Globalization and Diversity : Geography of a Changing World

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

• ISBN13: 9780131477391
• ISBN10: 0131477390
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-01-01
• Publisher: Prentice Hall

Summary

Globalization and Diversityis an exciting contemporary approach to World Regional Geography that explicitly acknowledges the geographic changes that accompany today's rapid rate of globalization.Organizes each regional chapter into five thematic sections: Environmental Geography; Population and Settlement; Cultural Coherence and Diversity; Geopolitical Framework; Economic and Social Development. Features approximately 15 standardized maps in each regional chapter, including achapter-opening mapwith countries and place names; aphysical map,showing landforms hydrology, and tectonic boundaries; aclimate map,with climograph call-outs giving temperature and precipitation data for specific cities; a"transformation of the Earth" mapwith call-outs to environmental issues and solutions within the region; apopulation mapfor the region; amap of regional languages; ageopolitical mapwith call-outs to current issues and tensions.For anyone interested in learning more about world geography.

Table of Contents

Globalization and Diversity

The Changing Global Environment

North America

Latin America

The Caribbean

Sub-Saharan Africa

Southwest Asia and North Africa

Europe

The Russian Domain

Central Asia

East Asia

South Asia

Southeast Asia

Australia and Oceania

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.

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.Globalization and Diversityis 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 Globalization and Diversityis 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,Globalization and Diversity. Globalization and Diversityis drawn from our longer and more comprehensive text,Diversity Amid Globalization, Second Edition.In this new book, we focus on the core topics that professors and students need in an introductory course about world regional geography, while simultaneously preserving the globalization approach that characterizes our larger teat.Globalization and Diversitywill be ideal for those professors and students who prefer a briefer approach in order to enhance classroom flexibility or to more easily supplement their lectures with outside materials. Chapter Organization and Features As are all other world regional geography textbooks,Globalization and Diversityis 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 accesible ancillaries, specifically, in the textbook website 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 demograp