Strayer (pg 747-755)

With the development of the world it caused some pros and also cons. The prod with advance technology to help with medical, traveling and many other things. The cons are the globalization problems it had on the world. "By the end of the twentieth century, a worldwide scientific consensus had emerged that the vastly increased burning of fossil fuels, which emit heat-trapping greenhouse gases, as well as the loss of trees that would otherwise remove carbon dioxide from the air, had begun to warm the atmosphere significantly." (Strayer, pg 749) With so much health concerns, companies needed to make a change. A change to go green. To help animals and plants not go extinct. Helping others to help ourselves. In order to make a green efficient society that will not destroy the environment, people need to be able to look a the big pictures of things. For instance having more recycling bins in public is a great way to start letting the public in making a change. Now they are having stores make you buy bags so it will persuade you to purchase recyclable bags to reuse.

Religion and Global Modernity, Strayer (pg 740-747)

No only did feminism and liberation change in the becoming  a new world but the sense of religious changed drastically. In many places religion was not a main focus like it was in previous years. Some places religious was based off of scientific approaches known as fundamentalism. Such as Darwin's evolutionary ideas. " At first fundamentalist sought to separate themselves from the secular world in their own churches and schools, but from the 1970s on, they entered the political arena as the "religious rights"" (Strayer, pg741) Previously science was not well established in the world to have such a big impact on the teaching of the worlds, until many scientist and philosophers began to do more research science was the new outlook on everyday life. For instance now we look at the sun as the rising of the day and the setting of the day, since of how the world wakes and seeks. Without this type of scientific background there would be no impact on the way the earth is evolving. This fundamentalist approach influenced the the Islamic religion. People became more religious by participating in mosque, praying on a regular basis and fasting. Everyday life was based on some form of religious preferences. Women began to dress differently in the sign of purity and not showing parts of their bodies.

Strayer (pp 734-739)

Feminism. Women have always been looked as some foreign creature in the world. Men believed they didn't deserve the same treatment as they did such as basic human rights. They were not able to vote, couldn't get jobs and if they were to get any type of job the pay would not be equivalent to men. In order to try and put a stop to this women began to start a revolution or any other words "woman feminist group". They began to form in the 19th century, they weren't violent accusations but they wanted support. For people that wanted that wanted to get married, funerals, child births anything, the feminist group was there to help them. This happened in the global south, Kenya. The most intrigued issue with the feminist group was" women's rights are human rights" (Strayer, pg736)

Strayer (pp 723-735)

"GLOBALIZATION" When looking at the word the first thing you think about is the upcoming of a world. For instance technology has expanded drastically since 100 years ago. Everything you can think of can be fulfilled through technology, the easiest thing of not even going to the bank to deposit a check because you are able to take a picture and deposit it right on your phone. Not only have technology change but the economy. The worthy amount of bills and coins have changed because of the manufacturing of things and distribution cost. Globalization of the world has in a way helped us humans and destroyed us. We have developed into more complex thinking but it has corrupted us in the way that we are so dependent on things.

Putin's Challenge

Reading this article really had me thinking about racism in the world. For instance when they spoke upon the violence towards Muslims because of the incident that took place in 9/11. Whenever someone sees a human wearing a turban on their head the first thing they think of is a terrorist, not realizes that what is on their head is because of religious beliefs. This relates to what I go through in my daily life. Its not religious based but it still with stereotypes. If you are african american and walk around with mostly the color blue or red one you are immediately looked at like a gang member. This begins violence with people of the same race killing one another dealing with jail time constantly.

