A graduates and employers database system as a strategic resource for geography departments

Abstract

With greater competition in the mass higher education market in the UK, each institution will have to stimulate and promote greater interaction between itself and the world outside if it is to compete successfully. Presently, such interaction occurs for a variety of reasons, at many different levels and over different time scales. This paper proposes an approach to fostering greater interaction at departmental level through a network of former graduates in geography and their employers. It describes the concept of a graduates and employers database system (GEDS) and outlines how such a system should become a key resource for strategic management and planning in geography departments.     

Towards a geography of tolerance: Post-politics and political forms of toleration

This paper argues for a closer inspection of how tolerance and politics interact. Within geography and beyond there is rising concern about post-political situations, whereby potential disagreements are foreclosed and situated beyond the remit of political debate. This is conceptualised as a process of de-politicisation that operates ‘much more effectively’ than alternative ways in which politics can be and has been disavowed (?i?ek, 1999: 198). While ?i?ek associates liberal tolerance with the post-political condition, however, theories of tolerance are at odds over whether it represents an everyday enactment of the political. Although some authors have indeed associated tolerance with a depoliticising tendency (Brown, 2006), others insist that certain types of tolerance are capable of nurturing simultaneous recognition and disagreement, which directly contradicts the conditions of post-politics (Forst, 2003). We therefore ask, contra ?i?ek, whether certain forms of tolerance can be an antidote to the post-political practice of foreclosing politics, and offer a set of considerations pertinent to the geographical analysis of this issue.     

Gender representation and participation in Dutch human geography departments

Since the beginning of the 1970s the under‐representation of women in geography has been questioned in several publications. Most articles refer to the situation in English‐speaking countries. This paper examines the vertical and horizontal gender segregation in human geography departments in Dutch universities. In spite of several policy measures to promote equal opportunity, women form only 19 per cent of all human geography faculty. In the conclusion, consequences and dilemmas related to gender representation and segregation are discussed.     

Towards a critical service learning in geography education: exploring challenges and possibilities through testimonio

There has been an increasing interest in exploring the transformational possibilities of experiential learning approaches like service learning, across post-secondary education, including geography. At the same time, scholars caution that such initiatives can entrench neoliberalism, white supremacy and other power structures and call for implementing a critical service learning (CSL) approach that is rooted in action against injustice. In response, this paper uses testimonio methodology to explore the experiences of a student and instructor engaging in a graduate geography course that implements CSL. We demonstrate how CSL is a complex process that is mired in the very power structures and institutional barriers it attempts to disrupt. Nonetheless, CSL creates opportunities for social change in the classroom and community, which make it a promising pedagogical strategy for geographers aiming to create alternative teaching approaches in their classrooms.     

Cultural evolution: a basic concept for human and historical geography

The concept of cultural evolution profoundly affected the objectives and methods employed in the social sciences in the earlier part of this century but it has largely been ignored by geographers. In recent years a number of American cultural anthropologists have re-examined the concept of cultural evolution, including Sahlins and Service, who consider that cultural evolution is analogous to biological evolution involving the diversification of cultural forms through adaptive modification and the progress of culture through successive levels of development. They have called these two processes specific evolution and general evolution respectively and from these two perspectives on cultural evolution they have developed the Law of Cultural Dominance. Certain operational problems exist in the application of the concept of cultural evolution, but once they have been surmounted it promises to constitute a valuable mode of explanation in the analysis of cultures and cultural change.     

Beginning geography: a human and technical perspective

Abstract

A first course in human geography has been designed for majors and students from the more technical fields at university. It is built around five computer exercises, none of which require any programming or computer skills. Problems and exercises are designed to enhance carry‐over skills and humane awareness.     

ODE to a geography teacher: Sexuality and the classroom

Abstract

This paper explores some of the ways that sexuality is an issue in the course of teaching. It includes discussions of crushes between students and staff, consensual personal relationships between staff and students, sexual harassment and how to create an atmosphere in the classroom/institution that enables lesbian, gay and bisexual students and staff to ‘come out’.     

The royal society: National committee for geography

The Geomorphology of the British Isles series: Ireland. By G. L. H. Davies and N. Stephens. 21 × 14, 250 pp. Methuen, 1978. £7.95.

Causes of Climate by J. G. Lockwood. 24 × 16, 10 + 260 pp. 22 photos, 102 diagrams, 34 tables, index (to text only), glossary. Edward Arnold, 1979. £5.95.

Humanistic Geography: Prospects and Problems. Edited by David Ley and Marwyn Samuels, i‐viii. 23 × 16, 337 pp. Croom Helm, London, 1978. £11.95.

South America. By Arthur Morris. 25 × 19, 271 pp., 59 maps and diagrams, 43 plates, appendices, bibliography, index. Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1979. Paper, £5.45.

The Fur Trade of the American West, 1807–1840. By D. J. Wishart. 22.5 x 14.5, 237 pp. Illustrations, references, bibliography, index. Croom Helm, London, 1979. £12.95.

Outlook Geography: Worldscapes. A. Ayres et al. 25 × 19, 136 pp. Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh, 1978. £2.45.

The Changing Geography of Britain. By W. E. Marsden. 25 × 19, 196 pp. Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh, 1978. £2.50.     

Postgraduate education and thesis writing in Australian geography: a critique

This paper argues that the present structuring of postgraduate degrees in Australian geography is a recent phenomenon and could be altered. A case is made for more coursework and alternative forms of submission of research findings. The current dissemination of thesis information is criticised and a call made for better management to benefit readers and geography as a whole. The possibility is canvassed of a wider role for postgraduates in advancing human geography.