Mar 28, 2024  
2021-2022 College Catalog 
    
2021-2022 College Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

GEO 103 - Cultural Geography

3 Credits, 3 Contact Hours
3 lecture periods 0 lab periods

Examination of the human world from a geographic perspective. Includes geography as a discipline, culture and human geography, the changing Earth, descriptive fundamentals of population geography, migration, and geography of language and religion. Also includes rural traditions and livelihoods, urban geography, economic changes and industrialization, as well as political and medical geography.

Gen-Ed: Meets AGEC - SBS and G; Meets CTE - SBS and G.


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Course Learning Outcomes
  1. Analyze and explain population distributions and settlement patterns and discuss the causes of voluntary and forced migration. [Global Learning, Information Literacy, Written Communication]
  2. Compare and contrast regional cultural characteristics including population, economic development, political systems, language, religion, history and health. [Intercultural Knowledge, Written Communication, Quantitative Literacy]
  3. Trace the spatial patterns of economic development from colonial to modern times including the role of infrastructure, natural resources, and political systems in development. [Information Literacy, Inquiry Analysis]

Performance Objectives:
  1. Describe the historical development and broad reaches of the discipline of geography and the use of maps as an informative tool as it relates to spatial analysis concepts.
  2. Summarize the rise of human civilization and the environmental adaptations made since the last Pleistocene ice age.
  3. Explain the processes by which population is measured and analyzed, and attempt to make predictions on future population issues.
  4. Describe and exemplify types and causes of migration, both past and present.
  5. Explain features of human culture, including language, religion, and secular customs.
  6. List the significant aspects of the first, second, and third agricultural revolutions.
  7. Describe rural settlement form and purpose.
  8. Describe patterns of urban development and the relationships between industrialization and economic development.
  9. Define how modernization of infrastructure has links to accessibility and economic growth.
  10. Define and exemplify the concept of the nation-state model and its roots in European colonialism.
  11. Explain disparities of nutrition and health globally and the role that geography plays in problem solving by using mapping and spatial analysis techniques.
  12. Describe spatial components of infectious, chronic, and genetic diseases and the disparity globally.

Outline:
  1. Geography as a Discipline
    1. Spatial Analysis
    2. Cartography, GIS, and Remote Sensing
  2. Culture and Human Geography
    1. Topics of Cultural Geography
    2. Diffusion of Ideas
    3. Cultural Perceptions
  3. The Changing Earth
    1. Development and Rise of Human Civilization During the Holocene
    2. Domestication of Plants and Animals
  4. Descriptive Fundamentals of Population Geography
    1. Distribution and Density
    2. Cycles and Change
    3. Analysis of Age-Sex Pyramids
    4. Demographic Change
  5. Migration
    1. Migration Routes, Past and Present
    2. Catalysts of Migration
    3. Voluntary and Forced Migration
  6. Geography of Language
    1. Linguistic Diversity
    2. Language Families
    3. Language Diffusion
    4. Multilingualism
    5. Official Languages
  7. Geography of Religion
    1. Origins and Regional Locations of Religions
    2. Diffusion of Religions
    3. Religions and Cultural Conflicts
  8. Rural Traditions and Livelihoods
    1. Economic Activities
    2. Rural Settlement and Purpose
    3. First Agricultural Revolution
    4. Village Forms
    5. European Colonialism and Cash Crop Agriculture
  9. Urban Geography
    1. Rise of Urban Civilization
    2. Location and Purpose
    3. Urban Structure
    4. Mercantile to Industrial Cities – Modern Urban Change and Growth
  10. Economic Changes and Industrialization
    1. Industrial Revolution and its Economic Impacts
    2. Source Areas and Diffusion
    3. Economic Growth with Industrialization
    4. Disadvantages of Agricultural Economies
    5. Significance of Infrastructure and Accessibility
  11. Political Geography
    1. Sovereignty and the Evolution of the Nation-State
    2. Regional and International Unions and Agreements
    3. Political Defragmentation and Devolutionary Forces
    4. The Changing Political Landscape
  12. Medical Geography
    1. Disparities of Nutrition and Health
    2. Infectious, Chronic, and Genetic Diseases
    3. Mapping and Spatial Analysis in Public Health 


Effective Term:
Full Academic Year 2019-20