Call To Action Day Reflection

For Call To Action Day, I volunteered at the Barrett Community Center. While at the Barrett Community Center, other students and myself were responsible for repainting and replanting in efforts to ‘beautify’ the center. I chose the Community Center because I feel as if Belmont has also become my community. I’ve been here for 3 years so it does actually feel like I am involved and giving back. We spent a few hours out there painting and just having fun while doing it. This year, CTA highlighted Hallmark #7 and it says, “We develop holistic learning communities which educate for life” I think that this hallmark fits perfectly with what I did for CTA day. We were all apart of developing a holistic learning community that will continue to educate for life; the children that go there to learn and play will benefit from all of our hard work and I think that was the primary goal of NDNU’s partnership with the Barrett Community Center.

Ch. 6 Commonalities vs. Variations

Ch. 6 Commonalities vs. Variations

The civilizations discussed in Ch. 6 include: the Niger River Cities, the Teotihuacan people, the Bantu migrations and the Pacific Islands.

• The Niger River Cities:
• look similar to the Indus Valley.
• Many of these civilizations went without a declared governmental structure.
• Each civilization had their own specially designed economy, and they also traded between one another.
• Men and women were seen as equals.
• No proof of social hierarchy similar just like the Indus Valley.

• Teotihuacan:

• Was the largest urban complex in the Americas at this time, and also the 6th largest in the world.
• Street of the Dead, where the homes of all the elite people could be found, many temples and pyramids.
• The Teotihuacan people would trade amongst themselves in their own cosmopolitan centers.
• They rarely interacted or socialized with outsiders.

• Bantu Migration:

• The Bantu Migration was made up of the Bantu people who spoke the Bantu dialect in Africa.
• This migration was essential and necessary because it was the beginning of the transformation from foragers to farmers.

• Pacific Islands:

• Because of the great distances between peoples; this created a number of variations.
• In the Pacific Islands, there are over 100 dialects being spoken.
• The societies were made up of many small villages.
• The islands faced many weaknesses such as poor ecosystems.
• Pacific Islanders were known to farm but relied more heavily on seafood.

Ch. 5 Society & Inequality

Ch. 5 Society & Inequality

• Society in China:
• Influenced by the states actions.
• State officials were very powerful.
• Powerful officials with status:
• Respected officials had to prepare for various examinations.
• Wealthy families preferred and showed more favor to their sons.
• Peasants/Commoners could only achieve success and power through education.
• Landlord Class:
• Low class peasant farmers were controlled by landowners and tenant farmers.
• State of China tried to sabotage the creation of large estates.
• Peasants/Commoners:
• Peasants and Commoners made up the majority of China’s growing population.
• Peasants/Commoners were known to rebel from time to time.
• Merchants:
• Merchants were looked down upon by the wealthy elite.
• Merchants were also often viewed and classified as self serving.
• Merchants however made a decent living.
• Classes in India:
• Caste as Varna:
• Began to grow through the diversity of the many cultures and social differences.
• Varna Theory:
• Groups made up of four classifications: Brahmins, Priests, Scholars and Teachers.
• Caste as Jati:
• Occupations determined social classes.
• Similarities to Varna.
• Only allowed to eat with and marry those that were also apart of Jati.
• An individual couldn’t rise in social status but a Jati as a collective could.
• Caste functions:
• Social Security was provided.
• The wealthy few controlled and mistreat the poor majority.
• Slavery and Roman Empire:
• How did slavery emerge?
• The use of domesticated animals created the blueprint for human slavery.
• Patriarchy, the idea that those in power needed to micromanage the poor and underserved.
• Patriarchy also micromanaged women, they were not seen as equal but less than.
• Slavery in civilization:
• Slavery in a civilized state meant that you had no rights.
• Most civilizations functioned on the sole use of slaves.
• China didn’t rely much on slaves but on convicts.
• Roman Slavery:
• The Roman civilization was notorious for the use of slaves.
• Slaves made up about ⅓ of the Roman population.
• Those with wealth and power owned 2-3 slaves of their own.
• How were slaves acquired?
• They were original war prisoners.
• Their mothers and fathers were slaves and they unfortunately were born into slavery.
• Resistance and rebellion:
• War prisoners would take their own lives in order to not be slaves.
• Some were known to flee to any place that was safe.
• Some situations involved the slaves fighting back and killing their slave owner.
• Patriarchy then and now:
• Patriarchy is more oppressive today than it was during the Classical Era.
• Women played important roles in our World History but still face oppression.

