INTER 131/132 The Geography of Human Culture/Contemporary Global Issues
S Y L L A B U S
Class Time: MTuThF 9-12
Class Location: Parmly 302
Office Hours: by appointment
Instructors:
Dr. Hugh Blackmer Dr. Ronald Nigh
Phone:
458-8647
458-8444
Office: Science
Library
Howe 305
Email: Blackmer@wlu.edu
nighr@wlu.edu
Course Objectives
The course focuses on selected global issues facing humankind in the 21st
century and develop a vision of stweardship as citizenship in a 'globalized'
world. A fundamental purpose is to develop skills in analyzing complex and controversial global issues, using traditional geographical and anthropological analytical tools while incorporating new
technologies--especially the World Wide Web and geographical information systems (GIS).
Our problem is not so much to find information but to sift through and evaluate
the "information overload" to arrive at an accurate and clear view of
an issue and effectively represent the results to others . We will learn to gather, evaluate and present information about critical issues, to
support democratic decision-making and innovative future responses to global human
problems. The course time is evenly divided between lectures, readings and discussions of key
issues and learning hands-on practical
computer skills of data analysis and mapping.
Course Requirements
Students will be required to have completed reading assignments before the class for which they are
due and participate in class activities and discussions.
Each student will develop a personal course Web Site in which he or she will identify and discuss course topics, organize and present relevant data, synthesize insights and present proposals for alternative futures. The site will be accessible by the public. As a minimum you should have at least one or two paragraphs on each of the assigned readings. Ideally your log should include reflections on course discussions and readings, your project, lecture notes or other issues relevant to the topics. In some cases, specific discussion questions or data analysis and interpretation exercises will be assigned and will also be posted on your web site.
The book review (see below) will count as a mid-term exam.
A part on your web site will be devoted to a Final Project which will involve an in depth study of a particular topic, to be defined by mid-term in consultation with the professors. This will be presented as a Web portfolio, an electronic essay in which you present the results of your individual investigation on a particular topic in 'multi-media' format, i.e. with text written by you and illustrated with maps, images and hyperlinks to relevant resources. Creativity in the composition, clarity of presentation are important, as are accuracy and responsible sourcing of information.
For each week's readings and lectures you will be required to enter a dated comment (at least 250 words) in your weblog reflecting on the material. You may also wish to include links to relevant material you have found on the Web, references to other reading or images, maps or other material you feel appropriate. Each student will be expected to devote significant time beyond the classroom to their web site topics.
Course Materials
Required Texts:
Dyer-Witherford, Nick
1999 Cyber-Marx: Cycles and circuits of struggle in high-technology capitalism. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press.
Klare, Michael T.
2001 Resource Wars: The landscape of global conflict. New York: Metropolitan Books.
Book Review
You will also choose one of the books from the
list for review. This should be around 2000 words (plus bibliography) and should, describe the author and his intended audience, summarize the main points of the book, analyze the major strengths and weaknesses of the argument presented.. The review is due on
May 5 and should be posted on your course web site..
Grading
The course grade will be based largely on the final state of the student's web site and on class participation. Students weekly log entries will be reviewed at the beginning of the following week. Weekly entries will receive a PLUS, CHECK or MINUS grade, to be averaged at the end of the course (PLUS will count 94, check 86 and minus 75, out of 100 points). Exercises and specific assignments given in class will not be grades separately but as part of the overall weekly log entry. The final grade will be calculated as follows:
Weekly log entries 30% Class participation 10%
Book review (mid-term) 20% Final project 40%
Course Grading Scale
100-98 = A+ 83-86 = B 70-72 = C-
93-97 = A 80-82 = B- 67-69 = D+
90-92 = A- 77-79 = C+ 63-66 = D
87-89 = B+ 73-76 = C 60-62 = D-
Below 62 = F work not done receives 0 grade
Course Outline
Session 1. Monday, April 21
I. Global Stewardship Program (Dr. Jeff Barnett)
II. Introductions
III. Testing lab and setting up
Read for the next class
Wendell Berry The futility of global thinking
Tim Ingold Globes and spheres: The topology of environmentalism
Session 2. Tuesday, April 22
I. The (f)utility of global thinking and the possibility of 'stewardship'
II. Skills--publishing on the Web
Reading for next class:
Agnew: Geopolitics. Ch. 1 & 2
Dodge and Kitchin Mapping the Network Society
Session 3. Thursday, April 24
I. Geopolitics II
II. Skills--seeking, finding and appropriating information (searching and snipping)
Readings for next class (Session 4) and essay
A New Grand Strategy by Benjamin Schwarz and Christopher Layne (Atlantic Jan 2002)
The Pentagon's New Map by Thomas P.M. Barnett
Some questions for discussion: What is a unipolar geopolitical strategy? What is a multipolar geopolitical strategy? What are the principle arguments used by the authors to support their respective positions?
