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Reauthorization of ESEA (No Child Left Behind) Heating Up

A draft reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), which is currently known as No Child Left Behind, has been released by Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN), the new Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee.  By taking this step so early in the newly-convened 114th Congress, Alexander is signaling that he has serious interest in passing a bill in the first half of 2015.  The ESEA – the nation’s primary K-12 law – has not been reauthorized since early 2002.

As many AAG members are aware, the Association has been working for many years to ensure that the next enacted ESEA should include a specific funding authorization for K-12 geography education.  Geography is specified as one of nine core academic subjects in the existing law but is the only one that does not have a dedicated funding stream.

In 2010, we began circulating the AAG Resolution Supporting K-12 Geography Education, which calls for funding of K-12 geography in the ESEA and urges the Obama Administration to include geography and geospatial education in its STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) proposals.  The Resolution has been endorsed by four former U.S. Secretaries of State; 20 incumbent state Governors; 25 Fortune 500 companies; and many other prominent individuals and organizations (see:  www.aag.org/AAGEducationResolution).

This large coalition of supporters of geography education that we have assembled has helped us make a forceful case to federal policy makers.  As an example, please see the letter we have just sent to Senator Alexander on the reauthorization: www.aag.org/esea_alexander.

The Senate HELP Committee has held two hearings so far in 2015 related to the ESEA:  one on “Testing and Accountability” and the other on “Supporting Teachers and School Leaders.”

Alexander’s draft bill – which has yet to be formally introduced – does not include a listing of core academic subjects and does not specifically mention geography at all.  The Chairman has indicated that he would like to pass a reauthorization bill through his panel by the end of February, but if he does so without bipartisan support, he may find it difficult to win needed Democratic votes (to avoid a filibuster) when the bill reaches the Senate floor.

We will keep you apprised of developments on this important legislation.

—Douglas Richardson and John Wertman

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Changing Human Populations Governance and Policy Networks and Connections
Douglas Richardson
Douglas Richardson
President's Column

Keeping Track of Us and Keeping Us on Track

We know a lot about you. Not that we’re spying of course, but the AAG has been keeping track of its members for quite a long time. We collect data on the number and type of geography degree-granting programs, the gender, race and ethnicity of our members, the types of jobs filled by geographers, the various career paths we’ve taken, etc. But we know very little about other aspects of our discipline and our members that are critical to how we practice, teach, and communicate geography. Because of this the AAG has formed a task force and will be contracting with a firm in order to survey our members about a set of important issues including an assessment of the state of contingency within geography, and an evaluation of AAG members’ satisfaction with the organization’s services, conferences, and suite of publications. In this column I reflect on what we can learn (and infer) from historical survey data, review what and how we know particular things about you, suggest why we’ve decided that it’s important to know more, and urge you to participate in what we hope will be an ongoing assessment of our association and discipline.

You probably remember filling out a form with questions about your gender, “race,” and ethnicity when you became a member of the AAG. The information compiled from this form constitutes one of the most comprehensive databases we have about who we are: (http://www.aag.org/cs/projects_and_programs/disciplinary_data/aagcollected_individual_membership_data). These data are particularly interesting to me since they contain both quantitative and qualitative information about our changing demographics and our changing times. For example, from this online source one can track the increasing numbers of women members of the AAG, creeping upward each decade: 15.4% in 1975, 21.6% in 1985, 29% in 1995, 35% in 2005, and 46% in the most recent compiled data for 2012. Similarly, we can determine the shifting ethnic composition of our membership. In 1985 for example, only .7% of our members identified as Hispanic and 1.2% as African-Americans, while in 2012 the number is 4.38% identifying as Hispanic and 3.15% as African-American (and as we all know, these numbers are well below the national averages).

Of equal interest to me was what could be gleaned about us from the strategies and categories we used to collect this information. For example, apparently 1980 was the first year that the AAG specifically asked about “minority group representation” on membership forms. Before that, the numbers were estimated through various means – personal contacts, assessments based on whether one attended a historically-black university, and assumptions based on surnames and residence. This tells us a lot about the size of our discipline (our membership was considerably smaller than it is today), the assumed prevalence of whiteness, and the relative importance given to diversity issues. Equally interesting was seeing shifts in the words we used to categorize race and ethnicity. Between 1972 (the first year of online data) and 1975 we collected data on “Blacks” and “Spanish-Americans,” adding “Oriental-American” to the register in 1976. In 1980, when the categories were added to the membership form, the list included American Indian, Asian, Black, Hispanic, Native Alaskan and Pacific Islander. In 2006 the category “Black” was replaced by “African-American.” No doubt this list will continue to evolve by adding, for example, “mixed race” to the inventory, and/or allowing members to choose more than one racial category (as the U.S. census now does).

Of course this isn’t the only type of membership data collected by the AAG. We collect additional demographic data on those membership forms such as job categories and highest degree attained. Through various initiatives taken by AAG research staff over the years, we have gained very useful insights into the numerous educational and career paths followed by our members and the broader impacts of geography on society. We have also dedicated a good deal of resources to understanding how to become a more diverse and inclusive discipline (see http://www.aag.org/cs/diversity, and in particular the results of our ALIGN program).

