Global Studies
Discussion on “A Voyage of Discovery”
Watch three parts of the video and post your answers in your group discussion board. There are four questions you need to answer.
The movie’s length is only 12 minutes. There are four discussion questions.
Summary:
The Voyage of Discovery, is produced by the National Geographic Society. It describes the travels of a geographer, “Franklin Shaw” from the 1800s who, through his diary, shares some of the observations and insights he has made of both the physical and human realms of the earth. He describes the diversity of the cultures and human political systems in terms which, he perceives as being both positive and negative; the positive side being human culture’s ability to live productively and surviving all manner of hardship, and the “darker” side being the potential it has to segregate itself sometimes into a state of conflict.
The video weaves images of modern warfare and the plague of current conflicts within Shaw’s writings; making his diary out to be an almost unbelievable insight into the future. After a slide of an atomic cloud fades from the screen, the viewer is directed to the image of the earth rising over the moon. This Apollo picture sets the scene for Shaw to project his thoughts into the future and suggest maybe when we as humans finally see our earth separate, as one connected whole, and surrounded by space, as one planet, maybe then we as humans will finally gain a sense of the dependencies we have to it and each other.
Discussion Questions:
1. “I have learned that people’s faces, like the face of the land, reflect the forces that have shaped them”
2. “There must be a bit of the poet in the geographer. Like the artist, the geographer uncovers patterns and themes.”
3. “Maps and charts are the language of geography.”
4. How might the study of Geography be like a “Voyage of Discovery”?
In order to get a full credit for this assignment, the minimum requirement is to include 4 items which are listed above and to respond to any one post here.
