RURAL SPATIAL PATTERNS
Required Texts: 1) Wilkinson, Charles. 1992. Crossing
the Next Meridian. Island Press.
2) Francaviglia, Richard. 1996. Main Street Revisited. U. of Iowa Press.
Further Readings: Assorted articles and books on reserve at Cline Library reserve desk.
COURSE OBJECTIVES: This course presents an overview of rural geography in the United States with an emphasis on cultural and historical themes. It is believed by this professor that graduate students at the Masters level in geography should maintain a working knowledge and familiarity with the following aspects of rural geography: a) theory of place and space, b) historical and cultural geography of the United States, c) landscape interpretation, or “reading the American landscape,” d) small town growth and decline – economic and social, and e) rural economic development, including issues involving tourism, historic preservation efforts, main street revitalization, and environmental concerns. We will sample all of these topics and more throughout the semester. Equally as important, the readings were chosen to allow you to critically examine some of the common research methodologies that apply to geographical studies. Perhaps these studies will provide ideas for future research on your own. Finally, two field trips (to be determined) and a research project will allow you to apply course material to the rural environment of northern Arizona and to “test drive” some basic research methods.
CLASS AND READING SCHEDULE
NOTE: Readings listed under each date are to be read in preparation for that class date.
AUG 27. Orientation and Expectations; What is Geography?
SEPT 3. Place and Space
Agnew, John. 1993. Representing space: space, scale,
and culture in social science. In
Place/Culture/Representation, edited by James Duncan and David Ley.
Thompson, John. 1989. The theory of Structuration.
In Social Theory of Modern Societies, edited
by Held and Thompson. Chapter 3, pp. 56-76.
Pred, Allen. 1984. Place as historically contingent
process: structuration and the time-geography
of becoming places. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 74(2), pp. 279-297.
SEPT 10. Reading the American Landscape
Lewis, Peirce. 1987.
Taking down the velvet rope; cultural geography and the human landscape.
In Past Meets Present; Essays About Historic Interpretation and Public Audiences. Chapter 1.
Lewis, Peirce. 1979.
Axioms for reading the landscape: some guides to the American scene.
In The Interpretation of Ordinary Landscapes: Geographical Essays, edited by D.W. Meinig.
Schein, Richard. 1997. The place of landscape: A conceptual
framework for interpreting an
American Scene. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 87(4), pp. 660-680.
Holdsworth, Deryck. 1993. Revaluing the House.
In Place/Culture/Representation, edited by
James Duncan and David Ley.
SEPT 17. Main Street
Meinig, D.W. 1979. Symbolic landscapes: models of
American community. In The Interpretation
of Ordinary Landscapes: Geographical Essays, edited by D.W. Meinig. Pp. 164-194.
Francaviglia, Richard. 1996. Main Street Revisited. Chapter 2, 3. Pp. 65-192.
SEPT 24. Historical Geography of Rural America I: The
Lewis, Peirce. 1990. The Northeast and the Making of American Geographical Habits. In The
Making of the American Landscape, edited by Michael Conzen. Chapter 5, pp. 80-103.
Francaviglia, Richard. 1996. Main Street Revisited. Introduction, Chapter 1. Pp. xvii-64.
Hudson, John. 1990.
Settlement of the American Grassland. In The Making of the American
Landscape, edited by Michael Conzen. Chapter 9, pp. 169-184.
OCT 1. Historical Geography of Rural America II: The Midwest
Hilliard, Sam. 1990.
A Robust New Nation, 1783-1820. In North America: the Historical
Geography of a Changing Continent, edited by Mitchell and Groves. Chapter 7, pp. 149-171.
Riley, Robert. 1985. Square to the road, hogs to the east. Illinois Issues 11(7), pp. 22-26.
Johnson, H.B. 1990.
Towards a National Landscape. In The Making of the American Landscape,
edited by Michael Conzen. Chapter 7, pp. 127-145.
OCT 8. Roadside America
Liebs, Chester. 1995. Main Street
to Miracle Mile. pp. 3-73 (Space and Image), pp. 169-224
(Motels and Restaurants).
Graff, T. 1998. The locations of Wal-Mart and Kmart
supercenters: contrasting corporate
strategies. Professional Geographer 50(1).
Jakle, John, and Keith Sculle.
1994. Place-Product-Packaging. In The Gas Station in America.
Chapter 2, pp. 18-47.
OCT 15. Economy and Environment in the West (NO CLASS THIS WEEK: APCG MTG.)
Wilkinson, Charles. 1992. Crossing the Next Meridian. Pp. 3-113.
Iverson, Peter. 1990. The Navajos. Pp. 39-103.
OCT 22. Historical Geography of Rural America III: The West!
Hornbeck, David. 1990.