So, and I am not saying anything new here, the type of information we collect and how we go about collecting it tell us interesting things about ourselves and our shifting socio-political-cultural contexts. Those shifting contexts, in addition to the “nudges” of several AAG committees, councillors, and staff, have placed several issues front and center that we want to address, and we need information to start. For example, as I suggested in last month’s column we know very little about how many of our members hold contingent positions, making it difficult to (among other things) advise graduate students on career tracks and devise strategies for improving contingent faculty’s lives. We are very proud of our well-attended and open annual conference, but are aware that it is more welcoming to some than to others. In order to change this we need more information about the ‘climate’ of our conferences, and about which strategies that we’ve tried are working and what new ones we might need (see for example our diversity ambassadors). And while we are excited to expand our suite of publications with the soon-to-be-launched new journal GeoHumanities, we are concerned about the relative lack of published physical geography pieces within our journals and wonder how to act strategically in order to maintain the physical sciences at the heart of our discipline. We also want to raise the quality of our journals (measured by citation indices) and are looking for suggestions in this regard.

Everyone seems to be surveying us. Like you, I receive innumerable surveys online wanting to know everything from how satisfied I was with my airline check-in service to whether or not I approve of our new university reimbursement plan. I ignore these emails. Please don’t ignore the one from the AAG that will be coming to your inbox soon. What you say will help determine the future of the AAG.

DOI: 10.14433/2015.0004

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Changing Human Populations Networks and Connections Planning and Development
Mona Domosh
Mona Domosh

Graeme Hugo

Professor Graeme Hugo AO from the University of Adelaide, one of Australia’s leading geographers and a world authority on demography and migration, passed away on January 20, 2015, at the age of 68 after a short illness.

Graeme John Hugo was born on December 5, 1946, and grew up in Adelaide. His academic studies began with a BA at the University of Adelaide. He then stayed in Adelaide but moved to Flinders University where he spent 3 years as a Tutor in geography and completed an MA (1972). Next he moved to the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra for a PhD (1975), his thesis investigating circular migration in West Java. At that time ANU had just commenced its strong focus upon the demography of Indonesia and Hugo’s research played a role in developing this.

After completing his doctorate, Hugo returned to Flinders University where he stayed from 1975 to 1991, rising through the academic ranks. He was instrumental in establishing the postgraduate program in Applied Population Studies and also made significant contributions to the National Institute of Labour Studies based at the university. During this time he also held visiting positions overseas at Hasanuddin University, Indonesia (1977-78), University of Iowa, USA (1985), University of Hawaii (1988), and University of Auckland (1989).

In 1991 Hugo was appointed Professor of Geography at the University of Adelaide, and served as head of the department from 1992 to 1996. He also had a stint as a Visiting Scholar at the United Nations Population Division in New York. In 1996 he became Director of the university’s National Centre for Social Applications of GIS, and in 2012 the Director of its new Australian Population and Migration Research Centre.

Hugo’s academic career was spent studying migration, mobility and development in Australia and Southeast Asia, particularly Indonesia. He was interested in both international and internal migration, its changing patterns and causes, the implications for social and economic change, and the role and contribution of migrants and refugees in a multicultural society. A colleague noted his ability to think outside the box, and in so doing seed new subfields within migration studies, almost effortlessly.

His publications output was prolific. He produced more than 30 books, about 200 refereed articles, and over 250 book chapters, as well as over 1,000 conference papers, 20 plenary addresses, 120 reports and over 30 book reviews, with many more in progress at the time of his death. The latter included an entry on “Population Geography” for the AAG’s forthcoming International Encyclopedia of Geography.

Hugo’s work led to a much more sophisticated understanding of the theory and practice of migration in the Asia-Pacific region. His scholarship has been well cited, perhaps most notably the books The Demographic Dimension in Indonesian Development (1987) with Terry and Valerie Hull and Gavin Jones, and Worlds in Motion: Understanding International Migration at the End of the Millennium (1998) with Douglas Massey and others.

Hugo was renowned for his willingness to pitch in when others of a similar rank would decline, for example, teaching first year classes and marking their exams, reviewing papers for an astonishing 53 different journals, and refereeing grant applications. He also supervised 22 Masters theses and 36 PhD theses, with a further 20 ongoing when he passed away.

Recent large research projects included an Australian Research Council (ARC) Federation Fellowship (2002-07) for a study entitled “The new paradigm of international migration to and from Australia: dimensions, causes and implications” and an ARC Australian Professorial Fellowship (2009-13) for a research project on “Circular migration in Asia, the Pacific and Australia: Empirical, theoretical and policy dimensions.”

In 2012 Hugo became the Director of the new Australian Population and Migration Research Centre at the University of Adelaide, a world-class center tasked with developing a sustainable population and workforce strategy for Australia and the Asia Pacific, and looking at international patterns of migration and the challenges posed by an ageing society. Some of his most recent research focused on the problems, including discrimination, faced by jobseekers from non-English speaking backgrounds.

In addition to his extraordinary intellectual output, Hugo was an activist, concerned with the development of equitable population and migration policies informed by evidence, building positive relationships between Australia and Asian nations, and the rights of migrants and refugees. He was also a regular voice on radio as a social commentator.

