Refection #3 The single story

Reflection on the single story,

The presentation made by Chimamanda was a beautiful and touching one, which gave her perception on how people view the world through the telling of stories. Her main point in the presentation is that too many people believe in one single story and then base all of the beliefs about a certain person, culture, or history on this one single story. Chimamanda speaks of believing in multiple stories in order to get the truth.

She speaks of a life growing up in Africa in a middle class family and starting to read at a young age. She was introduced to “foreign books” which spoke of Americans with blue eyes. These books gave her an image of what Americans were through this single story. After reading more and more books she realized that stories do change and that you can not always believe what one source tells you. She speaks of this vulnerability that we have at a young age to things such as these single stories and how easily our minds can me molded into wrongful beliefs. This type of occurrence has happened to every person in the world, believing in something that you hear without really knowing if it is true but then passing on the word to others.

Chimamanda gives a great example of this in her speech. She speaks of a roommate which she had when she first went to university. The roommate knew that she was going to be living with someone from Africa for the semester and made certain assumptions before even meeting Chimamanda. She felt sorry for her because she thought that she would be poor and wouldn’t be able to speak English, though her official language was English. The roommate thought that it would be impossible to have similarities with Chimamanda because of the different backgrounds it which they had come from, but soon was soon proven wrong because she was just like a lot of the other people who attended the university. Her roommate had an idea of “Authentically African” which was a certain stereotype of all Africans being poor and not being able to have cars or money, this was because her roommate had read a single story and had believed it.

The single story is present in everyone and Chimamanda gives a great example in her speech. She speaks of a boy at a high school presentation asking her about one of her novels. This novel involves a serial killer. The boy goes on to ask why there are a lot of serial killers where she is from, though the serial killer in the book was just a fictional character. This boy is only thinking of a single story as well; there are millions of stories out there and you can not base your beliefs on one that you hear, or we would base our beliefs about Americans on the novel “American Psycho”.

The idea of a single story creates stereo types that are incomplete. What if we knew all the good things in the world and not just the bad things which tend to stand out more in our minds; our world would be a much happier place. This shows the beautiful quote in which Chamamanda finishes off her speech with: “when we regret the single story we regain a certain paradise”.

Here is the link to the speech, I encourage you to watch it if you haven't already :)

http://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story.html

Reflection #2, Film viewed on November 18th

After watching the film last Thursday on Mexican workers coming to Canada for work in the tomato industry in Ontario, it opened my eyes to things in which I didn't know actually occurred in Canada. I was aware that there are immigrants who come to Canada to work and finds jobs so that they can support there family who live in Mexico for the example of this film. The things that I didn't know is how these people were treated while being here. From my experience as being a Canadian citizen  I am not use to seeing people being treated unfairly in the work force and being abused to the extent in which these workers were. I actually didn't really know that it occurred in Canada to begin with. These workers were forced to work 7 days a week and over 12 hours a day for the period that they were there and given very minimal compensation for all this work. the pay was just of 7$ an hour, with no time for vacation or anything. If a worker was sick they were not paid either. This was hard to hear considering that these Mexican employees were forced to pay full taxes while working in Canada and not receiving any benefits in return. Also when I saw the place in which they had to live it was shocking to me. there were about 7 fully grown Mexican men live on small little single bed mattress's all in the same room. this room was not big either thee beds were practically touching one another; and this is no way for 7 men to have to live for a whole work season.
This film showed me and im sure a lot of others in the class that what we may think goes on in the work force around us may not actually be what is truly happening and that actual facts and videos such as this one really open our eyes to the truth in societies very close to our own!! I guess because I and know one that I know are involved in this kind of treatment as a working person so this is why I have overlooked it. I am glad that I know now that this goes on at that perhaps a difference can be made, and laws can be changed.

Languages in Schools

Article for reflection #1, reflection in comments

Teach Punjabi in Calgary schools, group urges

Last Updated: Monday, November 15, 2010 | 10:50 AM MT Comments66Recommend13

CBC News

An organization is pushing for Punjabi language training to be made available in Calgary public schools. (CBC)A Punjabi organization says the language should be taught in Calgary public schools.

Members of the Punjabi Writers Association met with community leaders on Sunday to try to generate support for the idea before they make a formal request to the Calgary Board of Education.

"We are trying to introduce Punjabi as a language alternative to young people, so when they grow up, they have another language skill they can use in their work life and private life," said Mohinder Pal, who speaks for the group.

Calgary's public school board requires students to study a second language starting in Grade 4. The options include French, Spanish, German, Mandarin and Cree.

Punjabi is the fourth most commonly spoken language in Canada behind English, French and Mandarin, and is spoken by about 50,000 people in Calgary.

While the plan is to make Punjabi classes open to students from any background, organizer Mohinder Pal said even some Punjabi children would benefit from formal classes.

"I have two grown boys. As they were at school, they didn't feel the need for Punjabi. As they went to work in society — one of them sells condos — he's finding more and more the need to know Punjabi language," Pal said.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/calgary/story/2010/11/15/calgary-punjabi-school-classes-language.html#ixzz15NuIMvn6

Women refugees forced to take their children and everything they own to move

else where while their husbands must stay behind and sometimes forced into slavery.

Relief in Haiti (shows economic diversity as we spoke of in class)

Disaster in Haiti: Recovery and relief
Last Updated: Monday, November 8, 2010 | 12:16 PM ET Comments63Recommend169
CBC News
Children cross a flooded street Nov. 6 after Hurricane Tomas passed through the neighbourhood of Cite Soleil in Port-au-Prince. (Ramon Espinosa/Associated Press)

Haiti cleans up as Tomas moves on

Tomas spared most of Haiti a direct hit, but floodwaters killed eight people as the Category 1 hurricane came ashore Nov. 5 in the country's southwestern tip. Most the victims died as they tried to cross rain-swollen rivers.

"We have two catastrophes that we are managing," President René Préval said in a television and radio address. "The first is the hurricane and the second is cholera."

More than 500 people have died and 7,000 have fallen ill from cholera, the World Health Organization said on Nov. 7. The outbreak began in the country's north in mid-October.

Health authorities say there have been more cases since the hurricane struck. Contaminated water is a major source of the cholera bacteria.



Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/01/13/f-haiti-earthquake.html#ixzz14jTG5o9b

Critical Reflection #3

Sociology Critical ref1ection #3

Question #2
Hartmann & Gerteis (2005) map four main theoretical models of diversity in the U.S. social sphere. What model do you support? Provide an example of how this model is best suited to either Canada or the United States.

1. Assimilationism: is the break down of certain groups of people, whether it is ethnic or racial and bring them together into one larger assimilated group. “It supports and promotes the tying together of ethnic minorities into the dominant culture” (Akiner, 1997). Assimilation seeks to take away differences within people and groups themselves and try to form everyone as one entity. Assimilation usually involves a “gradual change and takes place in varying degrees” (Brimelow, 1995). A famous model that deals with assimilation is the “melting pot” phenomenon. “The melting pot is essentially a visual image of people being stirred into a giant pot, melting there previous beliefs and knowledge away and leaving them with all similar values. This which explains the concept of assimilation very well” (Akiner, 1997).

2. Cosmopolitanism: Is the ideology that all kinds of “human ethnic groups belong to a single community based on a shared morality while still being cautious about social unity with others” (Gordon, 2001). In order to include all nations or groups a cosmopolitan community should include “several aspects of people’s culture such as individual morality, shared economic relationship, and a shared political structure” (Gordon, 2001). The cosmopolitan community is one in which individuals from different places form relationships of mutual respect for one an other. In general “you’re free to choose your place in the “mosaic,” with no strong vision for community”(Laroux, 2010 slides)

3. Fragmented Pluralism: This concept is very close to the opposite of assimilation. This concept “enforces groups rather than have everyone forced into the same beliefs or attitudes” (Hunington, 2004). The whole social concept of the nation or nation state is dissolved into collective units. Most of the focus is put on holding the boundaries with in the group instead of worrying about the group as a whole.

4. Interactive pluralism: Is a concept where the main focus is having the different groups interacting with one another producing a new whole or group by themselves. This way the “group is not forced and the cohesion between them is likely favorable” (Wong, 2008). “This importance placed is the interaction between groups not within them because once this interaction is made then new larger group interaction will happen, which lead to new understandings of others” (Wong, 2008). The new social ties and relationships that are made will make the entity stronger as it will have more knowledge than before.

The model that I support is Interactive pluralism because it seems like it would work the best in real life situations. In all aspects of the real world there are groups of people who feel more comfortable or get along better together. Whether it is in the work place, in our family life, or in some kind of social network, it is reality. Here is a business example to interactive pluralism. The groups that we associate our selves with in the work place for example stick together from day to day and support each because we are essentially a team working for a common goal. Whether there is a strong interaction or not within this team, the boundary is set in our minds that we are one. One of the key aspects of a team is to interact with other teams in order to better ourselves and our company’s goal. Interaction with other businesses teaches us aspects and ways in which we may not have known or understood previously. This interaction betters our chances to prosper in the business world, by being able to pick and choose good ideas from a large source of them, which in turn will make us stronger as a team and company.

