Chapters 14 & 15

As a child, I remember learning about the Native American Indians and how Columbus “discovered” America. I also remember learning what a smart man he was for making such a great “discovery”. Many years later, I understood the above was incorrect—how can someone make the claim of discovering something when others had, in this case the American Indians, inhibited the area way before Columbus’s arrival? At the beginning of chapter 14, Strayer points out that in 1992, many Native Americans objected to any celebration of the 500^th anniversary of Columbus’s arrival in the Americas (Strayer 403). In my opinion, I too would resist to celebrate with the simple fact that Columbus didn’t make any significant discoveries and therefore should not be credited or be honored for such false statements. Also, if I were of Native American decent, although, I am of Mexican descent, I wouldn’t want to celebrate in honor of a person who opened the gates to so much devastation and suffering to the human race. In addition, the President of the Indigenous Women’s Network, Winona LaDuke, powerfully declared, “Columbus was a perpetrator of genocide…a slave trader, a thief, a pirate, and most certainly not a hero. To celebrate Columbus is to congratulate the process and history of the invasion” (Strayer 403). With the European’s entry into the Americas, old societies that had already been established were soon destroyed and new ones created. Columbus undoubtedly was seen as a bad person and for all a good reason. What surprised me the most was the vast death toll of the American Indians. Strayer points out that in pre-Columbus time, the population of the Western Hemisphere was around 60-80 million (Strayer 407). As Europeans continued to make their mark in the Americas, they brought with them new diseases that the Western Hemisphere had never been exposed to and as a result, a staggering 90% of Native American Indians died. Not only was there a devastating decline with the Native Americans, but also with those in Central Mexico where the population stood at 10 million before the arrival of Europeans and then declined to 1 million by 1650 (Strayer 407). How sad to learn that the Native Americans and Central Mexicans died innocently all because of other peoples greed to take over more land. My question is, what would life be like if the Europeans didn’t make it to the Americas? Would this world devastation still exist?

               To add insult to injury, as the decline of population continued, it created room for immigrants and African slaves to come to the Americas and continue the brutality of human kind. Not only did the Native Americans and the Mesoamerican population suffer, but now Europeans turned to Africa and began human trafficking over the Atlantic Ocean. In chapter 15, although I have learned this in other history classes, learned about the power the Europeans had over Africa and also the Philippines. It seems as if the more we discover and advance, the more savage we become as a human race. Will there ever be an end to all the madness in the world?

Chapter 11: Muslim religion and women

     No other chapter, thus far, has evoked so many different emotions in me like Chapter 11 has. Reading about the Muslim religion made me question why people believe what they believe. Please excuse my ignorance in advance, but I just don’t understand how people believe in getting closer to a higher being or place and still inflict pain and suffering to others. While reading the section about the Quran and the Muslim tradition, I was so surprised to learn that women in this religion are allowed to be beat by their husbands if they don’t obey them. That word alone, obey, makes me uneasy. Even when said in the Christian and Catholic religion when saying ones wedding vows, I shall obey” makes me feel so little as a woman and makes me feel angry at the same time. The above reminds me of the discussion we had in class about subjugation and whether we could avoid it and I can safely say we cannot. Even in religion, subjugation is evident in that Buddhist follow the teachings of the Buddha, although he doesn’t consider himself Divine, his followers are learning to be like him. It’s also evident in other religions like the Muslims who follow the way of Allah and what Allah says, Christianity, and Catholicism, just to name a few. As a non-practice Catholic, I try to avoid talks about religion for the reason that I don’t fully understand my own, let alone someone else's point of view. I find myself questioning who is God? Why am I following in the words of someone who I don’t know? Who really knows what God’s real words were and are? I know staying away from religion won’t answer these questions, but it sure avoids arguments and misunderstanding with those who are deep believers of their religion.

     Besides having so many feelings about the role of women in the Muslim religion, I found it interesting how women had the right to divorce their husbands if they were unsatisfied with their sex life or hadn’t had sexual relations for more than four months.  I also found it interesting that women are allowed to own their own property and business. Again, excuse my ignorance, why are men allowed to beat their women if they don’t obey but women are not allowed to beat their men if they don’t fulfill their husband roles? I’m sure there is no clear answer to why, but I hope that one day traditions will change for the sake of everyone, not just for specific people or religions.    