In Australia Hugo was much in demand from both federal and state governments for advice on population, ageing and migration and served on a vast number of committees. In 2011 he led a major enquiry by the Australian Government on population policy. On the international scene he frequently participated in meetings focused on migration policy sponsored by agencies such as UNFPA, the World Bank, the International Organisation for Migration, and the Asian Development Bank. His reports for these agencies were highly influential. In 2009, with colleagues, he completed a study of Climate Change and Migration in Asia and the Pacific for the Asian Development Bank.

Hugo became a member of the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population (IUSSP) in 1977, and throughout his career actively contributed his expertise and time to IUSSP scientific groups and publications. He was also a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (Australia), and a Member of the Institute of Australian Geographers, the Australian Population Association, the Australian Association of Gerontology, the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia, and the Population Association of America. Hugo gave very valuable service to Geography as Chair of the ARC’s Expert Advisory Committee on the Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences between 2000 and 2004.

In 2006, Hugo was an inaugural recipient of Flinders University’s Distinguished Alumnus Award for his vast contributions to academia as a teacher, researcher and author; for his distinguished service to population growth, migration and ageing; and through various leadership and advisory roles, including service to government agencies and international organisations.

This was followed in 2012 by the highest honor of the Order of Australia (AO) ‘for distinguished service to population research, particularly the study of international migration, population geography and mobility, and through leadership roles with national and international organisations.’

He was also recognized within the discipline in 2014 with the Australia-International Medal of the Institute of Australian Geographers in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the advancement of geography worldwide.

Hugo was one of the most distinguished, dedicated and productive geographers that Australia has ever seen, and considered the leading expert on population migration in the Asia-Pacific region. He was internationally respected for the depth of his knowledge, yet also made a significant contribution to the real world beyond academia’s ivory towers. He was an inspiration to many generations of students, and a much-loved friend and colleague known for being genuine, kind, and generous.

Graeme leaves behind his partner Sharon, daughter Justine, step-daughters Melissa and Emily, and two faithful dogs, Jesse and Tyler.

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New Books for Geographers

New Books: January 2015

Every month the AAG compiles a list of newly-published books in geography and related areas. Some are selected for review in the AAG Review of Books.

Publishers are welcome to send new volumes to the Editor-in-Chief (Kent Mathewson, Editor-in-Chief, AAG Review of Books, Department of Geography and Anthropology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803).

Anyone interested in reviewing these or other titles should also contact the Editor-in-Chief.

January, 2015
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Changing Human Populations Planning and Development
AAG Staff
AAG Staff

Elizabeth A. Frederic

Elizabeth “Liz” A. Frederic, a leader in environmental education, passed away on January 11, 2015, aged 73, after a struggle with illness.

Frederic was born in 1941 in Long Island City, NY, and grew up in Floral Park, NY. She earned four college degrees: B.S. in Home Economics from State University of New York at Oneonta, B.A. in Geography from University of Maine at Farmington, M.A. in Nutrition from New York University, and M.A. in Geography from University of Connecticut.

She had a varied early career which included teaching home economics in Greenlawn, NY, working as a social services consultant for New York City, being a day care inspector in Nassau County, NY, and acting as office manager for her first husband’s chiropractic practice in Skowhegan, ME.

From 1994 to 2003, Frederic worked as adjunct geography faculty at the University of Maine at Farmington. During this time, she was Education Coordinator for the Maine Association of Conservation Districts and developed and strengthened the Envirothon Program for high school students. Her work in conservation and environmental education was recognized in 2001 when she received the Outstanding Forest Stewardship Award from the Maine Forest Service.

Meanwhile Frederic was a member of the Association of American Geographers and the New England–St. Lawrence Valley Geographical Society, and served as Maine Geographic Alliance Advisor. She also owned Liz Maps, a cartography business, and published many maps.

She loved to travel, both for work and pleasure, visiting Cuba, the Caribbean, southern Africa, China, Mongolia, Vietnam, Europe and North America. She spent time at the University of Namibia and Beijing University of Technology acting as teaching assistant for her second husband. She participated in academic conferences around the world, presenting on topics as diverse as the reuse of dairy barns, water quality and African land ownership. Her professional publications were also varied, including work on the Cuban sugar industry, grazing systems in Namibia and Mongolia, and natural resource related education in Maine.

Closer to home, Frederic was a great supporter of community organizations and activities ranging from the state fair and cub scouts to the library and women’s club. She also loved gardening, cooking, reading, and time with the family.

Liz lived life as an adventure and will be missed by all who knew her. She is survived by her second husband, Dr. Paul Frederic, son Bradford Anderson, three step-children, and several step-grandchildren and step-great-grandchildren.

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Harley E. Johansen

Harley E. Johansen, Chair of the Geography Department at the University of Idaho for 30 years, will be both remembered for his scholarly work on rural development and departmental accomplishments which culminated in 2010 with the National Academy of Sciences ranking the graduate program among the top 20 geography doctoral programs in the nation, and as the top small department program.

He was born and raised on his parent’s dairy farm in Wisconsin, lived in state until the completion of his PhD from the Geography Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1974. He accepted a position at West Virginia University and in 1981 he was hired as Chair at the University of Idaho.

Harley proceeded to slowly and deliberately build the department, hiring new faculty, and over the span of his tenure encouraging the department to change and adapt with the times. He encouraged the early addition of GIS courses, adding support faculty necessary in that area, then the creation of the first Certificate Program at the university, which was in GIS.

The department had a Master’s Program when Harley arrived. He spearheaded the development of a PhD program which was reviewed and recommended by an outside committee of eminent geographers, and graduated its first PhD student in 1991. The next major shift in the department initiated by Harley was the hiring of physical geographers with a specific focus on climate change.

Harley’s own research work expanded geographically, though he remained rooted in understanding and expanding our knowledge of the process of rural development. Later his focus expanded to, at first, the Post-Soviet transition, and then most recently the impact of climate change on communities in the northern latitudes of Europe and Russia. In carrying out his evolving research agenda he was awarded a variety of grants over the years, notably nine from the National Science Foundation. Harley’s research and teaching was rewarded with four Fulbright Scholar or Senior Specialist Awards to Finland, Russia, and Macedonia. In Macedonia he developed a curriculum for a new university-level school in Skopje. He also conducted research in Denmark, Norway, Sweden and the Baltic countries, especially Estonia.

In 1984 he co-published a now classic book, The Changing Rural Village in America: Demographic and Economic Trends Since 1950 with rural sociologist Glenn Fuguitt, who had been one of his major PhD advisors at Madison. In 1987 he was the lead co-editor of the book Mineral Resource Development: Geopolitics, Economics, and Policy. He continued to publish book chapters and articles, individually and with colleagues, in diverse journals such as Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Business Geographics, Environment and Planning A, Eurasian Geography and Economics, Geografiska Annaler, Journal of Balkan and Near East Studies, Rural Development Perspectives, Rural Sociology, Western Wildlands and most recently Polar Geography in his expanding interests. Harley also attracted the attention of the international press for his work on the Post-Soviet transition and was invited to publish periodically in the Financial Times of London.

His most recent Barents Project initiated in 2012 was on climate adaption policies in Murmansk above the Arctic Circle, published in 2013 with Liza Skryzhevska in Polar Geography as “Adaption Priorities in Russia’s High North: Climate Change vs Post-Soviet Transition.” Harley believed strongly in field research and amazed us with the enthusiasm and obvious joy with which he would go to the coldest northern reaches of Norway or Finland in January or February, where he would drive around in a rental car interviewing people in communities undergoing climate change.

This past summer, even with illness, he joined another Finnish based group to do similar research for a diverse set of regions in Russia. A week before he died at 73 he was talking about developing another NSF grant and an article. Unfortunately, he contracted pneumonia when he was receiving treatment for myelodyplastic syndrome (MDS) after having had a full bone marrow transplant in Seattle, and for which he was dealing with myriad after-affects.

He is sorely missed by his colleagues, students and a multitude of friends around the world. There will be special sessions at the Chicago AAG meetings this April in his honor. Harley is survived by his wife, Nancy; his sister, Amy; his brother, Harry; his son, Peder; his daughter, Ingrid; and his young granddaughters, Johanna and Klara.

This article was reprinted with permission from the Department of Earth and Spatial Sciences, University of Idaho. 

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Florence M. Margai

The sudden passing of Florence M. Margai on January 8, 2015, is of great sadness to the AAG and the geography community. She was a great advocate for the use of geographic data and tools to identify and address health issues.

Margai was born and raised in Freetown, Sierra Leone. She graduated with a BA in Geography from Fourah Bay College in 1985 then moved to the US where she earned a MA (1987) and PhD (1991) in Geography from Kent State University, Ohio.

From 1991 to 1994 she taught in the Department of Geography and Geological Sciences at Hunter College. She then moved to the Department of Geography at Binghamton University. In addition to her active involvement in the department, she served as an Associate Dean since 2011 and Interim Director of the Institute of Global Cultural Studies since 2014.

Margai’s research and teaching centered around the Geographies of Health, particularly health disparities, environmental hazards, and environmental justice and equity. She also maintained an active interest in Africa, particularly her home region of West Africa.

The focus of her work was applied, utilizing geographic data and technologies to understand the spatial distribution of health disparities, particularly within marginalized communities, women, the elderly, and children. Research studies included malaria morbidity and treatment in West Africa, childhood health in Burkina Faso, linkages between lead poisoning and learning disabilities in US cities, and the distribution of hazardous substances in low-income and minority communities.

She also worked with several non-profit organizations in the US and Africa on the geographic targeting of vulnerable population groups for disease intervention and health promotional campaigns.

Margai’s extensive publication record included three books, the most recent of which was Environmental Health Hazards and Social Justice: Geographical Perspectives on Race and Class Disparities (Earthscan 2010). She also served as editor of the African Geographical Review.

She was actively involved in the AAG since becoming a member in 1987. Her contributions included serving as Chair of the African Specialty Group, organizing the first Race, Ethnicity, and Place Conference, and running one of the My Community, Our Earth workshops in Ghana in 2013. In 2014 she was elected to the Council and we were looking forward greatly to her further contributions to the work of the Association.

Florence leaves behind a husband, William, and two daughters, to whom we extend our most sincere condolences.

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Justice and Place

In this forum and with this audience I doubt that it will be at all controversial to state that justice and place are intimately connected. After all, geographers are typically quite aware of such relationships. Or at least one hopes that they are typically quite aware of this. The dynamics between geography and justice is readily apparent in a wide array of situations, from the segregation policies of the old American South to the occupation policies of Israel vis-à-vis Palestine to the variance in death penalty laws among the various states in America. What is amazing, though, is how often issues of justice and place appear in the news as well as in cultural products and how just as often they are not recognized as such by the majority of people or, perhaps, even by the majority of geographers. My best supposition of why this is so is that geographical connections become obscure and opaque as readers and viewers pay attention to what may seem like more immediate factors, such as the glaring inequities of injustice or the seemingly random enactment and enforcement of laws. However, a simple analysis of a small sample of items will demonstrate that the link between geography and justice is extremely dynamic and must be taken into account for even a superficial understanding of most events.

For example, if we open up the New York Times of December 19 2014 to page 20, we will find three separate stories that show completely different yet equally taut relationships between geography and justice. The first story is titled “2 Neighbors of Colorado Sue over Marijuana Laws.” Upon perusing this article, we discover that the States of Nebraska and Oklahoma are suing the State of Colorado, which recently passed a law legalizing marijuana. Nebraska and Oklahoma are basing their cases on a worry that the pestilence of pot will spill over their borders and cause havoc in their territories. Here, we obviously have an issue with a geographical turn to it, for if there were no states and no borders between them, then this would not be an issue at all and, thus, not a story. But it seems to me that most readers will go through this story without realizing that the connection between geography and justice is the prime element in this article, as that link is so obvious that it is masked, hiding in plain sight, as it were.

The second story is titled “Contesting Traffic Fines, Missouri Sues 13 Suburbs.” Here, we have the attorney general of the State of Missouri suing thirteen St. Louis suburbs for allegedly profiteering off of minorities and the poor by overzealous enforcement of parking fines and traffic violations. So instead of co-equal entities such as states going to battle, as in the first story, we have here a state turning its jurisdictional focus on smaller entities, municipalities within that state. Again, a clear geographical focus is paramount in this case, as it is only through the organization of the states and municipalities and their court systems along geographical lines that such a suit could even be filed. But, once again, geography as such is lost here as attention is shifted to the alleged injustices which the governments of the various St. Louis municipalities perpetrated upon their citizens.

The final story on page 20 of the December 19 edition of the New York Times, “Shooting Spurs Debates Over Race and Guns In a Gingerbread Town,” concerns a Muslim woman, Mary Araim, who had been sworn in as a U.S. citizen just days before she was shot and killed in the German-themed tourist town of Helen in White County, Georgia, by one Glenn Lampien. Here the geographical locus is a bit more complicated. First, we have a Georgia town which , for touristic purposes, presents itself as a simulacrum of a German village replete with such establishments as the Hansel & Gretel Candy Kitchen, Lindenhaus Imports, and the Old Bavarian Inn. Ms. Araim, a native of Iraq, where she had been a teacher and an assistant principal, had moved to the United States and settled in Houston. She was in Georgia to visit relatives in nearby Lawrenceville and was wearing a headscarf when she was walking down the streets of Helen where she was killed. Lampien of Jasper, Georgia, was in Helen seemingly to become intoxicated. He had been drinking in a local bar, King Ludwig’s Biergarten, before he ducked out on the bill and then allegedly shot and killed Ms. Araim. According to the article, Lampien contends that he shot his gun accidentally and that in no way did he target Ms. Araim because she was Muslim and wearing a headscarf. So perhaps here we could draw lines of destiny and fate between Iraq, Texas, and Georgia to delineate the lineaments of geography in this case. The extra factor of the German touristic layer adds a surreal plane to the mix, giving the tragic death of Ms. Araim a bizarre quality. We could also add in the fact that Ms. Araim was more liable to be shot in the United States than in almost any other country, including perhaps even Iraq, given our penchant for weapons and our lax laws regarding the purchase of ammunition and guns, and especially in states such as Georgia, which passed a law in March allowing gun owners to carry their weapons in bars, restaurants, churches, schools, and restaurants.

A quick look at a selection of classic plays and movies also yields a sampling of cultural documents reflecting a tight connection between geography and ethics. For instance, Shakespeare’s King Lear hinges on the division of Lear’s kingdom into three equal parts which he bequeaths to his three daughters. The geographical backdrop of the play is quite explicit as in Act One, Scene One, Lear declaims to his children:

Give me the map there. Know we have divided
In three our kingdom; and `tis our fast intent
To shake all cares and business from our age,
Conferring them on younger strengths while we
Unburthen’d crawl toward death.

Obviously geographical in nature, this passage even refers to the paramount technical instrument of geography, a map. The consequences of Lear’s recklessly fateful decision ends up casting Lear and his youngest daughter, Cordelia, against his other two children, Goneril and Regan, in a pitched battle over territory, authority, and familial devotion or the lack thereof. Yet here as well, the salience of geographical concerns gets lost amidst what seem to be more significant psychological and metaphysical issues. Lear tips towards madness and plumbs the depths of the geography of the Inferno: “Beneath is all the fiends. There’s hell, there’s darkness, there’s the sulphurous pit; burning, scalding, stench, consumption. Fie, fie fie! pah, pah!” But the linchpin and the catalyst of the tragedy is that geographical parsing out of his kingdom to his daughters, the division of territory leading to all that ensues in Shakespeare’s drama.

One of Hollywood’s most celebrated classics, A Wonderful Life, directed by Frank Capra, is also centered on quite obvious geographical concerns. In this rather smaltzy yet still powerful drama, George Bailey, played by the always earnest James Stewart, struggles to keep his hometown of Bedford Falls and his housing development from falling into the evils clutches of Henry Potter, played by a very creepy Lionel Barrymore. The story is all geography through and through, with opposite versions of the town, Bailey’s idyllic Bedford Hills versus Potter’s satanic Pottersville, set against one another, the former a blissful vision of an almost communal-like Americana suburb, the latter reeking with every form of degeneracy and sin. Of course, this being a Hollywood picture, Bailey wins out in the end but not before receiving a copy of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer from his guardian angel, Clarence, thus tying Bailey into the great mother of American rivers and therefore connecting the film to a geography (and a history) of a more expansive kind.

These examples of the importance of geography in cultural products are not singular: there are scores of others which could just as easily prove the point. For instance, Chekov’s The Cherry Orchard concerns the estate of a family of aristocrats turned over to member of the noveau riche, while Ibsen’s The Enemy of the People focuses on the polluted waters of a spa. Or consider the Oscar winners for best picture in the last two years. In 2013, the Oscar for best picture went to 12 Years A Slave while in 2012 Argo received the nod. Both movies are framed by a strong geographical context, with the former set in the South when the mode of production of slavery was dividing the United States in two and the latter having much to do with borders, nation-states, and attempts to transcend those borders through subterfuge and cunning.

My point here, though, is not to insert geography into various things, as if draping our discipline about the necks of this or that entity, but to demonstrate that geography is pervasive, especially in terms of the realms of justice and ethics. Where you are makes a great difference, in fact as well as in fiction. That we as geographers should be especially aware of this seems to be the least we can demand of ourselves.

—Rob Sullivan

DOI:10.14433/2015.0003

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Changing Human Populations Collective Concerns Spatial Narratives
Rob Sullivan
Rob Sullivan
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AAG Distinguished Scholarship Honors: Anthony Bebbington, Ruth DeFries

The 2015 AAG Distinguished Scholarship Honors is presented to Dr. Anthony J. Bebbington and Dr. Ruth DeFries.

Bebbington will receive this award for his exceptional record of scholarly achievement and policy relevance in the fields of development studies, natural resource management, and sustainable livelihoods.

DeFries is being recognized for the contributions that she has made to our understanding of the patterns and impacts of anthropogenic landscape change, and for her ability to link that research to larger international policy discussions aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions from tropical deforestation.

Citations for Anthony J. Bebbington and Ruth DeFries follow. 

Anthony Bebbington, Clark University

Bebbington

Dr. Anthony J. Bebbington is awarded the Association of American Geographers 2015 Distinguished Scholarship Honors for his record of achievement in development and environmental studies especially his path-breaking research on natural resources, poverty reduction, livelihoods and sustainable development in the Andes and beyond, and its recognition by policy makers and practitioners of development.

This recognition is most evident in his election to the National Academy of Sciences in 2009, a rare tribute to a relatively young scholar. Bebbington is noted for his interdisciplinary approaches in the fields of development studies, political science, economics, agriculture science, and geography. His research has contributed to the understanding of sustainable rural development, natural resource management, poverty, and social movements such as indigenous and grassroots organizations, especially in Latin America and the Andean region. He has combined extensive fieldwork in Peru and Ecuador, with institutional analyses to promote the understanding and respect of farmers and indigenous knowledge, the role of non-governmental organizations, the value of social capital to development, and the agency and empowerment of people and communities in the developing world. Bebbington’s publications include more than 20 edited or co-authored books, many in Spanish, and numerous journal articles and book chapters such as highly cited papers in World Development, the Annals of the AAG, and Economic Geography.

In addition to his experience in academia, his work informs economic policies in international development agencies such as the World Bank, the CGIAR, and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. These applied aspects of his work have fueled his ability to engage in both applied and theoretical approaches with indigenous groups, as well as global development programs.

Bebbington has taught geography and development at the University of Manchester and the University of Colorado at Boulder, and he is currently Director of the Graduate School of Geography at Clark University. He has supervised a large number of graduate students who have gone on to careers in academia, NGOs and government. His scholarship and policy insights have also had influence through his work with the World Bank, the International Institute for Environment and Development, and the Overseas Development Institute.

It is with great pleasure that we recognize Dr. Bebbington’s extensive and profound contributions to the fields of geography and development studies more broadly.

Ruth DeFries, Columbia University

DeFries

In recognition of the significant and extensive contributions that she has made to our understanding of the impacts of anthropogenic landscape transformation on climate, biogeochemical cycling, and biodiversity, Dr. Ruth DeFries is awarded the 2015 Association of American Geographers Distinguished Scholarship Honors.

 

DeFries is currently Denning Professor of Sustainable Development at Columbia University. Prior to joining Columbia in 2008, she was professor in the Geography Department at the University of Maryland, served as senior project officer with the Committee on Global Change at the National Research Council (NRC), and taught at the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology in Mumbai, India. She received her Ph.D. from the Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering at Johns Hopkins University and her B.A. in Earth Science, summa cum laude, from Washington University in St. Louis, MO.

