Student Spotlight
Geography offers a wide array of opportunities for exploration and study.
Wondering just what type of topics you can explore and research in our
courses? Here on our Student Spotlight page, take a look at some of the
projects our students have recently completed.
Note: Most projects have been created using
either Adobe, MS Word, or MS Powerpoint. If needed, software viewers can
be found at the following locations:
Adobe
Reader (pdf)
MS Word Viewer (doc)
MS Powerpoint Viewer (ppt)
Course - Geography 495: Seminar in Geography (Alpine
Environments)
Project Title - Afghanistan's Opium: a Quintessential Illicit Economy
Author(s) - John Lauermann
Abstract - Illicit industries are a common phenomenon in
mountain regions: rugged mountain environments, inaccessible to lowland
law enforcement, shelter illegitimate economic activities like narcotics
production and trafficking. The poverty, political instability, and
social marginalization of mountain regions make their residents
especially prone to turn to illicit industries for survival. Afghanistan
is one of the world's poorest, most politically unstable and most
mountainous countries, and is also home to one of the world's largest
prohibited industries: that of opium production. This project is a
survey of the geography of opium production and trafficking in
Afghanistan. Cultural, economic, and political factors relative to the
industry in this region are examined. This project finds that
Afghanistan is a major exporter of opiate based narcotics, home to 87%
of the world's illicit opium cultivation and producing 92% of global
supplies. Not surprisingly, Afghanistan's economy is heavily dependent
on the opiate industry, which accounts for 11% of 2005 GDP and employs
19% of the country's labor force. Overall this project finds that opium
production is a major part of Afghanistan's economy and any attempts to
shut down the industry without providing an adequate replacement will
have disastrous results.
Project Link(s):
Afghanistan's Opium (pdf)
Course - Geography 490: Independent Study
Project Title - Amazigh Nationalism in the Maghreb
Author(s) - John Lauermann
Abstract - The Maghreb is a cultural region of northwestern
Africa. While many inhabitants of the region are ethnically Arab, the
region is also home to a substantial minority population: the Imazighen
(singular: Amazigh). The Imazighen, an indigenous population of the
Maghreb, exhibit a high level of ethnic consciousness and nationalist
sentiment. This research investigates Amazigh nationalism within the
contexts of the political landscapes of the People's Democratic Republic
of Algeria and the Kingdom of Morocco, as well as the greater
intraregional nationalist movement. Literature reviews are used
extensively, and this research also utilizes electoral data in a case
study of Moroccan politics. Specifically, electoral results from the
September 2007 parliamentary election are cartographically analyzed.
Overall, this research finds that there is a well developed
international Amazigh nationalist movement. Group nationalism is
manifested in several ways. Political parties representing Amazigh
interests like Algeria's Arouch party or Morocco's
Mouvement Populaire, are some of the largest minority parties of
Algeria and Morocco. Amazigh nationalism is also manifested through
"cultural associations." These groups, numbering in the thousands in the
Maghreb, and present in immigrant communities throughout Europe,
strengthen ethnic consciousness and function as political lobbying
agents.
In addition to the Powerpoint slideshow shown, John has also written a
paper for this project which he is hoping to publish in the near future
and recently presented his project to the American Association of
Geographers (AAG) conference in Boston.
Project Link(s):
Amazigh
Nationalism in the Maghreb (ppt)