Human Geography: Cultural Interactions with the Physical Landscape

Summer 2013 quarter

Faculty

Michael Vavrus education, history, political economy

Fields of Study

geography and sustainability studies

Preparatory for studies or careers in

social studies teaching, sustainability studies

Description

This course focuses on geography as a cultural encounter. We will study patterns and processes that have shaped human interaction with various environments. The course encompasses human, political, cultural, social, and economic aspects of geography. Central guiding questions we will be addressing in this course:

• How have human beings transformed the planet Earth?
• What are the changing relations humans have with the planet?
• How have map makers represented (or misrepresented) the Earth’s surface and the ways in which people actually live?
• How have human societies adapted themselves to the natural environment? How have relations of power affected people's use of the environment?

This survey of human geography introduces broad concepts that are the focus of contemporary studies in geography. These concepts include

• locations of people;
• the difference in places of human habitats;
• relationships within places of human habitats;
• patterns and effects of movement of humans, products, and information; and
• how regions form and change.

This course is designed as a hybrid-online class and will use a combination of in-class and on-line meetings. The schedule may vary for different groups of students to accommodate various summer commitments.

Advertised Schedule

Orientation session: 5:30-9p Wed, Jun. 26.  This meeting will serve as a course introduction and will determine the schedule for a combination of in-class and on-line meetings. Schedule may vary for individual students according to their summer schedules, dependent upon the number of students who enroll.

Location

Olympia

Online Learning

Hybrid Online Learning 25 - 49% Delivered Online

Books

Greener Store

Offered During

Evening