Human Geography Research Articles

Spatializing HIV: Putting Queer (men) in its place via social marketing

The current study is concerned with how HIV is spatialized, or emplaced in everyday life, and therefore how prevention, Queer identity, and the virus itself are given meaning. Employing a transdisciplinary methodology based in Critical Discourse Studies and critical human geography, this study provides a geosemiotic analysis of an HIV prevention social marketing effort called the Little Prick campaign. Findings showed that space was constructed through multiple competing dynamics across professionals and citizens, as well as amidst contested notions of risk and branding in the epidemic. The analysis illuminates the discursive relationship amongst Queer, HIV, and prevention. Equally, this study counters the biased notion that “prevention fatigue” in high-risk populations hampers professional labor by, instead, exposing a semiotic fatigue in the HIV epidemic and prevention efforts.

Is Creativity-Based Urban Development Possible in Turkey? An Evaluation of Small Cities on the Aegean Coast

Contemporary urban development policies require a thorough understanding of local dynamics. It is crucial to comprehend the roles played by all actors and mechanisms involved in the process, including policy-making institutions, to ensure effective policy making. Understanding the concept of creative industries and cities is also necessary for contemporary urban development. Turkey needs a clear strategy for developing a creative economy on both the national and metropolitan levels. Progress has been limited so far, with no sign of significant improvement in the near future. Recent developments show that small cities have started to play a role in initiating the development of creative economies. Migration to small- and medium-sized cities changes human geography, and urban development policies are becoming more flexible to accommodate these conditions. This paper focuses on three small coastal cities with similar climatic, economic, and socio-cultural characteristics and agriculture and tourism-based economies in Turkey (Avyalik, Bodrum, and Urla) and evaluates the local dynamics to understand what fosters creativity-based development. These cities possess significant potential for the development of cultural industries; however, in addition to the lack of awareness, interestingly, their suitable environment does not have a direct impact on triggering this development.

Voice notes in the car: capturing immediate emotions from fieldwork with Sri Lankan refugees

AbstractAs researchers, we are trained to publish the most polished versions of our core findings. Yet, what is hidden away when we do so are the raw and sometimes messy accounts of what we see, feel, hear, and experience during fieldwork. Integrating fieldwork challenges into research outputs is still uncommon in human geography. In this paper, I present an excerpt of field notes from research that examined the (re)creations of home by Sri Lankan refugees resettling in Sydney, Australia that were made using the ‘Voice Memos’ application on a smartphone. I reflect on the process of capturing voice field notes using a smartphone, the emotional aspects of fieldwork, and the benefits of documenting fieldwork experiences and challenges at different times and places. This paper champions digital technologies as useful tools to capture immediate emotions felt during fieldwork.

Propuesta para el Diseño del “Ecomuseo Los Chorotegas” en el Territorio Indígena Matambú, Guanacaste-Costa Rica

Over time, human geography has played a fundamental role in communities’ processes of adaptation to their environment. This involves considerations spanning the modification of territories, social organization, and economic activities such as cultural tourism. This also involves understanding the geographic context of their history and culture to add value to communities’ knowledge and processes. Therefore, this article proposes the creation of a Chorotega Culture Eco-Museum in Matambú, a community located within the South Guanacaste Unit of Touristic Planning, Costa Rica. This proposal arises from the necessity of this indigenous community to be part of the tourism industry as a survival strategy. The objective is to promote ecotourism and cultural and creative tourism in the Matambú Chorotega Indigenous Territory (TICM). This initiative serves as a method to enhance the socio-economic conditions of the indigenous community while helping to preserve and rescue the sense of belonging to its cultural and natural heritage. By achieving the objective of creating “Los Chorotegas” Eco-Museum in the Matambú community, this territory and indigenous group will be respected and valued as the only remaining ethnicity of Mesoamerican origin within Costa Rica, and this recognition can improve their quality of life.

Newly Qualified Teachers and their Preparedness as Geography Teachers in Zambia

The study aimed to explore the geography teachers' engagement with the geography content during their undergraduate teacher preparation at the University of Zambia and upon employment in secondary schools. The researcher utilised a case study design to collect data from nine geography teachers trained at the University of Zambia and later employed to teach in the Secondary schools of Zambia. A semi-structured interview guide was employed to collect data from nine geography teachers. Furthermore, the data collected was transcribed, coded and analysed thematically. The study established that most of the geography teachers enjoyed learning either physical geography or human geography. Furthermore, most geography teachers evaluated their teaching to have been slightly better in human than physical geography. Most participants felt adequately prepared to take up geography teaching in schools because they acquired more knowledge than required for secondary teaching. However, a few students who took the subject as their minor needed more human geography content courses.

