January 19, 2011 | Jessica Folkema The class title, "The
Geography of Terrorism,” had many students at hello, said Calvin
professor of geology and geography Jason VanHorn. “I think the
title alone caught a lot of students’ attention,” said VanHorn.
“Some were brought here by a love of geography, but others came
just to find out what on earth do geography and terrorism have
to do with one another?” Over the duration of the three-week
interim study, VanHorn’s students learn the history of
terrorism, create maps using Geographic Information Systems
(GIS) technology and grapple with the question “what is a
Christian perspective on terrorism and counterterrorism?” “There
aren’t a lot of geographers studying terrorism,” VanHorn
chuckled. “This collaboration of technologies is in its infancy.
But I think there is so much to learn from it. I’m profoundly
curious about what geography as a discipline has to say about
terrorism.” Each class period is divided into two parts: a
lecture on a particular facet of terrorism t