In “The Quest for Siwilai” the author discusses different cultural notions of civilization and their relation to SIam’s attempts at establishing cultural civility within its own borders during the nineteenth century. The amorphous concept of the “civilized” nation was deduced to not be a product of wealth or territory or etiquette or scientific advancement. The heart of being civilized was instead a relative position, as in being more civilized than one's geographic neighbors instead of being an intrinsic property of the nation. Siam was civilized in relation to tribal Amazonians, but maybe not compared to England at the time. This concept helped me understand that very little about nation states can be learned in a vacuum, and you instead
require the study of the geographical landscape on a larger scale for context. Nation states are interconnected and deeply integrated within each other, with cultural, ideological, geographic, and economic ties spanning the globe. I found this concept intriguing, especially when studying geography, because it means that any search has to have a broader scope than your core target. To understand one country's economic developments, you must look at the developments of those around it to see the differences and notable comparisons.
Research My first research experience took place from the Fall 2012 – Summer 2013 in a neurobiology laboratory (Dr. Daniel Plas) focused on Parkinson’s Disease. In this project an undergrad student and I were tasked with optimizing a cellular medium for neural growth of the model organism Lymnaea stagnalis. This was comprised of following established protocols and altering certain variables within the formulas (differing concentrations of ions, pH, et al.) to observe growth pattern differences in vitro.
Kauikeaouli was hesitant to establish the Christian ten commandments because he was unsure whether his people wanted Christian Laws.
Coffin, Judith G., and Robert C. Stacey. "CHAPTER 18 PAGES 668-669." Western Civilizations: Their History & Their Culture. 16TH ed. Vol. 2. New York, NY: W. W. Norton &, 2008. N. pag. Print.
and himself by publicizing and talking about them. This is Turner's main point within the first
During the 1920’s, Atlantic City was famous for gambling and drinking. People all over would visit for entertainment and to get rich. After world war two crime and corruption took over the streets causing the city to enter an economic decline. Also following the war, cars became more available which led to the decrease of time spent at the city, people no longer had to wait for a train, they can now visit for a little and leave whenever. Less people staying at the hotels for longer, took away more of the cities money. In 1972, “ The New Yorker” published an article called the The Search for Marvin Garden’s by John McPhee who was smart and talented monopoly player. In the article, McPhee persuades Americans to be weary of what trying to become rich in order to be happy can produce and instead search for happiness in
By examining this particular novel's relationship to these overlapping, yet also contestatory, interpretive rubrics, I hope to shed light not only on two salient notions of community formation that continually vie for hegemony in the field of Asian American studies,” (Lee 235). In this analysis, Lee focuses heavily on the building blocks of postcolonial theory in regards to the Asian Pacific while dissecting the novel Through The Arc of the Rainforest. Unlike Heise, who argued primarily that the colonial and neocolonial agendas were negative to mankind through means of environmental destruction, Lee argues that that the industrialization of the Asian Pacific dramatically and negatively affects the chosen paradigm, or model, that the native asians and american asians follow. Similarly to Heise, the principles of marxism play a part in the colonialism, as marxism stands to criticize the capitalist mindset that drives colonialism to begin with. There is a fallacy created in the process of neocolonialism; for a collection of nationalist banning together to recreate themselves in a self describe image that only mirrors the oppressor in hindsight, the question that begs to be answered: why does this happen. Lee seems to suggest
Torres Gregory, Wanda, and Donna Giancola. "Part 2: The Asian Traditions." World Ethics. Eds. Steve Wainwright, Lee McCracken, and Anna Lustig. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage learning, 2002. 197-202. Print.
During the interval of time between the years 1000 A.D. and 1400 A.D., a multitude of events referring to cultural exchange transpired. In the given documents, In the sense that the Silk Road was brought under the rule of the Mongols, people felt that is was now safe to travel through the Asian continent. Most people would sometimes come all the way from Europe. A multitude of these people were merchants, missionaries, or travelers. They carried along with them goods, news, or cultures from the corners of the then ‘known’ world. These are people who contemplated a multitude of sights on their journeys, which usually ended in China or Cathay. These given documents state the many dissimilarities in politics, social status, religion, and economics which all affected the cultural exchange.
