A World of Difference: Society, Nature, Development

Drawing upon a full range of geographic knowledge, this engaging volume assesses the nature and causes of global inequality and critically examines contemporary approaches to economic development. Readers are encouraged to rethink their presuppositions about how development works as they gain a deeper understanding of the interacting dynamics of cultural practices and norms; biophysical factors such as climate, population, and natural resources; and economic and political processes--all of which have led to the present-day disparities between the first and third worlds. Enhanced by a wealth of original empirical data, diagrams, and maps, the book provides the broad-based tools students need to understand what local life is like in the less developed world, why conditions are the way they are, and how marginalized groups can be empowered to participate as equals in the analysis and work of development.

Philip W. Porter, PhD, is Professor of Geography at the University of Minnesota. His research, concentrated mainly in east Africa, has combined themes in cultural ecology, physical geography, political economy, and social theory.

Eric S. Sheppard, PhD, is Professor of Geography at the University of Minnesota. His research interests include economic and social theory, the geographical underpinnings of political and economic processes, and development dynamics from the urban to the global scale.