The geospatial revolution, or why I'm getting a degree in geography
When I disclose to someone that I am working on my MA thesis in "Geography", I often get the lifted eyebrow and the "Oh." response, like when you excitedly ask about your friend's pet dog only to find out that it was hit by a car the night before. "Oh." Some venture a "Why?" but usually we fumble for a more comfortable topic.
This is not exclusively an outsider problem, either. I was sitting in a graduate seminar last semester and someone dropped the "relevance" question. Is geography still a relevant discipline? Is it a discipline at all, or just a quaint combination of many fields? If it's not relevant, how can we make it so? One student said with zeal, "We just need to make ourselves known so that more people know what geographers do!!" A seasoned classmate calmly replied, "But what do geographers do?" Beat. "Oh." We all quickly turned back to the original discussion subject and let the elephant take its seat in the corner.
I came across a set of video presentations that demonstrate geography's position of relevance in today's world. For all those who ventured the "Why?" question, here's your answer. This is why I'm getting a degree in geography:
Here are the other episodes:
