Tuesday - Class Notes

Human Geo

Cultural Geography

Notes

·                Culture characteristics are parts of a group everyday life. They are the ideas and themes which the group will teach to all members. These same characteristics can also link or divide a region. 

·                Examples- language, religion, heritage. 

Study Guide

Today in class, we continued to take note on Cultural Geography:

Language- Ex.) of cultural characteristics:

- Arabic unites the Arab world
- Spanish unites the Hispanic world

·                Brazil is the only South American nation which does not speak Spanish. It speaks Portuguesse.

·                Canada is a bilingual nation. French and English are their official languages. 

·                American has no official language.

Example: 

·                Switzerland is a country that has multiple languages. There is very little conflict between the groups.

·                English is now considered the world language and is used for most business transactions around the world. 

Example: 

·                In Yugoslavia many ethnic groups were made into one country (Serbs, Croats, Boshians, Albanians).

·                When strong leadership died out the different groups fought a very bloody civil and how they all have separate countries. 

Example:

·                In the countries of Rwanda and Burundi in Africa, Two ethnic groups are dominant in the other. - the Tutsis and the Hutus

·                The Hutus are dominant in one and they persecute the Tutsis and the Tutsis are dominant in the other. 

·                The US and Switzerland have peacefully merged multiple ethnic groups in their countries.

- Korea and Japan have primarily one ethnic group. 

- On the island of Cyprus the Greeks and the Turks try to gain control. 

Notes:

Religion

·                There are 5 major religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. 

·                They have millions of followers all believing the same thing. 

Religion can also be a dividing force around the world.

·                Hindus and Muslims fight in India (Hindu) and Pakistan (Muslim)

·                There are conflicts between Catholics and Protestants (two forms of Christianity) in Northern Ireland. 

·                Jews, Christians and Muslims all claim Jerusalem as their religions holy site. They are constantly fighting over the land.

Spatial Divisions

·                Spatial divisions are how we divide the livable space found on the earth by established social, economic, and political control. 

·                You can be a member of more than one spatial group.

·                Spatial divisions can also cause conflicts or cooperation. 

Examples of Spatial Divisions: -----> 

·                Countries

·                Economic alliances

- European Union (EU)

- Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)

Spatial Divisions                    

·                Political Alliances

- North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

- Commonwealth of Nations

- Organization of American States (OAS)

  _________________________________________________________________________________

Religion

·                Number of adherents: around 2.2 billion (largest in the world).

·                Call them: Christians

·                Geographic Nation: Europe, the Americas, Southern Africa.

·                Denominations: Baptists, Methodists... 

More on Christianity 

·                Founder: Jesus Christ (it's Abraham in origin).

·                Holy book: The Bible, especially the New Testament

·                Beliefs: Jesus is both human and divine - the Son of God; he led a virtuous life; he was crucified, died, buried, and resurrected; descended into heaven where he reigns with God the Father. 

·                Clergy: Pope, priests, etc.

Islam         

·                Number of adherents: 1.5 billion (second largest). 

·                Call them: Muslims

·                Geographic Nation: Indonesia, Middle East, North Africa.

·                Denominations: Sunnis (75-90%), Shittes (10-20%)

·                Founder: Muhammad (570-632).

·                Holy Book: Qur'an

·                Beliefs: Monotheistic, Abrahamic

·                Five Pillars (testimony, prayer, alms-giving, fasting, pilgrimage)

·                Muslims see their purpose in life as serving and submitting to Allah (God), and observing Islamic law. 

Hinduism

·                Number of adherents: 1.1 billion (third largest) 

·                Call them: Hindus

·                Geographic Location: India, Nepal

·                Holy Book: The Vedas - eternal truths revealed to ancient sages; composed in verse form (meant to be sung and easily memorized). 

·                Founder: No distinct founder - it is a series of intellectual or philosophical points of view, rather than a rigid, strict set of beliefs - probably the oldest religion, although Hinduism is less religion than a way of life, or faith. 

·                Example: " As a person puts on new clothes and discards old and torn clothes, similarly an embodied soul enters new matrials bodies, leaving the old bodies." 

·                In other words :: re-incarnation. 

Buddhism

·                Number of adherents: 500 million to 1.5 billion (estimates vary quite a bit)

·                Call them: Buddhists

·                Geographic Location: Southeast Asia, China, Nepal, Japan (there are 1.2 million Buddhists in the US). 

·                Founder: Siddhartha Gautama

·                Denominations: Tibetan. Zen, Theravada, Amidist

Monday 12/8

Five Major Religions:

Buddhism:
-Four Noble Truths
     -There is suffering
     -Attachment to desire is the origin of suffering
     -There is a cessation of suffering
     -The Eightfold Path will lead to the cessation of suffering 
The Eightfold Path:
-rigth view
-right intention
-right speech
-right action
-right livelihood
-right effort
-right mindfulness
-right dedication 

Judaism:
-number of adherents: 14-18 million (ninth)
-call them - Jews
-geographic location - Israel 
-Founder - Abraham (?)
Holy Book:
-Talud
-Torah (first five books of the Old Testament: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy)
Belifes:
-ethical monotheism - God is one, and concerned with the actions of humankind
-Ten Commandments
-13 Principles of Faith 

Wednesday and Friday Classes

I did not blog on Wednesday or Friday because I was absent from school.  I had the flu for 5 days and missed Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, so therefore, I could not participate in class. 

