Population and pedagogy: The geography classroom after Malthus

While introductory geographic curricula, as evidenced in popular texts, eff ectively introduce key concepts in population geography, many important iss ues and current debates are overlooked. This article offers a supplemental set of concepts and issues for use in introductory geography classes that s erve to make the classroom more current with trends in academic demography. It suggests that the teaching of population geography would benefit from 1 ) a reading and discussion of the actual words of Malthus in order to bette r understand the discourse of Malthusianism in its own time and in our own; 2) a more careful examination of fertility dynamics and behavior, particul arly the political and economic aspects of reproductive choice; and 3) a mo re specific engagement with issues of gender. Finally, the article suggests a classroom exercise to drive home these concepts for students and to more fully engage the teaching of a post-Malthusian geography.