Community Based Learning Project

So I thought I would make this blog post  a little different and actually talk about what my class and more specifically, my group has been working on this semester for our CBL project. My group worked on a project called Freedom Sunday, but it more so took place on Saturday. This was about speaking up for those who are now free from sex slavery. My group and I did much preparation work for this project, we had many team meetings and I myself met with Father Tom many times to prepare with him what exactly we needed to do for this project. My group and I attended the Church services on both Saturday and Sunday and on Saturday we collected close to 300 dollars from people in the community who were willing to help our cause. This money will be going towards the Not For Sale club on campus and also to the Somali Mam Foundation to help educate the young girls who are now free from slavery. The second project I, Greyson, and Gio are working on is a bake sale on 4/20. It is Earth Day and although many people think 4/20 has an alternate meaning, we think this is a perfect day for a bake sale to raise money for our cause. SO EVERYONE COME TO THE FRONT OF THE CAFETERIA ON APRIL 20TH FROM 12-2 TO PURCHASE BAKED GOODS FOR OUR PROJECT!

Chapter 23

It is rather interesting because as I opened my book to read chapter 23, I actually looked at the book in some amazement becuase we are literally at the end of this text. I am so surprised because very rarely do you ever reach the end of textbooks in a class, so I was pretty excited, and also, this chapter deals with issues from modern day, something you rarely deal with in a world HISTORY class.

In this chapter, the end of Empire in World History. In 1900, European colonial empires in Africa and Asia appeared as permanent features of the worlds political landscape. Before the end of the 20th Century, they were all gone. The first major breakthrough occurred in Asia and the Middle East in the late 1940s, when India, Pakistan, Burma, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, and Israel achieved independence. From the 1950s to the 1970s, Africa gained their independence, colony after colony.
India also ended British rule in their country. There were attempts in early centuries to do this, but they never truly succeeded. Unlike previous rulers, the British never assimilated into Indian society due to their small sense of racial and cultural distinctiveness. This served to intensify Indians awareness of their collective difference from their alien rulers. There was a prominent role of Islam in Turkey and also in Iran. There were many experiements with Freedom during this period of about 100 years. There were attempts to create political order to contend with a set of common conditions. Populations were booming, and expectations for independence ran high, exceeding the available resources. Most delevoping countries were culturally diverse with a small amount of loyalty to the central state. Nonetheless, public employment ballooned as the state assumed greater responsibility for economic development. Colonial rule had been highly authoritarian and bureaucratic with little interst in African participation, during hthe 1950s, the British, French and Belgians attempted to transplant democratic institutions to their colonies. They created legislatures, permitted elections, allowed policial parties to operate, and in general anticipated the development of constitutional, parliamentary, multiparty democracies similar to their own.  By the early 1970s, there were very few regimes left among the new states of Africa, and many had led the struggle for independence. Those that did lost mass support and were swept away by military coups.

THE GREAT DEPRESSION

This is probably one of the most famous images of the Great Depression.

The Great Depression has always been a topic of interest for me to learn about. It is thought that the main causes of the Great Depression were the unequal distribution of wealth, overproduction in agriculture, war debts and high tariffs, and the stock market crash. The main effects can be summed up as: widespread hunger, poverty, and unemployment, a worldwide economic crisis, democratic victory in the next election, and the "New Deal".
The stock market crashed in 1929 and by the spring of 1933, unemployment had risen from 8 to 15 million, so almost doubling. The Great Depression finally ended when the federal government imposed rationing, recruited 6 million defense workers, drafted 6 million soldiers, and ran deficits to end World War 2.

A line of citizens trying to get welfare money or find jobs during the Great Depression

Chapter 20

Chapter 20 was all about colonial encounters. The century and a half between 1750 and 1900 was a second  round of European conquests. Germany, Italy, Belgium, the US, Japan, were new players in this scene of conquests. Europeans constantly had to fight long and hard to make their new Empires. The peoples of India and Indoensia colonial conquest grew out of early interaction with European trading firms.  There were lots of endless but peaceful negotiations among the Great Powers who were competing about "who got what" and there was lots of military action, sometimes lasting decades. Being under European rule was difficult for many people. Small scale societies crashed, there was a loss of life, and homes cattle, crops, and lands were devastated. Many men found employment, status, and security in European led armed forces. The shortage and expense of European administrators and the difficulties of communicating across cultural boundaries made it necessary for colonial rulers to rely heavily on a range of local intermediaries.
The Indian Rebellion of 1857-1858 was triggered by the introduction into the colony's military forces of a new cartridge smeared with animal fat from cows and pigs.

