Geography 1000 Y 07-08 Study Questions for Final Exam

The questions for the exam will be drawn from the following list. The exam is worth 25% of your grade, is two hours long, and will consist of 2 sections. The first section will be a North American map quiz (this is NOT one of the quizzes you can ‘drop’) that is worth 5%. The second section will ask you to choose two essay questions to answer from a final list of four. Each of these two questions is worth 10%.

1. What is the meaning and significance of the assertion that Latin America has no northern boundary? And is Latin America the only region whose boundaries can be so questioned? Make a case for why or why not, and explain the implications for the idea of regions in general.

2. What interests does China have in many African countries, and what changes in China have prompted such interests? How have supporters and critics interpreted China's interests and presence in Africa? Which position (if either) do you agree with and why?

3. Discuss the degree to which projects of ‘nation-building’ have succeeded in the case of Canada. Be sure to include in your answer comments on (a) the role of regions, and (b) ideas of ‘assimilation’.

4. Terror is not just something used politically by people who would attack and destroy the governments of nation-states. States have also used terror as a tool to create and reinforce the nation, and other nations as well. Explain how this has been done, and give at least two concrete examples.

5. What is meant by “unruly globalization” or the “underside of globalization”? Explain how the trade of (a) human organs and (b), opium or cocaine, are examples of unruly globalization, and discuss the relevant socio-economic and political conditions in their region of production/harvest.

6. Discuss the strengths and limitations of the ‘melting pot’ idea to describe the experience and identity of the American population, past and present. In your answer, be sure to provide case examples from at least two places/sites/regions drawn from lectures, tutorials and/or course readings.

7. What is mestizaje (mestizo-ness)? And in what ways could it be said to exist and operate not only in Mexico? In your answer be sure to give examples from course lectures or readings of cultural hybrids that syncretize influences from at least two different regions, and be sure to discuss the forces that brought those influences together in one place.

8. What is development? How are large dams thought to enable or bring about development? What are some of their less desirable impacts, and how have groups organized around such grievances to challenge the very concept of development?

9. A largely heroic idea of ‘the West’ has been to the forefront of interpretations of American nation-building. What is this idea and how has it been transmitted within the popular American imagination? Briefly comment on whether or not such a reading of ‘the West’ remains popular at the present time.

10. "Nationalism is not the awakening of nations to self-consciousness: it invents nations where they do not exist" (Gellner, 1983:169). Discuss with reference to either Mexico or Thailand or compare the experiences of both countries. Include a definition of nation-state in your answer.