A Day in the Life of a Retired Political Geographer

Brief Biography

I have had the good fortune to be able to travel widely and often—always on my own dollar so that I would be completely independent. In addition to my primary travels in East and Central Asia, especially China, I took cruises in the Mediterranean so that I could get some sense of what ancient mariners faced and saw. I learned to study ship design as well as coastal navigation (e.g. there are no visible land markers for the Nile and Egypt; Phoenicians and Greeks geographically divided their control/influence over the Mediterranean).

To gain safe access to places in China, I led tours. I also lectured to train guides for China's National Travel Service. This gave me safe access to many places the average tourist could not visit. The best was a chance to visit where the Grand Canal crosses the Yellow River (whose muddy bottom is 10 metres above the plain and canal).

When possible I tried to visit new, mostly non-European places every year or on my return from China or Mongolia. The Middle East and Mediterranean held special fascination because of their ancient history and rich diversity of people and technologies. There is not enough space to list all the insights I have gained from these travels.

My BA was in East Asian Studies from Pomona College (1960). My PhD was in Geography and Chinese Studies from the University of Washington (1964). Geography met my desire for a Renaissance-like education. My first position was at UC Santa Barbara (1963). I moved to Kansas with a joint appointment in East Asian Studies and Geography in 1966. I became Chair of the Geography Department in 1996 and retired in 2003. My regional training and focus was China and Central Asia. My topical focus was on guerrilla warfare and began with my Dissertation on how the Chinese Communists used geographic tactics to further political ends. The model that emerged clearly applied to other regions—and even other times. Invitations came to apply the model to events in Africa and the Middle East. It is a model that has been effective in analysis and even prediction. An invitation to accept an honorary membership in the Mongolian Academy Sciences—Geography, led to visits and field study there.

Current events in China and the South China Sea, as well as the impact of ISIS/ISIL and its creation of a proto-modern state provide ample focus for continued political geographic analysis. Finally, my interest in the Mediterranean Basin and its ancient cultures has meant lots of on-site visits to Megaliths, and ancient Phoenician, Greek, and Roman ports and colonies.