When I first stumbled upon this image, I found it to be incredibly powerful before even reading anything about it. I stumbled upon it attached to an article on a news website. Apparently this is a girl’s school on their first day of class in Gaza, Palestine. These are Palestinian girls just trying to enjoy an education, but it is obvious in this photo the kind of adversity they face every single day. First, I think it is important to note that the girls in this photo are Muslim, as is the majority in Gaza.This is obviously a really heated region where official government is unclear. The Gaza strip is an enclave of Palestine which is not formally recognized by the entire world as an actual country. The terrorist group, Hamas has been forcing Islamization of the Gaza strip for over a decade. Therefore, the government of this region enforces strict Islamic law. These girls are not allowed to learn in a classroom alongside boys and they must wear the hijab (head-covering) when they are in public.
Even worse than this strict Islamic law and thus lack of freedom, is the violence that these girls must face everyday simply because if where they were born. These girls have never committed any crimes. They are not responsible for the centuries-long conflict facing their home territory. Nonetheless, they are forced to live in fear of bombs and other attacks by Israelis. Clearly, the terrorist group Hamas that is present in Gaza must be eradicated, but current methods are just not working. Israel has relentlessly bombed the region and hurt so many civilians in its path.
This image makes the argument to stop the violence. Girls deserve to go to school and learn without violence and bombing staring them in the face. They deserve to got to school that does not have a huge gaping hole in the chalkboard because of bombs from the Israelis.
The image also points out the importance of resilience. Even though their lives may be at risk, these girls push through and try to live life as normally as possible. It is education that will allow these girls to speak out and fight back the injustices of their circumstances.
Gothic used to be widely spoken in Eastern and Northern Europe in 3 AD. Today, Gothic is an extinct language as is its entire language family, East Germanic. The reason for the Gothic language dying off is because descendants of Goths were converted to other languages through process of political dominance and cultural preference. After Christianity became popular, for example, many people switched from the Gothic language to Roman. The history behind this language just goes to show why we put so much effort into preserving languages. As the world becomes more globalized, it is easy for certain languages to become less popular and eventually die out, however we need to save these languages because they are an important part of local diversity.
Hebrew used to be a very widespread language in biblical times but eventually it started fading off and becoming endangered. In 4 BC, the language was often only used for Jewish church services. In 1948, Israel was established as an independent country and made Hebrew one of its official languages. This is because there was a large Jewish population in the area. Along with Hebrew, Arabic is another official language. Since the Jews and Muslims were the two distinct cultural groups in Israel, they both wanted their own language to represent them. This is why the Jews in Israel put effort towards reviving the language.
The Celtic language branch is an Indo-European branch and was a major language in the British Isles and the Northwestern coast of Europe for ages. Before, there were Celtic languages spread across many parts of Europe, however now they are limited to only remote parts of England, Ireland, Wales, and the French peninsula. Later, the Germanic Angles, Jutes, and Saxons invaded the British Isles and people fled to Wales or Cornwall, or they crossed the English Channel to parts of France. Many Celtic languages, such as Cornish became extinct. The Celtic languages declined because they lost most of the territory to speakers of other languages. People of the British Isles had to start learning other languages, such as English so that they could compete for jobs.People are now putting forth effort to preserve Celtic languages. For example, Welsh is one of the languages in danger. Local governments and utility companies are now obliged to provide service in Welsh and Welsh history and music have been added to the curriculum of schools. Irish Gaelic is also making a comeback as bands have started to record music in this language. There is also a TV channel that is completely in Irish Gaelic. This effort is mainly being put forth by young Irish who wish to distinguish themselves from the English and preserve their local diversity.
This video is of President Bill Clinton’s official address to the nation as he apologizes for the scandal that occurred in 1998 that led to his impeachment. I chose this speech because I think this was a very significant time in history for our nation. I also think its interesting to see Cllinton talking about this because it seems like so long ago. It is funny to think that this was sixteen years ago and now Clinton’s wife could very possibly be the next president. In his speech, he addresses that he has done wrong and feels deeply ashamed and regretful about it. However, at the end of his speech he urges the nation to turn away at this point because now it is more of a family matter and everyone’s attention has only made the problem worse. This speech incorporates both logos and pathos as he delivers his arguments.Clinton’s delivery was firm and even. It was very obvious that he felt deeply emotional about the issue and yet he worked very hard to maintain his composure and stay calm. This made his intonation and pitch not very diverse as he was clearly trying to be as serious as possible about something that was very personal and close to his heart. Even though his delivery was different than it would have been if he was giving a speech on a political rather than a personal issue, I think it was appropriate due to the subject matter of the speech. I also think it is important to note that his tone changes from rational to pleading as in the end he urges the American public to turn away from his personal life.
Clinton also uses logos and pathos to convey his message. In the beginning of his speech, he comes off as very logical and rational. Clinton uses logos when he tries to explain why he did what he did. He says he was just trying to protect himself, which makes sense to anyone who has ever made a mistake in life. Clinton also uses pathos when talking about his family. At this point, he is exhausted by the fact that there are so many people digging into his personal life. He knows that people will inevitably be fascinated by such a huge presidential scandal. However, he appeals to the emotions of the American people when he alludes to the fact that this is hurting his family. People already know how much his family must have been shaken by this incident. Actually hearing Clinton reference this is striking and emotional.
Central Siberia has very many threatened languages primarily because of the government. Before, there were many Russian only policies that made more people switch from their unique Siberian languages to Russian. If they did not speak Russian, they were at a disadvantage and therefore they began teaching Russian to their children so that now these languages have only a few elderly speakers.
Eastern Siberia is an area of threatened languages also because of government policies that limited the number of speakers for minority languages. There are also so many different types of languages in this region of the world that it is a challenge for linguists to be able to preserve them all
Northern Australia is in severe danger of language loss because of how scattered the language speakers are. Many Australian languages have already been lost in the south and east. The aboriginal groups are small and scattered because of struggles with white settlers and many languages are being replaced by English.
Central South America is home to languages in severe danger because of how diverse the languages there are. There are so many different types of languages and so little documentation of all of the unique languages that many of them are in danger. Many minority languages are being taken over by Spanish and Portuguese.
The Northwest Pacific Plateau is another home to languages that are in severe danger of dying out. There are very few young speakers of the languages, as many of them are learning English instead and in urban areas, these languages have nearly disappeared.
HIGH
Oklahoma-Southwest
Southern South America
In Oklahoma and other parts of the southwest have more languages than most other parts of the United States because of the Native American languages that were originally found there and those of tribes that had to move there by force. These languages are dying out because they are slowly being replaced by English. In the past, many schools would punish kids if they spoke their native language.
Southern South America has many endangered languages mainly because of government policies that forced people of tribes to abandon their traditional ways of life as well as their distinct languages. Many tribes are switching to Spanish or to larger indigenous languages,
For my Paradigm Shift essay, and so also for my TED talk, I would like to explore the idea of religious fundamentalism. I am really interested in other cultures, languages, and religions (as described by my passion blog). So I think this is a really good opportunity for me to explore the idea of religious fundamentalism and its origins. I might also want to focus on the breaking up of different religious organizations. This devolution within certain sects is a key aspect of how fundamentalism emerges. From the beginning, there have been splintering of religious groups based on how extreme they go. For example, today, the Mormon religion has a lot of different sects with varying viewpoints. However, the biggest divider between many of these sects is whether or not they take part in the practice of polygamy. Fundamentalist Mormons believe that polygamy is an important part of the scripture and that they need to participate in this practice in order to receive salvation from God. Others see this practice as archaic and outdated. This same phenomenon occurs in many other religious groups as well. One of the most obvious groups that comes to mind when thinking about religious fundamentalism is Islam. There are obviously very many fundamentalist Islamic groups that take part in terrorism against the United States, India, and other countries. This is especially relevant with the rise of the terrorist group ISIS who is currently taking over large parts of Iraq and Syria and posing an imminent threat on other countries in the Middle East. I might also talk about extremist groups such as the Westboro Baptist Church who take mainstream Christian ideas and escalate them to an extreme level. It might be interesting to compare and contrast these different types of extremism and analyze what types of threats they pose on society as a whole. It would also be interesting to discuss how many smaller religious groups are being taken over by universalizing religions. This is another way that extremist groups form. They feel threatened by a larger universalizing religion and in order to keep their beliefs alive, they take them to the extreme.
Promote gender equality and empower women- Promoting gender equality and female empowerment can go right along with the achievement of universal primary education. In order for women to have an equal role in society, it is essential for women to be given an equal chance at obtaining a quality education. This is probably one of the most important of the UNDP goals for 2015, however there is still an extremely long way to go in order to achieve this and it may be unrealistic for regions such as Sub-Saharan Africa, Oceania, and Western/Central Asia, where despite efforts to promote equality, there are still large gaps between education of males and that of females. A good way to look at inequality between males and females is the gender-related development index, or GDI, which takes into account all of the same factors as the human development index, however, it reflects different accomplishments between men and women. Some of the regions of the world with the lowest gender-related development include the Arab States, with a human development of 0.588 and a gender-related development of only 0.426, South Asia, with a human development of 0.516 and a gender-related development of 0.361. However, by far, the region with the lowest gender-related development is Sub-Saharan Africa. The human development of this region is already low, approximately 0.389, however the gender-related development is just 0.261. Some of the main areas where women have a substantial disadvantage are access to universities, rates of paid employment, and political power. Access to primary education is evening out greatly with 96 females to every 100 males in primary school. However, university enrollment shows a different pattern. There are only 67 and 76 girls per 100 boys enrolled in tertiary education, respectively, especially in sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia, respectively. Dropout rates are also higher for women than men in these regions. The main reason for this is poverty. Unequal education for women also affects unequal employment. The share of women involved in non-agricultural employment is steadily increasing and is currently at 41 percent; however it is as low as 20 percent in many places. Even when employed, women are given a disadvantage, being typically paid less, and given less financial and social security than males. This especially prevalent in developing regions of world, however this is also true for nearly all more developed countries. For example, in the United States, men make $43,000 per year on average while women make an average of $26000 per year. Globally, only one quarter of senior officials or managers are women. In Western Asia, Southern Asia and Northern Africa, women hold less than 10 per cent of top-level positions. Women are given even less of a role in government, making up only 19 percent of seats in parliament, Congress, etc. around the world. Pursuing gender equality is most definitely a worthwhile goal. Women are often given traditional roles of having children and raising a family. However, if women are able to be educated and pursue careers, there will be a huge increase in the number of people contributing to the economy. This makes for a large amount of economic development and can boost not only economies of individual countries, but also the global economy. Less women staying home and having children also means that crude birth and death rates could decline and so could natural increase rates, putting more countries in stage 3 and eventually stage 4 of the demographic transition. In a country like Afghanistan, where female literacy rates are almost half that of males, the main way to increase the role of women is to give them equal access to higher education. This can lessen the unemployment of women all over the world and will also qualify more women to hold more top management and government positions.
In the Turkish city of Sanliurfa, radio plays a very different role in the lives of young people. The city is composed mainly of people from Kurdish and Arabic backgrounds and has been undergoing rapid urbanization and industrialization in recent decades (Algan 78). This is mainly due to government-sponsored programs that create job opportunities and thus encourage immigration into the region. Many of these immigrants are from rural villages in the area and they choose to move to the city to better their lives. This creates a certain stratification in society where immigrant groups from rural areas who struggle to adjust to a more modern lifestyle that natives of the city grew up with. Many of these new immigrants try to retain many of their old religious and cultural traditions that they have held onto for centuries, despite the fact that they inhabit a quickly modernizing city (Algan 78). This presents a problem for young people who must try to navigate through an environment where they wish to interact freely with other young men and women while still retaining the traditional cultural identity of their families. The tribal structure of the Sanliurfa region places heavy emphasis on loyalty to prominent family (Algan 78). Therefore, it is expected for young people to marry within their extended family in order to strengthen the ties amongst the tribe. This not only “minimizes the input of the young in choosing their spouses but also prohibits dating and relationships for both men and women” (Algan 78). People suspected of dating or being in a relationship are severely punished and often ostracized by their families. In a very family-oriented society, this can be devastating.