Dolores Huerta

When first going to the Dolores Huerta talk I didn't really know what to expect. I believed it was going to be a boring talk about her and how she felt about certain situations about the injustice in the world. Being welcomed in by a culture dance really brought the spirit up in the theatre and really helped kick off her speech with positive energy. Her speech was very powerful and outspoken. Something that I really gained from it was the ability to make a change. Everyone in life wants some aspect of change to make it better, to have equality upon all races, religious backgrounds, ethnicity, gender and many other things. In order for that to happen you have to do something about it, you cant expect everyone to do the work for you , or nothing will change. That is one thing Dolores Huerta was very passionate about, she did whatever she needed to do to make something work. She went to jail about 10 times and even took her kids with her sometimes. One question she asked all of us were who voted for the elections in 2012. Majority of the crowd raced their hand. The second question was who helped someone be able to vote fort he elections in 2012, about 15 people raised their hand. She began to explain how this was one prime example of making a change. Everyone should have a voice if they live here. So having to help someone vote, by going door to door and signing people up will help make a change in the world because people are able to voice their opinions about situations. Dolores Huerta is a activist, in the need justice for everyone. One specific aspect she is focused are illegal immigrants. Helping them become citizens and have the ability to have benefits like everyone else who lives in the country. At the end of the speech I was glad that I attended such an aspiring event. To hear someones struggle in life just to help others that she doesn't even know, shows the love and care that she has for people and to try and teach us that its okay to help others because in order to fix something you have to do something about it.

Strayer Chapter 23 (pp 691-720)

What really touched me the most was the beginning excerpt Nelson Mandela. Showing the struggle it was just for him to become a free man. He was in prison for voicing his opinion and it took until 1994 for South Arica to allow blacks and whites to vote. This really touched me because no matter where demographically there is always this notion of discrimination upon skin color. The fact that it took till the year I was born to allow a colony to be able to vote is very sad.  aboutThe two European colonial empires that struggled for independence were Asia and Africa. "The first major breakthroughs occurred in Asia and the Middle East in the late 1940s; when India, Pakistan, Burma, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, and Israel achieved independence. " (pg 692) They began to experience economy, political and cultural changes. Africa's independence was between mid- 1950s and 1970s. Another thing that happened prior to the cold was the fall of empires. Some that fell were; Austria, Russia, German and Japan.

Strayer Chapter 22 (pp 675-688)

The Cold War. The main location for this war was in Europe due to the extension of communism in China, Korea and Vietnam for security concern. The major cold war conflict twas in Afghanistan. The Marxist party took over in 1978 and the conservation of muslim women began a opposition movement. One of the most interesting battles were between Cuba because it was the first cold war era that did not happen. With the pressure going on it pushed them to be closer to the Soviet Union. They developed missiles in Cuba and the United States almost invaded Cuba. "World War II and the cold war provided the context for the emergence of the United States as a global superpower, playing a role that has often been compared to that of Great Britain." (Strayer 678) At the end of this all I believe the cold war was basically an agreement with USA and the USSR.

Massaro, Section 5 and 6

In section 5 it states how the Catholic tradition benefits individual ownership and be able to care for the goods of God. This section also talks about the teachings that the Catholic Church has on private property and working rights. "To expropriate property means to take it from its present owner, a course of action not normally recommended in the documents of Catholic social teaching."(page92) It brought up one interesting point on how property is not yours unless it came from God. It is good to own private property but to be able to help the ones in needs is that insight that the Catholic Social teaching had in mind. In Section 6 it then begins to talk about labor unions. Catholic Social teaching believed in labor unions and felt that they were an important role in the economic justice. Yes, there were cons about labor unions on how they were driving up cost and there were excessive demands on wages. One thing that labor unions had on people were human rights in the work force. In the US today labor unions are becoming less. They are now hiring part time workers because they don't get paid as much, don't get as many rights as if you were full time worker because it is cheaper to pay just minimum wage. This results in many people having to get multiple jobs just in order to attain money in order to live a sustainable life.

Strayer, Chapter 22 (pp.659-674)

The beginning of communism was first established in Europe in the end of World War II. In the 1970's most of the world population was governed by communist. Communism had a major threat on the western world with the cold war, third world between United States and the Soviet Union and nuclear arms race. Whoever was for communism was a supporter of revolutions. "..Communist revolutions were distinctive as well. They were made by highly organized parties guided by a Marxist ideology, were committed to an industrial future, pursued economic as well as political equality, and south the abolition of private property."(Strayer 662) In other words this quote is stating that the communist government was in this sense of industrializing the world, equality with people financially and politically and having no such thing as private property be given. Once the communist came into power the Soviet Union and China went out to start a socialist society. The first step to do this was to modernize the world and industrialize. Attacking of social and gender classes starts the separation and discrimination in the world. One part of the chapter that really caught my attention was communist feminism. This was state directly. Prior to World War I there were series of laws set regarding women. "They declared full legal and political equality for women; marriage became a civil procedure among freely consenting adults....."(Strayer669) With this being said the freedom of women was finally established. They finally had a voice and were able to live their life not just under the care of their husbands. Women were able to make independent decisions. I feel like this probably took so much of my attention, because one it took a while for women to ever be able to have these rights, and still to this day women and men are still not treated equally no matter what laws are passed.