Geography has provided natural resources and boundaries for cultures continuously over many generations. The topography led civilization to have protection from other cultures and plentiful natural resources that they used for human survival or for an economic profit. With a good amount of resources available, cultures like India and China thrived in the creation and expansion of their civilizations. Geography helped India and China civilization develop their culture, spread their religion, and determine the rate at which each civilization’s ideas were transferred. The physical features that India and China lived on helped their cultures form and thrive into their current form.
At the very beginning of the “Great Asia War and Our Resolve”, written at the very beginning of Pacific War, Takeuchi Yoshimi exclaims: “The history has been created! The World has been transformed!” Then he argues in the article: “the Sina Incident has been completed by Great Asia War successfully and gains its rebirth in the world history.” In this sense, we could hardly distinguishes Yoshimi from those who were swept by the war and condemned as “intellectual chaos and complete abandonment of the intellect” by Yoshimi himself. Thus, when Yoshimi claims that his effort of studies on “Overcoming Modernity” symposium is to “strip the ideology from ideas” or “to extract the ideas from ideology” after the war, I believe that Yoshimi is also trying to start reflection on himself. While he argues: “the real legacy of the ‘Overcoming Modernity’ symposium was not its status as war and fascist ideology. Rather it lies in the fact that the symposium failed to achieve even this, and that its attempt at intellectual formation resulted in intellectual loss”, I find his ambition to the “intellectual re-formation” in the “What is Modernity”, by bringing China, from which Japan
Hobson, J. M., 2004. The Eastern Origins of Western Civilisation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 57
Thailand is a diverse and unique country that is rich in culture and tradition. Thailand has gone by many names such as the Kingdom of Thailand and Khmer. This paper includes researched material regarding Thailand’s social, economical, geographic, religious, political, and relations to the United States. The social part of the paper will cover the current and past make up of the Thai people; information on how they became to be the Thai people. The economic part of the paper will give information about the ways Thailand seeks to bring revenue into their country. The geographic part of the paper shall cover the full lengths of the country; this includes lakes, river, and etc. The religion part of the paper will cover the main religion in Thailand, Buddhism. The second to last section will cover the politics that are within Thailand’s government. The last part of the paper shall cover the relations between the United States and Thailand.
Throughout its history, Japan has striven to define its national identity not by its own means, but by those predefined by foreign, and most recently, Western powers. Despite legends of the island archipelago being created by the sun goddess Amaterasu, Japan seems to have consistently maintained a indecisive self-image with respect to its neighbors. In the past, China had represented the pinnacle of culture and technology and had tremendously influenced other surrounding countries in Asia and in the world. Indeed, Japan owes its written language to imported and adapted Chinese characters. Without question, China remained for a long time the most influential force upon Japan. However, island nation maintained a rather precarious self-identity: How could a country like Japan, which was supposedly created by the gods and therefore a divine nation, consider itself the apex of the world, given China’s tremendous influence and power? Could Japan truly consider itself the greatest land in the world if China, or Chugoku in Japanese, literally meant “the central country?” For this reason, Japan never truly accepted a position of “belonging” to Asia. That is, despite a considerable amount of imported culture, Japan was still somehow inherently different from other Asian countries.
Wilson, Constance, Dr. "Colonialism and Nationalism in Southeast Asia." Colonialism and Nationalism in Southeast Asia. Himself, July 2005. Web. 02 Dec. 2013.
Our preliminary class gave a brief, yet detailed outline of major events affecting the East Asian region. Within that class, prompted by our limited geographical knowledge of Asia, we were given a fundamental explanation of the geographical locations of the various events taking place in the region. In subsequent classes, we were introduced to the major wars, political shifts, and economic interests which shaped Japan, China and Korea to what they are today. We examined the paradigm of pre-modern Japanese governance, the Shogunate, and the trained warriors which defended lord and land, Samurai. In addition, we examined the socio-economic classes of Medieval Japan, which included the Samurai, peasants, craftsmen, and the merchants. We also examined pre-1945 Japan’s policies toward foreign entities, notably the Sakoku Policy, which sought to expunge all foreign presence and commerce in an effort to protect its borders and culture. 1945, however, saw ...