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Final Exam Guide LESSON 6Key Terms/Concepts● Landscape as Text: the idea that landscapes can be read and written by groups and individuals ● Place-making: any activity, deliberate or unintentional, that enables space to acquire meaning ● Sacred Space: an area recognized by individuals or groups as w...

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Final Exam Guide LESSON 6 Key Terms/Concepts ● ● ● ● ● ●

Landscape as Text: the idea that landscapes can be read and written by groups and individuals Place-making: any activity, deliberate or unintentional, that enables space to acquire meaning Sacred Space: an area recognized by individuals or groups as worthy of special attention as a site of special religious experiences or events Semiotics: the practice of writing and reading signs Territoriality: the persistent attachment of individuals or peoples to a specific location or territory Topophilia: the emotions and meanings associated with particular places that have become significant to individuals

Behaviour, Knowledge and Human Environments ● ●

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Why are questions of meaning and identity important to research and understand? Well, identities that are formed, expressed, and reinforced by landscapes that people consider ‘theirs’ help in forming a feeling of solidarity between people who do not know each other personally and likely will never meet each other The bonds of solidarity expressed by a common 'national' landscape can help people feel that they belong to the same nation For example, the Rockies are perceived by many Canadians as a national landscape, even if they live in the Maritimes and are unlikely to ever visit them The meaning and national symbolism of the Rockies thus help in the formation of a national identity of Canadians, wherever they may live As cultural geographers are becoming more and more interested in such questions of meaning and identity, the objects of their research have changed, too Rather than looking at the distribution of cultural objects in the material landscape, they are now examining cultural representations of landscape For example, rather than mapping the distribution of a particular type of barn (to determine the distribution of a particular cultural group that builds that type of barn), they are now looking at how landscapes are written about in fiction, how landscapes are stylized in advertising and on packaging, or how landscapes are drawn in kids' cartoons From such cultural representations, cultural geographers hope to learn how the represented landscape is used for a particular purpose For example, the stylized family farm with happy pigs in the yard that is drawn on packaging is meant to suggest that the meat comes from a small family farm where animals are treated humanely, almost as part of the family

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Meaning is important because the symbolism of landscape is often used to create an identity, for example a national identity Just think of how important ‘The North’ is in our insistence on a distinct Canadian national identity

Place-Making ●

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Recall from Lesson 1 that places are socially constructed, which means that places are given different meanings by different groups for different purposes. In other words, the meaning of a place depends on who is giving meaning to it! For example, some people might associate the abandoned barn pictured in Figure 6.4 with warm memories of a happy youth spent on a family farm Other people might see the derelict barn as a somber reminder of economic decline, poverty, and rural desolation These examples show how people can identify with places as part of their personal identity, drawing on particular images and past histories of places that lend their distinctiveness to people’s individuality and sense of community This is where place-making comes in Place-making is any activity, deliberate or unintentional, that enables space to acquire meaning Let’s think back to the Reflect on This activity you did at the beginning of the lesson. What meaning did you attribute to the Stay Golden mural? Many of you probably came up with phrases such as: community, positive, kindness, help, pride, school spirit, and so on. Why is this? The meaning you attribute to this space is largely unintentional As a Laurier student, your interactions with the campus and Laurier community have shaped your understanding of what Stay Golden means And as such, it is unique to the identity of our institution The mural would not have the same meaning if we saw it at the University of Toronto or Nipissing University for example But, maybe you looked at the mural and had no sense of connection to it, maybe to you it was just a space Well that is okay, too! Some of us have maybe not had the chance to visit the Waterloo campus and see this first-hand This could be for many reasons: you attend the Brantford campus, you are studying remotely, or maybe you do attend the Waterloo campus, but you don’t often visit the Peter’s Building where this mural is located Whatever the reason, you do not feel a connection and sense of attachment that informs your sense of community

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It probably didn’t take you long to associate this image with a lecture hall Why? There are many chairs facing towards what we assume is the front of the room with a computer console and workstation Based on your own understandings and experiences of lecture halls through attending lecture, watching movies, etc., you were likely able to deduce that this was indeed a classroom What meaning did you associate with it? Some of you might have said stress and anxiety, while others may have said friendship, communication, or learning Those answers and more are all correct – it is the meaning you put on this space, turning it into a place

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This time you likely associated the image you saw with a dorm room or residence What meaning does it convey? Some of you might have said school, residence, studying, sleep, relaxation, etc. Others might have said something like home

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An important concept that is related to place-making is territoriality: The persistent attachment of individuals or peoples to a specific location or territory For instance, a person can feel an attachment to their neighbourhood, their hometown, their region, or their country As you can see, territoriality is a phenomenon that occurs at all scales On larger scales, territoriality is often a product of political relations and cultural systems, which is an important component in most aspects of human geography All social organizations and individuals are bound at some scale by territorial limits, whether that be formal or informal Consider the jurisdictions of local, provincial/territorial, or national governments as one example Territoriality enables classification, communication, and enforcement, thus fulfilling the social and cultural needs of: ○ 1. The regulation of societal interactions ○ 2. The regulation of access to people and resources ○ 3. The provision of a focus and symbol of group membership and identities

