Human, Cultural, and Economic Geography

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This concentration focuses on the aspects of geography that relate to different cultures, with an emphasis on cultural origins and movement and the cultural characteristics of regions (e.g., language, religion, ethnicity, politics, historical development, agricultural methods, settlement patterns, and quality of life). Cultural ecology--the ways in which humans have interacted with their cultural and natural environment at various times--is also included. There is a strong relationship between cultural geography, anthropology, and archaeology.

Cultural geographers often try to reconstruct past environments, and to do so they must be equally skilled in library research, field observation, and the interpretation of cultural artifacts. Historical geographers are interested in recreating the geography of past times. In doing this, they work closely with historians and archivists, contributing much to the understanding of present-day geography.

Courses in this area include historical geography, cultural geography, cultural ecology, human geography, human use of the earth, and humanity and nature. Many cultural and human geographers are area specialists as well, which means that they focus their attention on a specific region, such as Latin America, Europe, or Asia. Because they often carry out field observation in other countries, they will usually need good foreign-language backgrounds.

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Economic Geography

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Economic geography is concerned with the location and distribution of economic activity. It focuses on the the location of industries and retail and wholesale businesses, on transportation and trade, and on the changing value of real estate. Courses in economic geography may cover such topics as transportation, agriculture, industrial location, world trade, and the spatial organization and function of business activity. Students who have a strong interest in economic geography will be likely to see global interdependence as a focus of their academic program. In America in Transition: The International Frontier, a recent report of the National Governor's Association, the following statement was made:

Times have changed. Revolutionary advances in science, technology, communications, and transportation have brought nations and peoples together. World trade, and financial, economic, and political developments have transformed disparate economic systems into a highly interdependent global marketplace. Today the nations that inhabit the planet are often more closely linked than neighboring states or villages were at the turn of the century.

In the same vein, Geography: Making Sense of Where We Are says, "We can no longer afford to divide the world into things American and things non-American. We are as dependent on other nations as they are upon us." The manufacture of a single pencil requires materials from eleven countries. "American" cars contain parts that originate overseas. We send many of our products to other countries for processing, packaging, and shipping to take advantage of lower labor costs. We truly live in a global community, and geography can help us understand this interdependent world as we enter the twenty-first century.