The crisis in Jamaican agriculture is due to environmental factors like climate conditions and to social and economic factors like the plantation system. Along with mining, tourism, and manufacturing, agriculture has a key role to play in the Jamaican economy. Suggests ways to improve productivity by aid to family farms. (CS)

Kingston, capital of Jamaica, has been molded by three institutions: colonialism, the sugar plantation, and slavery. It has an enormous marginal population living in permanent poverty and not absorbable into the labor force. This marginality, fundamentally related to dependent capitalism, sustains itself by keeping wages low. (CS)

Reports on a part of a series of television programs, entitled "Man and Environment," that was developed at the City College of Chicago, that sought to reveal the anthropological and ecological makeup of a small suburban community, Broadview, through interviews with town residents. Discusses possible effects on the community. (MB)

Describes a course based on the interdisciplinary approach to demography linked to environmental issues. Analytic and interpretive skills are an integral element in the study of population-related problems. Points out that the interdisciplinary approach maintains demographic literacy while analyzing population problems. (SLM)

Race is no longer considered to be a core anthropological concept by a majority of anthropologists. This article proposes that the dual notions of ethnicity, to account for cultural variation, and "cline," or geographic variation, to account for biological variation, are appropriate alternatives to the race concept for classroom…

Illustrates the importance of studying the snow avalanche as a natural hazard. Describes the various kinds of snow avalanches, the types of triggering mechanisms that produce them, the typical avalanche terrain, and the geomorphic and the vegetative evidence for snow avalanching. Depicts methods of human adjustment to the avalanche hazard.…

Highlights instructional materials provided in ERIC's "Resources in Education" (RIE) and "Current Index to Journals in Education" (CIJE) on human-environment interaction and individualized instruction in geography. Each of the seven documents or articles is accompanied by a brief description and a method for obtaining…

Highlights materials relating to the U.S. frontier during the 19th century by citing journal articles and documents related to this topic. Indicates the means for obtaining these works which deal with rural schooling, historical demography, Native Americans, music, revivalism, and Black cowboys. (KO)

Describes a class activity designed to aid students in grasping the scope of time involved in man's carelessness towards the environment. Suggests that teachers provide examples of environmental mismanagement and of conservation practices from history and asks students to identify similar problems or practices in contemporary life. Examples are…

Compares residential proximity patterns by race in U.S. and Canadian neighborhoods. The findings show that in the United States, but not in Canada, blacks appear to be at a disadvantage in the early stages of spatial assimilation, and other racial groups appear to actively avoid moving into neighborhoods with a dominant black presence. (GLR)

Uses Census of Governments data from 1962-87 to examine number and distribution of U.S. nonmetropolitan government-poor counties (places that spend little on government services). Although the number of government-poor counties has declined steadily, spending levels in the 160 poorest counties actually decreased relative to the nonmetropolitan…

Statistical analysis of racially polarized voting prepared for the Garza v County of Los Angeles (California) (1990) voting rights case is reviewed to demonstrate that ecological regression is a flexible, robust technique that illuminates the reality of ethnic voting, and superior to the neighborhood model supported by the defendants. (SLD)

Reprints a 1904 article from the "Journal of Geography" exploring geography's teaching focus. Argued for unchanged emphasis on the land and its people but advocated a deeper geographical interpretation of history. Contended that teaching should pay attention to scientific interpretation, and that children should discover a self-constructed…

Investigates townsite distribution in South Dakota's land settlement pattern. Reviews past theories explaining eastern South Dakota's systematic spacing of towns along rail lines. Indicates a correlation between railroad functions and town development, advancing the theory that nineteenth-century railroad technology, involving traffic control and…

Suggests using city directories to integrate original geographic research into the classroom. Explains that using directories allows students to think geographically, teaches map skills, and provides the basis for field experience. Provides a case study of the ethnic patterns using the city directory of Sacramento, California. Illustrates other…