GEOGRAPHY 112-01: REGIONAL STUDY OF THE DEVELOPING WORLD

I.  Sub-Saharan Africa

A. Overview

1. population/demographic characteristics

2. physical geography

3. cultural geography

4. political geography

5. economic geography

6. biodiversity issue in Africa

II. The African Transition Zone

A. Where and What It Is

B. Physical Characteristics

C. Cultural/Human Characteristics

III.  Food Resources/Shortages

A. General Characteristics of Global Food Resources (producers, make up of supply, where derived from)

• Agricultural Systems (Subsistence vs. Commercial Agriculture)

B. Distribution of Global Food Production

C. Pattern of Food Consumption

D. Food Shortages

• Question of how can there be food shortages when food production is at an all-time high?

• Reasons for food shortages

• Solutions to Food Shortage Problems

E.  Nutrition & Malnutrition

• Myths and Realities

• Chronic Malnutrition and Famine

• Net Nutrition Concept

• Causes and Consequences

IV. Medical Geography

A. What is Medical Geography

B. Factors Affecting the Spread of Disease

• Host Factors

• Microbe Factors

• Environmental Factors

C. Types of Diseases

• Endemic

• Epidemic (Types)

• Pandemic

D.  Relationship between Biodiversity and Disease

• Biodiversity as a concept

E.   Disease Case Studies

• AIDS Example in Sub-Saharan Africa
• Influenza Example of a Pandemic Disease

F. Influence of Disease and Health Care/Status on Development

V.  North Africa/Middle East/SW Asia Overview

1. population/demographic characteristics

2. physical geography

3. cultural geography

4. political geography

5. economic geography

A.  Islam and the Middle East

• Relationship/Influence of Islam on Arab Culture
• Fundamentalist and Radical Islam

B.  Conflict in the Middle East

• Arab/Palestinian-Israeli

• History
• Issues involved (Jerusalem, Occupied Territories, Right of Return, Settlements, Water)

• Iraq

• History
• Sectarianism (Sunni, Shiite, Kurds)

C.  Conflict and Management of Conflict in the Developing World

• Types of Conflicts

• Causes of Conflicts in Developing World

• Types of Intervention by the West

• Examples (Peacekeeping/Peacemaking, Humanitarian Intervention, Nation Building)

• Results and Consequences

VI.  Institutions, Democracy and Development in the Developing World

• Characteristics of democracy

• Why doesn't democracy seem to work very well in the developing world?

• Institutions: examples of and their roles

•  Relationships between institutions and democracy

VII. Development Policy

• types of development policy & characteristics of these policies

•  examples of development strategies  (Eco-tourism)

VIII.  Overall Course Themes

A. Developed vs. Developing Worlds

1. definition of each
2. defining characteristics and differences

B. What is Development?

1. traditional concepts (economic modernization based on industrialization)
2. other concepts of development

C. Non-Western Cultures

1. what are they?
2. how do they differ from Western Culture
3.  the importance and value of non-western cultures

D. Geography and Development

1. what role does geography play in the development of states?

E. Individual & Group Identity and Culture and how they differ between the developed and developing worlds

F.  Moral/Ethical Decision Making and Development

• Social Justice