Syllabus
1) Legacy of Colonial America: the structure of cities and countryside in New England
2) Geography of the Great Lakes from the U.S. and Canadian perspective
3) The Megalopolis
4) Way down yonder in New Orleans: Specifics of the Deep South, its social and cultural geography
5) From New Mexico to Manitoba: Geography and the economic importance of the Great Plains
6) Everything is bigger in Texas: Landscapes of a Mexican-American state; the Southwest border area
7) Sitting on a ticking bomb? Geography of California and plate tectonics
8) From Portland to Vancouver: Geography of the North Pacific coast
9) The Yellowstone caldera: Geography of a supervolcano
10) The Northlands: Geography of the U.S.-Canadian borderland
11) Alaska and the North-Western Territory
12) Geographical features of U.S. Pacific and Caribbean territories
13) A different South: Florida, the Sunshine State
Annotation
This course is to provide an outlook of the North American geography. After this course completion students will be able to identify significant geographical features and social, economic or other patterns of the North America. Moreover, students will be able to explain the causes and consequences of these features and patterns in terms of natural, economic, cultural, political or other processes. Various landscapes will be interpreted from the perspective of their cultural significance, whereas their representations will be viewed from various critical perspectives. Following the completion of this course, students should be capable of applying gained knowledge elsewhere and expand upon it at various future occasions.
The meaning of "Geography" in this course refers to a "science of place and space. Geographers ask where things are located on the surface of the Earth, why they are located where they are, how places differ from one another, and how people interact with the environment (Annals of the Association of American Geographers)" or as a subject that bridges the natural and human sciences in understanding societies, places and environments (Royal Geographical Society with Institute of British Geographers)."