In some respects, European colonial empires were but the latest in a long line of imperial creations, all that had enlisted cooperation and experienced resistance from their subject peoples. European racism really affected those Whose western education and aspirations threatened the racial divide. Not only were Europeans foreign rulers, but they also led the way to a new life, which grew out of their own modern transformation. Just as in Europe, artisans suffered so much when cheaper machine manufactured merchandise displaced their own handmade goods.

Religion dramatically changed during the colonization. There was widespread conversion to Christianity and it took place in places like New Zealand, the Pacific Islands, and especially non Muslim Africa. As in the Americas, military defeat shook confidence in the old gods and local practices, fostering openness to new sources of supernatural power that could operate in the wider world now impinging on their societies.

"Collapse"

So recently in my history class, we read an excerpt from a book called "Collapse" written by Jared Diamond. In class, we talked about what kind of issue we would like to focus on that Diamond mentions in his book. I chose to write about protecting wildlife and conserving it. I feel like this is an extremely crucial point to talk about, and although it may be trite, I am going to talk about it more. The Earth has limited resources and every day we are taking more and more of it away. People wonder why we are running out of things and running out of land... the answer is simple, we are using it and abusing it. Also, something we talked about in class but I didn't actually get to speak about is the use of solar panels. Although a great technology, we really have to think about also , the materials that are used to make those. How much fossil fuel and raw materials are we using to make those? Are we doing more damage by making the panels than we are by using them to save electricity? We are trying to find so many alternate ways of saving energy or converting it, that we may actually be hurting the environment more by doing this. I have so many opinions about a lot of this that it would be hard to express it all in one blog, but truthfully, I feel that we only have one Earth, we need to respect it.

Feminism Debate

In class today, we had a debate about the pros and cons of the feminist movement. I found the arguments interesting and some of the points that I wanted to bring up, but didn't get a chance to, I thought I would bring them up now. There is this belief that men get paid more than women. In my macroeconomics class, we saw that technically, this is not true. The reason for this belief is that women, on average, have to take more time off, more days off,etc... to be home with the kids or to take care of the house issues. If a kid is sick , it is typically the mother that has to take off work and stay home, while the father stays at work. So on average, a mans paycheck will be larger than a woman's because she has to take more time off. Also, if it were not for women getting equal rights, men would not be constantly competing in the workforce for jobs, women provide an edge and a place for competition in the workplace, and this provides a setting for more quality work to come out of it, rather than men just being complacent with what they are doing. Men feel so entitled to coming home to a home cooked meal, the clothes being clean, dishes washed, house perfect, and for so long, women were responsible for all of this, but times have changed. Men are now being forced to either do some of that on their own, all on their own, or hiring someone else to do it. A good point was also brought up in class, that, since women have entered the workforce, wages for men have gone down, also college acceptance rates for men have decreased. This debate was very interesting,and I am sure, if given more time would have been more hashed out.

CHAPTER 20

This chapter spoke about the European movement throughout history and was really quite interesting. It was said that between 1750 and 1900, there was a second round of European conquests. This time, it was centered in Asia and Africa rather than in the West. There were more countries involved as well, Germany, Italy, Belgium, and the US, Japan, and then the Spanish and Portuguese had small roles. Europeans, it was said, had to fight to create their new empires. African and people of Asia incorporated very well into one another in the European empires. 

There were so many wars that were peaceful among the "Great Powers" during this time to see who would get what and there was lots of military action. People under European Rule had many complaints. It is said that the transition was a very "traumatic" experience for many. Small scaled societies suffered the most. In the textbook, it said that European colonies were some of the latest in a long line of imperial societies to be built. This chapter opened my eyes more to really how difficult the transition was for people to be under European rule, something I had never realized before. 

