Mickey Burkeen
World Regional Geography
Dr. Parrish
September 17, 2015
The Power of Place
In the book The Power of Place: Geography, Destiny, and Globalization’s Rough Landscape, the author, Harm de Blij, argues that where we are born and our geography can affect who we are and what we will become. He applies his knowledge of geography and other relatable information such as health, economy, languages, and several other areas of subject. De Blij categorizes the earth into three subdivisions: locals, globals, and mobals. He defines locals as “those who are poorest, least mobile, and most susceptible to the power of place” (pg-notes). Globals are those who “whether in government, industry, business, or other decision-making capacities, flatten
…show more content…
playing fields for each other as they traverse the world” (pg-notes). Mobals are the “risk-takers, migrants willing to leave the familiar, to take a chance on new and different surroundings” (pg-notes). Whether you are born in a core country, an area that contains the minority of the population but the majority of the income, or periphery country, an area that contains the majority of the population but the minority of the income, is a huge factor in which category you fall in. I do not entirely agree with De Blij’s arguments.
I believe that anyone can utilize their place to create a better lifestyle and the mobals are those who do this. I do agree, however, that the other disciplines he mentions throughout his book do play key roles in how we are shaped and who we become. Where we live plays a key role in what resources we have available and what our income is, which can affect the many other areas de Blij discusses, especially health and medical resources. The opportunities vary from region to region and, as individuals, we can help change what our geographical destiny has in place for us in order to achieve and attain our goals in some …show more content…
way. Chapter three, The Fateful Geography of Religion, is very interesting, causing me to stop and realize what affect our geography has on what religion we believe.
It really makes sense that our religion is based on our location and what we have around us. The polytheistic religions that worship animals and inanimate objects do seem to have an overwhelming amount of such ecological subjects that they worship. The correlation in the lack of the spread of such polytheistic religions makes sense in that it typically stays within one region as opposed to spreading. That religion was centralized around what resources and factors the people have in that specific region and may not be in other areas in which the religion may attempt to spread to. His idea of this being the reason why the dominant religions tend to be monotheistic is very convincing because it seems to be supported with evidence. De Blij mentions how Mormons are going into other countries and successfully spreading that religion, whereas the religions in tropical areas have a much more difficult time in spreading their religions. From a Christian stand point, Christianity isn’t based on one specific geographical area with a certain ecology but is applicable all over the
planet. The Imperial Legacy of Language, chapter two of de Blij’s The Power of Place, On the other hand, there is not a single chapter that I did not find intriguing piece of information. It simply amazes me how all of these factors, health, religion, language, and geography, impact what possibilities an individual will have. De Blij lays everything out for his readers to see the connections between all of these factors in a way that simply shows the relation between these factors and an individual’s potential. All in all, Harm de Blij makes some very interesting points throughout The Power of Place. It is amazing how he uses all of these concepts and other forms of knowledge aside from geography to explain how our geographical location in a way helps determine who we are and our possibilities of outcome. As de Blij ends, “confronting that power through lowering barriers and creating opportunities will make this a better—flatter—world” (pg 256). The possibility to overcome the power of our place is still within the future.
It is not possible that these religions cannot share some commonalities, since all religions are formed by members of the same species. Although he claims all religions to be different, Prothero still easily forms a four-part study to them all, identifying in all religions a problem, a religious goal, a technique to reach this goal, and exemplars who chart the path to this goal (14). Though Prothero created this method in order to show that all religions have different motivations behind them, he also shows that all religions have a similar structure in which they approach the problems that they identify. Later, Prothero creates a sports analogy in order to highlight the different aims of each religion. In this analogy, he asks which sport is the best at scoring runs, and says the answer “is baseball, because runs is a term foreign to basketball, tennis and golf alike (22).” Although the specific term runs is particular only to baseball, the idea of scoring points is the same in all of the sports he listed. Similarly, in religions, though the specific names and the attributes of the problems and religious goals that different religions propose may be different, the base ideas behind these things are similar, since humans asked these
Consult the textbook, Chapter 5. Write a coherent document in which you answer the following questions. What is the Paradox of Harm? Apply it to creation of babies by IVF or cloning.
Harm de Blij and his “The Power of Place: Geography, Destiny, and Globalization’s Rough Landscape” truly describes how geography is displayed in the world today. In particular on of the major themes that he discusses is the idea of globalization. He actually calls these people the “globals.” In the very beginning of his book he describes two different types of peoples: Locals and Globals. The difference between these people is that Locals are the poorer people, not as mobile, and more susceptible to the concept of place. On the other hand the Globals are the fortunate population, and are a small group of people who have experienced globalization firsthand (5). This idea of globalization is a main theme that Blij refers to throughout the book, however he also indirectly references the five themes of cultural geography: culture regions, cultural diffusion, cultural interaction, cultural ecology, and cultural landscapes. Through Blij’s analysis these five themes are revealed in detail and help explain his overall idea of globalization in the world today.