“Wait, really, stop, stop!”: Go-along interviews with visually disabled people and the pitfalls of ableist methodologies

Despite the growing interest in walking methods in disability research, their methodological difficulties are rarely examined. Therefore, we debate the challenges of doing go-along interviews with visually disabled people when geographically studying blind experience with urban space. The article is divided into two parts. The methodological part examines the difficulties we encountered to contribute to the critical discussion of the ableist nature of both methodologies and post qualitative inquiry, and their interconnection with ableist conceptions of walking, talking, and space. Second, we discuss the epistemological consequences of go-along interviews, which have the potential to challenge existing thinking, ableist conceptions of space, and, consequently, the given discipline. The result is a constructivist conception of science that modifies human geography through visual disability and visual disability through human geography.

Exploration and Utilization of Curriculum Ideological and Political Education in Human Geography Teaching

Curriculum ideological and political education is an effective way to cultivate talents for socialist construction in the new era. Human geography urgently needs the integration of curriculum ideology and politics. Under the background of new requirements in the new era, the ideological and political construction of curriculum is explored. By excavating the ideological and political elements of human geography curriculum, starting from the concept of national conditions, life values, sustainable development concept, and human-land coordination concept, this paper explores the corresponding integration points of ideological and political elements in each chapter, and integrates the ideological and political contents such as world outlook, political outlook, moral outlook, outlook on life, and rule of law into the human geography classroom, so as to cultivate students' cognitive ability and practical ability, improve their social responsibility and ability to identify right and wrong, and realize the educational effect of “moistening things silently”.

Advanced Placement Human Geography Exam Participation and Performance in Texas School Districts

Texas is the state with the largest number of students taking the Advanced Placement (AP) Human Geography exam. State policy allows schools to offer AP Human Geography in ninth grade as a substitute for the on-level World Geography Studies course. AP’s growth in Texas has been driven by state policy that financially incentivizes students, teachers, and schools to participate in the program. This article examines changes in the geographic distribution of AP Human Geography course offerings and exam results in school districts across the state. Using data provided by the Texas Education Agency (TEA), AP Human Geography exam participation rates and scores were mapped for the period from 2014 to 2019. The results show the number of districts with low rates of qualifying scores has increased in each participation category with fifty-seven additional low-qualifying districts in 2019 compared to 2014. Racial and socioeconomic achievement gaps exist in many schools, calling into question the inequitable impacts of the state’s AP incentives and the practice of using AP Human Geography as a warmup AP course. Texas school districts should improve the preparation of students for advanced course work. Researchers can further explore district-level AP participation and performance through case studies and other methods.

Evoking embodiment in immersive geosimulation environments

ABSTRACT We tackle the issue of how one might close the gap between geographies of people’s behavioural experiences and computer models designed to depict those geographies as simulations. We introduce the idea of Immersive Geosimulation Environments (IGEs) as a methodology for coupling spatial behaviour directly to simulation by providing access to (and interaction with) geographic information in ways that elicit user response as fully realized spatial spatial experiences. Importantly, IGEs allow spatial behaviour to be embodied to geosimulation, rather than remaining vicarious to its geography. To examine the utility of IGE methodology, we demonstrate a worked example in the safety science of road-crossing. We present an end-to-end IGE testbed for examining pedestrian – traffic – environment interactions at the roadside. The IGE is designed to achieve congruence between reality and simulation across two related channels. Congruence in fidelity tackles adherence to real-world counterparts, i.e. the condition that IGE elements should function with authenticity to real-world geographies. Congruence in verisimilitude addresses how realistic IGEs seem to the individual user experience, i.e. an IGE’s ability to evoke natural spatial behaviour within model scenarios. Our results point to the significance of embodiment in closing the reality gap. We posit that facilitating the formation of action maps, which relate models to users’ behaviour, could be key in providing functionally embodied geographic information systems and geosimulation systems.

