This course is an introduction to cultural geography through the study of global patterns of many aspects of human culture, including population, language, religion, urban and rural settlement, and ways of economic livelihood.
Students will start to study these aspects of culture with the two basic questions geographers ask: the first is "where," and the second is "why." Cultural geography is the most basic component of human geography. Human geography is the study of where and why human activities are located where they are - for example, religions, businesses, and cities. Cultural geography is, by definition, then focused on those things that are human-created. This is distinctly different from physical geography, which is concerned with why natural forces occur as they do--for example, climates, landforms, and types of vegetation. Having made that distinction, students will see that there is at least, on some level, a connection between the physical setting and certain aspects of human cultures. Igloos can't be found in the rain forest, but neither can bamboo huts be found on the tundra. However, Coca-Cola can be found in both places. The focus of this course, again, is on the global patterns of certain key aspects of human culture.
Students will enjoy this course and become better aware of the similarities and differences that exist among different groups in their ever-shrinking world.
UW Colleges Catalog Course Description for GEO 101 - Introduction to Cultural Geography - 3 credits. A survey of world patterns of culture, such as population, language, religion, urban and rural settlement, and their causal relationships, emphasizing the global diversity of world cultures, contrasting worldviews and the issues thus raised. This course fulfills the UWC requirement for Social Sciences (SS).
Culture is hard to define. However, some of its components are easily recognized and include things like population, migration, language, religion, material items, ethnicity, politics, and development. Students will examine all of these and several other issues during the semester. Students will stress the variation in the cultural landscape and critically analyze several current problems facing modern society, such as overpopulation and differences between societies.
By working through each lesson and participating in the discussions, students will exchange ideas that will help them to better understand the diversity of the cultural landscape and the similarities and differences between different social groups.
Successful completion of this course will enhance students' ability to
Microsoft Word.
The most current edition of MS Office (containing MS Word, Excel and other valuable programs) is available to University of Wisconsin students at discounted prices through the Wisconsin Integrated Software Catalog.
Adobe Acrobat Reader.
You will need the latest version of Adobe Acrobat Reader. It is free and freely distributed software that lets you view and print Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) files. If you do not have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed, please download it by visiting Adobe's website.
Jim McCluskey
