Barry A. Vann
![Vann in 2017](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/BarryVann2017.jpg)
Professor Vann's other important academic works include ''Rediscovering the South's Celtic Heritage''; ''In Search of Ulster-Scots Land: The Birth and Geotheological Imaginings of a Transatlantic People''; ''Geography Toward History: Studies in the Mediterranean Basin and Mesopotamia'' (with Ellsworth Huntington); ''The Forces of Nature: Our Quest to Conquer the Planet'' and ''Presbyterian Social Ties and Mobility in the Irish Sea Culture Area, 1610–1690''. ''Climate Change in History: A Geotheological Perspective'' (2020) uses biblical and qur'anic narratives and paleoclimatological studies to help establish dates for those respective writings. Narratives in the sacred texts also highlight how ancient people understood weather and climate and help modern scholars see how much climate has changed over a 3800-year span of time.
Professor Vann has been a guest on a number of radio and television shows, including BBC Scotland; Fox News Channel's "Spirited Debate" with Lauren Green; Ecotopia with Susan and Stephen Tchudi;"Science Fantastic" with Professor Michio Kaku; the "Mancow Experience"; "Point of Inquiry" with Josh Zepps; BBC Two; Northern Visions TV in Belfast, Northern Ireland; and PBS-"Tennessee Life." His articles and reviews have appeared in the ''Huffington Post''; the ''Journal of Transatlantic Studies''; the ''Journal of American History''; ''Geography of Religions and Belief Systems''; the ''Journal of Historical Sociology''; ''Human Resource Development Quarterly''; and the ''SBS (Swiss Business School) Journal of Applied Business Research'', among others. The conceptual framework Vann uses to analyse the relationship between belief systems and spaces, including nations and towns is called geotheology (the general relationship between the worship of the divine and spaces, including nations). Geotheology is a concept conceived by geographer John Kirtland Wright (1891–1969). Recognizing the limits of Wright’s taxonomy in describing how people view the forces of nature as mechanisms through which divine agents deliver punishments and rewards on wayward or deserving people, Vann added geotheomisthosis (earth, God, reward) and geotheokolasis (“earth, God, punishment”). To capture the ways in which secular people see human environmental interactions, Vann coined geokolasis (earth punishes) and geomisthosis (earth rewards). In addition to work in the area of geotheology, Vann has also contributed insights into the interface between history and geography, as well as issues related to overpopulation and environmental hazards. Vann obtained his Ph.D. in Historical Geography, dually awarded by the faculties of Church History and Earth and Geographical Sciences, from the University of Glasgow and also holds a Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) in adult education with a focus in community development from the University of Arkansas. He received an M.S. in Geography from Western Kentucky University and a B.S. in Social Sciences from Tennessee Technological University. He also received an A.S. from Roane State Community College and was selected for their 2012 Outstanding Alumni award. Although a distant relative of Cherokee Chief James Vann and comedian Will Rogers, Professor Vann’s early life was typical of poor families living in southern Appalachia in the mid-twentieth century. He was born Barry Walker, son of a single mother, in Clinton, Tennessee, on 30 March 1960. The home in which his family lived did not have plumbing, and heat was provided by wood fuel or coal burned in a stove. His parents were Dorothy A. Voyles (b. 1934) and Harry Mack Vann Jr. (1935–2010), but he was raised by Rufus (1912–1995) and Vernedith Voyles (1919–1999), his maternal grandparents. Vann did, however, live at times with his mother, stepfather, and four siblings in Detroit, Michigan. According to Vann in an interview on “Science Fantastic” in 2012, it was his childhood experiences travelling to and from his mother’s neighbourhood in Detroit that inspired him to become a geographer. At age 14, Vann sought out his birth father and, with his consent, took his surname at age 20. Professor Vann and his wife Amy have two children, Sarah and Preston. Provided by Wikipedia
1
Published: [2009]
Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Gorgias Press Backlist eBook-Package 2001-2013
Links: Get full text; Get full text; Cover