Contrasting Ideologies: Learning Radical Geography in a Quantitative Department

This article describes the process taken by members of a seminar course on radical geography in a primarily quantitative geography department. This course was taught during tumultuous times necessitating the need to explore radical topics and abstract conceptualizations of space and place. We offer our experiences and lessons learned while teaching this vital course. Hopefully, this information will be useful to those considering doing the same and serves as a starting point for academics in those departments who might otherwise reject “radical” topics and methodologies.

“The City that Truly Counts” – the Meaningful Cityscape of Jim Crace’s Six

Jim Crace’s ability to create both authentic and poetic geographic and topographic renderings has led critics to coin the term “Craceland” to denote these idiosyncratic settings that appear other and relatable at the same time. His narrative power lies in his ability to render places and spaces which, in spite of their wholly fictitious character, evoke a strong feeling of pl ausibility and familiarity. His milieux are never abstracted from the human element, and his stories examine the close link between his protagonists and the places they occupy or move through, thus emphasising the experiential and emotional dimension of space and place. Six (2003), his seventh novel, set in an unnamed imaginary present-day city, follows the fate of Lix Dern, a celebrated actor and a father of six children, in his life and career. Along with Arcadia (1992) and The Melody (2018), Six ranks among its author’s urban novels which explore the diverse aspects of the interrelatedness between modern cityscape and its inhabitants’ mental and physical existence. By using humanistic geography and phenomenological geocriticism as its theoretical points of departure, this paper attempts to analyse the roles the city assumes in conveying the novel’s principal thematic concerns, as well as to demonstrate how Six differs from Crace’s other two urban novels.

Preface

About Conference As a subject that is attached to multiple spatial aspects, geography plays a vital role in implementing sustainable development. Sustainable development has been a prominent issue and concern under one global agenda, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Instead of only the Economic aspect, environmental and social aspects need to be covered in a development agenda to support the sustainability of our planet and to diminish various consequences of excessive use of natural resources that surpass environmental carrying capacity. One fact that can be seen due to the imbalance of development is climate change. Due to this reason, the Department of Geography, Universitas Indonesia, intends to initiate the 2nd International Conference of Science and Applied Geography (ICOSAG) 2022.The participants of this conference vary from academics, practitioners and policymakers to enrich the information with scientific studies related to the consciousness of climate change topic and sustainable development, especially from a spatial point of view. ICOSAG 2022 is also expected to be one of many tools to accelerate the distribution of information and various activities related to the SDGs targeted to be achieved in 2030.The International Conference of Science and Applied Geography (ICOSAG) 2022 is organized to accommodate researchers who develop studies on:1. Spatial modeling application2. Applied physical geography3. Human geography and regional development4. Geography educationThe ICOSAG Forum is a forum to provide academic support for the sustainable use of spatial information that can be implemented in the future. Therefore, the Department of Geography, FMIPA, University of Indonesia invites researchers and scholars to jointly discuss the development of Geography in the International Conference of Science and Applied Geography forum.List of Objectives, Theme, Scopes, Speakers and Participants, Conference Program, Committees, s are available in this Pdf.

The use of GNSS technology in smartphones to collect sensitive data on human mobility practices: Ethical challenges and potential solutions.

The advent of mobile smartphones and similar technology has opened new opportunities for studying human mobility within psychology and companion disciplines such as human geography, demography, and sociology. This article examines how such research raises novel ethical concerns. To do so, we outline two research projects: one based in Northern Ireland (The Belfast Mobility Project) and the other in Chile (The Norm-Contact Mobility Project), drawing concrete examples of the ethical challenges encountered throughout both projects, which used global navigational satellite systems as a tool for data collection. We discuss new threats to participant confidentiality and anonymity, problems of "unanticipated" data collection and exploitation, emerging difficulties in achieving properly informed consent, and concerns regarding the representation of vulnerable populations with limited access to smartphones and a legitimate fear of surveillance. We also reflect on the different measures we took to tackle these challenges and discuss the importance of implementing wider changes in the protocols associated with basic ethical research principles. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Regional literature and interculturality - using the example of literature from the Bohemian Lands