Strayer, Chapter 21

History is known as a repetitive cycle. For many things such as wars have regularly repeated which have shaped the way the twentieth century is. In this chapter it talks about Europe and how it recovered from its collapse. By the 1900s Europe controlled majority of the world with having such a strong growing military and scientific and industrial revolutions. What collapsed Europe, was World War I or other wise known as the Great War. "At the beginning, most military experts expected a war of movement and attack, but it soon bogged down on the western front into a war of attrition, in which "trench warfare"."(Strayer,pg630) For many years Europeans didn't see in wrong in the war until the outcome was coming out to be economically a problem. This was a comparison to the enlightenment. After the war was over the aftermath was known as the great depression. Meaning social and cultural changed to the Americans and the Europeans. Tradition was looked s a new way, for instance mothers day was now a profound holiday during the great depression and has now stuck with the Americans till present day. But the most that the great depression showed was the failing of the economic system. Unemployment began to rise and the rich were now trying to find new ways of making more money. Prior to this was the Holocaust which was ran by Hitler and was the plan on getting rid of all Jews. The main three factors that led to the recovery of Europe were: industrial society, bettering the economy and thirdly extension with the United States of America.

Strayer, Chapter 20 (pp.607-614)

While the colonial era was going it erupted into cultural changes. For instance education, religion and race became a major impact in their countries. "..western education, obtained through missionary or government schools, that generate a new identity." (pg 607) This help them obtain a great education that they were able to communicate with government officials and try to import goods. "Moreover, education often provided social mobility and elite status within their own communities and an opportunity to achieve, or at least approach, equality with whites in racially defines societies." (pg 607) The next thing was religion. This started the religion of "african reformation" where christianity became Africanzied. Not only did they allow Christianity into their culture but they began to make it apart of them. In India they made christianity into Hinduism. The last impact was "race". This was when Africa defined themselves as "Africans".

Strayer, Chapter 20 (pp. 589-606)

Colonial Encounters. This was the notion of the "Americans and Asians being ruled by the British, French, German, Italians, Belgians, Portuguese, Russians or Americans." (pg 590) The first phase were the Europeans taking over the Americans. The preferred informal control because it was cheaper and didn't provoke wars.  Eventually through out the years the Europeans had advantage due to firepower, rifles and machine guns. This was their ability to conquer more because other places weren't well developed.  The main thing that was affected by colonial rules were the way people work. "The colonial state- with its power to tax, to seize land for European enterprise, to compel labor, and to build railroads, ports and roads-played an important role in these transformations." (pg598) Having money be an outstanding factor, by raising prices and increase production of products made it harder for workers. This is the kind of process that is going on today. Taxes are raising in the United States but minimum wage is still not acceptable in a lot of places which makes it harder for people to live because they have to get more jobs in order to survive.                                        

Communist Manifesto (Chapter 1)

"We see, therefore, how the modern bourgeoisie is itself the product of a long course of development, of a series of revolutions in the modes of production and of exchange." (Chapter I. Bourgeois and Proletarians) With this saying this was the production of the 2 classes. We have the the poor middle class and the lower case as the manufacture workers. The bourgeoisie eventually used its higher class known as the physician, lawyer and priest to become paid wage laborers. This was all due to the notion of labor and money. Eventually this became a production, relocating individuals just so they are able to go to work. This is exactly how the work force for many big productions are. They are known as sweat shops, where the youngest child is in there working day and night for a very cheap amount. Lots of human rights taken advantage of and much more. This is the big separation of class due to the wealth level. I feel it is unfair to base people on how much they make in their life. Sometimes people have lived in a certain lifestyle their whole life and feel more comfortable in living that way. For instance a family that is use to farming, has never seen any other type of work force. The separation also brings conspiracy towards others and discrimination.