Tuesday 12/2

Cultural Geography:


Cultural Characteristics:
-Cultural characteristics are parts of a group's everyday life.  They are the ideas and themes which the group will teach to all members.  These same characteristics can also link or divide a region.
-Example of cultural characteristics would be language, religion, and ethnic heritage

Examples of Cultural Characteristics:
Language:
-Arabic unites the Srab wolrd
-Spanish unites the Hispanic world 
-Brazil is the only South American nation which does not speak Spanish; it speaks Portuguese.
-Canada is a bilingual nation. French and English are their official languages.
-Switzerland has multiple languages but very little conflict between the groups
-English is now considered the world language and is used for most business transactions around thee world
-The United states and Switzerland and have peacefully merged multiple ethnic groups in their countries.
-Korea, China, and Japan have primarily one ethnic group

Monday 12/1

Today in class, we finished watching the movie.  As I said in my last blog, Latika was running to answer the phone call from Jamal to answer the question.  Latika had answered the phone and Jamal told her the question.  Latika told Jamal that she did not know the answer and they both just laughed.  In the end, Jamal ended up guessing the answer to the question.  Jamal had surprisingly gotten the answer right and he and own 20,000,000 dollars.  After he had won the money, he went to the train station to see if Latika would come to meet him.  Latika did come to meet him at the train station, and they had reunited and were so happy.  After everything they both went through, they were finally together. 

Tuesday's Blog

In class on Tuesday we finished watching the movie about India.  The last part of the movie was mainly about the last couple questions on the game show that Jamal had to answer.  Jamal had showed up to the house that Latika was living in; the house that Salim and another guy had forced her live in with many other women.  He had told her to meet him at the train station, and she did; but Salim had known she tried to escape and followed her there and took her back.  Now, skipping towards the end of the movie, Salim had decided to let Latika leave the house and go find Jamal.  Jamal is on the game show and is on the final question.  He is told the question and knows that he does not know the answer to it.  He decides to all his brother, but Salim had given the phone to Latika when she left the house.  Latika had the phone, but she had left it in the car when she got out.  Latika ran back to the car to answer the phone.  She answered the phone and was told the question to the game show.  After watching that part, school ended and veryone left class, so we did not get a chance to finish the ending. 

Monday 11/24

Today in class we watched the movie again.  The part of the movie today showed Jamal and Salim as they were growing up.  It showed them going to this great guy and trying to have better lives.  Then, they realized that the person who saved them was not so great, he was just going to do bad things to them.  They ran away from there, with Latika, but she never made it to get on the train.  They went on the train and Latika was taken back to the terrible person.  She stayed there, while Salim and Jamal rode the train around India, conning people for money and giving tours of famous places.  They stole things from people, and were living a great life.  Then, Jamal decided to go back to look for Latika.  When they found her, the guy who captured her, owned her.  He made her famous.  When Jamal and Salim were about to leave with her, the people who captured her came back; Salim shot one of them and then they ran away.  After all of this happened, Jamal and Salim started to separate.  Then one day, they didn't see each other anymore.  They spoke again about 5 years after the separation, during a phone call at the place Jamal worked at.  They decided to meet up.  Mr. Schick paused the movie there. 

Blog for Friday 11/21

Today in Human Geo class, we watched a movie that took place in India.  Mr. Schick has asked us to compare America to India, and see how bid the difference of lifestyles is.  As we watched this movie, I realized that the to lifestyles are TOTALLY different.  "Normal" to them, which is how they live, would be so disgusting and rare to us.  The way they live is very different from us, because parts of it are very poor.  They are so used to having so little and living off of what they can find; little kids sometimes have to fend for themselves.  In America, our parents are there for us until we are able to support ourselves; we are used to being spoiled and having good things.  People in some parts of India do not have good things, most of the time they are eating trash and taking baths in a lake.  Americans take for granted what they have because they don't know what it is like to live in the slums and have no food or drink; bathing in disgusting lakes or rivers.   

wednesday 11/19

I  was absent from school today, so I did not participate in class!

Tuesday 11/18

I left school early today, therefore I could not attend class. 

Monday 11.17.14

I was absent from school today, so I do not know what we did in class.

Friday, The Test!

Today in class we took a test on the countries, their governments, and the leaders.  I think the test was  reasonable, not to hard but also not that easy.  I think it was hard to memorize all the government types, and which country they went with.  I also had a hard time memorizing whether Stephen Harper or David Cameron were the leaders of Canada or the UK.  I think it would have helpful to me if I would have taken a little bit more time to study.  Memorizing these things may have been easier.  I did think this was a good test, and I like the multiple choice answers with an essay at the end.