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Coded Spaces ●

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As we began to see in the last section, landscapes can be read and written by individuals and groups of people: a concept referred to as language as text Landscapes do not necessarily come with ready-made labels, rather there are ‘writers’ who produce landscapes and give them meaning, and ‘readers› who consume the message embedded in them The practice of writing and reading signs is known as semiotics

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Shopping malls are good examples of coded spaces and complex semiotic sites

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They convey important signals about what to buy, who should shop there, and who should not The location and type of stores, the arrangement of products, and the amenities offered to shoppers all send signals to the consumer about style, taste, and self-image As such, many malls possess a certain socio-economic geology, meaning the lower levels often satisfy the everyday needs of middle-income patrons (e.g., dry cleaners and lottery kiosks), whereas the upper levels offer more expensive items (e.g., high-value fashion labels)

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Take a moment to consider the layout of the shopping mall you frequent. Does it follow this pattern?

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Sacred spaces are also important coded spaces Sacred spaces are areas of the globe recognized by individuals or groups as worthy of special attention, because they are sites of special religious experiences or events These spaces do not occur naturally but are rather assigned sanctity through the values and belief system of particular groups as your textbook (p.213) points out

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Globalization and Modern Society ●

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As we have discovered in this lesson, we form ideas of ‘proper’ places, behaviours, etc. through absorbing information from a variety of sources and experiences, and then interpreting that information Globalization in particular, has had a large influence in this regard, as we are exposed to global cultures, values, attitudes, and practices so readily Globalization has played a role in shaping place-making, especially as modernity is spread to peripheral regions Globalization processes have brought a certain level of homogenization to industrial production, marketing behaviour, trade, and consumption, while also reinforcing our commonalities, no matter where on the planet we happen to live Three factors are especially important in this context: ○ 1. Mass communication media have created global cultural markets in print, film, music, television, and the Internet ○ 2. Mass communication media have diffused certain values and attitudes towards a wide spectrum of sociocultural issues, including citizenship, human rights, social welfare, and self-expression ○ 3. International legal conventions have increased the degree of standardization and level of harmonization of trade and labour practices as well as civil rights and environmental regulations While globalization and mass communication media in particular have played an important role in shaping place-making, that is not to say that a single global culture is emerging This would be too simplistic

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What it does mean, is that the materials, visuals, etc. mentioned above, will continue to move across local and national boundaries at increasing speeds and help us to form connections we otherwise might not have made Quite fascinating when you think about it!

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Geographers interested in studying human attachment to place would focus on what concept? ○ Semiotics ○ Cognitive Imaging ○ Proxemics ○ Territoriality ○ Modernity Individuals migrating to Canada often develop a stronger love for their country of origin and then pass these feelings on to their children. How might you explain this phenomenon? ○ Homesickness: they miss their former home ○ Lack of attachment to their new home: they haven’t been in their new location long enough to create an identification with it ○ A disruption of their lifeworld: they are frustrated and stressed by so many people who are unlike themselves, so they surround themselves with their familiar frame of reference that they left behind ○ The perspective of outsiders: they are reinforcing who they are by contrasting themselves with the places and people they feel are difference from themselves ○ A sense of territoriality: there is an attachment to their former home and meaning with it created by place-making Paths, edges, districts, nodes, and landmarks are all considered to be which of the following terms? ○ Distortions ○ Behaviours ○ Mental maps ○ Cognitive elements Which of the following would be the best example of coded spaces? ○ Street addresses ○ Malls, churches, and university campuses ○ Voting districts ○ City boundaries Instead of shopping regularly at the market closest to you where the prices are cheapest, you choose a market that is farther away with slightly higher prices because of your cognitive images of place. What does this mean ○ You have a better “experience” at the farther market ○ You always have other shopping to do at stores close to this farther market ○ You always go to that market

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You have friends who work at that store You are driving anyways, so it does not matter if you have to drive a little farther

LESSON 7 What is Development?

