geography tutorial assignment 7

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timer Asked: Sep 26th, 2021

Question Description

help me finish this tutorial paper 7

Definitions

Determinism: That human behaviour, the structure and character of human communities, and the distribution of human communities across space, are controlled by processes or phenomena exogenous to (originating outside of) those communities.

Environmental Determinism: that human activities and the character of human communities are controlled by biophysical processes, characteristics and phenomena. A common perspective from the late 19th and, particularly, the early to middle 20th century, environmental determinism (particularly when coupled with Darwinian principles) has come to be seen as rationalising racism, colonialism, and the dispossession of First Nations peoples around the world.

Environmental Possibilism: championed by geographers such as Carl Sauer in the second half of the 20th century but with much deeper roots in Geographical thought (back to Strabo in the first centuries BCE/CE), environmental possibilism recognises that the biophysical components of the Earth System set limits on human culture and social structures, but that human communities are shaped by adaptive choices within that broader environmental context. Thus human societies are not the inevitable result of environmental conditions, but are also shaped by cultural processes.

Preamble

During the 1980’s, severe drought over north Africa coincided with armed conflict in places like Darfur. In their post-conflict assessment (Links to an external site.) of the Darfur crisis, the United Nations were clear that environmental degradation and climatic instability were the major underlying causes of conflict in Darfur. Today, humanitarian agencies (Links to an external site.) continue to stress the role that climate variability and change plays as a ‘threat multiplier’ in armed conflict (Links to an external site.), and scientific research has demonstrated a link between climate stress and conflict. In a paper (Links to an external site.) published last year, Toby Ide (Geography, University of Melbourne) and colleagues concluded that “climate-related disasters increase the risk of armed conflict onset…almost one third of all conflict onsets over the 1980-2016 period have been preceded by a disaster within 7 days”.

The awareness that biophysical processes can play a deterministic role in shaping human societies has deep roots in Geographical thought and has been (and continues to be) a key intellectual battleground. In their 2017 book (Links to an external site.) on the rise and fall of determinism in Geography (well worth a look if you have the time), Will Meyer and Dylan Guss pose an important question:

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Environment, culture and conflict “Northern Darfur…can be considered a tragic example of the social breakdown that can result from ecological collapse” UNEP, 2007. Sudan: Post-conflict Environmental Assessment. p. 8 Definitions Determinism: That human behaviour, the structure and character of human communities, and the distribution of human communities across space, are controlled by processes or phenomena exogenous to (originating outside of) those communities. Environmental Determinism: that human activities and the character of human communities are controlled by biophysical processes, characteristics and phenomena. A common perspective from the late 19th and, particularly, the early to middle 20th century, environmental determinism (particularly when coupled with Darwinian principles) has come to be seen as rationalising racism, colonialism, and the dispossession of First Nations peoples around the world. Environmental Possibilism: championed by geographers such as Carl Sauer in the second half of the 20th century but with much deeper roots in Geographical thought (back to Strabo in the first centuries BCE/CE), environmental possibilism recognises that the biophysical components of the Earth System set limits on human culture and social structures, but that human communities are shaped by adaptive choices within that broader environmental context. Thus human societies are not the inevitable result of environmental conditions, but are also shaped by cultural processes. Preamble During the 1980’s, severe drought over north Africa coincided with armed conflict in places like Darfur. In their post-conflict assessment (Links to an external site.) of the Darfur crisis, the United Nations were clear that environmental degradation and climatic instability were the major underlying causes of conflict in Darfur. Today, humanitarian agencies (Links to an external site.) continue to stress the role that climate variability and change plays as a ‘threat multiplier’ in armed conflict (Links to an external site.), and scientific research has demonstrated a link between climate stress and conflict. In a paper (Links to an external site.) published last year, Toby Ide (Geography, University of Melbourne) and colleagues concluded that “climate-related disasters increase the risk of armed conflict onset…almost one third of all conflict onsets over the 1980-2016 period have been preceded by a disaster within 7 days”. The awareness that biophysical processes can play a deterministic role in shaping human societies has deep roots in Geographical thought and has been (and continues to be) a key intellectual battleground. In their 2017 book (Links to an external site.) on the rise and fall of determinism in Geography (well worth a look if you have the time), Will Meyer and Dylan Guss pose an important question: “Is environmental determinism the only way to take the environment seriously as a factor in human life? Does dismissing the idea that physical geography by itself affects society in a deterministic way necessarily mean dismissing it as a factor altogether?” (p. 29) Task In this tutorial you will assess the debate surrounding climate stress and human conflict, and consider weather ‘determinism’ of any sort can survive the challenges posed by the Anthropocene. Read the following articles, and listen the micro-lecture, below: Burke, M.,B., Miguel, E., Satyanath, S., Dykema, J.A., Lobell, D.B., (2009), “Warming increases the risk of civil war in Africa”, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 106 (49), pp. 20670-20674 [here] AND Buhaug, H., (2010), “Climate not to blame for African civil wars”. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 107 (38), pp. 16477-16482 [here] In your breakout rooms, consider responses to the following questions: 1. Why do Burke and co-workers consider the effect of temperature relative to precipitation ‘surprising’ in their model outcomes? [1 mark] 2. Do their ‘policy recommendations’ reflect deterministic ideas? [1 mark] 3. Bahaug, in their response to Burke et al., claim: “The simple fact is this: climate characteristics and variability are unrelated to short-term variations in civil war risk in Sub-Saharan Africa. The primary causes of civil war are political, not environmental, and although environmental conditions may change with future warming, general correlates of conflicts and wars are likely to prevail”. Is this alternative perspective valid, and how do their policy recommendations differ? [1.5 marks] 4. Do you consider climate change to be a deterministic factor in shaping contemporary and future human behaviour, communities and societies? What is an alternative perspective from which to view the relationship between humans and the rest of the Earth System? [1.5 marks] Provide a written response to these questions in no more than 500 words, to be uploaded here before midnight 03 October.
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