Overview
How we approach population geography is deeply grounded in economic theories. From Malthus to critical approaches to population geography to cornucopia theories, how people are viewed is through different viewpoints of their value. These ideas have fully permeated the public consciousness in how people are, or not, valued. This presentation approaches two lessons for use in introductory geography classes. The first looks at the relationship between population and consumption across the world. This lesson allows our students to discover how much messier that relationship actually plays out in the world than what “common sense” tells us. The second lesson that will be introduced is one that uses Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol to teach students how the different ways we approach population geography have continued to be debated for two centuries – reinforcing that a Malthusian approach to people has always been contested, and always had significant real-world consequences.
Audience Focus
All grade levels
Meet the Presenter
Kris Bezdecny is associate professor and chair of the Department of Geography, Geology, and Environment and California State University, Los Angeles. She received her Ph.D. in Geography and Environmental Science & Policy from the University of South Florida. Her teaching focuses on urban geography, political geography, and social and environmental justice. Her classes emphasize project-based and inquiry-based learning practices, combined with the use of alternative grading practices. She spent 2 years working for the campus Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, where she supported faculty across the entire campus in their teaching practices. Her research includes urban theming and urban globalization by exploring the private government Walt Disney World used to have in central Florida; uneven geographical development, with a focus on exploring how different sociopolitical practices impose on our day-to-day spaces; the geography of the COVID-19 pandemic; and critiques of Malthusianism in population geography, particularly in how it has infused daily sociopolitical thought – and the consequences of the narratives this creates.
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