Chpt 23 Considering the Evidence 4/21

    As the semester is winding down this is the last chapter in the book in which we had to review. Taking a look back on the world economy and how it has come to function. It has been interesting to watch. Not much of the 21st century remains left untouched by globalization. In fact much of everything we touch is indeed a result of globalization. Although much of the westernized world has taken this globalization for granted that isn't the case in much of the rest of the world. Many countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America still struggle in making their own economies and for much of the their basic necessities. In these visual sources I was given a picture of how many people perceived the economies.
    In the first visual source the picture was of to people on a bike riding through the orchard in china. It almost was a lackadaisical character of how the elite would view globalization and how the are not too affected by the financial need. The second visual was extremely powerful representing death and a sign stating that globalization was exploiting the people and the nature of trades. this was actually very common in the east portion of the world and was extremely dramatic.

Religion and Global Modernity 4/16

      Another type of globalization that began to take place was the shaping of today's modern religions. This chapter was interesting because to most "advanced" thinkers of the enlightenment period actuall believed that religion was going to phase out of exisitance, and society would turn to a much more scientific/ communist role. For the most part during that time this actually seemed to be true, countries like France, Britain, and the Soviet Union all saw a decline in the amount of religious practices, another big factor was that smaller countries were actually placing a higher emphasis on school.
      But despite all the belief of religion not playing out, Buddhism, Christianity, and Islamic religions played huge parts in the political area as in the societies they were accepted into, they were also very adept at spreading themselves into other countries. Through out the west popular activities such as yoga, and meditation have spread down the line branching from Buddhism. By the 20th century countries like Chine began to embrace religions like Christianity, making it the first religion to actually make up for 62% of European religious culture. Another large part of the expand religious modernization was called fundamentalism, which seemed to be adopted in part by almost all religious groups. This fundamentalism was considered the embattled form of spirituality, which in large part was very symbolic to the people because it was considered to be good verses evil.
      As the evolutions of religions continues, to this day it appears that we have a society that is lead by its own personal views. Over time the religions themselves have morphed into what they have become today with the advancement of fundamentalism but with all these adaption it is still very obvious that our world s still a very religious society.

Feminist Movement 4/14

Duringhe last century large ideas have been circulating around the globe. None are more powerful than the idea of liberation, and to that extent the libration of women. It is hard to live in a world where women are not as hinder by men as in other countries, but with the concept of globalization comes the meshing of cultures, and with this meshing comes women with the idea of freedom. In the 1960's civil rights lead African Americans , and Hispanic Americans to rise up, In western Europe people were also driven by civil rights but this was more so for the women. Books became the driving force for all campaigns. Authors such as Simon Beauvoir arugued that women had long been classified by the other weaker sex, in effort to help establish rights over their bodies women also signed documents stating they had undergone abortions which at the time was illegal.
       Women were trying to identify with the feminist mysitic which argued that they were unsatisfied with motherhood and marriage and in an effort to escape those boundries they took on the feminist movement to educate themselves and create jobs for themselves.
      This is a far cry from what women now days see themselves as. It is eye opening and expressive.

Primary Sources of Islam 4/11

Tonight's reading was on the Primary Sources of Islam, it was the collection of four reading as well as four visual sources that gave the class first hand knowledge as to what the people of Islam viewed and felt at that time. This reading was also part of my hour long class presentation and so I was really in tune to what the authors had to say.
       Each of the four reading was interesting because they each held a different view point as to the turning points in the Islamic world. The first author Ayatollah Khomeini, was especially diligent in trying present his own views to the public. He believe that the Imperialist were the source of the problems for the Muslim people that they're goal was an effort to keep his people in a backwards state to which they would be able to exploit them.
        My favorite author was actually the last, she supported the feminist movement. Hirsi Ali was a young woman who grew up in the Islamic movement and was very supportive of it until her father tried to force her into an arranged marriage, during this point in her life she was actually able to pull away from her faith and explore the different options such as atheism, as well as becoming more politically active.
        In this way we are able to see two sides of how people perceived the Islamic movement as well as how it affected their every day lives. The visual sources are also ways in which people expressed their view on how affected their every day lives. In visual 22.3 Jewish immigrants expressed their thankfulness for giving back their promise land.

The Ending of an Era 4/4/14

This chapter in the book was about the political aspects of Africa and Asia in in the 1900's, and how after such little time they seemed to disappear!Why did these two growing countries seem to just melt away from the political landscape in the 20th century? I believe that much of this had to do with their independence of the European nations. They were at a time when trying to assert their cultures as well as gain independence from Europe seemed to bring them down instead of boost them up. This was during the Colonial Era, and during a time when other countries like Russian, and Austria seemed to be falling. They had a sort of self-determination to build themselves up. It seemed that as Countries like the United States, and parts of Europe gained in dominance the ideas of self-government became less wide spread, Africa and Asia were given chances to prove themselves because of the 20th century gave out a large boom of educated elites who were well versed in European culture. During this time also came the following of widespread ordinary people who wanted to follow the dream.The more urbanized these Africa and Asia became the more interesting they were to other European Countries. The struggles to develop these countries grew as men such as Gandi, Ho Chi Minh, and Mandela all strives to improve Africa and Asia, over time these movements helped to make alliances between different classes and ethnic groups.

Collapse at the Center 3/24/14

Today's reading was interestingly enough about the first World War, which lead history into its very next segment.We know it was basically a European war that eventually branched out to the rest of the world but people often forget that it also was part of the great depression, the rise of Germany and Hitler, as well as adding on to WW2. Why did this happen? Well I like how the book has put into perspective that by the 1900's most of the World was under the government of the Europeans, as their massive empire as well as influence spread, it didnt exactly ice their cake with neighboring rivials such as the Italians and Germans. These other countries were also seeking to gain power as form little groups. These groups were ment to bring peace to the countries and help prevent strife but in 1914 Sebrians assisnated the Hungarian heir which was part of the starting point to the first world war.

Changing China 3/21

Todays post was on the documents written by the chinease after the first Opium War. The document that I believe I liked the best was that of the Editorial on China's Examination System. This document goes into great detail about the hardships students had to go through in order to obtain there robes and graduate. It really made me laugh when talking about their hair turning with, and them having to spend part of the year toiling in class and the other half struggling with their families. The most difficult they seem to say was the eight-legged essay, with emphasises the european influence through their country. Another document that I thought really tied into was Gender, Reform, and Revolution. In this section womens roles also seemed to crop up and have the people question where traditional marriages would still be the same or if yearly contracts would instead replace them. The most important womens rights activsit at the time was Qiu Jin. She left her family in the pursuit of education, and started some revolutionary circles. These to documents are just a simple part of the entire Chinease Revolution, much because of the Opuim War, as well as the dependance on the European governments, China found themselves with overpopulation, and large areas of poverty.