Discussion and Review Questions
Chapter 1: Introduction to Human Geography
1. What was the Seven Wonders of Canada competition and what does it reveal about the
nature of human geography as a field of inquiry? Further, what would you have chosen for the
competition and why?
Ans: pp. 2-3
It illustrates the multiple interests of geographical studies (the political/social/economic/cultural)
and the connections between place and environment. Human geography is about
understanding place, place-making, as well as the emotional connections to these places.
2. While maps are the most familiar and recognizable tool of geography, the concept of “place”
is what arguably unifies the field. Discuss this concept of place, paying particular attention to
notions of “sense of place,” “place matters,” and “the globalization of place.”
Ans: pp. 4-5, 8-9
3. “Landscape” is another important theme related to a spatial perspective. What is landscape
and with whom is the concept most associated? How does the Tanzanian city of Dar-es-Salaam
illustrate the variety of forces involved in landscape practices?
Ans: p. 9
Carl Sauer was instrumental in bringing this concept to the forefront of geographical studies.
Landscape can be conceived as the “visible imprint of human activity on the physical
environment.” Human landscapes are the “unwitting autobiography, reflecting out tastes,
values, aspirations, and fears in tangible, visible form.” Dar-es-Salaam experienced four stages
of cultural dominance in less than one century, with each stage leaving its imprint on the city
(Arabs from Zanzibar; German colonizers; post-WWII British control and Asian immigration; the
capital of newly independent Tanzania.
4. Compare and contrast reference maps with thematic maps. Who was Dr. John Snow and how
was he able to use mapping in the field of medicine?
Ans: pp. 11-13
Reference maps show location of places and geographic features, focusing on absolute location
and employ co-ordinate systems. Thematic maps tell stories, showing spatial relationships of
geographic phenomena; thematic maps that show spatial distribution, increase understanding,
and reveal patterns.
Dr. Snow, a famed anesthesiologist in London (1854), mapped the cases of Cholera (Figure 1.12)
and noted the clustering around the water pump and therefore was able to deduce the source
of the disease.
5. Human geographers approach their studies from a variety of theoretical and conceptual
perspectives, which in turn lead to the production and dissemination of a wide array of
geographical knowledge. Compare and contrast two such theoretical and conceptual
perspectives focusing on key individuals, concepts, and outcomes.
Ans: pp. 24-27
The theoretical perspectives include: environmental determinism; possibilism; regional
geography; spatial analysis (quantitative/positivistic geography); humanistic/behavioural
geography; radical/marxist geography; identity and the postmodern turn.
Chapter 2: Globalization and Geographies
1. What is globalization? Think about the place where you live: how has it been affected by
and/or how does it affect modern globalization?
Ans: pp. 31-32
Though hotly contested as to its origins, globalization involves an acceleration of the processes
involving flows that encompass ever greater numbers of the world spaces and that leads to
increasing integration and interconnectivity among those spaces; globalization as a ‘time space
compression’ (pp. 40-41).
2. What is the “staples thesis,” and what does it reveal about how Canada has historically been
integrated into the processes of globalization?
Ans. p. 34
The staples thesis is the theory that Canada’s economy developed through the export of raw
resources to Europe, eschewing manufacturing, but rather preferring to import finished goods.
This has made Canada more vulnerable to fluctuations in the global prices for resources.
Because of this historic dependence, Canada holds a less dominant position today.
3. To succeed in the globalized economy requires a variety of corporate strategies. Two such
strategies are “vertical” and “horizontal” integration. Explain these strategies and discuss the
specific industries where they have proven most successful.
Ans. pp. 43-44
Vertical integration: ownership by the same firm of a number of companies that exist along a
variety of points on a commodity chain. Global media have been organized in this fashion as
typified by Disney (Figure 2.16), in order to take advantage of cross-promotional synergy, i.e.
controlling both content and delivery. However, the vertical integration of media changes the
geography of the flow of ideas by limiting the number of gatekeepers.
Horizontal integration: ownership by the same firm of a number of companies that exist at the
same point on a commodity chain. The retail industry, as typified by Gap, is organized in such a
way.
4. Many observers believe globalization is creating a sense of “placelessness.” What do they
mean by this and based on your experience and where you live, do you agree or disagree?
Ans. pp. 44-46
Placelessness: the loss of uniqueness in the cultural landscape so that one place begins to look
like every other place (Edward Relph; Figure 2.17). Placelessness as a form of ‘McDonaldization’
involves corporate strategies to increase efficiency, predictability, and control.
‘Glocalization’ implies that placelessness is not absolute, but rather the local mediates and
alters regional, national, and global processes to challenge homogenizing forces.
5. Globalization processes and outcomes have not been favourably viewed in all places or by all
peoples. The movement that has arisen to challenge the logic of globalization has been dubbed,
“alternative globalization.” Identify who the proponents of this movement are and discuss their
arguments against globalization. What are their ideas for improving globalization?
Ans. pp. 46-48
Proponents include NGOs, labour activists, environmentalists, and other members of the ‘global
civil society’ who have come together to form the World Social Forum (2001).
The main criticism is the impression that globalization has primarily been about promoting the
neo-liberal economic agenda of the global core and global capitalists. From this perspective,
free trade is not ‘free’ nor is it fair. Resistance to globalization is also driven by concern about
the threat to local, traditional cultures and values.
Suggestions: Participatory development; local currencies and local exchange trading systems
Chapter 3: Political Geography
1. J.B. Harley (2001) observed that “As much as guns and warships, maps have been the
weapons of imperialism.” What does he mean by this and how does this relate to the specific
example of George Dawson’s mapping of the Queen Charlotte Islands?
Ans. pp. 58-59
He debunked the notion that cartography offers a neutral and objective depiction of the world.
