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作者

来源

JOURNAL OF URBAN AFFAIRS,Vol.41,Issue1,P.142-143

语言

英文

关键字

作者单位

University of Cincinnati selyarm@uc.edu

摘要

Regardless of their research interests, most social scientists, geographers, and planners at some time in their careers must include population as a variable that must be addressed. For those with little or no formal training in demography, Newbold’s book, although a textbook, is an excellent handbook to consult.The book covers the history of population geography; emphasizes the need to study population in the context of space, place, and distance; describes and analyzes the three main demographic variables (fertility, mortality, and migration); as well as cities, population theories and policies, and population growth. Where possible, Newbold includes the literature of cognate geographies, such as the geography of health and health services in the chapter on mortality.Three things set Newbold’s book apart from other population geography texts. First, he treats migration not in one chapter but in three: international migration, internal migration, and refugees and internally displaced persons. Second, he deals with each variable at several spatial scales. Finally, he uses a clear, easily recognizable and effective pedagogical framework.Each chapter is divided into roughly equal sized sections. The first section starts with a list of topics and questions to be discussed and ends with review questions and hands-on project suggestions. The second section provides detailed examples of a key topic or two presented in the chapter and instructions on how to compute basic demographic rates and measures. For the most part, data used are for the period 1930–2015. More recent demographic events that are not commonly part of a census, such as the impact of war and poverty on flows of refugees and internally displaced persons, are included. In each chapter, Newbold presents the difficulties in obtaining timely, accurate data and the challenges of understanding different interpretations of the varieties of demographic change.There is a unifying conclusion that links the chapters together, that solving what is perceived to be a population problem (e.g., high levels of fertility) is difficult and often results in unintended consequences that result in a predictable different and more difficult demographic problem. Examples of this include the problem of “missing women” in China and India due to the clash of government policies aimed at reducing fertility with cultural preferences for sons, and conflicts arising when countries are faced with pressure to adopt policies and programs designed by donor nations and or nongovernmental agencies to reduce fertility, though citizens prefer more traditional family goals regarding fertility.Canadian and American examples dominate, but they are often contrasted with experiences from China, the European Shengen Zone, India, Mexico, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. Some examples get used repeatedly. For example, when discussing U.S. migration policies, the contrast between how Mariel Cubans and Haitians is used several times.There are four weaknesses in the book. First, there is little sense of debates about demographic topics such as the falling infant mortality and crude birth rates in Europe and Anglo-America. Second, despite citing pioneering works in population geography by Trewartha, Zelinsky, and Ravenstein, with the exception of the chapters on migration, there are very few references to articles by contemporary population geographers in either the footnotes or chapter bibliographies. Third, most spatial differences are presented in either tabular or graph format maps. In fact, there are only 13 maps in the text, five of which are areal shaded maps. Two of these shaded maps are included to demonstrate how using different class intervals when plotting data can result in not only vastly different spatial patterns but different conclusions about the nature of these patterns. Unfortunately, the other three shaded maps violate a major principle when creating maps of this type: They have overlapping end points from class to class. In the chapter on international migration flows, the reader is led to expect a flow map, yet what is actually there is a picture of a marker showing part of the U.S.–Mexican border. Finally, there are both major geographic and nongeographic concepts and models missing in the text. For example, in the section on population distribution, though there is a presentation of the mean center of population, the use of graphs comparing percentage of Lorenz curves to extend our understanding of how the centers have changed is not mentioned. In the chapter on fertility, birth control (which aims to prevent fertilization of an egg and/or the implantation of a fertilized egg) and abortion (which seeks to undo a failure of birth control) are confounded. In the chapter on mortality, though prevalence (the number of individuals in a population with a disease) of diseases is discussed, incidence (the number of disease-free individuals who, after being screened, develop a disease) is not. There is no mention of the work or graphing methods of biologists, economists, endocrinologists, or physical geographers.Unfortunately, in addition, there are several places where editorial or technical issues sully the text. In defining the formulae for crude birth and death rates, Newbold incorrectly defines the variables used. In the chapter on fertility, the reader is referred to a figure 4.3 to see the differences in total fertility rates for different U.S. racial, ethnic, and minority groups. There is no such figure but there is a figure 4F.1 that shows the changing total fertility rates for the entire U.S. population as well as by race (White, Black, and Hispanic). This figure is not included in the master list of figures and tables at the beginning of the book.Despite the above criticisms, the book should be considered both as a text for a course on population geography as well as a ready handbook for research. Students will be challenged by the complexity of the subject, and instructors will have an opportunity to introduce more examples, assign more contemporary research articles by population geographers, and design exercises that develop competency in mapping, graphing, describing, and explaining data and formulating policy recommendations. The book could stimulate interest in population geography among nongeographers following the same path as geographic information science.