Professor: Jeffrey Smith, Ph.D.
E-mail: jssmith7@ksu.edu
Office: 164C Seaton Hall  (Due north of the K-State Union)
Office Phone: 532-3412   (Leave message if I'm unavailable)
Mailbox: 118 Seaton Hall
Office Hours: Mon & Wed: 2:30pm - 3:20pm and by appointment.  (I'm here to help.)

REQUIRED READINGS:
    - Brea, Jorge A. 2003. Population Dynamics in Latin America. Population Bulletin 58(1):1-36.

OPTIONAL or READINGS/TEXTS:
    - Blouet, Brian W. and Olwyn M. Blouet. 2006. Latin America and the Caribbean (5th Edition). New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 
    - Goodwin, Jr., Paul B. 2004. Global Studies: Latin America (11th edition). Dubuque, IA: McGraw-Hill / Dushkin Co.

COURSE DESCRIPTION/FORMAT:
    This course is designed to introduce students to the geographical concepts of “Middle America”.  It is intended to provide a broad understanding of the region’s physical environment and human/social conditions.  Visual images and homework exercises are used to reinforce topics discussed in class lectures.  After completing this course, students should have a better understanding of the overall geographical characteristics of Middle America as well as a more refined understanding of some of the unique qualities of various sub-regions.  Student participation in class discussions is important and strongly encouraged.
    Please be advised that I do not initiate withdrawals for students who quit attending class.  Recommendation: If you have a conflict and can no longer attend, formally withdraw.  The last day to withdraw from the class is: Monday, March 24, 2008.  No withdrawal grade will be administered after this date.
    No extra credit is offered in this class!

COURSE GRADING:
    Each student’s grade is based on four (4) exams and two (2) homework exercises/projects.  Each exam emphasizes the material discussed in class, however this does not preclude the inclusion of material assigned in the readings.  Furthermore, while exam questions do not originate specifically from the slides shown in class, students are responsible for the information discussed during slide presentations.
    Make-up exams will be given only for legitimate, verified excuses and ONLY IF every attempt has been made to contact me at least 24 hours BEFORE the exam is scheduled to be given.  In the rare event that a make-up exam is granted and taken, the student’s exam score will be dropped 10%.  If a conflict exists, a student may take an exam early without penalty.  All rules and regulations as established by Kansas State University and the Department of Geography regarding the attendance policy will be strictly followed.  Instructions for exercises will be distributed in class.  Exercises are due at the beginning of class on the date indicated in the outline.

Grading Scale:
            90-100%  =  A  (450 - 500 points)                60-69%  =  D (300 - 349 points)
            80-89%   =  B  (400 - 449 points)                 Below 60%  =  Failing Grade  (299 or less)
            70-79%   =  C  (350 - 399 points)

     - As of 1999 ALL Kansas State University undergraduate students, by act of registration, pledge that... “On my honor, as a student, I have neither given nor received unauthorized aid on my academic work.”  (In other words, cheating will not be tolerated by the professor or the University.)

    - Be advised that the notes given in class are the copyright intellecutal property of the professor.  No unauthorized sale or distribution of said notes is permitted without prior written consent from Jeffrey S. Smith, the Geography Department at K-State, and Kansas State University.  This forbids students from selling (or being paid to take) notes during this class.

    - Any student with a disability that needs a classroom accommodation, access to technology or other assistance in this course should contact Disability Support Services and/or their instructor.

    - I reserve the right to modify the contents of the course.  Every attempt will be made to notify the class in advance should a deviation be necessary.

       Date                                    Lecture Topic            

        Fri 1/18                  Syllabus / Outline / Introduction to Class
        Mon 1/21                 NO CLASS – Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday
        Wed 1/23                Definitions / Overview of Latin America / Middle America
        Fri 1/25                  Physical Geography – Land Forms
        Mon 1/28                Physical Geography – Flora
        Wed 1/30                Physical Geography – Climate
        Fri 2/1                    Lecture Catch-up
        Mon 2/4                  EXAM #1 (50 points)

