12/13/2009
A. What was the importance (or infamy) of Bunce Island?
Bunce Island was home to a British slave castle. The slave castle was one of the largest in West Africa. The castle exported many Africans to America. Africans from the Bunce Island slave castle had a lot of experience in growing rice. Most of these Africans were taken to the southern colonies of America for their rice growing abilities.
B. Who was Edward Hopper and why was he important?
Edward Hopper is one of the most famous realist painters in America. Hopper influenced many artists through his work. He is most famous for his painting entitled Nighthawks. Many of his paintings including this one represent loneliness.
C. Who was Telemann?
Telemann is a composer of one of the pieces we heard at the symphony. He was known as one of the greatest German composers of all time. People would travel from all over Europe just to hear his work and this was during a time when most would not travel far from their homes for anything.
D. What was India's Great Kumbha Mela Pilgrimage?
The Kumbha Mela Pilgrimage is a mass Hindu gathering that takes place four times every twelve years. It is the largest gathering in the world. At the gathering the people participate in a ritual bathing in the river near the city in which it takes place.
E. What is the Great Rift?
The Great Rift is located in East Africa. The land is eroding and could eventually break away from the continent of Africa. This intrigues scientists to find answers about climate change and human evolution.
F. What's a savanna?
A savanna is a warm grassland region. They are usually located in between a desert and a rainforest area. In Africa, the savanna is located between the Sahara desert and the Congo jungle.
G. What is Porte de L'Afrique?
Marseille, France is known as the Porte de L’Afrique. Porte de L’Afrique is Door of the Africa in French and that is exactly what Marseille is. Marseille is a port city in France and ships go back and forth between there and Africa.
H. Identify 3 ingenius innovations of the people of MesoAmerica.
1.Glyphs (form of writing)
2.Roadways and Canals
3.Terraces for agriculture
Question 2
Art can have a direct link to a society’s fundamental beliefs and actions. At the Art institute I saw many links between art and societal beliefs. In the Islamic art section I noticed that there were not any images of Muhammad or Allah. This also held true in the Islamic Center. This principle is a part of the Islamic beliefs that there should be no depictions of their God. When viewing the East African art at the Art Institute there were numerous depictions of Mary and other notable people of the Bible. East Africa was influenced by Christianity during the time the Art work was made. In the Christian faith, there are many pictures depictions from the bible. Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper is one example of an artwork from the Christian faith.
At the DuSable Museum, the first artwork we viewed was a large hand carved mural of the history of African Americans over the years. The work showed a reflection on each major influence to African Americans from the time of the slave trade to the present day. The guide at the DuSable mentioned that there are keys to finding meaning within a piece of art. The two major keys I remember are to look at the name and the date. By seeing these two things, it can tell someone a lot about what the meaning truly is. I did a search on the Nighthawks painting and found that it may have been painted right after the attacks on Pearl Harbor. If someone knows this information you might think that the people inside the restaurant are thinking to themselves about what has happened and what it all means. Nobody would notice this without the date of the painting.
The Spertus Museum contained numerous amounts of religious meanings in their forms of art. One of the first forms we were introduced to was the boxes that held the Torah. The art was different in each country that the box was made in. Another source of faith in art that I noticed was the Menorah. There were many different types of and art on the Menorahs that we saw.
Question 4
Reza Aslan felt that the problems in the Middle East are extremely complex and I whole heartedly agree. Aslan felt that Barack Obama was doing an outstanding job in Iran, but he stated that he is doing absolutely terrible in Palestine. Obviously terrorism is one of the main problems in the Middle East. Aslan felt that they way we are trying to diminish terrorism was all wrong. He stated that there are different types of terrorists. The ones that pose the biggest threat are the transnationalists. These are the terrorists that want global domination and will stop at nothing to get it. The other group is known as religious nationalists who feel that their religion is the best and that is all they care about. He felt that if we knew these things we could stop the biggest threats toward us.
Another major point Aslan made was how to stop these nations that are filled with terrorists. He felt they needed democracy. Democracy would solve all of the problems in these countries. He mentioned that these countries needed to learn to fail. They need to learn to vote for the correct leaders and if it takes them failing then so be it. After a few elections they will eventually learn. I like the idea of this, but it also poses a problem and thankfully someone asked the question during the session. The question posed was about democracy and how the lack of education in these countries would affect that. Aslan responded by saying that the transnationalists are actually very intelligent. They are the ones who want to take over the world.
Since then I have been thinking about the subject. What about the other terrorists, aren’t they a problem too? I also think it is important that the uneducated populations of these countries have a say in the voting process, not just the transnationalists. I agree with Aslan on many of these ideas, but I believe one of the main characteristics of a democracy is an educated population. All that needs done is for these people to gain primary education: one of the Millennium Goals of the United Nations.
Posted at 8:11 PM by Daniel Roth