This is where radio comes into play. To avoid the risk of earning the severe punishment and disapproval from their families, radio is one of the only practical ways young people can experience romance and dating outside the arrangements made by elders. Popular songs express feelings of love and romance that are largely universal. But in Sanliurfa, these songs have intimate meanings as they are a primary method of communication for young lovers. In an interview, Mehmet U., a young Sanliurfa citizen said about emotional expression, “only through songs. We cannot talk on the phone, or send [written] messages [via cellular (mobile) phones] because Urfa’s women cannot use cellular phones. Why? They can’t use the phone independently, apart from their families. They can talk on the phone at home, but not freely. If a girl talks to a person [a man] on the phone and her family hears about it, they bad-mouth her. What I mean is that it can lead to death [of that girl]” (Algan 79). In a city where face-to-face interaction is limited and music is a major aspect of cultural traditions, the dominance of the radio is not a new phenomenon. Now, however, approximately five local radio stations are broadcast specifically to Sanliurfa audiences (Algan 76). These stations are “so internalized by the Sanliurfa audience that every song had to be played for someone and for a specific occasion” (Algan 80). Because lovers primarily communicate via songs on the radio and the seldom secret phone call or meeting, messages can often be misunderstood. Sometimes the lyrics of a song may be misinterpreted. For example, one listener loved the upbeat pop song Lie by Ebru Yasar but refused to request it on the radio for fear his lover would think that he thought, as the song says, “your love is a lie” (Algan 81). The use of radio in Sanliurfa is unlike that of anywhere else in the world due to the conflict of cultural traditions and modern desires faced by many young people in their daily lives. Local radio stations have allowed young people to create a secretive romantic community by utilizing universally appreciated songs to convey intimate messages to their forbidden lovers.
Algan, Ece. “The role of Turkish local radio in the construction of a youth community.” The Radio Journal – International Studies in Broadcast and Audio Media. Volume 3 Number 2. 75-80. Print. 6 October 2014.
I first discovered this Ted Talk about a year ago when it was played at a local Tedx event that I attended. Since then, I have definitely watched it numerous times and yet each time it does not fail to make me feel inspired. This is definitely (one of) my favorite Ted talks. (Honestly you cannot have just one favorite!) The basic topic of the talk is somewhat self-explanatory by the title. However, the way it is presented by Louie Schwartzberg is incredibly unique. He makes his point about how we need to have a greater appreciation for the beauty of the world around us. He encourages people to slow down from their daily lives and to take the time to think about how amazing life really is. Schwartzberg’s point is one that has probably been made countless times, especially considering the rise of technology which has caused so many people to forget to look up from their smartphones to enjoy the view now and then. However, he is very effective in making this point because of the variety of evidence he brings to the table. The time-lapse photography which he has created adds a special visual background to the talk. These images perfectly demonstrate his point, as they show that especially when slowed down and appreciated fully, nature is the most fascinating and beautiful thing in the world. It was also interesting how Schwartzberg delivered his point largely through other people’s words. The contrasting sources of an old man and a little girl were very helpful in showing how nature, beauty, and gratitude are universal. While these ideas came from very different places, both the old man and little girl had very similar ideas. It is interesting to note that neither the old man nor the little girl is very eloquent or polished in terms of delivery. However, this actually makes the talk more effective because the casual nature of these two speakers can be related to by viewers.
This was a speech given on July 12, 2013 by education activist Malala Yousafzai to the United Nations Youth Assembly. She wrote this speech about how she was shot by the Taliban simply for standing up for girls’ education in her home of Pakistan. This experience only made her stronger. She said how she now realizes that she can be an advocate for all girls as well as boys who do not have a voice in their own education. The terrorists try to keep people down by keeping them away from education and empowerment. Malala speaks of how education is the most effective way to obtain peace. And today in so many developing countries, children are kept from education either because of discrimination based on gender, race, religion, etc. or because they are taken away from school at a very young age to work under horrific conditions. In her speech, Malala encourages everyone to come together in support of this mission because in order to get education rights for every child in the world, everyone needs to be aware of how large of an issue this really is. She claims that one teacher, one child, one pencil, and one book can change the world. Malala herself is living proof of this. She is an inspiration to girls worldwide to stand up for their equality and for their educational rights.
I chose this artifact to analyze because it has a variety of factors that make it perfect for in-depth analysis. The urgency of Malala’s message, the unique perspective given by this young girl, and the emotion behind her speech are all fascinating. Additionally, I chose this artifact because I find Malala to be a really inspirational young woman. I read her autobiography and her story is one that truly resonated with me.
