Welcome to Geog 101, Summer Session 2013

Posted on May 10, 2013 by Donald Rallis

This is the website for World Regional Geography (Geog 101) courses taught by Dr. Donald N. Rallis at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

If you are a student who has registered for the course in the Summer Session 2013, a hearty welcome to you! This is one of the websites where you can find important information about the course; most important of all is the Course Calendar, where required readings for each week will be posted. Please be sure to check the Calendar regularly, as it will be updated throughout the course.

Although this site is important, your main source of information will be the password protected Canvas website for Geog 101. That’s where you will find announcements, assignments, your grade record, and the discussion sections where you can post questions about technical and logistical problems or issues you might face.

 

 

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A note about this course website, for Spring 2013 students

Posted on January 15, 2013 by Donald Rallis

I have developed this website over the past few years to provide information about Geog 101 to students in the class, and to serve as a forum for a discussion of real-world issues related to World Regional Geography. Much of what is on this site applies, though, to the regular in-class version of the course I have taught in the past. This semester, the course is very different, since we will be meeting online for all but the first two weeks of the semester. This means that some of what you see on this site doesn’t apply this semester.

I am in the process of going through the site trying to make clear what applies to the online version of 101 and what does not. One very important page that DOES apply to your course (and is essential to it) is the Course Calendar. It is the only place where you will find the topics of each class meeting and the required readings for that day. So please make sure that you visit it, and do so regularly because I will make changes – usually in the readings – as the course progresses.

Also important is the site home page, which will serve as a blog where we will discuss topics relevant to our discussions. So please visit this page often as well, and please offer your thoughts, ideas, and responses to items I post here.

 

 

 

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A very unusual World Regional Geography course in Spring 2013

Posted on January 5, 2013 by Donald Rallis

In the Spring Semester 2013, both sections of Geog 101 will meet live and online, and I will join you from various places around the world. As I travel, I will be blogging about the places I visit, posting photographs and videos, and also sending regular Tweets (UMWGeog101.)

In this short video, I talk about this novel and unusual course, which begins on January 14, 2013.

(Note: When I originally made this video, I was scheduled to teach the course in Fall 2012. This didn’t happen, though, but everything I say here applies in Spring 2013.)

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China’s population

Posted on July 17, 2012 by Donald Rallis
Image of the beginning of an article from The Economist headed The war on baby girls Gendercide Killed, aborted or neglected, at least 100m girls have disappeared—and the number is rising

From The Economist, March 2010. Please read the article and post your reaction as a comment below.)

When we were disconnected this evening, we were in the middle of a discussion about China’s population. We began by looking at the country’s population pyramid and were were focusing particularly on the gender composition of the 0 – 5 age cohort. Let’s continue this discussion here. Specifically, I would like you to address the following questions?

  1. Based on the graph, can you tell when the so-called ‘one-child’ policy began? How can you tell?
  2. Carefully examine the 0 – 4 and 5 – 9 age cohorts. What unusual (in global terms) characteristic about them do you notice? What could explain this? Is it unique to China?

I will add some follow-up questions once the discussion begins. So please post your responses as comments here.

 

 

 

Posted in China, Population Geography | 7 Comments

Laos Project: An update

Posted on July 5, 2012 by Donald Rallis

July 5, 2012
Luang Prabang, Lao People’s Democratic Republic

Monks, temples and tourists in Luang Prabang, Laos
(Click on the photo to go to my album on this subject.)

A few days ago, we all began a hastily arranged and completely untested project. The purpose of the project was for all of us, working together, to learn as much as we can about the People’s Democratic Republic of Laos in general, and the town of Luang Prabang in particular.

The first part of the project was for students in Geog 101 (World Regional Geography) and Geog 307 (Geography of Asia) to do some online research, first looking for and perusing some good and reliable general sources of information.  Second, students were to choose a topic of particular interest to them and learn a little about them.

The third part of the project is where I come in. I asked students to send me one or two simple research questions, based on the area of interest they had chosen. The questions were to be of a kind I could answer (or at least investigate) in the field here in Luang Prabang (in other words, the kinds of question that I could answer by looking around and perhaps talking to people.)

The culmination of the project will be a collection of annotated links on the the Lao P.D.R., some of the more specialized links found by members of the class, and finally a collection of some of the research questions I was asked and the answers I managed to find.

I have a day or so left here, and lots of work still to do. Here, in the mean time, are some of the great questions and tasks students have posed for me.

  1. What takes place during the alms ceremony in the city?
  2. How has Luang Prabang grown as a result of becoming a UNESCO site in 1995? How present are signs of UNESCO in Luang Prabang? Can you see active signs of restoration or preservation of the buildings and architecture?
  3. How do people in Luang Probang utilize the Mekong? Are their practices sustainable?
  4. Although French culture is still evident in Laotian architecture and cuisine, why isn’t the French language as widely spoken in Laos (Cambodia and Vietnam as well) as it is in other former French colonies such as Quebec, Côte d’Ivoire or the Democratic Republic of the Congo? (I received several other questions along similar lines, asking about the impact and evidence of French colonialism here.)
  5. I received a wide range of questions about tourism and its impact on the local economy, cultures, and landscapes. Here are two examples:
    With Laos having reversed its stance on tourism more than 15 years ago, and from what I’ve seen Luang Prabang being a top sight for visitors, are you noticing an overwhelming number of tourist attractions? More specifically, is the tourism industry in anyway similar to what we have seen of Bali in Indonesia? Do locals appear to be receptive and welcoming of foreign visitors?
    and, in a similar vein:
    Based on observation, does it appear that the city of Luang Prabang relies heavily on the tourism industry?  Do you think it’s to an extent that could be harmful to the city culturally, economically, or environmentally?
    and
    What evidence do you see of Luang Prabang’s widely known Buddhist heritage in terms of tourism? What about the row of temples that supposedly line one of the city streets – is that a main tourist attraction or is it mostly meant for citizens of Luang Prabang’s religious use?
  6. According to Lonely Planet, a well-developed highway system has been built linking Luang Prabang with Thailand and China. This focus on infrastructure has apparently turned Luang Prabang into an important commerce point in Laos (Lonely Planet, 2012) Do you see any evidence of this increase in commerce in the form of Thai or Chinese goods in Luang Prabang?
    (This question mentions two issues also raised by others: the development of Laos’s infrastructure, and foreign investment and influence of various kinds.)
  7. Are there any small private businesses? Or are there a larger shopping centers where people go buy things they need everyday?

 

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A class project: Exploring Luang Prabang, Laos

Posted on July 3, 2012 by Donald Rallis

Northern Laos, showing the location of Luang Prabang

I am now in Luang Prabang, a historic town on the east bank of the Mekong River in northern Laos. I was originally planning to teach my classes this week from here, live and online, as I have been doing for the past six weeks or so from Cambodia and Thailand. My plans, though, did not take Luang Prabang’s internet connections into account. Suffice it to say that this town has only tenuous and unreliable connections to the digital world, holding a web conference would be impossible. So, instead of our classes this week, students in Geog 101 (World Regional Geography) and the Geography of Asia (Geog 307) are working on a joint project to learn as much about Luang Prabang and Laos as possible. The result will be a page (or more) on this site serving, I hope, as a resource for others interested in Luang Prabang and Laos. Who knows, I might even be able to come back here and continue the project with other students in the future.

Below is the description of the project I posted on the class’s restricted access Canvas site.

 The Project: Exploring Luang Prabang

I arrived in Luang Prabang yesterday (Sunday) and I will be here until Friday morning. I am here because I know very little about this place (or Laos, for that matter) and I want to learn more, as I hope you do. So, over the next few days, we will work together to learn as much as we can about this town, northern Laos, and the country as a whole.

Your contribution will be to some online research and come up with an annotated list of resources and links for anyone interested learning more about this country. I don’t have reliable internet access, so I won’t be able to do much online research. My part will therefore be to take photographs, investigate places, and gather as many insights as possible. So please send me your questions, project, and assignments, and I will do my best in my few days here to complete the tasks you assign me.

Your part  the project has several components, all of which you will complete together with one or two other members of the class (you may pick who you work with.)

  1. Find and read some general background information on Laos to give yourself a quick idea of the some of the country’s very basic human and physical geographies, its history, and its economy. Make a note of the source or sources you used, write a two of three sentence description of the source and what it covers (you will send it to me later together with some other material I describe below.) Make sure that your source is reliable and appropriate; the kind of source you would be comfortable staking your grade on in a paper or essay.
  2. Repeat #1 above, but this time focus specifically on the town of Luang Prabang and/or the region in which it is located.
  3. Choose some issue, topic, place, or subject related to Luang Prabang  to look at in more detail. Choose at least three sources dealing with your choice of topic and, as above, write a sentence or two describing each and explaining why it is useful.
  4. Come up with two or three questions you have about your chosen topic that I could find answers to while I am in Luang Prabang. Bear in mind that I don’t have access to many reference sources here, I don’t know any local experts (or local people in general, for that matter,) and I have only very limited access to the internet. So you need to assign me tasks that can be completed by fieldwork, observation, or investigation on the ground. Please try to send me my task no later than 7 pm on Tuesday EDT (6 am Wednesday here.) This will give me two days to complete my part of this project. You may either e-mail your question to me, or post it as a comment here.
  5. As we gather information and sources, we will post them online, creating a resource that others can use to find out more about Laos in general and Luang Prabang in particular.

My other class, Geography of Asia (Geog 307) will be working on an identical project this week, and we will all come up with a single web resource together.

 

 

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Thinking about Nora Ephron thinking about reading

Posted on June 29, 2012 by Donald Rallis

The late Nora Ephron on reading

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Young Americans: “The most indulged young people in the history of the world?’

Posted on June 26, 2012 by Donald Rallis

The July 2, 2012 issue of The New Yorker contains an excellent article in which Elizabeth Kolbert argues that American parents have raised a generation of ‘adulescents, young people who have grown up as possibly “the most indulged young people in the history of the world.”  We could well be may be raising a generation, she says,  ”who can’t, or at least won’t, tie their own shoes.”

This isn’t the fault of the ‘adulescents’ (the generation of which many of you, my students, are members.) It is the fault of people of my and your parents’ generation; we haven’t given you the chance to take responsibility, and we have prevented you from experience that most valuable of experiences: failure.

The result is a generation of young Americans less able than any previous generation to ask their own questions, figure out answers themselves, and exercise judgment. Parents have always taken care of those things and, unsurprisingly, when these young people reach college they expect professors to fill the same role.

Please read the New Yorker article. I want to know what you think. Does the piece  mischaracterize the upbringing today’s 18 – 25 year olds have experienced? If it doesn’t, what should college professors like me do about this? Should we take by far the easiest route when you ask us questions and give you the answers, just as your parents have done? Or should we tell you to figure it out for yourself, knowing full well that your upbringing has conditioned you to respond angrily to such a response, and to take it as a personal affront?

 

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Giving up your kids because you can’t afford to keep them: the ultimate sacrifice, or an abdication of responsibility?

Posted on June 26, 2012 by Donald Rallis

Phnom Penh, Cambodia
June 26, 2012 

Last week, I met and talked with Male (MA-lee,) a Cambodian woman whose story shook me to the core.  Seven years ago, Male’s husband (who worked on a Thai fishing vessel to support his family) died of tuberculosis, leaving her alone to take care of their five young children (then ranging in age from two to about eight.) Male has little education (during what should have been her middle and high school years, the Khmer Rouge ruled Cambodia, and there was no formal education,) and so could not earn more than the most meager of incomes in this poor country (where nearly 30 percent of the population lives on less than $1.25 a day.) She certainly could not earn enough to feed let alone clothe or educate her children.

Male faced a terrible dilemma, and made a tough choice: she took the eldest two to an NGO that arranges international adoptions. Her hope was that they would be adopted by wealthy foreigners who would be able to provide them with better prospects in life than she could. They were soon adopted by an Austrian couple who took them back with them to Vienna, and she hasn’t heard from them since. Later, she took two more of her children to an ‘orphanage,’ where they remain today (and she is still in touch with them).  Male kept only her infant child, now a boy of nine.

There is a lot more to Male’s particular story, and I will post it online very soon. For now, though, I want to focus on the situation parents like Male find themselves in, not because it is unusual, but because it is very common. Millions of parents in the developing world face themselves facing dilemmas a lot like Male’s, though details vary widely.

Faced with this terrible dilemma, what should a parent do? If you were in Male’s position, what would you do?  Did she do the right thing, or was she wrong to abandon her children?

In a closed discussion on this topic, one student in Geog 101 summarized the view of several members of the class

I wonder if her Male’s two eldest children, were adopted by the Austrian couple, were actually sent to them and are living in a good home.  Especially since she is of low socioeconomic status, there is no way for her to know whether her children were sold into child slavery or actually sent to a loving home.  In that sense, I question whether giving them up for adoption was actually better for them than keeping them with her?  Knowing this and that I would have no way to be sure, I don’t think I would’ve given them up for adoption.

Do you agree? I look forward to hearing from you (and by ‘you’ I mean not only students in Geog 101, but anyone else who happens to stop by this site.)

Donald N. Rallis

 

Posted in Development, Poverty, Uncategorized | 7 Comments

GeoQuiz! No.1 now open!

Posted on June 18, 2012 by Donald Rallis

I have just sent out a Tweet containing the first ever Geog 101 GeoQuiz!. In it, I asked you to identify the city in which I took one of my photographs.  This is an easy one, so get to right away before someone else beats you to it! Remember that the prize goes to the best explanation for the answer, so a correct answer isn’t enough.  Post your explanation and answer as a comment right here, after this post.

After the contest has ended, I will post the Geoquiz! photograph here (yes, this is a transparent effort to get you to subscribe to the @UMWGeog101 Twitter feed!)

 

For rules and guidelines, see my previous post.

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