Geographical Foundations Flashcards
Name all authors and dates for section 1 (AB)
Wolf (1982) Toye (2004) Philips (2005) Davis (2004) Engles (1845) Dodds (2014) Harvey (2010) Diamond (1997) (2002) Blaut (1999) Gott (2011) Clayton (2000) Watts (2000) Phillips (1997) Magdoff (2003) Epstein (2003) Prashad (2007) Johnson (2000) Todorov (2010) Dicken (2011) Khilnani (1997) The Economist (2007) Wallerstein (1970s)
Briefly explain Wolf (1982)
“one world” - ecological, demographic, economic, political connections
Past: diseases from eurasia devastated native populations of america and oceania, africans forcibly transported to new world.
scholars disconnect these things - teach history so it turns into a moral success story.
Common postulates: social relations are autonomous, social order depends on growth and extension of social relations, formation and maintenance of ties related to existence and propagation of common beliefs and customs.
flaws: not merely autonomous but casual in own right, integration between individuals becomes primary cause of social life, social disorder related to quantity and quality of social relations - no consideration of economics, politics or ideology as possible source. social relations have been severed from their context.
Briefly explain Toye (2004)
Renfrew - multiplier effect.
innovation is an aspect or subsystem of culture, enhances and effects other cultural subsystems through positive feedback.
cumulative effect and interaction of subsystems leads to emergence of civilisations. differences in complex and simple societies.
simple dominated 99.8% human history.
there are 5 subsystems in complex and simple
early broke age example
What are the differences between social and complex societies? Toye (2004)
Complex cultures have social stratifications - Simple - smaller populations, no divisions.
complex - specialisation - must have surplus. complex are governed by states - sole authority, collect and distribute resources, enforce rules. simple - kinship ties do this, elders resolve disputes. complex- formal religion, common values - validate and legitimise social order.
what are the 5 subsystems? Toye (2004)
1)subsistence (food) 2) technological 3) social patterns of interpersonal behaviour 4) projective or symbolic ways culture portrays relationship between humans and world. 5) trade and communication. innovation needs to happen in at least 2 to form a complex culture. there are critics.
give an example of a society going through he multiplier effect. Toye (2004)
early bronze age - Crete
subsistence - developed diverse agri econ (grapes olives barley) increased nutrition and population.
new developments in tech. archaeological records show artisans had time to specialise (surplus allocation)
buildings suggest warfare threat - organise for defence
burial sites are evidence of social stratification.
Briefly explain Philips (2005)
Importance of the 1915 map, choices mapmakers made: what to include, how to depict it, what to leave out. What the colours represent. Turns map in a world with a centre and margins - Europe at the centre - shipping lines highlight importance of England as centre of trade and commerce. Countries further from equator seem bigger - England is exaggerated in geographical importance as are British dominions.
Experiences of colonialism
Post colonial geographies
What is the significance of the map Philips (2005) describes?
Choice of colour: represents colonial power, each empire is a different colour (mostly european)
depicts world as tidily, uniformly colonised.
colours chosen to reinforce colonial theme.
Red (British) dominates. Other colonies appear more delicate (French - mauve)
Each colour has symbolic and graphic function.
Red symbolises authority, aggression, confrontation, England (flag), blood.
Map is in English. At the time most Canadians spoke french or native N. american. Map assert English way of seeing the world.
Explain the experiences of the empire Philips (2005)
European colonial empires reached their peak around 1914.
Imperialism
Colonialism
experience of colonists varied - Livingston compared to Daisy Phillips.
Others stayed at home and imagined it through books (Robinson Crusoe) Popularised empire persuading many to support their governments wider imperial projects + inspiring adventure.
How did imaginative geographies affect the empire? Philips (2005)/ Phillips (1997)
imaginative geographies of empire did not just represent the empire, they helped construct it
What did Phillips (1997) say about Robinson Crusoe?
exotic settings, lively storylines narrated and mapped by colonial encounters between europeans and others.
Describe Post-colonial geographies Philips (2005)
modern map shows lack of British dominance. July 1997 last major colony handed over (Hong Kong).
An empire that lasted more than 400 years.
Former colonies are plagued by the relics and legacies of the defunct colonial order. Canada is a nation born of British hegemony.
Effects of post colonial geographies - India/Pakistan, Khilnani (1997)
Border between India and Pakistan draw by British civil servant who was a stranger to British India. He drew the line that initiated one of the worlds greatest population movements (15m muslims and Hindus crossed new borders) set stage for 1/2 a century of animosity between the 2 nations.
Why do some believe imperialism still continues? Madoff (2003)
decolonisation has not meant an end of imperialism - some have fallen others have risen. e.g external influence of USA. sometimes said to be neo-colonial.
‘Imperialism without colonies’
Give an example of neo-colonial powers
Epstein (2003)
2003 US and a few close allies invaded Iraq - officially presented as a defensive measure provoked by global terrorism (9/11), but which many saw as a war for oil and global domination.
Briefly explain Davis (2004)
American journalist (young) accompanied the Grants (former President of US) on trip around the world. Shocked by amount of famine that ravished British (and other European) colonies.
What did Young notice in his travels? Davis (2004)
the crushing burden of the country’s foreign debt, now policed by British, placed upon its poorest and now famished people.
“English influence in the East is only another name for for English tyranny”
“money England takes out of India every year is a serious drain on the country and is among the causes of its poverty”
Explain what is meant by ‘the secret history of the nineteenth century’ Davis (2004)
Grants were faced with successive encounters with epic drought and famine in Egypt, India ( > 5m Indians had died in preceding 3 years) and China.
Europeans, Japan, US rapaciously exploited the opportunity to wrest new colonies, expropriate communal lands, and tap novel sources of plantation and mine labour. During the droughts.
from metropolitan perspective 19th C was final blaze of imperial glory, from Asian/African viewpoint only the hideous light of a giant funeral pyre.
Almost without exception modern historians writing about 19th C from metropolitan vantage point ignored late victorian mega-droughts and famines.
When did the droughts/famines occur?
great drought of 1876-9
1889-91 dry years again brought famine to India, korea, Brazil - worst suffering Ethiopia and Sudan (approx. 1/3 population died).
1896-1902 monsoons repeatedly failed across tropics and N.China.
Death toll of all 3 was no less than 30m.
What did Alfred Russell Wallace say about the famines?
mass starvation was an avoidable political tragedy, not “natural” disaster.
