Is this Geography?

I still struggle to figure out what the boundaries of this new discipline are. After some readings, I emailed a test idea to one of my teachers.

My email:

Let me try this out--I'm still trying to "feel" what Geography would do in given circumstances.

Say I did a project studying The Berg, framed in terms of land-use. Specifically the Berg as a site of cultural resistance to the insatiable "hunger" of the University to expand and claim all the land on its periphery. (hunger might have to be defined in expansion proposals, long-term plans, property bids, threat of eminent domain seizures, etc.)

A parallel case, The Shack and the various small businesses previously where the Alum Center is now (including a rather popular Sub Shop)--these businesses failed to resist the University demands, despite the cartoon art link and some alumni support. The Berg, even after burned to the ground, remains in place today.

I would speculate that there is a tension in land-use here, between the University and various centers of cultural resistance: The Berg (with extensive alum support), Shakespeares (similar popularity), the 9th St. Methodist Church, and the Missouri Theater (extensive art community support, overlapping with UM faculty). These seem to be centers that limit UMC expansion in this direction, although there have been inroads with the Henkel Bldg (7th St?), new J-school property north of Elm, and the Hitt St parking garage. The former blood bank, behind the Berg, didn't survive, though it's tied up in some dispute between the landlord and the need to widen an alley, move an electric grid, and big expenses.

So, if I looked at how and why the Berg has been able to stay in place--is that Geography? Or have I drifted into naive Sociology, or Anthro, or even the porous domain of American Studies?

The response:

The short answer is yes, absolutely: this is Geography. I like the idea of studying the cultural politics of the University-downtown/residential border in general; you could then pick out places like the Berg as case studies of a broader tension there at the "borderlands." I also think that these "borderlands" also exhibit a cultural politics of walking/pedestrian versus car use ... so you could extend your cultural-geographic interpretation of this distinctive landscape into other areas beyond real-estate/expansionism.

Progress...