Population Problems

G&ES 362 and 446

Erick Howenstine
Alternate Springs (362/446/362/446...)
Prerequisites: None
Graduate Credit: 446 only

Does Population Problems sound like a dull course?  Please think again!  We live in an exciting demographic time, with portions of the world aging and resisting immigration, portions declining in size and worried about their future, portions reaping the short-term benefits of a baby boom, and portions nearly mired in poverty and still growing rapidly.  In some counties life expectancy is more than twice that in others.  And of course, people move about.

This course should really be called Population Geography, because we study the dynamic human populations around the world -- and there are opportunities as well as problems.  If you're not a geographer, don't worry.  Students from all fields enjoy this class and find it relevant.  Environmental Studies students know that population growth can also have a direct impact on loss of habitat, depletion of resources, and pollution.  Math students appreciate the large amounts of data available and opportunities for calculations.  Students in the Social Sciences appreciate knowing the social dynamics of populations, for example those relating to migration and policy.  Economists know how essential it is to measure markets, labor forces, and populatons' ages, genders, and rates of growth and migration.  Students in the field of education had better know the fundamentals about the world's people.  And likewise, political science, history, antropology, economics, biology, and other fields have a clear interest in populations.

This class takes a close look at population changes and distributions, policies, and theories, focusing on events in the post-industrial period.  Birth, death, illness, migration, policy, and theory are all studied in detail.  Students will use the fabulous Population Links which I have compiled from all around the world, read most of a textbook (for 362: Peters and Larkin's Population Geography, for 446, Week's Population) and supplementary readings which I will provide.  There is a short required paper on a population issue of the student's choice, with opportunity for a draft and feedback.  Groups often take on a project which in recent years has been designing a well-informed population projection to 2035 for a country of their choice.  Professional software for this purpose is provided.

When offered as 446, only graduate students may enroll, so the class is small and geared much more toward collaborative discussion. Each graduate student undertakes a population projection for the area of their choice, and writes a longer paper, with which I help them develop the academic writing style which will be necessary as they finish their degree.