Driven by losses due to expanding human infrastructure, timber harvesting, resource extraction, and agricultural activities, habitat conversion remains the leading threat to global biodiversity. DeFries is credited with transforming the way that scientists track and analyze changes to the planet’s vegetation through the use of satellite imagery, which can cover large areas at repeated time intervals. Landscape transformation may, however, have far reaching impacts beyond the direct conversion of species habitats. Research conducted by DeFries emphasizes the intersections among land use, agriculture, climate and conservation throughout the tropics, with a focus on the Amazon and India. In particular, her work has illuminated the widespread consequences of changing the extent and pattern of Earth’s vegetation, including the effects on emissions of greenhouse gases that cause climate change, the loss of habitat for other species, and the potential movement of disease vectors.

Throughout her career, Dr. DeFries has published over 120 refereed journal articles and book chapters. These have appeared in many of the top journals in the world, including Science, Nature, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Nature Climate Change, PLos One, Global Change Biology, Remote Sensing of Environment, Ecology and Society, Journal of Biogeography and Conservation Biology, among many others. In recognition of her achievements, she was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in 2006 and the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2008. She is also a fellow of the Aldo Leopold Leadership Program, the Ecological Society of America, and the American Geophysical Union, and she has received fellowships from the MacArthur Foundation and the Fulbright Program. She is a lead author on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Fifth Assessment) and a member of the NRC’s Board on Environmental Change and Society. She is also a former Chair of the NRC’s Ecosystems, Land Use, and Biodiversity Panel of the Decadal Survey for the Earth Sciences, Vice-chair of the NRC’s Committee on Earth Studies, Space Sciences Board, and member of the NRC’s Committee on the Assessment of NASA’s Earth Science program.

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Changing Human Populations Governance and Policy Planning and Development
AAG Staff
AAG Staff
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Chicago’s Asian Cultures

The Association of American Geographers (AAG) will be holding its next annual meeting April 21-25, 2015, in the American business hub city of Chicago, which can be reached by a direct flight from Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and many other major Asian cities. It is little wonder that many Asian cultures feel at home here in America’s heartland global city. On December 19 2014, the “25th U.S. – China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade” concluded in Chicago. The Chicago Tribune reported that Beijing economic development official Cheng Yuhua expected a dingy industrial city, but the real Chicago surprised her: “What I’ve seen here – it completely changed my mind, the city looks young, it’s full of energy (Chicago Tribune, 21 December 2014).” Although the meeting was focused on U.S. trade, local Chicago got a fair bump in marketing itself as a global city open to foreign investment.

Asians in Chicago

In this newsletter article I will describe the residential patterns of six major Asian immigrant groups – Asian Indians, Chinese, Filipinos, Japanese, Koreans, and Vietnamese – in the Chicago metropolitan area. Using the 2010 Census and GIS, I will address two questions: (1) Where are the six major Asian groups most heavily concentrated in the city of Chicago, and in the 13-county metropolitan area? (2) Which of the six Asian groups is more dispersed in the city of Chicago? Mean centers and standard deviational ellipses are employed to describe the concentration differences.

1990 to 2000

This article also provides an update to an earlier study that used 1990 and 2000 census data to describe the geographic distribution of Asian groups (Park, Chung, & Choi, 2006). Their study identified Asian Indians as the fastest growing group, which settled primarily in DuPage County and northern Cook County, while the Chinese remained concentrated in Chinatown with some expansion to the south and southwestern suburbs (Park et al., 2006). Japanese and Koreans were concentrated in the north, while Vietnamese were concentrated in the city and in a few western suburbs (Park et al., 2006). Filipinos were bi-polarized commensurate with their socioeconomic status (Park et al., 2006). Suburbs like Lincolnwood and Skokie were strongly favored by all six Asian groups, due to employment opportunities in those areas. Traditional Asian enclaves in the inner-city area remained port of entry zones, and even expanded geographically over time, while new Asian concentrations emerged in relatively affluent suburbs (Park et al., 2006). According to the study, Asian groups maintained strong social cohesion, indicating that Asian residential patterns were closely linked to economic factors, while keeping close ties with their own respective groups.

2010 Chicago Region and its Suburbs

Based on a 13-county definition of the Chicago region, a dot density and graduated color map (fig. 1 and 2) show that the six major Asian groups occupy distinct geographical spaces and have varying spatial distributions. Asian Indians are highly concentrated northwest of Chicago in Buffalo Grove, Hoffman Estates, Schaumburg, Lincolnwood, Skokie, and Devon Avenue. The trend toward concentration in DuPage County and northern Cook County has intensified in 2010 compared to previous years. The Chinese are highly dominant in Chicago’s Chinatown (Photo 1), but have also spread to suburbs like Vernon Hills, Skokie, Evanston, Schaumburg, Hoffman Estates, Naperville and Aurora. Their strong concentration areas remain in the southern half of the Chicago metro area, but communities have developed in northern suburbs, including southern Lake County and northern Kane County. Filipinos are scattered to a greater extent around the metropolitan than many other Asian groups. Their high concentrations are found in Morton Grove, Wilmette, Skokie, Carol Stream, Glendale Heights, Streamwood and Hoffman Estates.

