University geography departments are disappearing across the US. Is Northwestern next? Max Milo has the story.
THERE’S A BIT OF A LEGEND ABOUT THE GEOGRAPHY DEPARTMENT HERE AT NORTHWESTERN. ONE MAN HAS BEEN THE SOLE PROFESSOR FOR DECADES. I HAVE HEARD STORIES FROM MY FELLOW STUDENTS ABOUT HIS CLASSES, SO I DECIDED TO INTERVIEW SOMEONE WHO TOOK HIS CLASS IN ORDER TO LEARN A LITTLE MORE. I SPOKE WITH BRAEDYN SPEIGHT, A THIRD-YEAR STUDYING POLITICAL SCIENCE AND JOURNALISM.
[Braedyn] So, I think that my first impression was definitely that he seems just like the sweetest guy. We took—I took his class during winter quarter of my sophomore year, so last year, which was during COVID. So he was super accommodating with that. He would make sure that all of the lectures and all of the material that we needed was available. And he made everything open book, which was super helpful.
I ASKED IF IT EVER SEEMED DIFFICULT FOR HUDSON TO KEEP UP WITH RUNNING AN ENTIRE DEPARTMENT.
[Braedyn] I never really was left wondering what my grade in the class would be. I feel like he was pretty on top of everything. If you emailed him a question, he responded pretty quickly. And he was also pretty much on time for class. And sometimes he would—the only time he ever canceled class was just because of the weather. And that was really the only reason.
IT SEEMS STRANGE FOR AN ENTIRE DEPARTMENT TO BE RUN BY ONLY ONE PERSON. IT SOON BECAME CLEAR TO ME ONCE I STARTED LOOKING INTO THE NORTHWESTERN GEOGRAPHY DEPARTMENT THAT THERE IS A LOT MORE TO THE STORY. I ASKED AROUND TO SEE IF I COULD TALK TO ANYONE IN THE FIELD WITH PERSONAL EXPERIENCE AS A TEACHER OF GEOGRAPHY.
I ENDED UP SPEAKING WITH JENN LUPU, A SEVENTH YEAR PHD STUDENT IN THE ANTHROPOLOGY DEPARTMENT DOING WORK IN HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY. SHE IS ALSO A TEACHING ASSISTANT THROUGH THE GENDER AND SEXUALITY STUDIES TEACHING FELLOWSHIP AT NORTHWESTERN.
[Jenn] Right now I’m teaching an undergraduate course that is called Queer World-Building: Sexuality and Space in Global Perspective, and it is essentially a queer geography class. A lot of the reading that we’re doing and the work we are doing in the class is based in geography. A lot of the authors we are reading are from geography departments.
I TALKED TO JENN ABOUT THIS CLEAR LACK OF RESOURCES SEEN IN OUR GEOGRAPHY DEPARTMENT. BUT, THERE IS A MUCH BIGGER SCOPE THAN JUST NORTHWESTERN. ACCORDING TO THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF GEOGRAPHERS, GROWTH IN GEOGRAPHY MAJORS HAS BEEN UNEVEN OR DECLINING SINCE 2012. IT HAD BEEN GROWING CONSISTENTLY FROM THE 1990S UP TO 2012, BUT SINCE THEN HAS STEADILY DECLINED.
[Jenn] This is part of a pattern across many American universities that started—I believe it started—after World War II and has sort of gradually increased over time where these geography departments at many schools have been sort of vanishing and disappearing.
WHY ARE THESE DISAPPEARANCES OCCURING?
[Jenn] I think part of the reason why these schools have been losing—or have these disappearing geography departments—is in some ways due to its associations with colonialism: the idea that we need to map and understand the world so that Europeans can conquer it.
SO, IF THERE IS THIS NEGATIVE ASSOCIATION WITH GEOGRAPHY, SHOULD WE SAVE IT?
[Jenn] I think within Northwestern there is still a real need for geography classes and especially geography classes that are teaching black geographies and queer geographies and the intersection between all these different perspectives within geography. The students that I’ve engaged with—the undergraduate students—have been very enthusiastic about learning about how—thinking from queer geographies we think it’s not just thinking about queerness in the world. It’s thinking about how the world is shaped by colonialism and heteronormativity and white supremacy. People think about geography as sort of like memorizing the countries of the world or something like that. But, really what geography can be is a way of thinking about the world around us through a critical lens. There’s so many practical tools that geography courses teach students. And also elements of critical thinking. So, I think it would be really great to see more geography classes and more geography faculty at schools like Northwestern and other universities.
FOR WNUR NEWS, I’M MAX MILO.
Music from soundcloud.com
Le Gang – “I Don’t Know Anything”
