Title:  Associate Professor of Cultural Geography

E-mail Address:  jssmith7@ksu.edu

Address:                                                Phone:
            Department of Geography                                 (785) 532-3412 = Office Phone
            118 Seaton Hall                                                (785) 532-6727 = Department Phone
            Manhattan, KS  66506-2904                            (785) 532-7310 = Department Fax

Degrees Earned:

• 1997    Ph.D. (Geography)          Arizona State University
• 1990    M.A. (Geography)          Bowling Green State University
• 1988    B.A. (Social Science)      University of Northern Colorado

       Within the discipline of Geography I specialize in cultural and ethnic geography.  My research follows along the lines of Wilbur Zelinsky, Peirce Lewis, Donald Meinig, Terry Jordan, Daniel Arreola, "Pete" Shortridge, and William Wyckoff.  I seek to better understand geographical patterns of attachment to place / sense of community, the results of cultural interaction and change in the landscape, the symbolic meaning of the cultural landscape, diagnostic landscape features of ethnic groups, and the concept of "culture regions" (e.g. cultural/ethnic homelands, types of culture regions, methods to define culture regions).  I have focused principally on places in the greater U.S.-Mexico Borderlands where I have examined the cultural landscape and settlement patterns throughout the American Southwest and Mexico.

Research Interests:

• Sense of "Community" / Attachment to place
• Social stratification
  
• Cultural & ethnic interaction in place
• "Landscape" as diagnostic of cultural interaction & change
  
• Changes in Settlement morphology
• Culture regions (e.g. homelands, types of regions)

• American Southwest  &  U.S. - Mexico Borderlands
• Middle America (Mexico, Central America, Carribean)
  
• Mountainous West
  

• I am examining the impact that transnational migration and remittances are having on cultural traditions in a rural village in Zacatecas, Mexico.
• I seek to add to our understanding how class and ethnic interaction impact the character and personality of place.
• I am continuing to explore manifestations of local residents' attachment to place and sense of community (especially among the Hispano population of New Mexico and southern Colorado).
• Through my analysis of the cultural landscape and land use patterns, I am developing a typology of Hispanic settlements found throughout the upper Rio Grande region and northern New Spain.  One aspect of this ongoing research involves an examination of acequias (irrigation ditches) that permeate the area.
• My research also includes examining cultural and ethnic change in Latino communities throughout the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains.  I am particularly intrigued with the cultural/ethnic/religious changes occurring in urban Kansas (e.g. Oakland neighborhood of Topeka), rural southwestern Kansas (meat-packing towns of the high plains) and "new west" tourist towns (e.g. Telluride and Aspen, Colorado). 
  

• Smith, Jeffrey S. 2008. The Impact of Transnational Migration and Remittances on Quality-of-Life in Chalchihuites, Zacatecas. Journal of Latino-Latin American Studies 3(1):104-121.
  
• Smith, Jeffrey S. 2006. The Highlands of Contemporary Guatemala. FOCUS on Geography 49(1):16-26.
  
• Smith, Jeffrey S. 2004. The Colorado Connection. La Herencia 44(4):39.
  
• Smith, Jeffrey S. 2004. The Plaza in Las Vegas, New Mexico: A Community Gathering Place.  In Hispanic Spaces Latino Places, ed by D. D. Arreola, 39-53. Austin: University of Texas Press.
• Smith, Jeffrey S. 2004. Detached From Their Homeland: The Latter-day Saints of Chihuahua, Mexico. Journal of Cultural Geography 21(2):57-76.
• Smith, Jeffrey S. 2003. Cultural Geography: A Survey of Perceptions Held by Cultural Geography Specialty Group Members. Professional Geographer 55(1):18-31.
• Smith, Jeffrey S. 2002. Rural Place Attachment in Hispano Urban Centers. Geographical Review 92(3):432-451.
• Smith, Jeffrey S., Matthew R. Engel, Douglas A. Hurt, Jeffery E. Roth, and James M. Stevens. 2002. La Cultura de la Acequia Madre: Cleaning a Community Irrigation Ditch. North American Geographer  3(1):5-28.
• Smith, Jeffrey S. 2002. Cultural Displacement and Settlement Change in an Hispanic Region. In Geographical Identities of Ethnic North America, ed by M. Henderson and K. Berry, 172-193. Reno: University of Nevada Press.
• Smith, Jeffrey S. 2001. Los Hermanos Penitentes: An Illustrative Essay. North American Geographer 2(1):70-84.
• Blake, Kevin S. and Jeffrey S. Smith. 2000. Pueblo Mission Churches as Symbols of Permanence and Identity. Geographical Review. 90(3): 359-380.
• Smith, Jeffrey S. 1999. Anglo Intrusion on the Old Sangre de Cristo Land Grant. The Professional Geographer 51(2):170-183.
• Smith, Jeffrey S. 1998. Spanish-American Village Anatomy. Geographical Review 88(3):440-443.

Selected Honors & Awards:

• 2004 Presidential Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, Kansas State University
• 2001 William L. Stamey, Undergraduate Teaching Award, College of Arts and Sciences; Kansas State University
• 2001 Editors' Choice Award; The North American Geographer, Best Article of the Year.  Los Hermanos Penitentes: Illustrative Essay.
• 2000 William L. Stamey, Undergraduate Teaching Award, College of Arts and Sciences; Kansas State University

Courses I Teach:

• GEOG 100 - World Regional Geography (Fall 2008)
  

• GEOG 200 - Human Geography
  

• GEOG 495 - Senior Capstone Seminar (with Prof. Chuck Martin) (Fall 2008)
  

• GEOG 620 - Geography of Mexico, Central America, & Caribbean
  

• GEOG 709 - Geographic Field Research Techniques
  

• GEOG 720 - Geography of Land Use (Fall 2008)
  

• GEOG 790 - Seminar in Cultural Geography

• GEOG 870 - Seminar: the Master Weavers of Cultural Geography

• GEOG 870 - Seminar in Culture Regions

        Here is a link to some photos I have taken while doing my research:  Click Here

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