Human Geography Systems and Cultures

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Define Population Geography; explain, illustrate AND exemplify the Demographic Transition Model Theory

Population Geography

Population Geography is constituted in human geography, focusing on the scientific aspect of study concerning people, density, and their related spatial distributions. In this study, geographers focus on the decrease and increase in population, settlement patterns, and movement of people over time. This is related to demography (Qazi and Qazi, 2010).

Demographic Transition Model (or Population Cycle Theory)

Demographic Transition Theory is a model describing the change in population over time. It was started by Warren Thompson (an American demographer) in the year 1929, based on an interpretation of the changes that have been observed (Waugh,2000). These changes include changes in the rates of birth and death in societies over two hundred years. It is a composite picture of the change in population for these nations as a generalization of phenomena and not individual parties. This transition occurs in stages and not as a single process; there are four stages to this.

The first stage is concerned with the pre-Modern times. It mainly offers a balance between death and birth rates. Up until the eighteenth century this situation was termed true for every human population, this was when Western Europe broke the balance. In this first stage, there are extremely high rates of both birth and death in a nation (thirty to fifty per thousand). The resultant balance is slow growth in the population, at least since the dawn of the Agrarian revolution ten thousand years ago (Caldwell et al, 2010). Sweden had a population of 1.7 million with an average of 36 years as life expectancy. Birth and death rates having 40 per thousand, which is remarkably high. On the other hand, China had 1.5 million as its population and 34 as its life expectancy.

This stage is also called the High Stationary Stage of population growth. Stage two is characterized by a rise in the rise of population brought by a reduced death rate, but births are high. In Europe, this decline in deaths started at the end of the eighteen century in the northwestern of Europe spreading to the southeast over a hundred years. This is evident in Sweden where the number of deaths declined (43 years was the life expectancy), but births were unusually high thus growth rate became higher, 3.5 million (Swanson, 2009). China recorded a rise to 6.5 percent from the initial stage from 2 percent. In the third stage, the population is promoted towards its stability by a decline in the birth rate. This disapproves the belief by Malthus the sole cause of population change is in death rates. For Sweden growth was 6.4 million due to increased facilities while China had 9.7 and has maintained this since (Sawyer, 2008). The final fourth stage is composed of population stability, where the age structure of the population has already become older. Evidence from Sweden shows the population to be 8.4 million which is high.

Without defining Religion Geography, firstly discuss why the study of religion is important for geographers. Secondly, proceed to identify and FULLY explain the difference between

Importance of “religion” for geographers

Geography and religion are essential in studying religious geography. In religious geography, ideas from geography influencing religion are studied. These are biblical geography and map-making in the early times (Fouberg, Murphy, and de Blij, 2008). Knowledge of religion benefits these geographers as they can understand physical phenomena and explain existence better. This relationship helps in the understanding of the cosmology of the world.

Universalizing Religions

Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism are universalizing religions. This is a religion that functions to operate globally thus appealing to every person whatever their residence (Hopkins, Kong and Olson, 2012). These religions are divided into denominations and sects. The popular one being Christianity; almost sixty-two percent identify with these religions.

Ethnic Religions

Hinduism and Judaism are both ethnic religions. These are religions that only appeal to only a particular group from a specific region. Some of these have different sects although most of them do not (Thomas,2008). A fraction of twenty-four percent follows ethnic religions while fourteen percent is for those without a religion.

Firstly, define & exemplify what is meant by “Lingua Franca”; then, proceed to explain and discuss in an adequate substantive manner both statements to follow below

Lingua Franca

Lingua Franca is also called bridge language, is used as a language that enables the communication between individuals who do not share the same mother tongue (Prodromou, 2008). It is usually a third language mostly when the situation is that both mother tongues are different (Knapp and Meierkord, 2002). For instance, in the Philippines English is a bridge language there and Arabic is also a lingua franca in many non-Arabic nations.

“The American English Language is the product of an evolutionary deterioration of British English.”

English was introduced by the British during the period of colonization and has widely spread. With time, this common language has diverged tremendously in many aspects leading to two dialects (Algeo,2006). The point is that originally the language was the same, but after colonization America developed different aspects in the language making them look different. It is said that they wanted to show little links to their colonial power(Wolfram and Schilling, 2005). The proper assessment shows that American English roots into British English with many vocabularies being similar. For example, favor is British while favor is American meaning the same thing (Mancall, 2005).

“Ebonics and Spanglish are the product of an evolutionary deterioration of American English.”

Ebonics is a primary dialect for many Blacks in the United States. It is considered as the jargon for slang of American society (those who are lazy and cannot study proper English). It is adapted by a few Americans who are rooted in the traditional slave trade dominating this society for years. Spanglish is a language that combines English and Spanish, mostly used by Spanish speaking immigrants (Mercado, 2010). These two languages have a close relation thus exploited by these speakers. This language is a way to easily communicate with Americans. For instance, the word Orgullo is Spanish hence when used in Spanglish it means pride.

Firstly, define “Migration Geography”; then, proceed to identify, fully discuss, and exemplify three “push” and three “pull” factors that explain some of the reasons for migrating.

