A brief post about the book review Deforesting the Earth: from prehistory to global crisis: an abridgment by Michael Williams, reviewed by Ruth DeFries, University of Maryland College Park in Area 39 (3) 410-411.
As I read this book review it dawned on me that this book review represents a few elements of geography: cultural and physical geography with a dash of historical geography for flavor. Williams book attempts to describe not only the historical condition of global forests (in this case that means mostly a European history), but the cultural or human interaction/use of forests and the consequences of this interaction.
Lets break this down:
Forests = Physical
People/Interaction = Cultural
Historical Context = Historical Geography
Oh and one last point to be made--the whole study is regional in nature: Europe, its regions; the Americas, all of the vast regions there; Asia and Africa. It doesn't get much more regional than this.
But I do have one question: Could historical periods be considered regions in and of themselves?
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Icon on Icon
Watch out for name bombs and icon shrapnel when reading Peirce F. Lewis' generously descriptive homage to Wilbur "Wolf" Zelinsky. (Lewis, Peirce F. 2006. Wilbur As Icon. The Geographical Review. 96 (2). viii-xii.) For me this article was heavy with icons and words that I spent time looking up (see the list below). What Lewis does in the article is remove the mystic from the icon and reveal that Zelinsky was a humble, highly curious, and a dedicated researcher and explorer--traits that are found in all good geographers. Lewis notes that Zelinsky's ocular observation of the world led and drove much of his research--sort of a follow your nose method, but be sure and ready to do the necessary research to back up what you find.
As I read through this article I felt as though I was reading an advertisement for how geography and cultural geography in particular, is one of the best tools for a person to understand and analyze the world. Lewis stressed the importance of Zelinsky's extensive fieldwork and his ability to match the data and statistics to the landscape. Not only was Zelinsky a fantastic field research he was also a cartographer. As Lewis explains a picture can be worth a thousand words; an eye opener to difficult concepts or vast amounts of data.
When Lewis recounted his first meeting with Zelinsky at a local bar at the annual AAG (Association of American Geographers) meeting and his nervousness and excitement to meet one of his own icons, I recalled my own encounters--even from a distance-- at the San Francisco AAG meeting of the icons of my era: Yi-Fu Tuan and Bill Wycoff to name just a few and my own giddiness of potentially shaking hands with them to say thank you for inspiring young scholars to enter the field of geography.
Really what Lewis demonstrates in this article are the characteristic of a good geographer, nay, great geographer and how these traits can be emulated by humble curious students.
The list of words:
polymathic: a person of wide ranging knowledge or learning
mirabile dictu: wonderful to relate
logleptic: this what I found for definitions (plus the website is pretty cool for obscure words)
logolepsy n. - an obsession with words
logolept n. - a person who is obsessed with words
fuscous: techincial/literary, dark and somber in color
jerkinheads: the sloping ends of the ridge at the gables
The name bombs/icon shrapnel:
Peirce F. Lewis
Peter Gould
Don Meinig
These names are dropped on UNR Geography students all the time-better know who they are and how they have contributed to avoid getting blown up by them!
As I read through this article I felt as though I was reading an advertisement for how geography and cultural geography in particular, is one of the best tools for a person to understand and analyze the world. Lewis stressed the importance of Zelinsky's extensive fieldwork and his ability to match the data and statistics to the landscape. Not only was Zelinsky a fantastic field research he was also a cartographer. As Lewis explains a picture can be worth a thousand words; an eye opener to difficult concepts or vast amounts of data.
When Lewis recounted his first meeting with Zelinsky at a local bar at the annual AAG (Association of American Geographers) meeting and his nervousness and excitement to meet one of his own icons, I recalled my own encounters--even from a distance-- at the San Francisco AAG meeting of the icons of my era: Yi-Fu Tuan and Bill Wycoff to name just a few and my own giddiness of potentially shaking hands with them to say thank you for inspiring young scholars to enter the field of geography.
Really what Lewis demonstrates in this article are the characteristic of a good geographer, nay, great geographer and how these traits can be emulated by humble curious students.
The list of words:
polymathic: a person of wide ranging knowledge or learning
mirabile dictu: wonderful to relate
logleptic: this what I found for definitions (plus the website is pretty cool for obscure words)
logolepsy n. - an obsession with words
logolept n. - a person who is obsessed with words
fuscous: techincial/literary, dark and somber in color
jerkinheads: the sloping ends of the ridge at the gables
The name bombs/icon shrapnel:
Peirce F. Lewis
Peter Gould
Don Meinig
These names are dropped on UNR Geography students all the time-better know who they are and how they have contributed to avoid getting blown up by them!
