The topic of regionalism manifests itself in many ways around the world. In many areas of Europe and Asia, for example, political geographers study regionalist movements that are often quite violent as ethnic or religious minorities seek autonomy or independence from the state within which they happen to live. Later chapters, for example, explore the cases of the Basques in Europe and Aceh in Indonesia, both of whom have seen periods of sometimes intense violence accompanying the quest for autonomy or independence. In other cases, these movements are carried out on official political fronts, as has been the case with Scottish autonomy from England. And when Slovakia broke away from the Czech Republic, there was no violence at all.

Violent or not, all of these cases share one thing in common: the people concerned have felt that they are genuinely different, as a group, from the nation in which they happen to live. Such differences are most apparently felt along ethnic or religious lines. In the case of Scotland, perhaps, they're felt as an accumulated sense of historical difference.

In this unit, you're asked to consider the case of Cascadia, a regionalist movement of various persuasions comprising the US states of Oregon and Washington, and the Canadian province of British Columbia. The interesting thing about Cascadia is that it seems to represent different things to different people. Three versions of Cascadia are offered by the following three Web sites: the somewhat tongue-in-cheek "official Web site" for the Republic of Cascadia, the more serious Cascadia Project of the Discovery Institute, and the so-called Cascadia Institute, which is a Seattle University sociology professor's project, not to be confused with an institute by the same name based in Vancouver, BC (which does not have a Web site, but is similar to the Discovery Institute in terms of its goals).

First of all, examine the Web sites, and then consider the questions below before going to the activity.

Some initial questions:

• In what ways do the visions of Cascadia in each of these three sites differ?
• How are these differences represented cartographically?
• What are the assumed commonalities that Cascadians share, according to each site?

Digging deeper:

• What is bioregionalism? Which site is advocating a bioregionalist definition of Cascadia? In what ways is a bioregional Cascadia different from the Discovery Institute's Cascadia?
• Consider the Discovery Institute's Cascadia Project in greater depth. What are the main objectives of the project? How are these objectives related to the broader theme of globalization? In many ways, the idea of Cascadia reflects how globalization often brings about new regional geographies that threaten to change our map of the world. Comment on this observation.

Regionalist Activity:

Since the inhabitants of the Pacific Northwest seem so willing to imagine themselves inhabiting a new regional geography, you can now do the same! This activity asks you to invent a new region that crosses state and/or national borders, and to create a description of that region along the lines of the Republic of Cascadia Web site.

1. Map your region and give it a name. For blank maps of the United States and the rest of the world, go to National Geographic's Expeditions Atlas. Download and print the appropriate base map and use it to create your own map of your own region.

2. Design a flag for your region

3. Indicate population, and other appropriate statistics for your region. For example, if your region is made up of several states, you can go to official state web pages to get basic data you need: http://www.state.??.us, where ?? is the two-letter postal abbreviation for your state, such as co for Colorado or me for Maine. For different countries, you'll need to dig a little deeper by finding official government sites for the relevant countries and regions.

4. On a separate paper, write a "Manifesto" for your region. It should basically address the question: Why should your region be recognized or why is it demanding independence?

5. Also on a separate paper, answer the question: Does your region reflect how globalization often brings about new regional geographies that threaten to change our maps of the world?