Teaching
As a human and political geographer one of my goals is to help students view various topics of interest through a ‘geographical lens.’ At a basic level geography is concerned with describing the world we live in, or “the study of earth as the home of people”, in the words of noted human geographer Yi-Fu Tuan. For human geographers adopting a geographical perspective entails focusing on the spatial characteristics of human activity. We are irreducibly geographical beings: ‘homo geographicus’ as another prominent geographer, Robert Sack, has put it.
What this means is that nearly all human thought and activity is shot through with geographical dimensions, from the gendered territorialization of separate ‘work’ and ‘home’ spheres of responsibility and labor activity, to the importance of sites of memory and homeland discourses in the construction of ethnic and national identities. Helping students better appreciate such ever present geographical dimensions of social life is one of the more rewarding aspects of teaching.
What this means is that nearly all human thought and activity is shot through with geographical dimensions, from the gendered territorialization of separate ‘work’ and ‘home’ spheres of responsibility and labor activity, to the importance of sites of memory and homeland discourses in the construction of ethnic and national identities. Helping students better appreciate such ever present geographical dimensions of social life is one of the more rewarding aspects of teaching.