Monday, January 28, 2008
Zelinsky and the South
Just when I thought I had escaped the study of Vernacular Architecture it reared its head in this article (Zelinsky, W. 1951. Where the South Begins: The Northern Limit of the Cis-Appalachian South in Terms of Settlement Landscape. Social Forces. 30 (2): 172-178) as a method for delineating the South. Zelinsky uses settlement landscapes (the aggregate pattern of all structures and assemblages of structure in which man houses his activities; or in layman's terms--where man puts his structures and does his thing) and the specific patterns created in these landscapes to create a boundary of the cultural South.
This method of creating a data set and observing the landscape is very similar to the methods employed in archeology, anthropology, vernacular architecture study, and folklore to create and define boundaries for particular groups. Not surprising then that it is used in geography to spatial observe a cultural boundary. What differs, and usually will when put to use by geographers, is scale. Zelinsky moves the reader from the small localized scale of houses to small towns. His transition to the larger scale allows the reader to visual the physical make up and perhaps the cultural make up of the area, giving a sense of place to the area.
Zelinsky finds that when this method is employed it creates a boundary that extends north into Maryland (Cecil County) but is abutted by distinct cultural shift to Pennsylvania German. The western edge of this culture area runs along the eastern edge of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Great so Zelinsky has delineated the South based on buildings and their patterns but as I read through this article there was something that bothered me.
Specifically the issue of diffusion. People and ideas move, as would building types and placement patterns. Zelinsky never really addressed this issue, with the exception of the brief comment of "large numbers of African Americans" in the same area that he had delineated. I wonder how his boundary would shift and change over time, perhaps this is a project for an ambitious geographer to undertake.
One particular thing that I did like about this article are the maps. It took me a few moments of examining them to realize that they are all turned 90 degrees to the right. While it may not seem like that big of deal it is sort of a novel thing to do. It focused my attention to the greater depth and coastal location of Zelinsky's South. It gave new perspective on how to see the South. Zelinsky's use of comparative maps to support his delineation is great, in particular the mule to horse ratio map. After I read the paragraph relating to this map I immediately thought of the canals in Washington, D.C. that I had seen with mule paths along the sides so that they could pull the boats along. If you'd like to see these canal paths head over to Georgetown.
This method of creating a data set and observing the landscape is very similar to the methods employed in archeology, anthropology, vernacular architecture study, and folklore to create and define boundaries for particular groups. Not surprising then that it is used in geography to spatial observe a cultural boundary. What differs, and usually will when put to use by geographers, is scale. Zelinsky moves the reader from the small localized scale of houses to small towns. His transition to the larger scale allows the reader to visual the physical make up and perhaps the cultural make up of the area, giving a sense of place to the area.
Zelinsky finds that when this method is employed it creates a boundary that extends north into Maryland (Cecil County) but is abutted by distinct cultural shift to Pennsylvania German. The western edge of this culture area runs along the eastern edge of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Great so Zelinsky has delineated the South based on buildings and their patterns but as I read through this article there was something that bothered me.
Specifically the issue of diffusion. People and ideas move, as would building types and placement patterns. Zelinsky never really addressed this issue, with the exception of the brief comment of "large numbers of African Americans" in the same area that he had delineated. I wonder how his boundary would shift and change over time, perhaps this is a project for an ambitious geographer to undertake.
One particular thing that I did like about this article are the maps. It took me a few moments of examining them to realize that they are all turned 90 degrees to the right. While it may not seem like that big of deal it is sort of a novel thing to do. It focused my attention to the greater depth and coastal location of Zelinsky's South. It gave new perspective on how to see the South. Zelinsky's use of comparative maps to support his delineation is great, in particular the mule to horse ratio map. After I read the paragraph relating to this map I immediately thought of the canals in Washington, D.C. that I had seen with mule paths along the sides so that they could pull the boats along. If you'd like to see these canal paths head over to Georgetown.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Beginnings
Here we go, a blog for Becca. This is going to be an adventure in and of itself. Motivating factor for this blog: a class. Perhaps as the course goes on and I become more comfortable with this technology, I will post more thoughts and musings on my adventures, readings, and interactions with the world. Here goes something.
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