I think that this model is best suited for Canada because it does not force anyone to be someone who they don’t want to be as assimilation does but putting everyone is a “melting pot”. Interactive pluralism intern gives people a chance to interact with others in many different environments to better them selves and the different groups around them. This helps a society such as Canada’s because we are very multicultural and intern have a lot of different groups in our society. Whether these groups be religious, ethnic, ages, gender, business, school ect.. We can learn a lot by engaging in activities with them within our own groups. This way we can learn from them as they learn form us. In our Canadian setting I believe that we are doing this but it should be embraced more for the reason that we have so much to learn as people and as a country.

Bibliography:

- Akiner, Shirin 1997 "Melting-pot - salad bowl - cauldron? Manipulation and

mobilisation of ethnic and religious identities in Central Asia", Ethnic and Racial

Studies.

- Brimelow, Peter 1995 Alien Nation: Common Sense About America's Immigration

Disaster (New York, NY: Random House).

- Gordon, Milton 2001 Assimilation in American Life: the Role of Race, Religion and

National Origins (New York, NY: Oxford University Press).

- Huntington, S. P. 2004. Who Are We?: The Challenges to America’s National Identity. New York, Simon and Schuster

- Wong, Loyd 2008 Multiculturalism and ethnic pluralism in sociology: an analysis of the fragmentation position discourse

Critical reflection #2

SOC 2114
Critical reflection #2


In this critical reflection, I will be discussing the French and Haitian Revolutions and how both, although different, realized that change was necessary to survive.

The French Revolution took place from 1789–1799. This was a period of radical social and political change in French and European history. “Within three years of this revolution, the once very powerful absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed. French society underwent an epic transformation as feudal, aristocratic, and religious privileges evaporated under a sustained assault from liberal political groups”. (Cody, 2007) Old ideas about hierarchy and tradition succumbed to new Enlightenment principles of citizenship. These all played a part in the transformation of France into the country it is today.

The Haitian Revolution took place from 1791–1804. This was a period of “brutal conflict in the French colony of Saint-Domingue, and ultimately led to the elimination of slavery and the establishment of Haiti as the first republic ruled by people of African ancestry”. (Hooker, 1996)

Significant economic differences between Haiti and France existed even before the revolutions began. “France was nearly bankrupt; wars with England and the American Revolution had been extremely costly for them”. (Cody, 2007) In contrast, the economy of Haiti was actually thriving and free labor from slaves created a surplus of goods.

The social class situations of Haiti and France were main causes of both revolutions. The Haitian social class system was based on race and consisted of four classes. The highest positions in the government and military were only held by “individuals who were born in Europe and had come over to rule, they were called Peninsulares. Directly under them were the Creoles who controlled most of the land and businesses. Creoles were defined as individuals whose parents were both Peninsulares in the colonies. The next social class was comprised of Mulattees who were half European and half African.” (Hooker, 1996) The last group consisted of pure Africans who were condemned to slavery. Slaves had no property, money, or rights. Most of the individuals in Haiti were slaves.

The French social system was broken down between three estates: “the first was made up of clergymen, the second of nobility, and the third of lower, middle and upper class. Most of the third estate consisted of peasants. The clergy encompassed one percent of the population and did not pay taxes; the second estate owned twenty-five percent of the land and did not pay taxes either– it made up two percent of the population. The remainder belonged to the third estate which held less than half the land in France and was forced to support the heavy burden of taxation in the bankrupt nation”. (Bretts, 2000)

The overwhelming disparity between the political and economic power of the high and low classes caused resentment in both societies as sadly, a very small number of people had privileges while the majority of people suffered.

The lowest class of each society realized that their strength was in numbers. As a result, “the 3rd estate broke free from France and created the Declaration of the Rights of man that outlined a set of rights that pertained to every man from any class. From there, it moved forward in taking over the country”. (Bretts, 2000) The fourth group in Haiti – the Haitian slaves - used its massive population and leadership to overthrow its oppressors as well.

Although both rebellions were successful in freeing themselves from unfair treatment and burdens, they chose very different ways to live life after their victories. Most of the “African slaves who achieved freedom in Haiti moved to the countryside to construct homes, and make a comfortable living. Conversely, the French victors turned their heads to conquest and strived to take over the world”. (Bretts, 2000)

Similar to the world today, countries will have a very different view of what victory means to them. Some feel it is freedom to live a comfortable life while others view it as a stepping stone to great victory somewhere else. No matter what your side is there are many ways go going about and overcoming many problems that can be faced on an individual or world stage.



Bibliography
.
- Hooker, Richard. (1996) The African Diaspora and the Haiti revolution. World civilizations.

- David, Cody (2007) The French Revolution. The Victoria web, literature & culture in the age of Victoria. http://www.victorianweb.org/history/hist7.html

- Betts F. Raymond (2000) Europe In Retrospect. A Brief History Of The Past Two HundredYears.TheFrenchRevolution.http://www.britannia.com/history/euro/1/2_2.html