The author strives for the (theoretically substantiated) conceptualization of the German literature of the Bohemian Lands (and Prague). The analysis of Eduard Goldstücker’s unsuccessful attempts to classify them as a national literature demonstrates that this does not lead to any results. But the concept of ‚minor literatures‘ by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari also offers no basis. Johannes Urzidil’s diagnosis of ‚Hinternationalität‘, which is entirely compatible with the concept of regionality, seems more suitable. In principle, however, nothing is gained by understanding the German literature from the Bohemian countries as ‚regional literature‘. It is necessary to show in detail how the various ethnic groups in Bohemia differentiate themselves from one another, interact, and coexist with each other. This can only be achieved with an open concept of the region – such as the concept of ‚soft spaces‘ with ‚fuzzy boundaries‘ that has become established in human geography. Finally, it must be demonstrated in which acts of communication a phenomenon such as the literature of the Bohemian Lands has been established – only in case that such communication can also be demonstrated between the ‚Germans‘ and the Czechs we can speak of an intercultural region with reference to literature. The concept of the border is to be transcended by the concept of a horizon, in which it is not assumed that units are juxtaposed and thus demarcated from one another, and the production of which must always be proven anew in detail.

Study on the Cultivation of College Students’ Patriotic Feelings Based on Ideological and Political Science of “Human Geography” Course in Colleges and Universities

Study on the Cultivation of College Students’ Patriotic Feelings Based on Ideological and Political Science of “Human Geography” Course in Colleges and Universities

"The Ghosts of Predators Past": Nonhuman Specters and Extinction in Henry Clay Lewis's "Valerian and the Panther"

ABSTRACT: Henry Clay Lewis's "Valerian and the Panther" (1850) offers a rich source for thinking about the haunting discourses of animals, extinction, and human geographies in the Anthropocene channeled through the focus on North America's infamous panther. The panther has become immortalized within the culture of the US South through both its significant role within the history of North America as well as its subsequent mythological construction as the American "ghost cat." Lewis's shadowy panther traverses the boundaries between life and death, between past and present, to haunt the swamp as the shadowy "ghost cat"—an effectively extinct animal whose continued place within the literary landscape is maintained by its spectral mythologization. Ultimately, this article argues that Lewis's panther materializes as a ghostly omen of the ecological destruction wrought by settler colonialism and a testament to the consequences of this destruction felt in our present moment through the large-scale extinction and notable absence of key species.

Conceptual model on creative economy development of waterfront cities in Indonesia: Lesson learned from Palembang and Surabaya

This article introduces a conceptual model aimed at nurturing the creative economy within waterfront cities, spotlighting Palembang and Surabaya in Indonesia as case studies. The model seeks to uncover underlying trends that fortify creative economic endeavors in these localities, presenting them within a conceptual framework diagram. The research underscores the significance of establishing a conceptual model for optimal practices in creative economy development, specifically tailored to fortify the waterfront areas of Palembang and Surabaya. This study utilized qualitative methods in a sequential approach to assess current field conditions, develop a conceptual model, and integrate diverse data sources, including literature, focus group discussions, and in-depth interviews. The article explores the crucial contributions of various stakeholders - academia, businesses, communities, government, and media - in driving the growth of the creative economy within waterfront cities. It also emphasizes essential dimensions such as human resources, technology, geography, policy, and sustainability as pivotal factors in strengthening programs that foster the creative economy in waterfront city areas in Indonesia.

Perception, representation and narration of environmental and urban risk: Floods, earthquakes, desertification, pollution, health, gentrification

<p>This article is the Editorial of the Special Issue "Perception, representation and narration of environmental and urban risk: floods, earthquakes, desertification, pollution, health, gentrification". It reflects on the aims and failures of this special issue. Space is given to a brief reflection on the role that humanistic geography plays in the study of perception, and the importance that a broader development of this approach could have in understanding human attitudes toward risk perception and prevention. Then, in the words of the authors themselves, the main points that distinguish the contributions of the scholars who have contributed to this special issue are taken up, offering a wide range of investigations on the subject.</p>

Space, place, and digital technologies

This article examines the role of space and place in understanding digitalisation of society, drawing from debates in the anglophone social science discipline of human geography. It provides an indication of how approaches to the geographical dimensions of digitalisation have changed over time, beginning by setting out a central opposition that existed in earlier accounts of the spatial form of digital technologies. It then develops some of the present-day implications for understanding space and place through a focus on work and workplaces, before turning to some possible future directions of research.

Progress and prospects of rural settlement landscape research from the perspective of human geography methodology

Progress and prospects of rural settlement landscape research from the perspective of human geography methodology