The Industrial Revolution was a main reason of the European transformation. With the dominance that Europe already had this brought them more to a global dominance. hThe Industrial Revolution was a period in which there were  changes  in agriculture, textile and manufacturing, transportation, economic policies and the social structure. This was an echo of the scientific revolution because of the application of science to production. With Europe beginning their new transformation, other countries such as India, China and many others began to also develop their on industrial revolution. This revolution also changed the way people worked. People began to develop factories so you have multiple items being made at once, rather then just a small business where it is one person doing the main job.  With the start of many other countries developing it began a competition for many things such as clothing, and cars and many main necessities. I feel that without the industrial revolution a lot of things that we use today would not be how they are. Technology would not be the same nor would things such as cars.

Strayer pp 507-524

In this chapter it talked about the Haiti, Spanish, abolition, nationalism and feminism revolution. What all of these revolutions have in common is the notion of equality. The Haiti revolution was from 1791-1804. It was the only successful rebellion in history. One of their biggest legacy was the saying "remember Haiti". This is in comparison of the abolition revolution. In order to fulfill this they dealt with awareness,boycotting and work through the government. The feminist revolution was one of the most touching moments for me. In the book it states that " from the beginning, feminism was a transatlantic movement in which European and American women attended the same conferences, corresponded regularly, and read one another's work."(page 521) Combining multiple women groups together they are able to grow as a bigger nation to make the feminist revolution stronger.

Strayer, Chapter 17 pp 504-507

The French Revolution. In the beginning I was very confused on why this revolution even took place. It stated about the different estates and how the third estate organized themselves as the National Assembly. This estate made all the laws for the country, " men are born and remain free and equal in rights" (page 504), and this was the beginning of the revolution. Money began to be a big problem during this time. Churches were sold to raise revenue, priest were under government authority, even small things such as bread was raised. With all the violence going around the next option was to start fresh. In my opinion this revolution was pointless. It resulted in unnecessary violence and begin wars with others that could have been left alone.

Strayer, Introduction to Part 5 and Chapter 17 pp 491-504

"My dear philosopher doesn't this appear to you to be the century of revolutions?" (page 500) For many centuries there were multiple revolutions that were distributed through out the world. One in particular that has had an effect on the Americans, was the North American Revolution ( 1775-1787). This was trying to help them break away from the british empire to become its own, also known as the United States of America. One thing that was a huge problem was the equality of the people in America. Slavery was subsided in the northern hemisphere but was still a big thing in the south. With that saying, when it came to voting for things such as laws or people to run the country, black slaves and women were not allowed to vote. It really bothers me to know how much Europe had control over so many different colonies, which resulted in many revolutions for people to fight for what they wanted. This relates to the anecdote they had at the beginning of the chapter. Having the Chinese riding empty bicycles to symbolize the death of the Chinese who were fighting for their democracy was a sad thing to picture. It's sad to see a colonial has so much power over people that they take everything they have for granted.

Strayer,Chapter 16 pp. 477-488

In the second part of the chapter it states that, Copernicus, Galileo, Descartes and Newton were the first to bring science into the religion aspect. Who really brought the scientific revolution together was Sir Isaac Newton who founded the modern laws of mechanics and motion. This helped with the notion of the world being ruled by mathematics instead of angels and spirits. Its prime location where science took place was in Europe. Seeing how something so major as the scientific revolution is a since of power that Europe had to build them. Knowing that they were already on top of others , establishing this big topic helped them with power. In my view as a science major, I believe that the scientific revolution does play a role on the outlook on nature. The way things have been founded and confirmed would not be the way it was without science.

Strayer, Chapter 16 pp. 461-477

In this beginning part of the chapter it first begins by saying that Christianity was established in the Americas, Philippines, Siberia, China, Japan, and India. It was very limited in Europe in the early modern era. Once it was brought to the European attention it helped with political and economic expansion. There was one particular section that really made me upset, when it spoke about this notion of war due to Catholicism. "It was a horrendously destructive way, during which, scholars estimate, between 15 and 30 percent of the German population perished from violence, famine, or disease." (page 465) In my view religion should never be a focus on violence. Me being religious and catholic I feel that following Gods word should never have any type of connection toward hurting others. Rather you should be loving your neighbor and finding peace.

