On the History and Present Condition of Geography: An Historical Materialist Manifesto," Professional Geographer, Vol. 36, No. 1 (February 1984): 1-11.
Eugene J. McCann, "Race, Protest, and Public Space: Contextualizing Lefebvre in the U.S. City." Antipode, Vol. 31 (1999): 163-184.
Richard Peet, "The Development of Radical Geography in the United States." Reprint from Progress in Human Geography, Vol. 1 (1977): pp. 64-87.
_____. "Societal Contradiction and Marxist Geography," Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 69, No. 1 (1979): 164-69.
Linda Pulido, "Rethinking Environmental Racism: White Privilege and Urban Development in Southern California," Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 90, No. 1 (2000): 12-40.
November 25
Mildred Berman, "On Being a Woman in American Geography: A Personal Perspective," Antipode, Vol. 6, No. 3 (1984): 61-66.
_____. "Sex Discrimination and Geography: The Case of Ellen Churchill Semple," Professional Geographer, Vol. 26 (1974): 8-11.Susan Hanson, "Geography and Feminism: Worlds in Collision." Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 82 (1992): 569-86.
Sara McLafferty, "Counting for Women." Professional Geographer, Vol. 47 (1995): 436-42.
Daniel R. Montello et al. "Sex-Related Differences and Similarities in Geographic and Environmental Spatial Abilities," Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 89, No. 3 (September 1999): 515-34.
Wilbur Zelinsky, "The Strange Case of the Missing Female Geographer." Professional Geographer, Vol. 25 (1973): 101-05.
December 2
Cutter, Susan L., Reginald Golledge, and William L. Graf. "The Big Questions in Geography." Professional Geographer, Vol. 54 (August 2002): 305-17.
Golledge, Reginald G., "The Nature of Geographic Knowledge." Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 92 (March 2002): 1-14. 175-191.
Goodchild, Michael. "Communicating Geographic Information in a Digital Age." Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 90 (2000): 344-55.
40% Attendance and Participation
30% Term Project
30% Final Examination
100%Academic Honesty: Hunter College regards acts of academic dishonesty (e.g., plagiarism, cheating on examinations, obtaining unfair advantage, and falsification of records and official documents) as serious offenses against the values of intellectual honesty. The College is committed to enforcing CUNY Policy on Academic Integrity and will pursue cases of academic dishonesty according to the Hunter College Academic Integrity Procedures. Plagiarism, dishonest, or cheating in any portion of the work required for this course will be punished to the full extent allowed according to Hunter College regulations.
The term project is typically a term paper of 20-30 pages in length (excluding bibliography and end notes) that focuses on one of the following:
Having set these parameters, I am open to original ideas and alternative project products provided they have acceptable scope and depth and a very clear connection to the goals of this course. I invite consultation concerning your project early and often during the term.
The final exam will be handed to you at the end of the December 9th class period. It is a take-home final. You will have one week. The completed exam must be placed in my mailbox in room HN 1006 or submitted to me in person no later than 6PM on December 16th. No electronic submissions will be accepted, and please do not slide your paper under my office door. (Some very bizarre things have happened.)