Ron Mitchelson - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Ron Mitchelson

The Professional Geographer, Nov 1, 2007

World residents to a sense of collective mission independent from geographically far-removed bure... more World residents to a sense of collective mission independent from geographically far-removed bureaucracies. Chapters titled ‘‘Geography Textbooks and Reading the National Character’’ and ‘‘Novel Geographies of the Republic’’ account for the role geography texts performed in creating citizens of the emerging nation and demonstrate why geographical context was so crucial in early novels. A chapter is devoted to the difficulties encountered by Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark and the Corps of Discovery in melding formal governmental demands and a European-based understanding of geography with the structure of Native American geographic knowledge, and how the consequent popular and scientific accounts of their geographic encounter with the North American continent, including both narrative and cartographic expressions, fed a constant public revisioning of the nation as a geographically grounded entity. The final chapter interprets the role that geography classroom instruction performed among the general citizenry during this period in legitimating the mandates of a republican empire that would replace native cultures, and their geographies, and become continental in scope. Each of these chapters stands as both an independent essay and as part of an integrated argument concerning the role geographic literacy performed as an agent in early American society. We know quite a bit about how professional mapmakers plied their trade of creating cartographic images during this period, and somewhat less about the act of crafting geographical narratives. Attempts to disclose how these two strains combined to establish a societal-level geographical discourse—spoken, written, and drawn, as with maps—and to then discern their consequences are much rarer. In tackling this latter task, Brückner reconstructs how geographical knowledge was crafted through the integration of textual narrative and cartographic image and then addresses their resultant impacts as a literary critic. He takes seriously both the construction of geographic images that text and map combined to produce and the consequences of particular constructions. Even school geography texts receive serious consideration, something rare among geographers to date, but if their importance in shaping world views is as great as Brückner contends, this literary genre demands renewed attention by geographers as well. One may disagree with Brückner’s literary techniques and with some of his conclusions, but geography stands in his debt for the creative manner in which he has engaged this important task. His demonstration of the consequences of the construction and uses of geographical knowledge in early America suggests that similar approaches might shed valuable light on today’s America as well.

This is the conference record for the Housing and Disaster Recovery in North Carolina conference ... more This is the conference record for the Housing and Disaster Recovery in North Carolina conference held at East Carolina University on May 16-17, 2002.

After the welcoming remarks, Dr. Kain introduced the first panel theme of communication and intro... more After the welcoming remarks, Dr. Kain introduced the first panel theme of communication and introduced the speakers. Her presentation, Social Media Management Systems (not included in the video), overviews the tools that social media managers can use on multiple platforms and apps. She demonstrates the software managers Tweetdeck and Hootsuite

Southeastern Geographer, 2011

The Professional Geographer, 1981

Cooperative effort among electrical energy utilities is one possible response to increasing stres... more Cooperative effort among electrical energy utilities is one possible response to increasing stress on generation and transmission systems. Increased interregional flows are a direct consequence of cooperative efforts. Any inefficient electrical flows that may occur among cooperating utilities represent a real cost to society because energy is lost. The Southeast region of the United States provides an ideal situation for investigating the efficiency of flows of electricity. The out-of-kilter algorithm (OKA) is applied to the electrical system of the Southeast abstracted as a graph. Flows are analyzed under various assumptions concerning generative efficiency. Texas and Florida are established as areas where cooperative efforts are inhibited by lack of transmission capacity under possible stress.

Charlotte as Memory and Knowledge Community in nascar n June 19, 1949, the Charlotte Speedway hos... more Charlotte as Memory and Knowledge Community in nascar n June 19, 1949, the Charlotte Speedway hosted nascar's first official race of “strictly stock” cars, serving as the inaugural event for a division that ultimately grew into the prominent Sprint Cup Series operating today. Although modest by current standards, the Charlotte Speedway was larger than many other tracks in the South at the time. It was a three-quarter-mile, slightly banked dirt track. The race attracted a crowd of over twenty thousand spectators who watched thirty-three ...

