10.1 Overview

Introduction

During this course, we have introduced you to a variety of geographical concepts that have some bearing on intelligence, military operations, and human security. We started with foundational human geographic concepts such as space, place, and scale, then applied these to identity, nationalism, cultural landscapes, mobility, and migration.

We want to end this course by examining two things. First, we will examine how place and scale interact in the concept of home — by emphasizing its multiscalar nature, and by discussing domicide. In this part of the lesson, you might notice that all of the concepts that we’ve been working with so far become interwoven in a complex tapestry of space and meaning. Second, we want to consider what it means for home (at the broader scales) to be peaceful. To that end, we introduce geographies of peace. We examine different ways of characterizing peace and its presence or absence in the national curriculum in several nations worldwide.

Upon completion of this lesson, you will be able to:

1. Critique the discursive and scalar use of home by geopolitical agents during conflict.
2. Evaluate scaled expressions of lived experiences of home by people in conflict.
3. Contrast discourses of home by major geopolitical agents and civilian lived experiences of home.
4. Evaluate geopolitical discourses of home that are intended to promote peace.