Wednesday, November 18, 2015
Yugoslavia Conflict essay
Ethnicity was one of the main causes of conflict during the Yugoslavian Civil War, for people in former Yugoslavia identified themselves mainly as Serbs, Croats, or Bosnians. Conflict would arise between these ethnic groups when a certain ethnic group would identify against the "other" and want there to be segregation between the groups. This concept of ethnic segregation was also intertwined with religion. Out of the former Yugoslavian state, the Bosnia and Herzegovina region was one of the biggest conflict areas. 40% of the population of the region was Muslim, also known as Bosniak. 33% was Serbian, also known as Bosnian Serbs, for they were people living in Bosnia that identified with the Serbian ethnicity and the dominant Eastern Orthodox Church of Serbia. 19% of the population in Bosnia identified as Croatian, also known as Bosnian Croat, for they were people living in Bosnia that identified with the Croatian ethnicity and the dominant Roman Catholic Church of Croatia. Serbia wanted to expand its territory and concentrate people that identified as ethnically Serbian in Serbia by expanding its state into enclaves of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. Because of the unique distribution of ethnicity and religion throughout Yugoslavia, they played a vital part in the separation of Yugoslavia during the civil war. Nationalism was quite a big factor in the conflict in Yugoslavia. This is because the conflict was oriented around different groups of people with different cultures. With that being said people became more and more loyal to their certain group of people and less friendly and willing to accept other groups of people. None of the groups involved necessarily sided with one another because the Serbs had the strongest army and tried to take control of the area on their own. This created a huge conflict between groups of people in Yugoslavia and eventually lead to the fall of Yugoslavia. Language did not play a huge role in this conflict, but it is worth noting. There were multiple languages spoken in this area due to the different types of cultures that resided there. Language reinforced the ideas of separation, segregation, differentiation. This made people want to stay within their own group even more than before because if they left they would not be able to communicate with others. This is a prime example of how language strengthened the ideas of separation and segregation among the different groups in this area. Politically, the Yugoslavian Civil war was a mess. Not only did Croatia’s constitution guarantee that its minorities were weak, but Serbia still favored a communist system and a united Yugoslavia while Croatia favored independence and a free market democratic system. Countries picked a side. This was the heart of the conflict because like many other wars going on at this time, it was Democracy vs. Communism. While Serbians favored communism, everyone else was trying to break away towards a free market democratic system. Furthermore, the Albanian population of Macedonia, which is 40%, felt like they were being treated like second class citizens. They wanted to break away from Macedonia and become its own country towards the eastern side. This created yet another internal conflict, separate from Democracy Vs. Communism. The communist country Serbia was landlocked at the beginning to the civil war and wanted to take enough Croatian territory to have access to the sea. This meant lots of fighting with the goal of taking over land. This would also further the amount of land the communists controlled, and for all countries whom favored a free market democratic system, giving more land meant giving up more power. Migration attributed to some important events over the course of the civil war. Over 600,000 war refugees existed in Yugoslavia, as they were displaced from their home countries. Citizens in Serbia who didn't want to be ruled by a communist government migrated to surrounding countries that pushed a free market democratic system. Furthermore, because Croatia and Slovakia sided with the Nazis, there was a exodus of the jewish population during the early 40’s, fleeing persecution.
Monday, November 16, 2015
Thoughts and Ruminations on Chapter 5: Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Sexuality and The Big Heart
Jack Shams
AP Human Geography
11/15/15
The Big Heart
Chapter 5: Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Sexuality
Thoughts and Ruminations
Essay Question- How do the terms Race, Ehtnicity, Racism, and Succession used in Chapter 5 relate to The Big Heart and how can they be used in terms of talking about neighborhoods in the U.S.?
In New York an interesting aspect of how humans can move to a certain area and take it over can be seen. In the mid 19th century a mass amount of Puerto Ricans began moving to East Harlem. With the the influx of the Puerto Ricans a different race was kicked out. This is called succession. Succession is a process by which immigrants move to a new area and dominate take over the areas perviously occupied by an older group of immigrants. This caused the area of East Harlem to completely change. The Puerto Ricans brought their unique ethnicity along with their culture which left a noticeable imprint on the land around them. They made spanish the primary language in that area and also brought spanish stores and restaurants to Easy Harlem which completely altered the culture there.