This book illustrates just how essential it is to be well-educated when it comes to geography. Throughout the book, Harm de Blij brings to our attention how illiterate Americans are when it comes to geography. He brings us This is an example of absolute location not to be confused with relative location because here, de Blij uses coordinates to indicate where the capitals are located. “Now the possibility arises that further global warming, speeded up by human pollution of the atmosphere, will cause a further rise in sea levels”(134).
In an increasingly global world geography matters now more than ever. With so many groundbreaking technological advances within the last 50 years the world is rapidly evolving into a more interconnected and codependent society. These strides of advancement not only allow for international business interactions, but it allows instant communication to make business more cohesive. As a more interconnected society it is important for every person to understand the locations and cultural motivations of the people they interact with. These subject matters are suggested and discussed in “Why Geography Matters…More Than Ever!”
Rowntree les, Martin Lewis, Marie Price, and William Wyckoff. Globalization and Diversity Geography of a Changing World. 4th ed. Pearson, 2013. Print.
In conclusion, it is important to realize that it was not one single factor which was responsible for the spread of Christianity, all these figures came together to give the perfect platform for a new religion to develop, " Never before in the history of the race had conditions been so ready for the adoption of a new faith by the majority of the peoples of so large an area" (K.S Latourette).
In regards of, if somebody is born into poverty, and they make it their goal to escape an unhealthy living situation, why should they be forced to stay just because it is their place of birth. Some believe that moving will cause you to lose friends and strong memories, but what if those are not situations that one would want to remember. What if the friends that make up a childhood are dreadful ones. To get away from a place is to give a person a second chance, from whatever issues that faced them at previous age. The advancement in technology and transportation gives this theoretical person another chance to live the life that they decide to live. With new experiences one can find themself, they can commit all the actions that they were not able to beforehand. They can become oneself. Aside from gaining a new level of self acceptance, when a person puts oneself alongside the movement of society, they can experience numerous benefits. If for saddened a person does lose track of old friends, but the new experiences will give them more chances to meet people with similar aspirations as themselves. Technology does nothing but provide an outlet for new connections to start, everywhere from intimate relationships to close friends, people use the fast-paced advancements to gain
Globalisation can be construed in many ways. Many sociologists describe it as an era in which national sovereignty is disappearing as a result of a technological revolution, causing space and time to be virtually irrelevant. It is an economic revolution, which Roland Robertson refers to in his book ‘Globalisation’ 1992 pg 8, as “the compression of the world and the intensification of consciousness of the world as a whole”. It is argued that globalisation allows the world to become increasingly more united, with people more conscious of ethnic, societal, civilizational and individual aspects of their lives.
...ter place. It should be recognized that the progress of a society solely does not depend on the prosperity or fortunate chances of just one individual; it is based entirely on the whole population. By seeing that we have a moral obligation to help human beings wherever they are, we are improving the living conditions for all.
Globalization is defined as “the historical process involving a fundamental shift or transformation in the spatial scale of human social organization that links distant communities and expands the reach of power relations across regions and continents (Baylis, 2014).”
De, Blij Harm J., and Peter O. Muller. Geography: Realms, Regions, and Concepts. New York: J. Wiley, 1997. 340. Print.
Globalization is also a term that is often misused interchangeably with other terms such as world society, globalism, universalism, and interdependence because many people believe that they all have the same basic and essential meaning. Localization, another important term also commonly misused due to the lack of clarity in it’s definition, mainly focuses on individuals and groups that narrow their horizons due to pressure and therefore participate in different forms of behavior in comparison to other groups. In this paper, the main issue of discussion will focus on the significance, cost and benefits, and basic definition of globalization and localization, as well as fragmegration (an integration of the two dynamics, globalization and localization). Finally, this paper will also discuss how these terms relate to and affect real life situations such as the Asian economic crisis.
Globalization plays a massive part in my life as it does in everyone’s lives. Every day the world is getting smaller, between technological improvements and peoples interest in these technologies it is easy to see why this is happening. In this essay I have only shortly touch upon some of the places where globalization has affected my everyday life. From shopping as Asda to meeting people on the other side of the world to discuss my dissertation ideas globalization has had a positive affect on my life. The fact that I can walk down a street in Coleraine or Sydney and see similar shops and food outlets is a positive thing in how our lives are intertwined through out the world.
"Globalization is a process of world shrinkage, of distances getting shorter, things moving closer. It pertains to t...