Maps make arguments about the geographies they represent. They naturalize particular and
quite contested spatial understanding at the expense of competing perspectives. The map of the
Queen Charlotte Islands reflects this view. The British survey attempted to lay claim to the
islands at the expense of the original inhabitants who, lacking the requisite mapping
technologies, did not have a claim to the area. The map was clearly a tool of imperialism.
2. “Nation” and “state” are concepts that often used interchangeably; however, to a political
geographer they are not the same. Discuss how these concepts differ. Discuss the concept of a
“nation-state”?
Ans: pp. 51-54; 60-61
The state is a political container with a permanent population, a defined territory, and a
government that is recognized as sovereign by other states. The nation is a territorial group
possessing bonds of solidarity. National solidarity is usually the result of shared language,
ethnicity, and/or other cultural attributes. Nations also possess a sense of difference from other
nations. Benedict Anderson called it the “imagined community.” The nation-state refers to a
politically organized area controlled by one, dominant nation. Nationalism is the process by
which either the state makes a nation or the nation gains a state.
3. One of the strategies by which states promote unification is by choosing a governmental
structure that promotes nation-building and mitigates internal divisions. Two such structures
are “unitary” and “federal.” Explain these structures and identify which one most fits Canada.
Has Canada’s structure been successful?
Ans. pp. 71-72
Unitary is a system with a centralized government and administration that exercises power
equally over all parts of the state. France is an example. The federal system is more
decentralized with the constituent units of the state having more power and control over local
affairs. Canada is an example of a federal system, though the federal government dominates in
certain political spheres such as foreign policy and national security. Canada has had mixed
success with its system, especially in regards to Quebec, but so far has avoided devolution.
4. Geopolitics is the branch of political geography that considers the interplay between space,
power, and international relations. How has the study of geopolitics changed since its
beginnings in late 19th-century Germany and Britain? Ans. pp. 75-78
German School – Ratzel (organismic theory of the state, lebensraum)
British School – Mackinder (heartland theory; logic behind the formation of NATO)
Critical Geopolitics – Agnew, O’Tuathail; intellectual statecraft; discourse analysis;
deconstructing spatial assumptions
5. What is “supranationalism” and why has it become an important political-territorial strategy?
Discuss the specific case of the European Union and how it is a historically unique form of
supranationalism.
Ans. pp. 79-84
Supranationalism refers to ventures involving three or more nation-states involving formal
political, economic, and cultural co-operation; eg. EU; NATO; NAFTA; UN
Logic for: security; achieve economic efficiency, scale, advantage; collectively resist the negative
aspects of globalization as well as take advantage of the positive aspects; supranational
organizations also can more effectively deal with sub-national disputes.
The EU is not a state nor is it simply an organization of states. It has taken on a life of its own—
with a multi-faceted government structure, three capital cities, and billions of Euros flowing
through its coffers. It has extended its reach into foreign relations, domestic policies, and
military policies.
Chapter 4: Population
1. In an historical context, Europe was known as a region of high population that resulted in
mass emigration to the New World. However, the situation today is vastly different. Describe
this situation today, its causes, and the impacts it will have on European society. What are
specific European countries doing to address the challenges they face?
Ans. 86-88
The current situation can be summarized quite simply as ‘where are all the children?’ Fertility
rates have dropped well below the replacement rate (Figure 4.2), leading to a situation where
European countries will face both an ageing population and future depopulation, unless
immigration policies are loosened. However, as noted, Europe has historically been a region of
emigration and thus has little experience in dealing with the social and cultural challenges
posed by immigrants. The cause of the low fertility rates are many, but mainly involve the
changing social role of women, who are choosing to stay in school, work on careers, and marry
later; all of which delays childbirth. Countries such as Sweden, recognizing the crisis, are
providing major financial incentives to have children.
2. Since the first settlements of the Neolithic, people have been unevenly distributed across the
globe. Referring to figures 4.6 and 4.7 discuss the where and why of this distribution. For
instance, why is the world's population distributed in four main regions?
Ans. 90-94
The major concentrations of people live in these four regions: East Asia; South Asia; Europe; and
North America. There are also high clusters of people in the Niger River basin and coastal South
America. Historically, people have congregated in those parts of the world where they could
grow food and be provided with a regular water supply. However, recent advances in
agricultural technology and transportation have begun to change this pattern.
3. How has population historically changed in Canada? Referencing any of the demographer’s
tools (fertility, mortality rates, population pyramid, demographic transition) discuss the current
population situation in Canada.
Ans. 102-103
Canadian population change can be divided into three distinct phases: 1851-1900, a period of
slow growth due to the fact that high fertility rates were offset by very high mortality rates;
1901-1945, was defined by accelerated growth due to immigration from Europe and the
settlement of western Canada; 1946-present is characterized by an even faster pace due to both
the post war baby boom and strong immigration from all regions of the world. The current
population stands near 34 million. According to Figure 4.16 the growth is due primarily to
immigration rather than natural increase (Canada has a fertility rate below natural
replacement).
Canada has a high life expectancy, low infant mortality rates (except in Nunavut, Yukon, and the
Northwest Territories) and would be considered in the late stages of phase 4 of the
demographic transition model.
4. Since the first official cases and recognition of HIV/AIDS in the early 1980s, medical
geographers have been involved in fighting the disease. Explain the social and demographic
affects of this disease and discuss the contributions of medical geographers.
Ans. pp. 116-118.
Since HIV/AIDS was identified in Africa it has since diffused across the planet with more than
33.2 million affected. Close to 70 percent of all cases are in sub-Saharan Africa. This has had a
debilitating social and demographic impact on the region. Geographer Peter Gould in his book
The Slow Plague calls Africa a “continent in catastrophe.” As Robson notes in her Guest Field
Note, in addition to the rising number of AIDS orphans, many young children, especially girls,
are taken out of school to serve as caregivers.
5. Governments have instituted a variety of policies to directly influence their country’s
demographics. These policies have varied from the controversial to the benign and invariably
have been influenced by social ideology. Discuss some of these policies and, by focusing on
specific examples, assess their demographic and social impacts.
