Target Demographic

August 21, 2011 7:24 PM

Documentaries and interesting reading on all aspects of demography for college juniors.

At the last possible second (as in, 36 hours before school starts) an adjuct instructor decided he didn't want to teach his completely full section of demography. I've been asked to "take one for the team" (with compensation, of course) and now, on zero notice, I'm getting ready to teach his class. Have I taught demography before? No. Do I know very much about demography? No.

I'm looking for interesting articles--i.e. things you might find in venues like the Atlantic Monthly or the Economist--about interesting things about demography. Migration, Immigration, Overpopulation, the greying of Western Society, China's one-child policy, anything.

I'd especially like to find documentaries or film on these topics. Your help is greatly appreciated.

posted by Crotalus to Education (7 answers total)

How about Hans Rosling's TED talks? I think there was one in 2006 and one in 2007. He animates statistical graphics in a way that I recall finding very striking the first time I saw it, and although I haven't rewatched them to refresh my memory, I think the topics are basically demographic in nature (things like how the number of births per woman is related to female life expectancy, how that relates to global poverty, etc.).
posted by ootandaboot at 7:40 PM on August 21, 2011

I was really impressed with this RSA lecture on The Pinch: How the Baby Boomers Stole Their Children's Future - and How They Can Give It Back. The whole book itself might be worth looking at.

Are you working in the U.S.? You might let them play around with ZipSkinny.

Don't forget to check the blue's demographics tag.
posted by gerryblog at 7:51 PM on August 21, 2011

In terms of prejudice towards immigrants check out this documentary on Sacco and Vanzetti:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W--fWFAOtWM&fmt=18
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacco_and_Vanzetti


Perhaps check out seedmagazine and the authors of the articles you like. Click on the gray tags on the left side to browse around.
http://seedmagazine.com/content/article/is_population_a_problem/
http://seedmagazine.com/content/tag/population/
posted by Mr. Papagiorgio at 9:02 PM on August 21, 2011

The Current, on CBC Radio, has been airing a series called Project Shift. It looks at the changing demographic mostly in Canada but also internationally. The focus is individual stories that provide context for the bigger picture of the aging population, etc.
http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/shift.html
posted by lulu68 at 10:28 PM on August 21, 2011

What are the texts for this course? I presume they've been selected already, and some students have bought them. That will shape, to some extent, your supplementary material.

It will also help me track down some PDFs for you.
posted by bilabial at 5:26 AM on August 22, 2011

Response by poster: Bilabial: The text is a standard demography primer, centered mostly on formal demography with chapters on mortality, fertility, migration, blah blah blah. I'm more interested in social demography, and helping the students see why demography matters, and how demography affects business decisions, and how it influences policy making at all levels of government. The videos of the various talks that others have suggested above are the kinds of things I want to emphasize.
posted by Crotalus at 1:38 PM on August 22, 2011

To guarantee a lively discussion, you could use Shall the Religious Inherit the Earth? by Eric Kaufman. The link is to the website for the book, but there are lots of articles and videos linked there if you don't care to assign a whole nother book. I wouldn't be surprised if police protection were required to discuss those ideas in public.
posted by Corvid at 6:25 PM on August 22, 2011