Figure 1: Dot density map of six major Asian groups in the Chicago metropolitan area, 2010
Figure 2: Graduated color maps showing the spatial distribution of 6 major Asian groups in the Chicago metropolitan area, 2010

The Japanese are mostly concentrated northwest of the city, in the suburbs of Elk Grove, Schaumburg, Arlington Heights, Mount Prospect, Inverness, Skokie, Morton Grove, Lincolnwood, Lincoln hire and Buffalo Grove. For Koreans, there is a great dominance around Chicago’s Korea town, but also in north and northwestern suburbs including Lincolnwood, Wilmette, Skokie, Evanston, Northbrook, Glenview, Morton Grove and Wheeling. Japanese are also increasing in Buffalo Groves, Vernon Hills, Inverness, Hoffman Estates, Schaumburg, and Naperville. The Vietnamese are more scattered, but there is a notable concentration on the north side of the city of Chicago.

There are several suburbs in which all six major Asian groups are concentrated, mostly the northern half of the Chicago metropolitan region. Asian Indians and Filipinos, who are relatively more fluent in English, tend to assimilate into the mainstream and are dispersed to a greater extent around the metropolitan area than are other Asian nationalities. Suburbs like Skokie, Lincolnwood, Morton Grove, Hoffman Estates and Schaumburg are popular residential locations among the Asian groups. All six concentrate across the northern limits of the city of Chicago, where many high skilled job opportunities are located. The higher income professionals of Asian Indians, Japanese, and Koreans favor edge cities, such as Schaumburg and Hoffman Estates. One prominent trend is the rise of Asian populations in western suburbs like Carol Stream, Glendale Heights, Elgin and Pingree Grove, as well as in southern suburbs like Naperville and Aurora. Compared to 2000, Elgin, Pingree Grove and Gilberts in Kane County have experienced an influx of all six Asian groups.

2010 City of Chicago

The 2010 Census reported that the city of Chicago had an Asian population of 166,770, placing it as the 7th ranked city in the USA for the number of Asians (Census 2010). In the city of Chicago (fig. 3 and 4), a similar residential pattern is visible among all six groups, with high concentrations in the northeastern part of the city – the neighborhoods of Uptown, Rogers Park, Albany Park, West Ridge, North Park, and Lincoln Square. Asian populations are also dominant near Downtown Chicago, especially in the Loop and Millennium Park neighborhoods. All six groups, especially Chinese, are also concentrated in Hyde Park, which is home to the University of Chicago. Besides Chinatown, Bridgeport, and Armour Square, which all have sizable Chinese populations, Argyle in the Uptown neighborhood is becoming a new Chinatown (Photo 2), as well as a distinctive Vietnamese enclave.

Figure 3: Dot density map of 6 major Asian groups in the city of Chicago, 2010
Figure 4: Graduated color maps showing the spatial distribution, mean centers and standard deviational ellipses of 6 major Asian groups in the city of Chicago, 2010

Spatial Analysis

The Chinese mean center is closest to Downtown Chicago, at a distance of 2.76 km. This is followed by the Korean (6.91 km), Asian Indian (7.41 km), and Japanese (7.74 km) mean centers. The Filipino mean center (10.38 km) is relatively far from downtown, and the Vietnamese center is the furthest at 11.74 km. The standard deviational ellipses suggest that the Chinese are the most spatially concentrated, with an ellipse area of 100.3 km2. The Vietnamese and Koreans are also relatively concentrated, with ellipse areas of 112.9 km2 and 119.5 km2 respectively. These are followed by Asian Indians (142.3 km2), Japanese (153.4 km2), and Filipinos, with the greatest spatial dispersion (ellipse area 162.9 km2). The ellipse of each group overlaps with the other five, although Filipinos and Vietnamese are concentrated mostly in the city’s north side, while the Chinese are dominant in neighborhoods around Chinatown spreading toward the southwest. The almost circular shapes of the Filipino and Vietnamese ellipses suggest that these two groups are dispersed in nearly equal directions from their mean centers. The Asian Indian, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean ellipses are elongated, with the Korean ellipse being the most stretched.

 

In conclusion, Asian groups in Chicago are culturally diverse and occupy different geographical spaces according to their home country. The spatial distribution of the six major Asian groups became more dispersed throughout the Chicago metropolitan area over time, although several suburbs, as well as neighborhoods within the city, are popular among all groups. Besides traditional Asian suburbs like Skokie, new communities in Elgin, Carol Stream and Naperville are on the rise. While visiting Chicago during the AAG annual meeting in 2015, it is worth taking time to appreciate this diverse Asian culture. Choices include dinner in Chinatown, which is a short taxi ride from the convention hotel, or an afternoon in Chicago’s New Chinatown, which can be accessed by the red line train on the Argyle stop. In the suburbs, one can also visit a Chinese grocery store in Naperville or a Japanese grocery store in Schaumburg for a taste of Asian culture!

Jiahe “Caitlyn” Wei
Northwestern University

DOI: 10.14433/2015.0002

References

Chicago Tribune (December 21, 2014). “Chicago’s China challenge.” Section 2, page 3.

Park, S., Chung, S-Y., & Choi, J. (2006). “Asians in Chicago.” In Greene, R. P., Bouman, M. J., & Grammenos, D., Chicago’s Geographies: Metropolis for the 21st century (pp. 217-231). Washington, D.C.: Association of American Geographers.

U.S. Census Bureau (2012). The Asian population: 2010. Available at https://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-11.pdf

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Changing Human Populations Collective Concerns Spatial Narratives
Jiahe "Caitlyn"-Wei
Jiahe "Caitlyn"-Wei