Chapter 19- China, the Ottoman Empire, and Japan

This chapter is all about troubles that happened internally and externally as well as threats that occured to all of the places mentioned, China, the Ottoman Empire, and Japan. China and Japan were not the only places that were facing the European expansion. Dealing with Europe was not the only thing that China and Japan were focused on though, they were trying to complete an Islamic revival. The encounters with Europe provided a reflection in which the people of Asia and Africa viewed themselves and they tried to transform their own cultures. There were four main parts of European imperialism that affected the societies. First was their huge military power and their political tenacity of the rival European states. Second, they became very immersed into the trading networks, investing, and sometimes migration that leaked out of a industrialist and capitalist Europe. Third, they were affected by certain parts of European culture, such as the fact that some learned to speak French, English or German, some converted to Christianity, or studied European literature also and philosophy. Also, some Asian people an Africans engaged in the culture of modernity.
It is said that a lot of the factors for Europes massive expansion was the fact that the Industrial Revolution had recently taken place. This process gave way to new economic needs, and the needs for raw materials and agricultural products.
The Industrial Revolution, although so important, had many ill effects on much of the Asian countries.

THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

This chapter was all about the Industrial Revolution in the period of the mid 1700s to the early 1900s.
THere was a huge boost in the rate of technological innovation, and it led to a huge increase in output of goods and services, and many new sources of energy were also founded. There is much question as to why the Industrial Revolution took part in Europe and there are reasons for it, one being that other areas of the world had previously experienced many times of lots of technological advancement previously. There were many economic things that aided Europe in becoming the powerhouse of this movement as well. Life expectancies, wages, the standard of living, free markets, and much more made Europe well suited. Britain is also a burning question. Britain was the "most highly commercialized of Europe's larger countries". British political life had encouraged commercialization and many innovations of economy. In Britain, in terms of the Scientific Revolution, it is said that they were very concerned more with observation and experiments, and very precise measurements and mechanical devices. I found an interesting quote in the book that said, "The social transformations of the Industrial Revolution both destroyed and created." This is interesting to me because typically, you only think of these things as being positive. Eric Hobsbawm, who was a historian said, "In its initial stages, it destroyed their old ways of living and left them free to discover or make for themselves new ones, if they could and knew how. But it rarely told them how to set about it." This is very interesting, but the point is well taken. Interestingly enough, it is said that the middle class benefited most from the industrial revolution. Women in the middle classes were typically made into homemakers, wives, and moms, and they were supposed to just wait on their men hand and foot, this changed a bit during the revolution. Also, the lives of the working class were changed as well because of the revolution.

Road of Lost Innocence

In continuing with my reading of the Road of Lost Innocence by Somali Mam, I am constantly amazed at how inhumane people can really be. The part that hurt me the most to read would have to be about the electric shocking and also the part about the snakes. I am still so amazed that some believe that having sex with a virgin will cure them of their diseases, and make them pure again. The level of "ignorance" so to speak has really gone to another level in reading this book. I also give Mam so much credit for being able to write about it herself. After reading about Mam's organization too on her website, I think she is a great person for helping others out that have been in her position. She went through this terrific ordeal and can still live to talk about it. She has turned a bad situation into a learning one and is really making a difference out there. Going back to the book again, the fact that so many young girls are just taught to obey the men that constantly rape them seems so wrong, and it pulls at your heart when you read it. I have read this book previously in my First Year Experience class, but reading it for the second time has opened my eyes so much to the amount of gruesome behavior some people can exhibit towards others.