Ans. pp. 118-120
Certain policies affect the birth rate by implementing laws and policies ranging from subsidized
abortions to forced sterilization. Others influence family size through taxation or subvention.
The policies tend to fall into three categories: expansive, eugenic, and restrictive. For example,
the Canadian government attempted to encourage population growth by introducing a “baby
bonus” following WWII.
Chapter 5: Migration
1. What does the case of the MV Sun Sea reveal about the issue of migration both for Canada
and the world? What do you feel is an appropriate response to the issue posed by this event?
Ans. 122-123
The MV Sun Sea was a ship carrying up to 500 Sri Lankan refugees whose voyage and arrival
destination (Canada) created a media storm that revealed an underlying strain in Canadian
immigration policy. It also called into question how we understand citizenship, belonging,
immigration, the role of the nation-state, border security, and refugees, as well as what Tim
Cresswell calls the “brute materialities” of mobility. In the aftermath, the Conservative
government introduced a controversial bill entitled Preventing Human Smugglers from Abusing
Canada’s Immigration System Act, aimed at deterring human smuggling and illegal immigration
into Canada; Liberals decry the act suggesting it makes it more difficult to immigrate, demonizes
refugees, and promotes a sense of racial profiling in immigration policy.
2. As a key part of studying and understanding migration, human geographers focus on
determining who migrants are. Discuss and assess the typology constructed to understand the
migrant experience. What, if any, is your personal experience with migration?
Ans. 126-127
A migrant, in the general sense, is quite simply one who moves from one region or country to
another. However, the situation and the context of that movement vary across space and time.
Migrants are often described as ‘refugees’ or ‘guest workers’. Migrant labourers often enter a
country as ‘guest workers,’ which usually implies a short-term stay. The CSAWP is a program
run by Canada that facilitates the admission of guest workers. Refugees, on the other hand,
have fled a region because of some form of persecution, usually political, and seek asylum in
another country. There have been many examples of mass exodus and movements of individuals
seeking refugee status. The criticism of these concepts is that they tend to homogenize the
experience of the individual and create a typology that is hard to undo, even after living in the
host country for a number of years.
3. The Atlantic slave trade is arguably one of the most devastating and pernicious cases of
forced migration in human history. It profoundly altered the human geographies of Africa, the
Caribbean, North America, and South America. Discuss its history and the geographic impacts.
What was Canada’s role in the history of slavery?
Ans. 130-132
Figure 5.8 reveals the magnitude of the slave trade as well as the primary destinations for the
importation of slaves, with the majority being taken to the Caribbean. The slaves were initially
brought to work the sugar plantations. Much of west and equatorial Africa were exploited.
Geographer James Blaut, in A Colonizer’s Model of the World, discusses the loss to African
civilizations that occurred with the enslavements of so many people. Canada’s role is most often
connected with the Underground Railroad, which was a series of secret routes that ferried free
slaves to the Canadian provinces from 1840 to 1860. However, the experience in Birchtown,
Nova Scotia was not so positive.
4. Canada has often been described as a “multicultural” nation. What does this mean and how
is it related to the history of the country? What, if any, criticisms are there of Canada’s
multicultural policy?
Ans. pp. 151-152
Multiculturalism is the belief that different ethnic or cultural groups have the right to remain
distinct rather than assimilating into mainstream norms. The metaphor of a ‘mixing pot’ is often
used to describe the Canadian approach to immigration, as opposed to the ‘melting pot’ in the
case of the United States. Geographer Audrey Kobayashi suggests that Canadian
multiculturalism occurred in three stages. Important legislation and policies associated with this
approach include the Immigration Act (1967); the Royal Commmission on Bilingualism and
Biculturalism (1963); the Canadian Human Rights Commission (1978); and the Multiculturalism
Act (1988). The main criticism of multiculturalism as a government policy in Canada is that it
promotes ‘ghettoization” by encouraging immigrants to remain separate and apart from the
dominant culture, and it discourages newcomers from thinking of themselves as Canadians.
5. Re-read the guest field note Living in Toronto. Have you ever thought about your own or your
family’s migratory experience? When did your ancestors move to Canada? What were the
“push” or “pull” factors that brought them to the country? Where did they first arrive and how
have they moved since? Has it been mainly a positive or a negative experience?
Chapter 6: Human Environment Relations
1. According to the cultural critic Raymond Williams: “nature is perhaps the most complex word
in the English language.” Geographers have approached the meaning of nature and our
relationship with it in three different ways. What are these three ways and how does each help
our understanding of nature?
Ans. pp. 158-160
The three approaches are the Marxist, the cultural geographic, and the political ecological. The
first approach relies heavily on how the capitalist world economy conceives nature, primarily as
a commodity with value determined by the market mechanism. The view also posits that
humans “produce nature” through their technological and intellectual efforts. Cultural
geographers argue that what we understand as nature comes as much from the human
imagination as it does from technological intervention. The sub-discipline of landscape studies is
useful in this context as it pays attention to how nature is seen and represented in various art
forms. Nature is mediated through human expectations, experiences, and representations. The
third focuses on the connection between nature and political and social relations under
capitalism. Environmental degradation in this view reflects social and political problems rather
than technical or managerial.
2. How we think about or understand our evolving relationship with nature is reflected in the
history of the environmental movement in both Canada and the United States. The
environmental movement has experienced two waves. Discuss the dominant aspects and
concerns of these two waves.
Ans. pp. 160-162
The first wave focused on issues of deforestation, desertification, soil erosion, and extinction.
Writers such as H.D. Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and James Fenimore Cooper were
challenging the prevailing logic of continued domination and subjugation of nature. The
conservation movement arose during this first phase with the premise being the protection of
natural resources from overuse. In this sense it was very much a utilitarian environmental
ideology. The second phase focused on air and water quality and human health issues arising
from pollution, chemical, and toxic waste. Grassroots organizations and non-governmental
organizations arose to address environmental problems. The environmental justice movement
also took shape in the second wave. The movement has gone global, but it has also seen the rise
of the anti-environmental movement and its tenacious green washing.
