Anthropogeographie A: Population: Concepts, Change and Challenges

The primary objective of the seminar is to enable students to gain insights into concepts, changes and challenges related to population issues. At the end of the seminar the students should be able to analyse social, economic and political processes and problems through a “population perspective”

The seminar is structured along the concepts, changes and challenges associated with population issues. In the first part of the seminar, the students learn about the key concepts, terms and theories. Examples include the demographic transition, youth bulge, fertility, mortality and migration. The concepts and vocabulary are then applied in the second part which aims to understand how and why the global population has changed. In the third part, challenges and chances associated with population growth and decline are discussed based on specific regional examples. These may range from the demographic dividend in India, to economic and social problems caused by strong population growth in Nigeria and an ageing population in Germany.

Literatur

The seminar will mainly be based on academic journal articles which will be announced during the first session. The following two books offer a good overview:

• Bähr, J. (2010). Bevölkerungsgeographie: Verteilung und Dynamik der Bevölkerung in globaler, nationaler und regionaler Sicht. Stuttgart: Ulmer (in der Institutsbibliothek verfügbar)
• Weeks, John (2012). Population: An Introduction to Concepts and Issues. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.