It was frustrating to have to read about how slavery was so rampant in earlier times and how we in our current society still carry some of those ideals that someone is not equal or worthy of basic human rights because of the color of their skin or their socioeconomic status. So many years have passed by, so many and yet we can still see some of these attributes in our society, politics and workplaces. It makes me ask, have we really evolved and learned from history’s past?

Week 6: Ch. 4 Culture & Religion

• China’s quest for order:

• Around 2000 BCE-state building tradition
• Legalist Answer
• Han Fei was Chinese Legalist philosopher
• Disorder is corrected by strict and clearly enforced rules.
• Confucian Answer
• Confucius
• Superior class sets the moral and ethical examples used to correct disorder
• Education was widely used as a way to improve or enhance oneself
• Took great pride in understanding their history
• No religion
• Daoism Answer
• Laozi, the author Daodejing aka “The Way and Its Power”
• Dao translates to the “way of nature”

• The Cultural Traditions of India

• 
  
• Heavy religious connections/influences
• Hinduism
• Developed overtime with Indian civilization
• Social hierarchy
• Caste System

• Buddhist Challenge

• Created alongside Hinduism
• Life is believed to be suffering
• Rebirth/ Reincarnation
• Enlightenment

• Classical Greece

• Intellectuals challenged myth
• Ways of knowing
• Changed the way questions were being asked
• Socrates---->Plato------>Aristotle

• Birth of Christianity with Comparison to Buddhism

• Christ was Jewish
• Son of God
• His teachings were geared more towards social/political issues than buddhism
• Christ was said to only in his physical form for 3 years
• Christ was executed while gautama died naturally (old age)
• Christ had apostoles

Chapter 3 Documents

While reading chapter 3, the Persians and Greeks were interesting civilizations to learn about. It was between 500 B.C.E. and 500 C.E. in North Africa and Eurasia when they saw the second wave of civilizations in the Mediterranean, the Middle East, India and China. Each of these civilizations cultivated their own political systems which shaped their evolving societies. From Egypt all the way to India; the Persian Empire went on a conquest that would affect tens of millions of people. These conquests would lead to the diversification of people, city states, language and their culture. Much like the Persians; the Greeks were also a European people whose lineage began with the first civilization. They formed societies on small Peninsulas divided by mountains and valleys.

Intro to Part 2 & Ch. 3 State/Empire

The Histories of the Persians and Egyptians

Egyptians

• When becoming adults, sons can have the option to support their parents but had no obligation to.
• The men more commonly stayed home.
• The women typically worked in the trading markets.
• Men practiced in the churches while women were not able to.

Persians

• They gave offerings to Zeus.
• Sacrifices to nature:the sun, moon, the earth, to fire, to water, and to the winds.
• Their birthdays were also a very big celebration.
• Fathers and their sons form a closer bond once the child has reached age 5.

Ch. 2 Documents

Ch. 2: the Ancient Era

The Ancient Era:

1) Homo Sapiens during the Ancient Era competed with each other in many ways: for wealth, social status, and power. This eventually lead to social hierarchy.

2) The advancements of technology became very intricate, even writing and their language system.

3) The creation of civilizations and city-states were a result of a vast agricultural surplus.

4) Trade between continents lead to the constant interaction between diverse peoples.

First Civilizations:

• Egypt
• Mesopotamia
• China,
• Aegean Greeks
• Indus Valley,
• Americas: Andes & Mesoamerica

The American civilizations did not quickly become large and powerful societies as a result their inadequate amount of agricultural surplus - they didn’t have certain necessities such as livestock. This left them defenseless and weak when the Europeans began their invasion.

Egypt:

Because Egypt’s river was believed to be a hazard due to the floods, people of that society were able to better plan their living situations.

Mesopotamia:

Mesopotamians however were not as prepared to handle floods which meant that they also could not properly prepare for disastrous times like these.

Indus Valley:

In the Indus Valley there has been no recordings of social hierarchy, no palaces or burials of status. The idea of urban planning began in the Indus Valley; city states built on a grid. The first flushing toilet also began here which began the modernization of the plumbing system.