Geography Migration is the movement of people from place to place. Reasons for this migration can be environmental, political, social, or economic. Many generations have migrated for reasons attributed to pull or push factors. Internal migration is the movement of people within one region or country like migrating from Plymouth to London. International migration involves moving to another nation or country like moving from the USA to Mexico (Robinson,1996). Emigration is where one moves away from a country while immigration is migration into another nation.

War causes citizens to migrate as a push factor. When a nation is involved in war its citizens migrate to war-free regions to seek refuge. For instance, many Sudanese citizens seek refuge in stable nations due to the war back home. Many of these individuals become refugees in the refuge regions; they lack resources as they are not familiar with the place or are termed, immigrants. Drought has seen many leave the affected areas to find better places to reside (Massey, 2010). This lack of water is an enormous problem in developing nations like Kenya, where communities choose to leave their homes for better conditions of living (from the marginalized areas). Famine is another factor that is forcing people to leave their homes. Communities affected by this lack of food opt to move to favorable areas where food can be found. It is difficult for them to survive with little or no food source. A common case in African nations like Rwanda.

Employment is a pull factor causing migration. Individuals move to new places due to the presence of employment as a source of income. Consider movement from rural areas to urban areas in seeking employment opportunities. The presence of adequate and reliable food supply pulls individuals from their problematic regions. Individuals migrate to areas that would support them fully without scrambling for resources. Security is another aspect; migrating is caused by the presence of more secure and safe regions. These individuals prefer settling in areas of less or no criminal activities than their insecure homes.

Explain, the conceptual difference between “isolated cultures” and “popular cultures”. Additionally, proceed to identify three threats to popular national cultures, and fully explain why, and in what sense are these threats perceived as threatening.

Isolated cultures are self-sufficient, this cohesive and small nature makes them physiologically and culturally homogeneous (Freccero,1999). They have adequate cohesion to enable them to live through time. They have a folkway that enables them to survive in their environment, despite their migrations from time to time. Popular cultures, on the other hand, are large and base their activities on consumer economies. Their combined diversity results in a high degree diffusion stimulus that enhances change of culture.

Migration is a threat to these popular national cultures. Looking at it from this point of view, citizens of a particular nation move to other places due to different factors thus loss of culture. Culture is emphasized by the citizens of a nation, while migrating their culture is lost with them. Loss of culture would destabilize the set ideas and policies of a nation that rely on these cultures because the natives who are versatile with them are gone. The community is left with a weak cultural establishment.

Westernized culture replacing native cultures. This is crucial as the introduction of new cultures through media causes abandonment of indigenous culture to take up others. For instance, when programs are launched depicting other cultural ways the citizens find them fancy. In many developing nations, Western culture has wiped out their original cultures through the promotion of a foreign way of life. New cultures are responsible for the loss of moral values in a society like promoting nudity through media.

Intermarrying from other communities is another threat to national culture. When individuals opt to marry from different cultural backgrounds they risk the loss of the original way of life. For example, marriages between an Arab and African would result in laxity in the upholding of cultural needs. These individuals will prefer finding new ways to their co-existence thus abandoning their ways. For the nation, there lies the problem of conflicting cultures, which might cause national conflicts.

Works Cited

Algeo, J. British or American English?: A Handbook of Word and Grammar Patterns. Cambridge University Press, 2006. Print.

Caldwell, J.C., et al. Demographic Transition Theory. Springer, 2010. Print.

Fouberg, E.H., A.B. Murphy, and de Blij. Human Geography: People, Place, and Culture. John Wiley & Sons, 2009. Print.

Freccero, C. Popular Culture: An Introduction. New York University Press, 1999. Print.

Hopkins, P., L. Kong, and E. Olson. Religion and Place: Landscape, Politics and Piety. Springer, 2012. Print.

Knapp, K., and C. Meierkord. Lingua Franca Communication. Lang, 2002. Print.

Mancall, P.C. Envisioning America: English Plans for the Colonization of North America, 1580-1640. Palgrave MacMillan, 1995. Print.

Massey, D.S. New Faces in New Places: The Changing Geography of American Immigrants. Russell Sage Foundation, 2010. Print.

Mercado, L.B. Metamorphosis: A Resource for Internal Argument. AuthorHouse, 2010. Print.

Prodromou, L. English as a Lingua Franca: A Corpus-Based Analysis. Bloomsbury, 2008. Print

Qazi, S., and S.A. Qazi. Population Geography. APH Publishing Corporation, 2010. Print.

Robinson, V. Geography and Migration. Elgar, 1996. Print.

Sawyer, C.L. Ap Human Geography Exam: The Best Test Preparation. Research & Education Assn, 2008. Print.

Swanson, K. Kaplan Ap Human Geography 2009. Kaplan Publishing, 2009. Print.

Thomas Ewing, J. A System of Geography on a New and Easy Plan from the Latest and Best Authorities. BiblioLife, 2008. Print.

Waugh, D. Geography: An Integrated Approach. Thomas Nelson & Sons, Limited, 2000. Print.

Wolfram, W., and N. Schilling-Estes. American English: Dialects and Variation. Wiley, 2005. Print

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