SEDAAG Maps: A Swift and New Perspective on Geographic Growth?

Abstract

Professor Wheeler has put together an interesting map depicting growth in the number of full-time faculty in geography departments in the Southeastern Division ofthe Association ofAmerican Geographers over the last 10 years (Wheeler, 1996). This is certainly encouraging to all geographers, and hopefully it reflects a greater commitment by central administrators to the value ofa geographic education. It is, ofcourse, noteworthy that not only have some departments expanded, but that there also has been an increase in the spatial distribution of geography faculty members. The map is indeed filling in. On the other hand, the map raises questions. As trained geographers, we examined the mapped data very carefully looking for telling spatial patterns, temporal trends, or for the occurrence of spatial inequalities. In this context, the lacuna of geographers in central-west Florida hit us most profoundly. Was this really a desert geo-scape devoid of the geographically inclined? Perhaps an explanation was necessary. We hypothesized that the lack ofgeographers in the Tampa Bay region could be explained by the hazardousness of place; to wit, a natural disaster had eliminated all geographers between Tallahassee, Gainesville, and Miami. The sink hole theory did not hold water, being too limiting in size, while the earthquake concept was faulted from the beginning. This left the tropical storm hypothesis; had a hurricane, equivalent to the Galveston event of 1900, obliterated all those intellectuals? Subsequent research, however, revealed that hurricanes were probably not that selective in eliminating only those residing in ivory towers. We were clearly missing that significant variable. Looking at this from a different perspective (Fig. 1), the pattern became more clear. Something major had occurred in the central Florida wetlands. Further investigation revealed that an invasion ofBermuda-shorted exotic species, led by a