While this process of succession can be seen in New York, it is not the only place it happens. In 1980, the population of Houston, Texas was 63% White. In 2013 the population was much more diverse with 41% being Hispanic, 18.4% being Black, and 7.8% being Asian. In The Big Heart, by Tony Perrottet, the huge influx of different races, and ethnicities is a product of the oil drought and a major loss of jobs. Perrottet writes, "Houston was then an overwhelmingly Anglo city...But then the eight decade long Texas oil boom fizzled and the city lost 100,000 jobs mostly among Anglo oil workers." This major loss of jobs allowed caused the economy to crash which completely changed the population patterns in Houston. With this being said, the stereotype of everyone from Texas is a racist rich cowboy shifted to a town that is known for its diversity in race and ethnicity. This is another example of how multiple different races succeeded the White Anglo population that preciously made up Houston.
As time goes on, more and more races and ethnicities will be succeeded. This is a natural process that happens throughout time. With so much in our world changing everyday in so many different places succession can and will happen very quickly and very soon.
Erica Pinto wanted to show how some races have been held back and discriminated against but it is a complex topic that can be hard to explain so she simplified it and used an actual relay race as a wa to depict how some races were treated unfairly then the video went viral and now has over 140,000 views on YouTube.
This map depicts Mexicali which is an area in which two different races and ethnicities have collided. Rather than pushing one of the others out, the two cultures blinded and created a town where a mix of two different races and cultures can be seen.
Monday, November 9, 2015
Thoughts and Ruminations on Chapter 4: Local Culture, Popular Culture, Cultural Landscapes, The Rise and Fall of Pop Culture, and Cultural Intercourse and Landscape
Jack Shams
AP Human Geography
11/9/15
The Rise and Fall of Pop Culture
Cultural Intercourse and Landscape
Chapter 4: Local Culture, Popular Culture, Cultural Landscapes
Thoughts and Ruminations
Essay Question- How do the terms assimilation, local culture, and popular culture used in chapter 4 relate to The Rise and Fall of Pop Culture and Cultural Intercourse and Landscape?
In the past decade popular culture, or pop culture, has changed quite drastically. It has gone from a rather small group of things such as TV shows, books, and people that are commonly known throughout a large area to quite the opposite. Nowadays, there are so many new facets of pop culture that not everyone can keep up with them. In the article The Rise and Fall of Pop Culture, by Don Aucoin, describes pop culture as a foundation that is breaking due to the sheer amount of new things that qualify as pop culture. Aucoin writes, "Its foundation was a large but essentially knowable range of movies, music, TV shows, and fads that most people were assumed to be familiar with. But that foundation is buckling under the sheer weight of all the things that now qualify as pop culture". So many new things are becoming a part of pop culture that the old "foundation" of pop culture that most everyone was familiar with is now starting to disappear.
Even though pop culture has lost the old "foundation" and become more diverse, there is also an aspect of it that makes people very much alike. This is called assimilation. Assimilation is the process through which people lose originally differentiating traits such as dress, speech particularities, or mannerisms when they come into contact with another society or culture. In our world today with social media outlets such as Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook people can see certain things from other cultures they like through pictures and videos and then adopt them and incorporate them into their own culture. In the article Cultural Intercourse and Landscape, culture is defined as, "patters of learned behavior that leave permanent traces and are transferred from generation to generation". Adopting the smallest thing from another culture such as a way someone talks and slowly having that incorporated into another culture can make a huge impact because of how quickly it can spread through things such as social media, and after it has spread it is going to be passed down through generations.
With so many people altering their way of life due to pop culture there are some who decide to do the exact opposite. This is known as local culture. Local culture is a group of people in a particular place who see themselves as a collective or a community, who share experiences, customs, and traits, and who work to preserve those traits and customs in order to claim uniqueness and to distinguish themselves from others. An example of local culture would be the Amish. The Amish do not use modern commodities such as cell phones, cars, electricity, and much more. This is in an effort to preserve their old customs and to not give into popular culture and change their way of life.
With so many different aspects and niches pop culture has quickly become one of the most discussed and important topics in today's world. As things such as social media continue to get bigger and bigger, there will only continue to be more different aspects of pop culture.
The Rap group NWA from Compton wanted to express their feelings about certain topics but were discriminated against by people like the police because they were African American so they made the police look like the enemy through their lyrics then their fan base bought into the new idea and culture of hating the police and then they became one of the most popular rap groups in history.
This map shows how NWA began rapping in Compton and then their music began to get popular in densely populated cities like Harlem and The Bronx. After it spread to New York it truly blew up with rappers like Jay-Z and Nas who then made rap one of the most beloved types of music in America. Compton, Harlem, and The Bronx are now known as the hearths of rap music.
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