Room 611: Monday, April 26. 2021

Today's classes are:

9:15 - 11:50 B Block Human Geography

12:30 - 3:05 C Block Legal Studies

B Block Human Geography - We'll figure out the difference between place and region (hint think scale) and talk about toponyms, site and situation and look at the differences between formal, functional and vernacular regions. You'll have two questions to work on for me:

How do people shape places? How do places shape people?

Next, we are going to look at the Key Question: Why Are Different Places Similar? To do this we will look at Globalization in terms of culture and economy. Since we are completing a cultural/human geography course what does globalization mean and what is globalized culture? So, from the World Economic Forum:

In simple terms, globalization is the process by which people and goods move easily across borders. Principally, it's an economic concept – the integration of markets, trade and investments with few barriers to slow the flow of products and services between nations. There is also a cultural element, as ideas and traditions are traded and assimilated...Globalization has speeded [sic] up enormously over the last half-century, thanks to great leaps in technology. The internet has revolutionized connectivity and communication, and helped people share their ideas much more widely, just as the invention of the printing press did in the 15th century.

Think about McDonald's. How many countries is Dons in? According to the McDonald's Corporation website (as of January 2018), McDonald's has locations in 101 countries (out of the 195 countries that the United Nations recognizes). That is a really big company that spans the globe with a fairly consistent menu. How does McDonald's try to retain some local culture in their global brand? Check out:

The Craziest McDonald's Menu Items Around the World
Here's what it's like to eat at McDonald's in 7 countries around the world
25 Craziest McDonald's Menu Items From Around The World
What International McDonald’s Menus Can Tell Us About Diets Around The World

So, globalization is about how people and places are connected and how they influence each other. In the last twenty years inexpensive mobile phone technology and the Internet have spread ideas faster around the world. How does that affect culture? From the United Nations:

The current era of globalization, with its unprecedented acceleration and intensification in the global flows of capital, labour, and information, is having a homogenizing influence on local culture. While this phenomenon promotes the integration of societies and has provided millions of people with new opportunities, it may also bring with it a loss of uniqueness of local culture, which in turn can lead to loss of identity, exclusion and even conflict

Increasingly uniform cultural preferences produce uniform “global” landscapes of material artifacts and of cultural values. Underlying the uniform cultural landscape is globalization of cultural beliefs and forms, especially religion and language. Globalization of the economy has been led primarily by transnational corporations, sometimes called multinational corporations. Every place in the world is part of the global economy, but globalization has led to more specialization at the local level. Each place plays a distinctive role, based on its local assets.

So, you'll have a few questions to work on for me today including:

In what ways has the communications revolution played a role in globalization?
Why might some group(s) of people oppose globalism or globalization?

To help:

Also, look at the following articles:

Does globalization mean we will become one culture?
Is Globalization Creating A Single World Culture?
Culture and Globalization
Here’s what a Korean boy band can teach us about globalization 4.0
Is Globalization The Collapse Of Culture?

C Block Legal Studies - Welcome back, today we'll take a look at where our laws come from: Hammurabi, Mosaic law, Common law, Precedent and Case law. Then, we'll work on understanding case citations (R. v. Kerr, 2004, and Grant v. Dempsey, 2001). For more on how to read case studies check out:

Reading a Legal Citation Queens University
Legal Citation Guide UBC
Scroll down to Case Citation on this PowerPoint from New Learner
Duhaime.org Legal Citations Guide

Finally, we'll discuss the "rule of law" and quickly review the Social Studies 11 topics of our constitution and how laws are made.

I'll have you work on questions from page 21 of the All About Law textbook: