SUSAN PLACE GEOGRAPHY 102 UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO SPRING 1985 INTRODUCTION TO HUMAN GEOGRAPHY PREFATORY NOTE TO TEACHERS: As part of UNM's project to incorporate Women's Studies into the curriculum, the Geography faculty chose to revise Geography 102. As a large introductory course with multiple sections, it represents the best opportunity for exposing the largest number of students to women's experiences from a geographic perspective. Since the syllabus for the course is not very detailed, I will briefly summarize the topics. 1. Agricultural Systems: As originally taught, this section of Geography 102 dealt with several different traditional subsistence systems as examples of the relationships between people (undifferentiated by gender) and the environments in which they live, among them slash and burn agriculture, wet rice agriculture, mixed farming, and nomadic pastoralism, as well as hunting-gathering and the domestication of plants and animals. A segment on commercial agricultural systems followed, with some consideration of the ecological, social, and economic changes that commerce entails. (Women were not specifically considered in these sections of the course nor, indeed, in any part of the course.) The revised course includes presentations on the role of women in the various traditional subsistence systems. We present regional variations in female participation in agriculture, from the dominant role of women in sub-Saharan Africa to the seclusion of women (purdah) in Muslim societies, which reduces female participation in fieldwork. We will discuss the consequences for women of colonialism and the penetration of the world commercial economy into previously selfprovisioning regions. Students will come to understand the significance of the differential effects of the commercialization (or "modernization") of agriculture on men and women. Whereas some men may be substantially advantaged by the advent of commercial agricultural production, women are virtually always disadvantaged, economically, in terms of the amount of labor they must shoulder, and in social status. 2. Economic Development: Much of the literature on women in agriculture is embedded in the women in development (WID) literature. The section of Geography 102 devoted to the issue of economic/social development will now consider WID issues, in particular, the concept of development as "progress." We will discuss how various development strategies affect various segments of Third World populations by class and sex. For example, consideration will be given to development strategies that increase women's workload, decrease their standards of living (for instance, subsistence activities to low-paid wage labor), and make it more difficult for them to meet their families' basic needs (as frequently occurs when commercial agriculture takes over regions previously devoted largely to staple food production). We will consider some alternative approaches to development, for example, integrated rural development, the "basic needs" approach to development, and appropriate technology. 3. Migration: Since one of the principal emphases of geography is the study of space and the way people organize and move in it, migration has always been of interest. Very little recognition has been given to gender differences in mobility and in types and patterns of migration, however. In Geography 102, we have tended to follow the textbook, which usually does not mention the migration of women at all. Migration is usually divided up into such categories as cyclic and periodic, voluntary and involuntary, group and individual, internal (domestic) and external (foreign), and refugee movements, as well as short-term movements such as daily or weekly commuting. In the revised course, we discuss the important role that women play in migration streams in many parts of the Third World, especially where domestic service and light manufacturing provide a significant number of jobs. In such situations, women may represent the majority of migrants and are often the first members of their families to migrate, creating a "beachhead" for subsequent migrants. We will also consider patterns of migration that tend to be unique to women, such as marriage migrations in traditional patrilocal societies, short-term migrations for purposes such as obtaining abortions or birth control, and daily movements that may include transportation of children or elderly parents. The mental maps of women, as contrasted with those of men, could be presented here, too. Texts Harm De Blij, Human Geography: Culture. Society. and Space (2nd Edition) Requirements Your grade will be based on two midterm exams (100 points each) and a comprehensive final exam (200 points). Course Outline Week I 1/14-1/18 Introduction. Culture concepts, culture regions. Reading: Chs. 1, 8. Week II 1/21-1/25 Culture and development. Geography of hunger. Reading: Chs. 21, pp. 544-563; Ch. 3. Week III 1/28-2/1 Medical geography. Reading: Ch. 4. Week IV 2/4-2/8 Geography of religion. Geography of language. Reading: Chs. 11, 10. Week V 2/11-2/15 **FIRST EXAM, TUES. FEB. 12** Ancient livelihoods: hunting and gathering, domestication of plants and animals. Reading: Ch. 18. Week VI 2/18-2/22 Ancient livelihoods: slash and burn agriculture and wet rice cultivation. Week VII 2/25-3/1 Ancient livelihoods: mixed farming and pastoralism. The industrialization of agriculture. Reading: Ch. 19. Week VIII 3/4-3/8 The industrialization of agriculture (continued). Migration. Reading: Chs. 5, 6. 3/11-3/15 SPRING BREAK Week IX 3/18-3/22 The industrializing world. Reading: Ch. 20 Week X 3/25-3/29 **SECOND EXAM, THURS. MARCH 28** Resources and their implications for the modern world. Week XI 4/1-4/5 Dwellings and settlements. Emergence of cities. Reading: Chs. 14, 15. Week XII 4/8-4/12 Modern urbanization and urban patterns. Urban morphology. Reading: Chs. 16, 17. Week XIII 4/15-4/19 Modern urban problems. Introduction to population geography. Week XIV 4/22-4/26 Population growth. Reading: Ch. 2.