John Halocha

Defining Europe: Does geography have the answers?

Defining Europe:

A family experience

Poland and England

1942 - 2008

So, my aim is to raise questions about how geography might help

us define Europe.

We will begin with maps from around the world as one external

factor in defining Europe.

Having questioned the value of external definitions, we will move to the idea of

helping pupils/students define Europe by starting with their own geographies.

This will draw on the work of Professor Simon Catling who suggests that young

people may bring with them 10 geographies.

How is Europe defined both from within and at a global

scale?

Research into web resources provides some food for

thought…

http://www.grunch.net/synergetics/map/dymax.html

The Fuller Projection, or Dymaxion Map, solves the age-old problem of displaying spherical data on a flat surface using a low-distortion transformation. The map also shows the world's land masses without interruption -- the map's sinuses do not cut into the land area at any point

http://flourish.org/upsidedownmap/

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/reference_maps/europe.html

http://www.yourchildlearns.com/europe_map.htm

Europe is the second smallest of the inhabited continents. It is a part of the Eurasian land mass that includes Europe, Asia, Asia Minor and the Arabian Peninsula. As many large islands east and south of Asia are

usually included in Asia, the Eurasian land mass extends from Iceland to New Guinea, from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from the Arctic to the Indian Oceans. Just where to divide this mass into continents has long

been debated. Traditionally the Ural mountains in Russia have been used as a division. This line then had to curve back through the Caspian and Black Seas to avoid leaving Turkey in Europe. The fact that this

separated Christian Europe from Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist Asia is not coincidental. With the creation of many new countries from the collapse of the Soviet Union the division is more difficult as so many want to be included in Europe for economic reasons. In order to show complete countries only we have included Russia

in Asia, where most of its area lies, rather than in Europe.

Western Europe is distinguished from Central and Eastern Europe by geography and by differences of history and culture. The concept of Western Europe is also associated with liberal democracy; its countries are generally deemed to be well

within the cultural hegemony of the United States of America.

http://www.europeemaps.com/western-europe-map.htm

http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2006/07/25/realestate/ghmap-europe.html

http://www.uni-potsdam.de/u/slavistik/diverses/maps/1807_01.htm

http://www.worldmapper.org/display.php?selected=28

Aircraft Flights

http://www.worldmapper.org/display.php?selected=343

Books Published

http://www.worldmapper.org/display.php?selected=227

HIV Prevalence

http://www.worldmapper.org/display.php?selected=135

Child Labour

Children’s Geographical Worlds:

How might Professor Simon Catling’s ideas help us define

Europe in the minds of our pupils/students?

1. Children’s Action World

• Day to day experiences of Europe• Mental maps of Europe• Controlled worlds• The need for many practical experiences

in their locality

2. Children’s Peopled Worlds

• People and place are closely connected in Europe

• Perceptions and attitudes• How young people live their lives• People in stories, media etc.• Empathy

3. Children’s Perceived Worlds• Europe as seen by pupils/students• De-centre to see from other people’s points

of view• Variety of rich sources from across Europe• Challenge perceived world• Careful drawing of conclusions• Our understanding of the world is always

partial – constant up-dating required.

4. Children’s Valued World

• What is important and valuable to them?• Feelings e.g. comfortable, scared• People and places in Europe• Often triggered by association• The world that is important to the child• Place attachment; topophilia• Values built on understanding of Europe

5. Children’s Information World

• Build up of spatial knowledge• Awareness of what they ‘know’ about

Europe and how it links with other knowledge

• Awareness of what they still need to know• Reliability and validity of sources

6. Children’s Competence World

• Skills and competences needed to define and understand Europe

• Geographical enquiry: where, what, how, what impact, what like to be here, how does it compare?

• Role of fieldwork, ICT.

7. Children’s Imaginary World

• Observation and experience needed learn• Play – copying the world – working it out• Realism and imagination closely linked:

“Imagination is more important than information” Einstein.

8. Children’s Source World

• From where do they get perceptions, information and understanding of Europe?

• Role of popular culture• Role of family, peers and friends• School resources: source, quality, bias,

datedness, level, design, balance etc.

• Ideas about what they want in the future: What would they hope Europe to look like?What is their future in Europe?

• Closely linked to their valued world• What is important to them• Respecting their views and ideas

9. Children’s Future World

10. Children’s Commitment World

• Action for a better world/Europe• Put values into action and test• This uses all their other worlds to enable

them to act in an informed way

Conclusion

• External definitions of Europe may only have some of the answers

• A balanced geography needs to take into account our personal geographies as possible starting points

• School linking as one way forward – the workshops.• Research in progress:

E-PLIPS - The Implementation of European Dimension by Peer ...E-PLIPS - The Implementation of European Dimension by, E-PLIPS - The Implementation of European Dimension by Peer Learning ...eplips.webz.cz/phpBB/index.php?sid=0f5ae88f9375bcaed994c97ac2312570 -18k -

And finally a…

“Geography Lesson”By

Zulfikar Ghose

When the jet sprang into the sky,it was clear why the city had developed the way it had,seeing it scaled six inches to the mile.There seemed an inevitabilityabout what on the ground had looked haphazard,unplanned and without stylewhen the jet sprang into the sky.

When the jet reached ten thousand feetit was clear why the countryhad cities where rivers ranand why the valleys were populated.The logic of geography –that land and water attracted man –was clearly delineatedwhen the jet reached ten thousand feet.

When the jet rose six miles highit was clear that the Earth was round and that it had more sea than land.But it was difficult to understandthat the men on Earth foundcauses to hate each other, to buildwalls across cities and to kill.From that height, it was not clear why.

Zulfikar Ghose

Thank youThank you