Strayer, Chapter 15 pp. 449-458

In the beginning of the chapter we see the start of the slave trade that was through the Atlantic Ocean that dealt with the Europeans and Native Americans. The only benefits of this was the introduction were religious ideas, musical and artist traditions. This was one of the biggest expansion of human beings.  Having such a large amount of black slaves coming into the Americans help with the establishment of sugar, tobacco and cotton plantations. This was when a lot of racism was established between "blacks" (which I believe is not the proper name, just like white is not the proper name) begin to come into affect. With the difference of color, bone structure and stability of their body there were many things being said about black slaves. This has always been a hard topic for me. Being "black" we are always looked at differently because out of all different races we are the darkest. They way blacks were treated at this time always makes me upset. They were bleeding their own sweat to do things for others just to be able to bring their whole family to America. Not being treated fairly and still have no say so in what they can and what they can not do. Not only were they hurt while working for their slave owners but also the slave boats that brought them to their plantations. At the end of my view point  of slavery I have never liked it and never will.

Strayer, Chapter 15 pp. 433-448

In this chapter we learn about the slave trade. There were many countries involved such as : Europe, Asia, Western Europe, North America and Siberia. This shaped the human interactions between 1450 and 1750. There were many connections being made such as between Europe and Asia and Spain and the Philippines. Between Europe and Asia their main form of trade were spices, such as; cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, cloves and all types of pepper. Not only did this help with trading between countries but it also helped with countries beginning to gain power. This kind of relates to how China has power over the United States today. Since most of the US products are made from China they have power over us since we owe them the money in order for things to be made. I feel like trade is a great resource to get new things but it also starts conflicts between countries when it comes to dictating power. I believe trade should not have to do with power but strictly being able to trade something you have for something else. 

Sweet Nexus: Sugar and the Origins of the modern World.

The beginning of sugar began in India, in the fourth century, but was better known in China. It began its global expansion through the Muslims. With this introduction of sugar it began to be a luxury because the process of it. It was always made in large scales, it could be grown in hot areas. Once it was the fifteen century sugar was then introduced in souther Spain and in Portugal. It wasn't until the eighteen century where sugar was then used as a sweetener for drinks such as; coffee, cocoa and tea. One thing while reading that really got my attention was when it said "...sugar consumption among the average citizens showed not their wealth but their poverty and lack of adequate nourishment." (page 91) What I didn't understand was that sugar was a form of poverty and not wealth. I guess in a way of such a large consumption it has because it grows so much at a time it wouldn't be worth a lot. But, since it was used as a luxury items in some cases I would believe it was more known as a wealthy and high class item. One of the main things that help the production of sugar were slaves.

Strayer, Chapter 14 (pp. 417-430)

The second part of this chapter we begin to see a different side of an empire, the Russian Empire. Showing the difference of how it was just going east or west. In the east it was very slowly produced, they were known for gathering and hunting for their food. Not trading and being more out there like other empires. Since they didn't have anything such as weapons or any big seller they didn't get a lot of trade. The other part of Russia had many things that helped in trade such as grain, sugar, tea, tobacco and alcohol. Which was one reason why the Russian Empire was so wealthy. What I thought was interesting was how they compared it to the upcoming of China and India. It was like everything that each empire was doing was a competition. Yes, that was the case for many reasons but at the end of the day each empire was just trying to make it better to live in.

Strayer, Chapter 14 ( pp.403-417)

" Columbus was a perpetrator of genocide..., a slave trader, a thief, a pirate, and most certainly not a hero." ( page 403) From when you are in elementary school you are taught about all the great things Columbus has done for us. That he is the one who found the world. We have been depicted such a lie that now it is not a nation holiday like for instance Martin Luther King Jr day. During this chapter we learned that the Europeans had a great deal on the establishment of the country. For instance like it stated Spanish, Portuguese, British and French all have one major thing in common which is that they were controlled by the Europeans, even financially. My view is that this is one reason people feel that the modern era was really the European era because they controlled not only people but economic abilities and countries.

Introduction to Part 4

In this brief introduction, we were really put in the mind to think about the fact of Modern era being known as the European Era. There have been big debates on whether this should be the case. For instance with the Europeans putting them selves on the list of continents. The only reason they were able to do this was because they were the dominants at this time. I believe this will be a good discussion to talk about, while there are many defense on why it is the European era it is only viewed that way because the people who are saying that are European. While we aren't really able to see the second point of the actual modern era.