3. How is remote sensing used to study the changes to Canada’s boreal forests?
Ans. pp. 174-175
Valerie Thomas in her guest field note discusses her usage of Lidar (light detection and ranging),
hyperspectral remote sensing, and GIS to study the changes in the Boreal forest.
4. It is evident that modern humans and the biosphere face many environmental problems and
challenges, such as climate change, loss of biodiversity, water pollution, ozone depletion, soil
erosion, deforestation, and the disposal of waste. Which one do you feel is the most pressing
and why?
Ans. pp. 171-179
5. Despite the numerous environmental problems and challenges, people across the planet
have made serious efforts to act and change the unsustainable path. Discuss these efforts,
focusing on the various scales at which action is taking place. Do you think these efforts will
succeed or are we doomed to the self-imposed catastrophic alteration of the biosphere?
Ans. 179-185
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change serves to guide governmental
activity on the various issues and has been important in efforts to curb climate change. There is
also the Global Environmental Facility (UN and World Bank) that funds projects related to six
issues: biodiversity, global warming, international waters, ozone depletion, land degradation,
and persistent organic pollutants. The Montreal Protocol was signed, effectively banning the
production of CFCs and other ozone-depleting substances. There has also been a sizable amount
of effort towards promoting alternative energy and a new, “green” industrial revolution.
Chapter 7: Social Geographies—Identities and Place
1. What does the author’s experience in the brick-making facility on the island of Bali, Indonesia,
reveal about the geography of gender and the division of labour?
Ans. pp. 188
The workers in the brick facility were predominantly young boys and women, working long
hours for very low wages; compared to North American brick facilities where the workers are
male and earn higher wages. This observation starkly reveals how different cultures and
societies have different ideas about what jobs are appropriate for men and what are
appropriate for women. Geographer Peter Hancock, who studied gender relations and women’s
work in factories in Indonesia, reported that young women are preferred because they are much
more docile, less likely to agitate or unionize, and tend to be more adept at doing repetitive and
delicate tasks associated with assembly line work.
2. What is identity and how is our understanding of it enhanced by the incorporation of
geographic concepts? What is intersectionality and how does it further our understanding of
identity?
Ans. pp. 190-192
According to geographer Gillian Rose, identity is “how we make sense of ourselves.” In other
words, how we define and construct ourselves based on experiences, emotions, and connections
to various social categories in specific places. Place and space are integral to our identities
because our experiences happen in places, and perceptions of place help us make sense of who
we are. Furthermore, we often conflate the places we inhabit with a person’s identity. A very
powerful way of understanding identity is to understand and define oneself against the “other,”
or rather who one is not. Intersectionality reveals how complex, multilayered, and socially
constructed identity categories are.
3. Discuss the gendered nature of employment in Canada.
Ans. pp. 192-193
Until recently, gendered assumptions about intellect, aptitude, and physical strength meant that
women were thought to be incapable of working in a large number of occupations. A 2009
Statistics Canada study showed a dramatic shift in the number of women in the paid workforce
(fig. 7.6); from 48% in 1976 to 76% in 2009. Fig. 7.7 shows the breakdown by sex across
occupations and that there still remains a gendered division of labour in Canada. Men tend to
hold positions in trades, transport, and as equipment operators or in sales and service or
management occupations. Women occupy positions in two categories: business, finance, and
administration or sales and services. Significantly more men still occupy positions in the natural
and applied sciences and manufacturing.
4. What was the nature of Sarah Jane Meharg’s research, as articulated in the Guest Field Note?
What did she discover about the connections between identity and place and “identicide” as a
tactic?
Ans. pp. 200-202
She studied how in warfare enemies often engage in strategies that eradicate the other side’s
connections to particular places. She dubbed this ‘identicide,’ by which she meant strategies
that deliberately target and destroy cultural landscapes in order to contribute to eventual
acculturation, removal, and/or total destruction of a particular identity group in a particular
place. Identicide kills the relatedness between people and place and attempts to eliminate the
bond underpinning individual, community, and national identity. She provided specific examples
drawn from the Yugoslav civil wars, including the destruction of the Stari Most (old bridge) in
Mostar, Bosnia-Herzegovina (fig. 7.17).
5. What does it mean when geographers argue that “places are gendered”? What does the
study of Canadian and American gay villages reveal about sexuality and space and the
gendering of place?
Ans. pp. 203-205
To say that places are gendered is to say that places can be designed for or understood as the
appropriate or “normal” location for women or men. A mall for instances, was designed not just
as an agglomeration of consumption activities, but as places for women: safe, secure, privatized,
and heavily surveilled places without any liminality. Gay villages played an important role in the
political, economic, and social development of gay and lesbian political activism and civil rights.
In the 1970s and 1980s, urban gay spaces provided individuals with a sense of belonging and
community. Many gays and lesbians fled rural areas for the ‘big city’ in order to find supportive
communities and more tolerance. However, these places have also served, according to
geographer Natalie Oswin, as places ‘extending the norm, not transgressing or challenging it,’
at least in the context of neoliberal capitalist dictates of mass consumption. More recently,
census data has been collated and mapped to reveal the patterns of sexual identity in the larger
urban fabric.
Chapter 8: Local Culture, Popular Culture, and Cultural Landscapes
1. Discuss the story of the Tata Corporation and what it reveals about cultural geography in
India and the role of globalization in shaping the experiences of a local cultural group.
Ans. 214-215
The Tata Corporation, headquartered in Hyderabad, has grown to be one of the largest
corporations in India and the World. The Tata family, who built and run the business, are
members of the Parsi religion and ethnic group. Originally, the Parsi fled persecution in Persia
and came to India, where they were able to practice their beliefs and ways of life. The financial
success of the company is partly attributed to the tight knit community of the Parsi as well as its
ability to operate in a country that has embraced the economic forces of globalization. However,
the core cultural practices among the Parsi are threatening the existence of the culture itself as
it comes in contact with and partly assimilates to the larger Indian society.