Chapter 15- Global Commerce

Hey Guys,
So this past week,  I read chapter 15 in our text book and as my title states, it was all about Global Commerce. In terms of European and Asian commerce, the immediate motivation for the massive effort for trading was the desire for tropical spices, and the source of most of these goods was mostly in Muslim lands.
Europeans were required to pay cash for Asian spices or textiles which is not unusual.
The Portuguese  went ahead and created a "Trading Post Empire" which we discussed during class on Wednesday, which aimed to control commerce, not large territories. Spain happened to be the first to challenge Portugal's position.
I found it interesting but not unusual that the Dutch and English became heavily involved in trade within Asia and European political control was limited to the Philippines and some of the Spice islands. The silver trade that soon emerged gave birth to a global network of exchange. Africa and Asia were seen as middlemen basically and they took the American silver to Asia and competed with one another for a position in the market of Asia.
The Fur trade became a huge deal in global commerce during the early modern era. The fur trade was a highly competitive enterprise and increased demand for beaver furs. There was a huge population decline due to trading, and this essentially led to "mourning wars".
I learned that eventually many Native Americans grew dependent on European trade goods, which was no surprise to me at all. Something I did find interesting, probably only because it is such a huge part of our society today, is that alcohol was an extremely destructive import.
It was surprising to me also that Russian authorities imposed a tax or tribute on every Siberian male ages 18-50.
The Atlantic Slave trade came up in this chapter and again, as no surprise, it introduced elements of African culture.

Chapter 15 was very intriguing because I really learned about the trading routes and posts that were set up and how some of them can still affect us today.

Chapter 14- Empires and Encounters

Chapter 14 was all about Empires  and how they were successful and also many of their flaws. We learn about the Atlantic Slave trade and how it made a permanent link between Africa and the Western Hemisphere. There was also a global silver trade and it allowed Europeans to use the New World to make their way into Asian Trade Routes. After this trade route was more used, diseases were more easily spread and also ideas. One of the most important modern cultural development took place in Europe, which is where the Scientific revolution was transformed. Male dominance was found to be natural in most European cultures, and we still see this today, and I find it interesting that it has always been that way, but it is something that I expected.
In Russia, the largest territorial Empire, became a massive Russian and an Asian European power.
There were many modern empires, but those of Western Europe were very distinct because they were started by maritime voyages. The Spanish placed most of their focus in the Caribbean and in the early 16th Century, they turned to the mainland, with many conquests of the powerful Aztec and Incan Empires. Something I found interesting and had never heard about is called the "Great Dying" which was the demographic falling of Native American Societies. It is believed that Pre-Columbian population of the Western Hemisphere was possibly 60-80 million people, and 90% died due to the exposure of the European and African diseases brought about by Maritime trading. The Great Dying created a small shortage of labor and did not make room for immigrants. After slaves were put to use though, the calories that were coming from corn and potatoes helped increase the population from 60 million to 390 million in a matter of 500 years. The many societies that were created in the Americas were the starters of the process of globalization and recreated the world economy of the Modern Era. Mercantilism is something that became used in American societies. It was said that European governments served their countries economic interests best by encouraging exports and accumulating  metals.
When the Spanish conquest of the Azetc and Inca empires happened, this gave SPain access to the most wealthy, urbanized, and highly populated regions of the West. Mesitzos were given a name, and were a mixed race population. THe Spanish royalty actually encouraged settlers to marry into Indian families.
Sugar is believed to have transformed Brazil and the Caribbean, its production involved growing the sugarcane and processing it, and it was very labor intensive, but highly profitable.
Racial tensions were ever present and it existed in the sense that white characteristics and features were prized more highly than  their black counterparts.
The Russian empire stretched to the pacific and took hold in three centuries between 1500 and 1800. A growing line of wooden forts offered protection to frontier towns and trading centers. Over 3 centuries, Siberia and the steppes were incorporated into the Russian state, but Russia acquired their empire in a unique way other than many other Western Europeans did.
For a long time, China had interacted with the people of Mongolia, Singiang, and Tibet, making a close connection for discoveries. Many security issues motivated China's empire creation. Chinese or Qing officials didnt seek to assimilate local people into Chinese culture and showed respect for the Mongialin cultures.
The Muslims and Hindus in the Mughal Empire  used many brutal conquests. Akbar and his successors downplayed an Islamic identify to the Mughal empire. Eventually, it was renamed Istanbul and son became the capital city of the Ottoman Empire. .
European empires in the long run had a much heavier impact on the people they included.

Overall this chapter was very interesting and really broke down how the Empires worked and got started.

Post any comments if you have any  :)

Aloha!

Resources: Ways of the World- A Brief Global History. Robert W. Strayer

ALOHA!

Hey Everyone,
This is my blog for my World History 2 class for the Spring 2011 Semester! Stay posted!