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For human geographers, economic development refers to processes of change involving the nature and composition of the economy of a particular region as well as increases in the overall prosperity of a region In a nutshell, development is about differences in this world and how to try to even them out It is no secret that the countries of the world differ vastly in: ○ income levels; ○ education levels; ○ standards of living; ○ Health; ○ life expectancy; ○ access to food and water; and a host of other human welfare dimensions of development And this is where the idea of development comes in: the goal of development is to even out differences between countries, to make living conditions on Earth more similar for all people, wherever they may live That in itself is a daunting task that involves billions of people in dozens of countries It becomes even more daunting, though, when we realize that it is usually assumed that this will be achieved by improving the situation for people in peripheral countries — without reducing the wealth or health of people in core countries who already enjoy good living conditions As we will discuss later, this also raises the question whether the Earth can actually sustain a global level of development currently enjoyed by only a minority of the global population in the core countries

The Emergence of Development ●

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The idea that countries can and should develop did not develop (ha!) until after 1945. Before WWII, many people in core countries believed that people's lot in life was essentially determined by where on Earth they lived, and that was that Put bluntly, Europeans at that time believed that African countries were poor and ‘uncivilized’ (as they would have said then), because of where they were located The events of WWII brought about a change in this situation Not only did the war speed up the decline of colonialism, it also presented the core countries with some puzzling new situations: ○ Countries that previously were poor or ‘less civilized’ in the eyes of the European colonizers were suddenly emerging as new players on the world stage (e.g., Japan, China, and India). ○ The process of decolonization produced many new independent countries that were competing for control, power, and resources with the established powers (i.e., the core countries)

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As a result of these changes, poverty was no longer seen as a ‘fact of nature,’ but was reconceptualized as ‘under-development.’ In this new view, countries were seen as poor and ’underdeveloped’ because: ○ ○ ○ ○

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The United Nations was founded (in 1946) on the universality of human rights, which meant that the racist distinctions of ‘mother country’ and ‘colony’ were no longer acceptable The Cold War prompted both the U.S. and the Soviet Union to search for global allies, which caused them to actively court newly independent countries in Africa and Asia Finally, the war effort had revved up the economies of the core countries to the point where considerable overcapacities in manufacturing existed. These factories were changing over to peacetime production of consumer goods, with most of their output fueling the emergence of the western consumer society we know today. Some of that overcapacity, however, was in need of foreign markets to unload its excess production, and here the former colonies provided profitable markets for western goods

they were exhausted from colonialism; their location was disadvantageous for trade (e.g., because they were landlocked countries without ocean access); they had insufficient natural resources; and they were simply not ‘established’ yet (i.e., they were recently independent countries).

The new idea was that a process called ‘development’ would even out those differences, so that eventually all countries would achieve the same level of wealth and health Moreover, it was now assumed that it was the moral responsibility of the core countries to help peripheral countries to develop

Patterns to Economic Development ●

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Traditionally, development is measured with some form of economic measure such as the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of a country's economy or Gross National Income (GNI) The GDP is the value of all goods and services produced in a country in a year The assumption is that a high GDP indicates a great deal of economic activity and value creation in a country, which in turn is seen as a sign that the country and its citizens are doing well The GNI is a measure of the income that flows to a country from production, no matter where in the world the production occurs There are, however, some problems with this perspective if the GDP and GNI are expressed in each nation’s local currency. For example,

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the GDP does not consider what sort of good is produced or what service is rendered — all it counts is the economic value of that good or service: ■ hence, the GDP includes many goods and services that are not necessarily good ● for society (such as handguns) ● or the individual (if I crash my car and require hospitalization, the costs associated with my treatment and the car repair are counted as positive additions to the total GDP)

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The overall effect of this method is that the GDP often overestimates wealth in core countries

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By contrast, the GDP underestimates wealth in peripheral countries where many products and services are economically ‘invisible’ because they occur below the radar of official statistics Such uncounted activities include the so-called informal sector, which represents economic activity that either does not involve the exchange of money (i.e., barter) or is not regulated in any way In other words, participants in the informal economy neither declare income nor pay taxes Since money is the only measure used in the calculation of the GDP, any activity that is not based on money or is not ‘on the record’ is thus excluded Examples of this include: ○ Farmers engaged in subsistence agriculture may produce almost all of their own food and basic non-food requirements themselves. For example, they might raise their own sheep for milk and meat, and produce their own clothing from the wool. ○ People engaged in barter may trade their homemade product or service for that of someone else without ever using any money. Because the GDP is based on monetary equivalents, such activities would not be counted in the GDP – nor would they produce any tax revenues for the government! An example would be farmers who trade their homespun wool for pottery dishes produced by their neighbour or for the healing services of a shaman, herbalist, or midwife. No money changes hands, and no taxes are collected.

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To fairly compare indicators such as GDP and GNI (but also prices or cost of living) between countries, the concept of purchasing power parity (PPP) was created For example, if it is five times cheaper to buy a certain selection of foodstuffs, haircuts, and books in Ghana than in the U.S., then one dollar of income is worth five times more in Ghana than in the U.S Thus, in international comparisons, purchasing power parity is achieved by assigning one dollar in Ghana five times more value than a dollar in the U.S. (see p. 234 in your textbook)

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Navigate to the MasteringGeography exercise Sub-Saharan Africa – Economic Development and complete the accompanying a...