Ramon Christopher A.

Caballero Geog 104 Sir Saguin

As a kid, I used to believe that geography is just all about the memorization of the
countries’ name, their flags, the type of currency they use and whatnot that a person may think
about given the vague understanding he has about this discipline. Now, I am getting closer to
understanding what it really is; with all the divides, traditions, and theories that is afloat on its
pool of knowledge.
First, I never expected before that even our thought processing – of how we view the
world around us – is actually dealing with geography, specifically of geographic thought. Even
this sole idea of me thinking of how my view of geography have changed may be considered as a
paradigm change because it was revealed to me that geography is indeed ‘more than capitals’.
Even the ideas of paradigms have just been clearer to me even though I have been doing
research before in high school. We have not discussed about how do we approach our study,
whether in ontological or epistemological manner, and so it is still somehow confusing to me but
at least the general idea is no alien to me anymore.

As for the ‘Geography and its Divides’, it was easier for me to understand since we have
already dealt with “The Four Traditions of Geography” by Pattison when I was taking Geog 1.
Here, I have learned that there are diverging definitions of geography, but then we find
similarities and uniqueness among them.
For example, the second and fourth divides of geography may actually intersect with each
other because when we study about the relationship of human to its environment, chances are we
will also talk about how these people utilize what is in their environment, and by utilizing their
environment the earth systems science also becomes relevant since ancient humans used to seek
for the best place to settle their civilizations, mostly by presence of water bodies and fertile lands
where they can make ends meet for their living.
Also, these civilizations have also told us the stories of the places where they were
founded on, such as the Ancient Roman Empire where well-built marble buildings are
surrounding what used to be the town centers or the market places, thus revealing the sense of
place or the spatial organization that the Romans used to have.
Regarding the paradigms of geography, I was amazed that what we have been doing in
JPGS–UPD is a product of all the paradigms stated, since when we do ‘Contour: Mapping for the
People’, where we ask people of where their safe spaces have been situated on, what are the
stories behind their neighborhood, how have they been relocated to their temporary shelters, and
so on. Aside from doing interviews, we also do participatory mapping within the communities
we visit, auto photography, and other methods which I think coincide with the Humanistic and
Critical Realistic paradigm of geography.
Hence, now that I’m at my second year as a BS Geography student, these lessons have
just become a challenge to me to know more, and to be more subjected to my own paradigmatic
change, since there are more to be ‘mapped’ from the Queen of Sciences itself.