Thinking Geographically
What is geography the study of?
The physical and social world from a spatial perspective — asking “what is where, and why?”. Our spaces, places, and environments are shaped by and shape us!
What does political geography examine?
How power operates spatially through territory, borders, and governance.
Why do critical geographers call “overpopulation” a myth?
Because environmental crises stem from inequality and overconsumption, not population growth.
What are rules and norms, and how do they shape place and space?
They guide behavior and determine who feels welcome or excluded in particular places.
What is Don Mitchell’s main argument in The Lie of the Land?
Landscapes that appear natural are produced through labor and social struggle.
Why do geographers say “maps are never neutral”? Examples?
All maps are selective representations that reflect power, perspective, and purpose.
What is gerrymandering, and what does it reveal about democracy?
The redrawing of districts to favor one group — showing how political power is organized through space.
What was Malthus’s argument about population, and why is it flawed?
He blamed scarcity on population growth rather than on unequal social and economic systems.
What is “sense of place”?
The emotional and symbolic meanings attached to a location through lived experience.
What is the basic way of thinking about class relations under capitalism?
Capital and labor--Those who own land, tools, and capital profit from those who must sell their labor.
What did the “Correct the Map” campaign aim to change?
To challenge the Mercator map’s dominance in classrooms and center the Global South in world representations.
How are boundaries and borders diffuse and spread throughout the country?
They are imagined, practiced, and enforced in everyday spaces such as schools, hospitals, and workplaces where immigration enforcement and exclusion occur.
According to Winders (2012), what does it mean for immigrants to be “seen” institutionally?
They are made visible through schools, policing, and labor markets while remaining invisible as citizens or neighbors.
How do Chinatowns reflect both resistance and constraint?
They emerge from histories of racial exclusion while being commodified as “authentic” ethnic spaces.
What is capitalism?
economic system of private ownership and profit maximalization
Why did the lecture describe GIS and Google Maps as political tools?
They organize data and visibility in ways that serve institutional or corporate priorities.
What do borders do besides separate countries?
They mark who belongs, who is excluded, and who can move.
What is climate migration?
Movement and displacement caused by environmental change such as drought, flooding, or rising seas.
What does Orientalism (Said) reveal about Western views of the “Middle East”?
The West constructs the East as backward or dangerous to justify control and intervention.
What is social reproduction, and why is it central to labor geography?
The daily and generational work that sustains people and the workforce, often unpaid or undervalued.
What does “placefulness” mean as described by Prof. Timur Hammond?
An awareness of where we are and where we’re from that acknowledges the histories and conditions shaping our experiences of place—and how others experience theirs too.
What does the U.S.–Mexico wall symbolize in Trump’s America 2.0? Environmental consequences?
A political performance of sovereignty, security, and exclusion. Walls don't stop humans, but they do stop animals.
How do U.S. wars and refugee policies shape global displacement?
Military interventions produce refugees, while restrictive policies limit resettlement and reinforce global inequality.
According to Dittmer’s lecture on Captain America, what role does popular culture play in geopolitics?
It reproduces national identity and moral binaries—America as heroic, others as villainous—shaping public understandings of global power.
Capital controls labor through place and space. Examples?