Reading to Be Done Before This Discussion:

Brown, Doug. 2001. Globalization, Iowa Pork, and Hometown Tweakers. Journal of Popular Culture 34: 35-48. Available http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=6105152&site=ehost-live

Cohen, Sharon. 2007. Immigration wars squeeze Iowa town. USA Today, September 1. http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-09-01-immigration_N.htm.

Things to Bring to Class: Your own notes on the article and/or a printout.

Due in Discussion This Week: Answers to the questions below and Essay 1.

Due in Discussion Next Week: Questions as Usual.

Concepts/Ideas/Places: migration, Pull Factors, Push Factors, Fast World, Slow World, Globalization, Marshaltown, Iowa, Japan, Mexico.

How this Discussion Connects to Lecture In lecture we will examine many of the large political and philosophical questions surrounding population geography. You will be introduced to definitions and measurement techniques of the demographic conditions prevalent in particular places. The chapter on population in Knox and Marston provides a fairly thorough overview of the various issues involved in population growth, change, and politics including migration. In this discussion we address the issue of migration. Both push and pull factors influence people to migrate. Push factors are factors that influence migrants to leave a place. Pull factors attract migrants to a place. Think about your own reasons for migrating to Valparaiso (if you did so). Were they push or pull factors or a combination of both? Migration may also be a voluntary choice or may be involuntary. People may be forced to migrate because of war, famine, envionrmental disasters, or because of development projects (dams, highways, etc.). As you read this week think about what push and pull factors are involved in the migration described in the artice. Also ask yourself whether the migration was voluntary or involuntary.

To Prepare for Discussion

This week we continue with the theme of globalization and examine the ways that globalizaiton is transforming rural areas in the United States. Globalization has transformed the agruicultural economy of many small towns and rural areas in the United States. Towns that once supplied nearby cities and the surrounding hinterland with food now ship food across the globe. Farms have grown bigger to take advantage of economies of scale and reduce the cost of production per unit. Morevoer, agricultural processing which adds value to agricutural produces is also an important part of the rural economy. Because of low food pricess, labor costs for both agricultural production and processing need to be kept low. Immigrants, both legal and illegal often provide the low cost labor vital to sustain the rural economy. Increasingly small towns that once could be described as having a homogeneous culture, find themselves having to adapt to increasingly diverse populations of residents. Your reading and our discussion explore the causes and consequences of immigration for one small town in Iowa.

The following questions will help guide our discussion.  Spend some time thinking carefully about answers to them.

Questions to be answered and turned in at the beginning of Class

Name:
Honor Code:

1.     What are three factors that pulled laborers from Mexico and the Southwestern United States to migrate to Marshalltown?

 

 

2.  Brown argues that globalizaiton replaces community ties with impersonal contacts. Is he correct? Why or why not?

 

 

3.  How has Marshalltown changed as a result of migration (list at least three changes)?

 

 

4. The USA Today article suggests that Marshalltown must deal with the problem of illegal immigrants but also cannot thrive without immigrants. What is one thing that Marshalltown could do to balance the need for immigrants without abandoning growth in the agricultural processing industry?

 

 

5.  What is one issue or question that you would like to discuss in class?