2. Though culture is a highly contested concept, geographers and academics recognize that
cultural groups can be viewed as displaying varying aspects of folk culture and popular culture.
Compare and contrast the aspects of folk culture with those of popular culture. How are both
influenced by, and through, geographic scale? Can you think of any particular aspects of your
cultural milieu that are rooted in folk customs or in popular culture?
Ans. pp. 220-221
Folk culture is understood as incorporating a homogenous population, and as being typically
rural with cohesive cultural traits, whereas popular culture is understood as pervasive, as
incorporating heterogeneous populations, and as typically urban with rapidly changing cultural
traits. Popular culture is heavily influenced by what are known as ‘culture industries,’ which
engage in creation, commodification, and dissemination of cultural traits. The fashion industry
is a classic example of this tendency. Related to both types, is local culture, wherein a group of
people in a particular place understand that they share experiences, customs, and traits, and
who actively work to preserve those traits in order to distinguish themselves and their places
from others.
3. Identify and explain the various means by which Canada has worked to preserve and
maintain a distinctive, local, Canadian culture. What have been some of the positive and
negative results of the Canadian approach?
The drive to preserve certain cultural ideas and eradicate others has a lengthy history in Canada.
Early in its history Canada’s policy was one of cultural assimilation, especially in regard to the
Aboriginal peoples. The result was forced settlement, loss of cultural identity, and the tragedy
of residential schools, which were quite often sites of physical and sexual abuse masquerading
as moral enhancement. Canada has recently apologized for these programs and created
financial and supportive institutions to redress the wrongs.
Canada also has programs to develop and foster the creative arts. The Canadian Radiotelevision and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) works to ensure that Canadian actors,
artists, writers, film and television producers, and musicians are given adequate representation
within Canadian cultural industries.
Canada has also developed a series of Canadian content (CanCon) regulations for its music and
television industries to ensure that Canadian content receives adequate exposure.
4. Who are the Anabaptists and what has been their experience in North America? What
influence does geography have on such cultural groups?
Ans. pp. 224-225
Researcher Simon Harrison finds that local cultures often have two goals: keeping other cultures
out and keeping their own culture in so as to avoid ‘contamination and extinction.’ The
Anabaptists of North America are a class example of these ideas. The Anabaptists broke from
both the Catholic Church and the new Protestant churches, and include such groups as the
Hutterites, the Amish, and the Mennonites. They primarily live in isolated rural areas so as to
maintain as much control as possible of their physical and cultural boundaries. Anabaptists are
pacifists and actively discourage association with ‘outsiders’. The economies of these
communities are predominantly agrarian and autarky, though they will trade with nearby
farmers. More than 425 colonies are located in Manitoba and Alberta. Gender relations are
highly determined in these communities, whereby women are expected to produce as many
children as possible.
5. Geographers accept that cultural landscapes reflect the tensions between popular and local
culture. One of the results of the tension, combined with the globalizing forces of the capitalist
world economy, is, what Edward Relph called, “placelessness.” What is placelessness and what
are the factors that lead to it? Can you think of examples in your own context that reflect this
placelessness? Conversely, can you identity unique places and what it is about them that makes
them “unique”?
Ans. pp. 241-242
Placelessness is quite simply the loss of uniqueness in the cultural landscape so that one place
looks like the next. Along with the forces of profit seeking capitalism, the factors that can
produce placelessness include 1) the broad diffusion of particular architectural forms and
planning ideas; 2) the widespread visibility of individual businesses and products; and 3) the
borrowing of idealized landscape images. The skyscraper is a clear example of the first point.
The second point can be seen by observing the ubiquity of McDonald’s, Subway, Starbucks and
other megabrands never far from any human being on the Earth. The strip in Las Vegas
illustrates the third, with its various structures designed to evoke different parts of the planet.
Chapter 9: Agriculture
1. The most significant events in the history of humanity are arguably the agricultural and
animal domestication revolutions. Where did the first revolutions take place and why did they
occur in those locations? What were some of the specific impacts of the revolutions?
Agriculture as the deliberate tending of crops and livestock to produce food, feed, and fibre
began some 14,000 years ago in a variety of hearths centred around a variety of crops and
domesticated animals. Carl Sauer believed that the revolution needed to occur in ‘lands of
plenty.’ Suitable locations included Southeast and South Asia; Southwest Asia (the Fertile
Crescent); the Nile river basin; and North Central China (figure 9.3 provides a complete picture
of the 11 innovation centers). Tremendous pressure was put on hunter/gatherer societies by the
new, more permanent, and higher populated agricultural communities. Other impacts of the
transition include: rise of kin based systems; storage systems; writing and accounting systems;
increase in infectious, animal borne disease; rise of private property regimes; the division of
labour; rise of institutionalized religions and the priestly class; introduction of slavery; rise of
standing armies and militarization; metallurgy; establishment of trading networks and
colonization.
2. Since its inception, the agricultural revolution has evolved into a second and third phase.
Compare and contrast the so-called second agricultural revolution with the third agricultural
revolution. Further, how do the two evolutionary phases compare and contrast spatially?
Ans. p. 256-257
The industrial revolution was instrumental in the second industrial revolution, taking
agricultural production well beyond mere subsistence. A series of innovations, improvements,
and techniques took place in Great Britain, the Netherlands, and Denmark. New crops had also
been introduced from the European colonies. Government policies, such as Britain’s enclosure
acts, helped consolidate lands to promote mass standardization and production. The third wave,
also known as the green revolution, mainly involved agricultural scientists in the United States
who began genetically altering crops to increase yields. The entire field of biotechnology has coevolved with the third wave.