Blogg entry #3

Talk about a bold, but truthful statement, “China will be the next superpower.” As I read about China, which I had previously no idea about its history, really made me think what that statement might indicate. I wondered whether Strayer meant superpower, as in, industry, technology, education, political power and as I continued reading, what he meant was all of the above and then some. As mentioned before, I didn’t know much about the history of China and certainly had no idea of their ability to influence, so strongly, those around them until I finished reading this chapter,

            Sadly, China had the power to construct boundaries around their land, destroy habitats for expansion, displace freed animals such as the elephants, and exhaust resources due to wanting to conquer other areas around them. I say sadly because constructing boundaries to keep, as Strayer puts it, “barbarians” out of their territory created animosity amongst other people who once were able to wonder freely and now were facing a different way of moving around the world. Not only were things changing, but also China began the shift of putting an end to freedom and labeling places as, “this is my area, this is yours. So, stay out!” Also, with this new power, China began to expand and in doing so began to burn off forest land to construct homes and support their ever growing agriculture. Along with this migration came the displacement of animals that once roamed freely and now were being moved due to China’s disunity. These new ideas of being all Chinese also prompt the wanting of conquering surrounding areas. In doing so, they exhausted all their resources and in turn created other problems. As time advances, we can clearly identify where problems began and how history continues to repeat itself. Now, not only do we continue to claim areas as “mine or yours” but we continue to exhaust our resources, kill our planet by using those resources and battling other countries to better their own people when frankly, we should be more worried about bettering our own country and life.

            What mostly caught my attention was how China influenced the view of women in Vietnam, Korea, and Japan. In China, because of Confucius thinking and practices, women during the Tang Dynasty lived more freely and viewed by men as equals but once the Tang Dynasty ended and the Song Dynasty emerged women had strict rules and job titles that were just designed for them. Women’s lives began to change and with this change came submission and passivity images of woman. China soon influenced Vietnam in terms of culture and the way they lived their lives. Vietnam adopted Chinese religious practices and in doing so brought on rebellion. Showing how powerful women still were, two sisters famously addressed soldiers that they will avenge their country, restore what once was in better times and avenge the death of their husbands. Showing this much strength was bittersweet since the rebellion was crushed but these two sisters will always go down in history for showing how brave they were and stepping forward in what they believed in. Japan on the other hand, because it was more separate from China, their women continued to live freely and owned property. Japan was selective in Chinese goods and culture and Japan continued to live and expand their culture and uniqueness. As Strayer nicely concludes, “what comes from beyond is always transformed by what is encountered within”. If we, as a country kept this in mind, we would be so occupied in copying one another and creating so much of a power structure between one another.   

Blogg post #2

   In my opinion, I believe it is safe to say that for thousands of years, people have always migrated to different parts of the world, some settling into places that were not their original birthplace. While reading our class textbook, I found very interesting that during the Roman empire, different people were granted citizenship in the empire and found it even more interesting that while they became citizens, Strayer points out that once a citizen, this conveyed more as a legal status and did not erase other identities. Coming from a background with parents who were born in Mexico and moving to the States when my parents were teenagers, once my parents became citizens of the United States my father had to choose whether to be fully an American citizen and resign being a Mexican citizen which in tern, made him feel like he was loosing his identity altogether. My father, of course, chose to be a citizen of the U.S. and felt a sense of guilt. A few years later, my mother gained citizenship and was able to apply for dual citizenship. I just find it interesting how, over time, things can change and how for each individual it could be different. Both my parents still hold a lot of pride of being citizens and still being able to hold on to their culture and passing on their passion of culture on to their children. I myself, was born in the states, but hold dear to my heart my Mexican-American culture. Unfortunately, when we visit my parent's birthplace, not everyone considers me Mexican and instead remind me that I'm an American citizen and because of that I will never really know what Mexican culture is all about. I am happy with what I do know and thank my parents for planting that seed.
   As I continued reading, I found myself lost in the readings about the different religions practiced around the world. Some of the religions I had knowledge about such as Buddhism, Daoism, Hinduism, Christianity, and others I had never heard about or forgot about them. What I enjoyed the most was relearning about where each religion originated from and how different people continue to practice them. For example, how Buddhism originated from India, but now is widely practiced in China. This kind of information is what sparks my interest because I feel more engaged in what I'm reading and mapping the different places in my head to get a bigger picture. Out of all the religions we read about in chapter 5, Buddhism was the religion that sparked the most interest. This was because Strayer mentions that the Buddha, Suddhartha Guatama, allowed nuns in the practice of Buddhism but still had to follow strict rules. I found this to be contradicting because the Buddha rejected the practice of the Indian cast system yet the Nuns were still required to follow some rules the male Monks didn't. Even with those rules, many women did become Nuns due to the advantage of being a little more independent and finding inner peace. As a non-practice Catholic, I always find myself praying in times of difficulty and in times of happiness. At times, I feel I apply some Buddhism thinking and apply it to how I'm feeling at those given moments. For example, trying to stay positive and know that things will get get better during hard times, I also believe in Karma even though Karma doesn't have anything to do with being Catholic, but being exposed to different religions and practices, can change the way a person lives their life and how they view the world.