In biology and anthropology, we learn that race is not a biologically valid classification system. There is no correlation between skin color and actual human genetic variation. But does that fact stop a neo-Nazi from hating? Of course not. While race may not be biological, racism is connected to bodies, places, and spaces—the stuff of geography. This course explores big concepts like racism, reparations, poverty, immigration, and globalization while placing them in the context of geography. Place matters and geographic analysis can help us find answers to important questions. It isn’t all be heavy stuff though; we also explore why riding the bus in Lancaster will always be terrible, look at photographs of toilets (domestic and foreign), listen to Ice Cube swear, and more.
Michael W. Pesses, Ph.D. 