3. Discuss whether or not the “green revolution” has been a success or a failure, and provide
reasons for either case.
Ans. p. 259
Success: increased production per unit area and dramatic drop in population growth and food
requirements; famine is primarily the result of political instability, not food supply. Super-breeds
of various crops such as wheat and rice can be engineered to resist disease and pests, and to
grow in any climactic environment.
Failure: green revolution and GMOs pose health and environmental risks. Vandana Shiva, an
Indian opponent of the green revolution, has called it a failure due to the reduced genetic
diversity, increased vulnerability, soil erosion, water shortages, reduced soil fertility,
micronutrient deficiencies, contamination, etc. The beneficiaries of the revolution have been the
corporate, agribusiness, petrochemical industry, manufacturers of agricultural machinery, dam
builders, and large landowners.
4. Beginning with Johann Heinrich von Thünen, identify and discuss the various ways
geographers have tried to understand the spatial layout of agricultural systems. Geographers
are also interested in the cultural landscapes of agricultural systems. Explain the various
systems that have profoundly shaped the North American landscape.
Von Thunen’s model (figure 9) explains the location of agricultural activities in a profit based
system whereby the spatial patterns of crop selection are determined by market price. The
model allocates various activities into rings around a central market city. Through remote
sensing technologies geographers have been able to reveal and map the spatial patterns of
North American agricultural landscapes. The dominant patterns are based on either the
rectangular survey system or the township and range system. There are also the metes and
bounds system and the long-lot survey. Each has profoundly affected the spatial patterns of
North America.
5. Commercial agriculture has come to dominate the world’s economic core. Discuss how and
where commercial agriculture developed, as well as its various forms. How has commercial
agriculture impacted the environment?
Ans. 266-271
Commercial agriculture can be traced to the colonial empires established by European power in
the 18th and 19th centuries. The logic is such that the majority of production decisions are made
by market forces rather than meeting basic, local needs. Further, the system promotes land
consolidation (aka plantation agriculture), monoculture (single ag. commodity) and an
emphasis on ‘cash crops’ such as sugar, cotton, and rubber. Certain places in the system,
burdened by international debt structures, are also forced to focus on growing and exporting
‘luxury crops’ such as tea, cacao, coffee, and tobacco. There is also the issue of illegal
agricultural production in opium poppies, coca, or marijuana and the negative impacts in the
communities forced to grow these crops. The environmental impacts have been magnified in
the second and third waves of the agricultural revolution mainly as a result of the increasing
scale of the system. The changes go far beyond the simple clearing of land, and include soil
erosion, chemical pollution, groundwater reduction, and overharvesting.
Chapter 10: Urban Geography
1. The process of urbanization took thousands of years to develop. What were the key
innovations and technologies that lead to the first urban revolution? Where were the hearths
of humanity’s urban revolution and when did they initially develop?
The main components that fostered urban development were agricultural surplus and social
stratification and the organization of these by a leadership class. The urban hearths were, not
surprisingly, the same locations that saw the beginnings of the agricultural revolution, and were
as follows: Mesopotamia/Fertile Crescent (3500BCE); Nile River Valley (3200BCE); Indus River
Valley (2200BCE); Yellow/Yangtze river valleys (1500BCE); and the fifth in Mesoamerica (200BCE)
2. Similar to the agricultural revolution, the urban revolution occurred in phases. What
precipitated the second urban revolution and what were the spatial changes associated with
the second wave?
The second phase was a result of the industrial revolution and took shape in the 18 th century in
Great Britain first, then diffused to continental Europe and then to North America. The change
was rapid and massive; prior to the industrial revolution the majority of Europe was rural, with
only a handful of cities having a population greater than 100,000. The primary determinant in
the development of the industrial cities was proximity to a power source. Labourers flocked to
the new industrializing cities, overwhelming their infrastructural capacity. Living and working
conditions in the industrial cities were appalling to the point where revolt and the overthrow of
the capitalist system by Marxist revolutionaries seemed inevitable and necessary.
3. Urban geographers are interested in where cities form, how they develop (urban
morphology), and how cities act as organizing centres for a collection of settlements. Walter
Christaller was one of the first to develop models and a theory of city formation. Discuss
Christaller’s contribution to our understanding of urban geography. What was his key theory?
Cristaller argued that cities, towns, and villages work together in interlocking and hierarchical
urban systems that could be examined at a variety of scales. His central place theory explains
how and where central places should be functionally and spatially distributed with respect to
one another (figure 10.17). Cristaller also introduced concepts such as the rank-size rule,
primate city, and urban centrality. However, not all urban geographers have embraced
Cristaller’s hexagonal systems, viewing the model as more appropriate to the North American
context but lacking in other regions.
4. Discuss the spatial characteristics of Canada’s urban history and the evolution of a Canadian
urban system. What are the primary factors that have led to its unique spatial pattern?
Canada’s system is a good example of how urban areas are organized into a hierarchical and
interlocking relationship. Montreal and Toronto have historically vied in the east for centrality,
with Vancouver holding the position in the west. Geographers Bourne and Simmons note that
Canada has five mega-urban regions (fig. 10.18). The factors involved in the uneven spatial
growth of the urban regions is 1) Canada no longer has a rate of natural increase that can
sustain pop growth so relies on immigration; 2) employment opportunities have moved away
from manufacturing and resource industries toward the service and information sectors; and 3)
though trade and commerce historically flowed east-west, the signing of NAFTA has reoriented
trade towards the south
5. One of the major challenges in modern cities is urban sprawl. What is urban sprawl? What
has caused it? What, if anything, is being done to counteract it? What has been your experience
with urban sprawl?