Session 4. Friday, April 25
I. Geopolitics II -
II. Skills--Spatial representation of data--ArcGIS
III. Write 5 paragraphs or so and come prepared to discuss the question: Should the United States continue to pursue a unipolar geopolitical strategy or should it pursue a multi-polar geopolitical strategy? (Put your written comments in your Web Log. Due next Monday )
Session 6. Monday, April 28
I. Geopolotics & US foreign policy after the cold war
Session 7. Tuesday, April 29
I. Globalization--Corporate capitalism, trade and inequality (Video: Trading Democracy)
II. Skills--finding and preparing data for mapping
III. Practice--mapping world population
Readings (sessions 6-12):
Globalization: Stiglitz's Case (Online article set)
Dyer-Witherford: Cyber-Marx
Session 8. May 1
Globalization Mark Rush (PowerPoint presentation here) Globalization & the future of the State
Session 9. May 2
Globalization Krzysztof Jasiewicz
Session 10. Monday, May 5
I. Anti-globalization
II. Skills--evaluating information sources
III. Exercise--Write a brief essay on the "globalphobics" (anti-globalization movement)--who are they, where are they, what are they saying? (Due before next Monday)
Some places to start:
ATTAC International
(Important anti-globalization activist site).
Third World Network
(Developing country NGOs positions on international trade and
WTO)
Session 11. Tuesday, May 6
Session 12. Thurday, May 8
Session 13 Friday, May 9
Work Session
Readings for session 14+:
Ostrom, Elinor, et al
Revisiting the Commons: Local Lessons, Global Challenges (. Science Volume 284, Number 5412, Issue of 9 Apr 1999, pp. 278-282.) (Online article set)
Klare, Michael T.: Resource Wars.
May 10 ***Book Review Due***
Session 14.Monday, May 12
I. Population and Resources--The Malthusian Metaphor
II. Skills--Finding Environmental and Resource data
Session 15. Tuesday, May 13
I. Water - Video Cadillac Desert I
II. Water in the City of Quartz
Readings on Water (session 15+)
Shiva, Vandana
2002 Water Wars: Privatization, pollution, and profit. South End Press.
(see interview
with author)
Roy, Arundhati
1999 "The Greater Common
Good" in The Cost of Living, pp. 1-90. Modern Library
Session 16-18. Thursday May 15
Groundwater in LA - a common pool resource
Session 17. May 16
Human impact on the global water cycle (Imperial Valley, Aral Sea, Narmada River)
Cadillac Desert - Part IV "Last Oasis"
Session 18. May 19
Round-table, Water an economic and a social good
Session 19. May 20
Food and agriculture in global context
Session 20. May22
Commodities and Cultures--brands, traditions and authenticity
Session 21. May 23
Video: In heaven there is no beer?
Music communities - identity and ethnicity
Session 22. May 26
Guest lecturer: Greg Cooper
Music communities - II "world music"
Session 23. May 27
Social organization and globalization
lecture notes
Session 24. May 29
Projects
Session 25. May 30
Projects
Session 26. June 2