                 Historical Evolution of Middle America:
        Wed 2/6                Pre-Columbian Populations
        Fri 2/8                  Pre-Columbian Populations – Mayas
        Mon 2/11                Pre-Columbian Populations – Aztecs
        Wed 2/13               Colonialism – Iberian Exploration
        Fri 2/15                 Colonialism – Colonial Settlement Patterns
        Mon 2/18               Colonialism – Mercantilism & The Great Exchange
        Wed 2/20              Characteristics of Colonial Architecture
        Fri 2/22                 Independence & Immigration
        Mon 2/25               Independence & Immigration
        Wed 2/27               EXAM #2 (75 points)
      
                  Issues of Contemporary Middle America:
        Fri 2/29                Contemporary Middle American Society – Religion
        Mon 3/3                 Contemporary Middle American Society – Social Inequality
        Wed 3/5                Contemporary Middle American Society – Status of Women
        Fri 3/7                  Contemporary Middle American Society – Economic & Political Structure
        Mon 3/10               Contemporary Middle American Society – Role of Government in Development
        Wed 3/12               NO CLASS – Work on Middle American Products Exercise
        Fri 3/14                 NO CLASS – Read articles on Urban Structure (See reading packet)
        Mon 3/17               NO CLASS – Spring Recess (bring postcard for Prof. Smith if you go to L Am)
        Wed 3/19               NO CLASS – Spring Recess
        Fri 3/21                 NO CLASS – Spring Recess
        Mon 3/24               Contemporary Middle American Society – U.S. Influence in Middle America
                                      Read articles on Models of Urban Structure

          Wed 3/26              Middle American Products Exercise Due (75 points);
                                      Contemporary Middle American Society – Models of Urban Structure
        Fri 3/28                Contemporary Middle American Society – Narcotics in Middle America
        Mon 3/31                EXAM #3 (75 points)

                   Geographical Sub-Regions in Middle America:
        Wed 4/2                U.S. - Mexico Border Region – Demographics
        Fri 4/4                  Border Region – Industrialization
        Mon 4/7                 Border Region – Illegal Immigration
        Wed 4/9                Border Region – Contemporary Issues
        Fri 4/11                  Border Region – concluded           
        Mon 4/14                Mexico – Demographics
        Wed 4/16               Mexico – Economics
        Fri 4/18                 Mexico – Internal Divisions
        Mon 4/21                Central America
        Wed 4/23              Central America
        Fri 4/25                 Central America – Focus on Guatemala & Nicaragua
        Mon 4/28               Middle Am Comparative Development Exercise & Presentation Due (125 points)

        Wed 4/30             The Caribbean
        Fri 5/2                  The Caribbean
        Mon 5/5                The Caribbean
        Wed 5/7                Lecture Catch-up
        Fri 5/9                  EXAM #4 (100 points)

Purpose:
    The purpose of this assignment is to better understand the extent to which merchandise from Middle America has penetrated the U.S. market, and strengthen students’ critical thinking abilities as well as their reading and writing skills.

Instructions:
    With a focus on goods available in Manhattan, Kansas, each student is to conduct a systematic examination of merchandise produced in a Middle American country that is currently available for purchase by the general public.  Begin by selecting a product line (e.g. women’s clothing, men’s clothing, fruits and vegetables, flowers, home decor, furniture, etc.) and identify the leading countries that produce those products by looking at the “Made in ???” label.  After collecting your data, analyze the results looking for a geographic pattern of those products.  Where in Middle America do the majority of the items in your product line come from?  Why?  What is the comparative quality and pricing of those items between countries?  Are Middle American countries producing the top quality or bottom quality items?  Do you see any regional specialization (e.g. Mexico, Central America, Caribbean)?  What information can you garner from the manager or owner of the store?

    After you have completed your data collection and analysis you are to write a 2 to 4 page paper of your findings.  Your paper should be well organized (introduction, discussion of methods, results, and conclusion).  Be sure to include a statement about the purpose / object of your study in your introduction.  Given that this is a geography class, it would be very beneficial to your grade if you included a map of your findings.

    Your finished paper should be typed, proofread, double-spaced, 12-point font, 1 inch margins with correct spelling, grammar, and punctuation.  Each student is to work independently and submit their own paper.  Your finished paper should not exceed 4 pages in length.  If you have any questions be sure to ask me.

    Have fun, be creative, and enjoy!

    Locations you might consider as you complete this assignment include (but are not limited to):
        - Grocery stores   
        - Gift stores       
        - Hobby Lobby   
        - Clothing stores
        - Target, Wal-Mart, and K-Mart
        - ???