The Far West, 1840-1920. In North America: the Historical
Geography of a Changing Continent, edited by Mitchell and Groves. Chapter 12, pp. 279-298.
Wescoat, James Jr. 1990.
Challenging the Desert. In The Making of the American Landscape,
edited by Michael Conzen. Chapter 10, pp. 186-203.
Meinig, D.W. 1994. American
Wests: Preface to a Geographical Interpretation. In Re-reading
Cultural Geography. Chapter 8, pp. 111-137.
OCT 29. Sense of Place and Community.
Jackson, J.B. 1994. A Sense of Place, A Sense of Time.
In A Sense of Place, A Sense of Time,
Lew, Alan. 1989. Authenticity and sense of place in
the tourism development experience of
older retail districts. Journal of Travel Research. Spring.
Cuba, Lee, and David Hummon. 1993. A place to call home:
identification with dwelling,
community, and region. The Sociological Quarterly 34(1), pp. 111-131.
Paradis, Thomas. 1996. Developing a sense of place
through a common ethnic identity.
Small Town 26(4), pp. 24-29.
NOV 5. Historic Preservation; the National Main Street Program.
Murtagh, William. 1993. Keeping Time: the History
and Theory of Preservation in America.
Chapters 5, 8, and 11.
Skelcher, Bradley. 1992. Preserving Main Street in the Heartland. Small Town. July-August.
Lowenthal, David. 1979. Age and Artifact. In
The Interpretation of Ordinary Landscapes:
Geographical Essays, edited by D.W. Meinig.
NOV 12. Tourism Development.
Galston, W. and H. Baehler. 1995. Tourism. In Rural Development in the United States. Ch. 8.
Sweet, Jill. The portals of tradition: tourism in the American Southwest. CS Quarterly 14(2).
Long, P., Richard Perdue, and Lawrence Allen. 1990.
Rural resident tourism perceptions and
attitudes by community level of tourism. Journal of Travel Research, winter.
Bowling, Michael. 1992. Illinois rural tourism: do
rural areas benefit from increases in travel
expenditures? Small Town, January-February.
NOV. 19. Nonmetropolitan migration and economic trends
Galston, W. and Karen Baehler. 1995. Rural America in the 1990s:
Trends and Choices. In
Rural Development in the United States. Chapter 1.
Nelson, Peter. 1997. Migration, sources of income, and community change in the non-
metropolitan Northwest. The Professional Geographer 49(4), pp. 418-430.
Johnson, Kenneth, and Calvin Beale. 1994. The recent
revival of widespread population
growth in nonmetropolitan areas of the United States. Rural Sociology 59(4).
NOV 26. NO CLASS: THANKSGIVING
DEC 3. Student Presentations
DEC 8 Research Papers and Portfolios due, 4:00pm
CLASS STRUCTURE: Aside from an occasional presentation by your professor, we will immediately launch into a vigorous discussion of the reading materials assigned the week before. Hold onto your hat.
PARTICIPATION: Because this is a genuine graduate seminar, regular participation from every student is essential. Participation not only includes showing up for class and field trips, but playing an active role in the discussions and demonstrating a thorough knowledge of the readings assigned. Each week your professor will choose one student to lead the discussion involving one or more of the readings. Perhaps most importantly, everyone’s active participation will help to assure a very interesting course for all involved. ? Incidentally, participation comprises part of your grade.
READINGS: Except for your required text books, all assigned readings are available on reserve at Cline Library. Sign out the readings and make copies of the articles/chapters in books. For each reading assignment, you are required to: 1) write FOUR thought-provoking questions about any of the articles/chapters assigned, and 2) take short notes on the articles. Taking notes is easier than one might expect: as you read, simply write down information, ideas, and concepts that you find interesting or necessary, or questions about the meaning of what the author has written. Your notes do not have to be in full sentences or in any particular format. They can be as thorough as you desire, but they should be no less than the size of a large paragraph for each article. They will serve two purposes: a) for your reference and review later, and b) as evidence that you have completed the reading assignments.
PORTFOLIO: Hold onto all of your notes and questions until the end of the semester. On December 8, you will submit a neatly organized portfolio that includes the following in a three-ring binder or equivalent: a) notes that you have taken on your own, b) notes from class discussions, c) questions that you prepared for discussions each week, d) notes taken during the field trips, e) graded essays of the field trips, f) copies of all articles/chapters assigned during the semester, and g) your final research report. The portfolio will be worth 15% of your grade, but more importantly it will serve as a useful reference when you return to the readings in the future.
EVALUATION: Grades for individual components of the course listed below will be in the form of letter grades (A, B, C, etc.) using the plus/minus system. The breakdown for the course is as follows:
Research Paper: 40% (due Dec. 8)
Field Trip Presentations 20% (10% each)
Portfolio: 15% (due Dec. 8)