Diversity amid Globalization : Development

by Rowntree, Lester; Lewis, Martin; Price, Marie; Wyckoff, William

• ISBN13: 9780130932914
• ISBN10: 0130932914
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-01-01
• Publisher: Pearson

Summary

For undergraduate World Regional Geography courses, or for a course on globalization. Diversity Amid Globalization is an exciting contemporary approach to World Regional Geography that explicitly acknowledges the geographic changes that accompany today's rapid rate of globalization. The book's unique approach gives students access to the latest ideas, concepts and theories in geography while concurrently developing a strong foundation in the fundamentals of world regions. The book helps professors engender a strong sense of place, and an understanding of the connections within and between world regions.

Table of Contents

Diversity Amid Globalization	1	(47)
The Changing Global Environment	48	(28)
North America	76	(48)
Latin America	124	(54)
The Caribbean	178	(40)
Sub-Saharan Africa	218	(56)
Southwest Asia and North Africa	274	(46)
Europe	320	(52)
The Russian Domain	372	(46)
Central Asia	418	(36)
East Asia	454	(50)
South Asia	504	(46)
Southeast Asia	550	(42)
Australia and Oceania	592

Excerpts

Places fascinate geographers. From an early age, we accumulate maps and dream about faraway corners of the world. Those of us lucky enough to make a living in geography also want to understand why the world works the way it does, how its unique regions have taken shape, and how those regions are increasingly interconnected. Those fundamental curiosities brought us together to create something new and different: an interpretation of world regional geography that was deeply appreciative of global diversity and that looked with a fresh and penetrating eye at the aspects of modern life that tie us all together. The result has been our own odyssey of exploration, a pooling of expertise and enthusiasm that we hope can offer students a perspective that will stay with them long after they leave the classroom. As an introduction to the field of geography, this book provides a view of the world that will serve students well in the early twenty-first century. This view weds environment, people, and place; ponders how those relationships play out in particular regions; and assesses how powerful processes of globalization are reshaping those relationships in new and often unanticipated ways.Diversity Amid Globalizationis the product of a shared vision that we believe demonstrates the essential and invaluable role that geography can play in all our lives. Objective and Approach Diversity Amid Globalizationis an issues-oriented textbook for college and university world regional geography classes that explicitly recognizes the geographic changes accompanying today's rapid globalization. With this focus, we join the many who argue that globalization is the most fundamental reorganization of the planet's socioeconomic, cultural, and geopolitical structure since the Industrial Revolution. The explicit recognition of this premise provides the point of departure for this book. As geographers, we think it essential for students to understand two interactive tensions. First, they need to appreciate and critically ponder the consequences of converging environmental, cultural, political, and economic systems through forces of globalization. Second, they need to deepen their understanding of the creation and persistence of geographic diversity and difference. The interaction and tension between these opposing forces of homogenization and diversification forms a current running throughout the following chapters and is reflected in our title,Diversity Amid Globalization. Chapter Organization As are all other world regional geography textbooks,Diversity Amid Globalizationis structured to explain and describe the major world regions of Asia, Africa, the Americas, and so on. These 12 regional chapters, however, depart somewhat from traditional world regional textbooks. Instead of filling them with descriptions of individual countries, we place most of that important material in readily accessible ancillaries, specifically, in the textbook Web site and in the instructor's manual. This leaves us free to develop five important thematic sections as the organizational basis for each regional chapter. We begin with "Environmental Geography," which discusses the physical geography of each region as well as current environmental issues. Next, we assess "Population and Settlement" geography, in which demography, land use, and settlement (including cities) are discussed. We also provide a section on "Cultural Coherence and Diversity," which examines the geography of language and religion, yet also explores current cultural tensions resulting from the interplay of globalization and diversity. The section on each region's "Geopolitical Framework" then treats the dynamic political geography of the region, including micro-regionalism, separatism, ethnic conflicts, global terrorism, and supranational organizations. Finally, we conclude each regional treatment with a section titled "Economic and Social Develo