Purpose:
    The purpose of this assignment is to achieve a better understanding of the comparative level of development among the Middle American countries.  Each student will determine how the level of development will be assessed.  The results of this project will produce a numerical measure of the relative level of development between countries. 

Instructions:
    Step 1: Select four (4) “variables” that you think are good measures of development.  These might be such things as: number of color TVs for every 100 households, number of doctors for every 1,000 residents, percent of population employed in “services”, life expectancy, percent of population that is illiterate, etc.  Remember there are diseases of the affluent you might want to consider.  Also, be sure to select mutually exclusive variables (don’t be redundant in your variable selection) and try to be creative.

    Step 2: Gather the raw data for your variables from appropriate sources.  Be sure to use data that are of approximately the same time period, around 2000 or 2005.  Some places you might look are the world fact book, world statistical abstracts, U.N. Demographic Yearbook, World Trade Organization annual report, World Tourism Organization, World Bank, United Nations, etc...    

    Step 3: Be careful and thorough in putting down the data for each variable into a table.  This will be     Table 1.  When completed, it will have information on each variable for each major Middle American country.  Table 1 constitutes a large matrix table, with the countries running in a column down the left margin of the table and the four variables listed as sub-headings in columnar form across the top of the table.

    Step 4: Next, take one variable at a time and determine which country ranks 1st, 2nd, 3rd, ... last.  For example, if you were using “percentage of population that dies from pneumonia,” the country that has the lowest percentage would be ranked number “1".  The country that has the highest percentage would be ranked “last”.  These rankings will go into the next table (Table 2).  Whereas Table 1 has raw data, Table 2 will have only rank numbers (1,2,3,...,n), otherwise it will look the same.  Because your table will probably have the countries listed alphabetically, your rank numbers will not be in any particular order.

    Step 5: Taking each country one at a time, add the rank numbers across the page, from left to right (across Table 2).  Write down that total in a “sum of ranks” column. 

    Step 6: Finally take the list of countries that up until now you have had in alphabetical order and rearrange them so that the country with the lowest sum of ranks is listed first, the country with the second lowest sum of ranks is second, etc. until you get to the country that has the highest sum of ranks, which will be at the bottom.  This will be Table 3.
                       
    Step 7: So far you have created a hierarchy of comparative development indexes.  To make your project come alive geographically, you need to show the spatial variation of your final index.  By visual inspection of the column showing the sum of ranks (Table 3), divide the countries into 3 to 5 groups that seem to have numbers that cluster together.  You don’t have to have an equal number of countries in each group (see where the gaps exist and use this as the dividing line between groups).  Assign each group a distinctive color and shade in the countries (using colored pencils / markers) according to where they fall in your final rankings.  Be sure to create a legend on your map that explains which countries are “the least” and which are “the most” developed.  You will have a continuum of color values representing the level of development between countries.  Anyone who looks at your map will immediately be able to see which countries are the most developed in Middle America and which are the least developed in the region. 

    After you have collected and processed your data, as well as produced your tables and color-coded map you are to analyze the results geographically.  Prepare a 2 - 3 page summary of your findings:
    1) explain/justify why you chose those variables
    2) what geographic pattern resulted (remember the notes in class)
    3) indicate which three countries are the most developed
    4) which three countries are the least developed based on the variables you selected
    5) provide a list of citations/bibliography for where you acquired your data

    Your finished paper should be well organized, typed, proofread, double-spaced, 12-point font, 1 inch margins with correct spelling, grammar, and punctuation.  Each student is to work independently and submit their own paper.   Your finished paper should not exceed 3 pages in length.  At the back of your paper staple your colored map and your tables. (100 points)

    If you have any questions be sure to ask me.

     Have fun and enjoy! 

    Start this project early.  It will take some time getting the data for your four variables. 

                List of 15 Major Middle American countries:
                            Mexico                      Guatemala            Belize                  Honduras                El Salvador
                            Nicaragua                  Panama                Costa Rica            Cuba                      Haiti
                            Dominican Republic    Puerto Rico          Jamaica               Bahamas                 Trinidad & Tobago

In-class Presentation:
    On the day the exercise / project is due, students will display their maps on the wall giving everyone else the opportunity to review them.  Following the display time each student will present a short (5 min MAXIMUM) oral summary of their map for the class. This need not be formal; be sure you highlight the main findings and geographic patterns represented on the map. (25 points)