eat like a geographer

Recently inspired by the closing of the Conflict Kitchen, I've decided to continue their mission on a personal level. The Conflict Kitchen, located in the beautiful city of  Pittsburgh, served food of countries in conflict with the United States. They use "the social relations of food and economic exchange to engage the general public in discussion about countries, cultures, and people that they might know little about outside of the polarizing rhetoric of governmental politics and the narrow lens of media headlines" (2014. Conflict Kitchen). 

Food is a great, nonthreatening way to experience other cultures. Though I'm not the best at it, I love to cook. I'm pretty open to trying new things and enjoy experimenting with recipes. Once or twice a week I will make a popular recipe from another country.  I will use this as a platform for exploring the history, geography, and culture of that country, state, or region. Get ready to eat like a geographer! 

What's a pidgin? The Cultural Significance of Hawaiian Pidgin

A few days ago, I heard an NPR broadcast about pidgin language in Hawaii. A pidgin language "mixes a simplified grammar and limited vocabulary of a lingua franca, [language of international communication], with another language" (Rubenstein, 112). I wasn't able to find the full broadcast that I listened to but I found a short radio broadcast and excerpt from a video that provide a great glimpse of the unique, diverse, pidgin of Hawaii.

Defining Human Geography

"Human geographers study cultural features,      such as economic activities and cities."(Rubenstein, 2013)

"it use[s] natural science concepts to help understand human behavior, and conversely the use of social science concepts to help understand physical processes. (Rubenstein, 2013)

"the systematic study of patterns and processes that have shaped human understanding, use, and alteration of Earth's surface." (The College Board, 2013)

"Human geography combines economic and cultural geography to explore the relationships between humans and their natural environment, and to track the broad social patterns that shape human societies." (The BBC, 1996)

What is Human Geography?

Prior to this course, my understanding of and exposure to the field of Geography was rather limited. I thought of geography as little more than something that has to do with maps. I enjoyed looking at maps and was thankful for the work of geographers (where would I be without GPS and google maps? Lost. That's where.)

Geography is however, much more relevant, meaningful and complex than "just google maps". As a discipline, human geography seeks to explain not only where things are but also why things are. Human geographers combine natural and social science to try to answer the big questions: who are we, where did we come from and where are we going? (Rubenstein, 2013)

At the heart of human geography is the principle of connectedness. People do not develop in isolation. Rather, we grow and develop within various spheres of influence: we are shaped by other people, past and present, and by our physical environment.

When we think like geographers, we see the interactions between the myriad features that make us who we are as individuals, members of local communities and citizens of the world.