The Professional Geographer, Nov 1, 2007

World residents to a sense of collective mission independent from geographically far-removed bure... more World residents to a sense of collective mission independent from geographically far-removed bureaucracies. Chapters titled ‘‘Geography Textbooks and Reading the National Character’’ and ‘‘Novel Geographies of the Republic’’ account for the role geography texts performed in creating citizens of the emerging nation and demonstrate why geographical context was so crucial in early novels. A chapter is devoted to the difficulties encountered by Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark and the Corps of Discovery in melding formal governmental demands and a European-based understanding of geography with the structure of Native American geographic knowledge, and how the consequent popular and scientific accounts of their geographic encounter with the North American continent, including both narrative and cartographic expressions, fed a constant public revisioning of the nation as a geographically grounded entity. The final chapter interprets the role that geography classroom instruction performed among the general citizenry during this period in legitimating the mandates of a republican empire that would replace native cultures, and their geographies, and become continental in scope. Each of these chapters stands as both an independent essay and as part of an integrated argument concerning the role geographic literacy performed as an agent in early American society. We know quite a bit about how professional mapmakers plied their trade of creating cartographic images during this period, and somewhat less about the act of crafting geographical narratives. Attempts to disclose how these two strains combined to establish a societal-level geographical discourse—spoken, written, and drawn, as with maps—and to then discern their consequences are much rarer. In tackling this latter task, Brückner reconstructs how geographical knowledge was crafted through the integration of textual narrative and cartographic image and then addresses their resultant impacts as a literary critic. He takes seriously both the construction of geographic images that text and map combined to produce and the consequences of particular constructions. Even school geography texts receive serious consideration, something rare among geographers to date, but if their importance in shaping world views is as great as Brückner contends, this literary genre demands renewed attention by geographers as well. One may disagree with Brückner’s literary techniques and with some of his conclusions, but geography stands in his debt for the creative manner in which he has engaged this important task. His demonstration of the consequences of the construction and uses of geographical knowledge in early America suggests that similar approaches might shed valuable light on today’s America as well.

This is the conference record for the Housing and Disaster Recovery in North Carolina conference ... more This is the conference record for the Housing and Disaster Recovery in North Carolina conference held at East Carolina University on May 16-17, 2002.

After the welcoming remarks, Dr. Kain introduced the first panel theme of communication and intro... more After the welcoming remarks, Dr. Kain introduced the first panel theme of communication and introduced the speakers. Her presentation, Social Media Management Systems (not included in the video), overviews the tools that social media managers can use on multiple platforms and apps. She demonstrates the software managers Tweetdeck and Hootsuite

Southeastern Geographer, 2011

The Professional Geographer, 1981

Cooperative effort among electrical energy utilities is one possible response to increasing stres... more Cooperative effort among electrical energy utilities is one possible response to increasing stress on generation and transmission systems. Increased interregional flows are a direct consequence of cooperative efforts. Any inefficient electrical flows that may occur among cooperating utilities represent a real cost to society because energy is lost. The Southeast region of the United States provides an ideal situation for investigating the efficiency of flows of electricity. The out-of-kilter algorithm (OKA) is applied to the electrical system of the Southeast abstracted as a graph. Flows are analyzed under various assumptions concerning generative efficiency. Texas and Florida are established as areas where cooperative efforts are inhibited by lack of transmission capacity under possible stress.

Charlotte as Memory and Knowledge Community in nascar n June 19, 1949, the Charlotte Speedway hos... more Charlotte as Memory and Knowledge Community in nascar n June 19, 1949, the Charlotte Speedway hosted nascar's first official race of “strictly stock” cars, serving as the inaugural event for a division that ultimately grew into the prominent Sprint Cup Series operating today. Although modest by current standards, the Charlotte Speedway was larger than many other tracks in the South at the time. It was a three-quarter-mile, slightly banked dirt track. The race attracted a crowd of over twenty thousand spectators who watched thirty-three ...