Girma Kebbede

Curriculum Vitae

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Courses

Geography Department

Courses

105 Political Geography

Surveys physical and human geographic patterns, providing a comprehensive background discussion of individual regions. Analyzes each region in terms of its environmental base and resource distribution, agricultural systems and rural development, population growth and characteristics, and patterns of urbanization and industrial growth.

204 Human Dimensions of Environmental Change

(Speaking- and writing-enriched course; geol 204) Using case studies from Africa, Asia, North and South America, and Europe, this course examines the interactions between human institutions (such as political and economic structures, science and technology, class and gender systems, and cultures) and the environmental/earth systems that provide their contexts and have been impacted by them. The course will provide a forum to analyze the environmental consequences of a variety of land-use systems, resource use, and development projects, and explore possible alternative strategies of human-environment relations that could create a balance between human needs and environmental constraints.

206 Political Geography

Systematically studies political phenomena and their geographic expression, at a variety of spatial scales - national, regional, and international. Major themes include nation-state formation, boundary, territory, and ethnic issues, regional blocs and spheres of influence, and conflicts over access to and use of resources.

311 Third World Development

These seminars present selected topics in geography that reflect contemporary problems, current geographical ideas, philosophical and methodological trends in geography, and/or the history and development of geographical thought.

(African American and African Studies 311f) This course examines the economic and environmental problems confronting less-developed countries. Themes discussed in the course include theories of development and underdevelopment, the physical environment and resources, structure of agrarian systems, internal interaction and spatial structure, and external economic relationships.