Urban sprawl refers to the unrestricted growth of housing, commercial developments, and roads
over large expanses of land, with little concern for urban planning and little resistance to
developers’ grand visions and exquisite greed and megalomania. It’s a product of the
automobile age, suburban ideology, and investment capital. Urban sprawl is marked by the
widening of roads, proliferation of strip malls, big-box stores, chain restaurants, huge
intersections, numerous, monotonous housing developments, and the hollowing out of the
urban core. To counter urban sprawl, inspired by the work of Jane Jacobs and the publication of
The Death and Life of Great American Cities, a new vision of the city, dubbed new urbanism, has
arisen. New urbanism calls for urban revitalization, suburban reforms to create walkable
neighborhoods with more diversity, the inclusion of green spaces, mixed land uses, rural
reserves, and a less automobile dominated landscape. Some geographers, though, are highly
critical of new urbanism for a variety of reasons: 1) further privatizes and over-manages public
space; 2) new urbanism is a kind of spatial determinism that does nothing to address social
conditions that privilege the few.
Chapter 11: Geography, Trade and Development
1. What happened to Timbuktu? What does its story reveal about the fickle nature of
geography, trade, and development?
The city was once the powerful and wealthy capital of the Malinese Empire (13th-16th centuries).
Its wealth was derived from its ability to control the trans-Sahara trade in gold, salt, ivory, kola
nuts, and slaves. However, with the development of maritime routes along the west coast of
Africa, Timbuktu lost its strategic position and slowly began to decline. The history of Timbuktu
reveals that where a place is located in relation to patterns of economic development and
exchange are often more important than the particular commodities found there.
2. Development is not a straightforward or uncontested process. What are some of the issues
and critiques of how development is conceptualized and measured?
Development tends to assume a progressive move up a ladder without taking into consideration
geographic variability and context. Another criticism is that it has a Western bias, based solely
on GDP/capita data. Further, some of the measures that the West views as progress, such as
attracting industry and mechanizing agriculture, can actually lead to worsened social and
environmental conditions. Still others criticize the development model because it treats
countries as autonomous units moving through a process of development at different speeds.
One such model that has tended to ignore geographic context and scale is Rostow’s
modernization model.
3. What is the world-systems theory and how does it assist economic geographers to
contextualize development? How is it different from the modernization model?
The theory was developed by Immanuel Wallerstein and holds that to understand any levels of
development we must understand its spatial and functional relationships within the world
economy. The three tenets are: 1) the world economy has one market and a global division of
labour; 2) although the world has multiple states, almost everything takes place within the
context of the world economy; 3) The world economy has three tiers—core, periphery, semiperiphery. The core-periphery model is fundamentally different from the modernization model
because it holds that not all places can be equally wealthy in the capitalist world economy. In
other words, spatial differences in wealth and power are an inherent fact of capitalism. World
systems theory makes the power relations among places explicit and does not assume that
socio-economic change will occur in the same way in all places. Further, the theory is very much
applicable at scales beyond the state.
4. Much attention, effort, and resources have been devoted to promoting development across
the globe. The UN Millennium Development goals represent a high degree of consensus about
the conditions that must be changed if progress is to be attained. However, there still exist
many barriers to development. Identify and briefly explain these barriers. In your view, which
barrier is the most challenging to overcome?
There are many barriers to development, including: malnutiion, HIV/AIDS, natural hazards,
peripheral position in the world economy, high population growth rates, lack of education
(especially for women), high foreign debt, political instability (including the post-colonial
condition and position in the cold war), and widespread disease.
The conundrum is this—did the structures of the world economy create these conditions or did
these conditions help create the structures of the world economy?
5. What are NGOs? What role do they play in development? Can you think of a specific example
of how an NGO acted as a positive force for development? Are NGOs an inherently positive
force in the promotion of development?
Non-government organization (NGOs) are not run by state or local government but rather
operate independently, and more often than not as not for profit. Though operating outside the
formal political arena they are quite influential in spearheading international initiatives on
social, economic, and environmental issues. One particular kind of NGO venture that has been
successful in South Asia and South America is the microcredit program. Though, NGOs are not
inherently positive. The economist magazine calls NGOs, “a parallel state, financed by
foreigners and accountable to nobody.” By not being a part of the formal political structures
they are not influenced by the democratic process and often lack transparency as to their true
support.
Chapter 12: Transportation
1. What is the situation at Brock University with transportation? Does Brock University have a
successful, sustainable transportation program? Why? Think about your own university or
college: would you consider its student transportation system adequate?
Transit ridership among students at Brock University skyrocketed following the introduction of a
universal bus pass program in 2003. Despite the increase to the students tuition the program
has over 80% support; even those who do not participate by choosing to drive support the
program—primarily because it has reduced automobile congestion and made parking easier.
Such programs have been implemented across Canada and the United States, and in every case
they provide students with a low-cost alternative to travelling by car. Transportation issues,
such as this effort to promote public transit use on university campuses, have been described by
geographer David Keeling as being “quintessentially geographic.”
2. Until recently, transportation had been neglected by geographers. What is transportation
geography and why has it recently emerged as an important subdiscipline of geography?
Transportation geography is the study of the movement of people and goods, the transportation
systems designed to facilitate such movement, and the relationship of transportation to other
facets of human geography such as economic development, energy, land use, sprawl,
environmental degradation, values and culture. Transportation systems greatly influence the
character of places and the sense of place of the people who dwell there. The degree to which
different modes of transportation are available also plays a vital role in shaping the
connectedness of people and places. The lack of adequate transportation systems poses
challenges to both urban and rural development, and is a major barrier to development in the
periphery. Transportation geography’s importance as a subject is reflected in the ways it relates
to the five themes of geography: location, region, place, landscape, and movement.
3. Discuss the themes and arguments presented by Peter Newman and Jeff Kenworthy in their
book Sustainability and Cities—Overcoming Automobile Dependence. Does the city you live in
reflect the ideas presented in their book? Identify any specific things your city is doing to
address its transportation situation as it relates to the 13 principles laid out in A New Vision for
Urban Transportation, published by the Transportation Association of Canada.
