GEOG 3300 (14144). World Regional Geography. 11:00-11:15 MWF.
Instructor: Dr. Michael Yoder
Office: Irby 301C
Phone: 501.450.3164
Internet: myoder@uca.edu
Web page: http://www.uca.edu/divisions/academic/geography/Yoder.htm
Office Hours: 11:50-1:30 MWF; 9:15-10:45 TR
Catalog Description: A required course for geography majors and minors. A lecture and discussion-
oriented course that focuses on the physical and cultural geography of Earth's major regions: U.S.A. and
Canada, Latin America, Europe, Russia and the Near Abroad, Middle East and North Africa, Africa
South of the Sahara, Monsoon Asia, and the Pacific World. Prerequisite: None.
Additional Description: Geography is often regarded as the "spatial science" because of its focus on
spatial patterns and processes that natural and human activities exhibit over the surface of the earth. As
such, it becomes largely a study of how places are unique from one another, including physical terrain,
climates and weather patterns on one hand (in other words, "physical geography"), and human activities
such as agriculture, industry, settlement patterns, housing, language, religion, and other facets of culture
and society on the other hand. Further, it is about how the physical and cultural realities of the earth
are inter-related, thereby mutually reinforcing the differences from place to place. Regions are areas that
have unique characteristics that make them distinct from other places, so a regional course is a natural
area of inquiry for geography. Agricultural terraces in the mountainous regions of Guatemala, Peru,
Indonesia, the Philippines, and the Arabian Peninsula are not all the same, because the cultures that
produced them are not the same, nor are the political and demographic conditions that yielded that type
of human landscape. Yet these terraces do share something in common: they are an adaptation to
rugged terrain not found in coastal plains containing favorable soils. And they are different from the
expanses of relatively flat and highly productive agricultural lands of the world's grain regions that
produce massive quantities of crops through mechanization. Manufacturing regions such as
Southeastern China, Northwestern Mexico, the American "Midwest" and Western Europe are quite
different from one other in terms of the goods they produce, the technologies they employ, the
transportation infrastructure that links them to distant markets, and the conditions of the work forces
that keep them productive. Houses of worship vary from lavish mosques that adorn urban skylines in
Morocco and Egypt, to cathedrals that define the character of medieval-era cities of Europe and Latin
America, to large concert-hall type contemporary church auditoriums in recently-constructed suburbs of
the United States. As the world becomes more tightly integrated through commerce, politics, and
migration, we should all strive to be better global citizens and develop a greater awareness and
understanding of the cultural and environmental variations from region to region.
Reqired Textbook: DeBlij and Muller: The World Today: Concepts and Regions in Geography,
Third Edition. Wiley Press.
Recommended Book: Rand McNally: Atlas of World Geography (or similar).
My Expectations of Students: Come to class. Tune in to the class. Read the assigned readings. Take
good notes of the lectures and of the assigned readings. Be prepared to discuss the material in class so
that the lectures are more meaningful, interesting and fulfilling than they would otherwise be. Be