The authors suggest that automobile dependent cities share three interrelated characteristics:
1)They have automobile land use patterns, including an abundance of road infrastructure and
parking facilities, low development densities, and rigidly land use activities; 2) they have poor
non-automobile transportation choices, meaning that modes such as walking, cycling, and
public transit are not always viable, making it extremely difficult to travel except by car; and 3)
there is a high level of per capita automobile travel. The high rates of automobile usage then
prompts governments to invest further in the auto infrastructure. Automobile dependence has
created numerous environmental, social, and economic consequences.
4. There are clear geographical variations in transportation systems across the globe—with
some dominated by the automobile and others with high rates of non-motorized modes, such
as walking and cycling. The most automobile-dependent cities in the world are found in the
United States, Australia, and Canada. Describe the factors that explain these variations in
transportation systems.
The first factor is the level of support for public transit and the public’s attitudes towards public
transportation. Europe has a much greater level of support, and a longer history or public transit
and therefore has much more public acceptance. The second involves specific policies to
promote cycling and walking. Once again, Europe leads in this category, mainly because most
European cities were built long before the automobile came along but also because European
city planners design their cities in such a way as to make them more pedestrian/bicycle
supportive. A third factor involves automobile taxation (the cost of buying a car, fuel costs,
registration costs are much higher in Europe than the U.S. and Canada). A fourth factor involves
the difficulties or ease of gaining a driver’s license, finding parking, or storage for a car. Land
use policies are a final factor. Quite simply: does the national or local government favour or
disfavour the car? The policies will then follow to promote it uber alles.
5. Transportation is an integral part of any place and there are inevitable consequences based
on the type of transportation systems that predominate. Identify and briefly explain the major
consequences of contemporary transportation patterns. Which consequence most aptly fits
your city or town?
The consequences are organized into the following categories: Environmental (Air, water, and
noise pollution; consumption of non-renewable energy resources; and the loss of open
space/agricultural lands); Economic (cost of building/maintaining roads and highways; costs to
households and businesses) and Social (deaths/injuries/accidents; impacts on public health and
well-being; neighborhood interactions; and social exclusion)
Chapter 13: Industry and Services
1. To understand the geography of economic activities, scholars have organized them into a
variety of sectors. What are these sectors and with what type of economic activities are they
associated? How does this framework apply to Canada’s economic organization? Which
particular set of economic activities predominate where you live?
The categories of economic activities are primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary/quinary.
Primary activites are associated with agriculture and extraction of raw materials. The
secondary sector is the conversion of raw materials into manufactured goods and also
construction activities. Both primary and secondary are known as the ‘good-producing sector.’
Tertiary activities are those service industries connecting the manufacturing sector to the
consumers as well as services involved in trade and commerce. The Quarternary/Quinary
sectors are high end services, including finance, research, and education. Though Canada is a
post-industrial country with the majority of its economic mix being tertiary and
quaternary/quinary activities, it does have a large natural resource base—forestry, mining,
oil/gas.
2. Alfred Weber’s theories and models provided an important means for studying industrial
location. Discuss the primary factors of his model and provide a specific regional example that
can be explained through Weber’s theory.
Weber focused on the ‘pulls’ exerted on each point of manufacturing. His least cost theory
accounted for the location of a plant in terms of the desire to minimize three types of costs: 1)
transportation; 2) labour; and 3) agglomeration. A large urban area is more attractive from the
agglomeration point of view, but one has to weigh the labour and transport costs of a big city as
well. Excessive agglomeration leads to high rents, rising wages, circulation problems, etc. The
four primary industrial regions that follow Weber’s logic are western/central Europe; eastern
North America, Russia/Ukraine, and Asia.
3. Compare and contrast the Fordist with the post-Fordist industrial model. How have each
shaped the processes and geography of industrialization in the last 100 years?
The Fordist model, named after the innovations of Henry Ford and based on the scientific
studies of Frederick Taylor, was a highly organized and specialized system featuring, among
other things, assembly line mass production techniques, mass standardization, and cooperation
and coordination with government. It also was based on a stable, predictable international
financial system as laid out by the Bretton Woods agreement. Post-fordism is associated with
the logic of ‘globalization’ and in a word can be defined as a ‘flexible’ system. The components
of goods are made in different places around the globe in the global division of labour.
Multinational corporations play a dominate role in the new system operating to maximize timespace compression using and just-in-time delivery methods. The global division of labour has
led to regional specializations: services predominating in the developed world, and industrial
production in the developing.
4. What are the “new influences” that are changing the scope and geography of manufacturing?
Discuss how each has specifically affected the geography of manufacturing in Canada.
The new influences are: intermodal transportation; regional/global trade agreements; and
energy. In Canada, one of the most significant systems of transportation that is important to
industrialism is the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway system (figure. 13.26). In terms of trade
agreements, the following have had the most effect on Canada’s manufacturing: GATT/WTO;
CFTA/NAFTA; and the Auto Pact. The Auto Pact in particular was instrumental in the
development of the southern Ontario/Windsor automotive industry. However, this region has
suffered with rising international competition and deindustrialization. With the rise of natural
gas/oil prices and the insatiable appetite for these products in the U.S. the Canadian industry
has boomed, which has meant tremendous wealth gains and environmental destruction for
Alberta in particular.
5. The expanding service sector in the core economy is one aspect of the changing global
economy. What are the factors that have driven this change? How has the shift to a service
economy affected the geography of the core?
The challenge to the core’s economic dominance came to a head in the 1970s with a sharp rise
in oil prices, international financial instability, and inflation leading to loss of competitive
advantage. These, along with the need for new markets and the growth of TNCs, brought about
the post-Fordist shift. Several other developments have driven the service sector in the core:
increasing mechanization of production; the growth of large multinational corporations; and the
global dispersal of the production process. A major geographic impact has been
deindustrialization of specific regions and the rise of the sunbelt economies. Another impact has
been the spatial competition to create high-tech corridors (technopoles).