Possible Exam Topics

I want to do something about women from Afghanistan or Pakistan and their human rights violations. I am interested in how the rights of women in Afghanistan or Pakistan are violated (and how they are against the universal declaration of human rights). I am interested in this topic because of the recent news events about the woman from Pakistan. Also when I was downtown I saw a women from the Middle East who had been abused (I think she was burned), so ever since then I have been interested in human rights.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/08/world/asia/08burn.html?_r=2&scp=2&sq=afghan%20burning&st=cse

Voices of women in Afghanistan unveiled

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/11/18/pakistan.blasphemy/index.html?hpt=C1

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/4074377.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/478900.stm

I don't really know where I want to take this topic, but I know I want to do something about their limited rights being violated. I may want to focus on one right in particular that is violated very often, or something like that. I also am interested in what the rest of the world is doing to help or prevent the human rights violations.

MAUS II

The most disturbing image to me was the bottom block on page 72.


I don't know if it is the image, or the words that go along with it, or a combination of the two. The text on that strip just really stuck with me, "and the fat from the burning bodies they scooped and poured again so everyone could burn better." The facial expressions on the mice in the picture and the fact that you can see there ribs just disturbs me a lot. The pictures makes me think of how painful it would be to burn alive. And just the pain that is brought to me by looking at the picture. Then you get the added visual effects of the old bodies that had already burned and the thought of them being poured on top of the people that were still alive is utterly disgusting.

moral dilemmas

I think that being brought up in a military family had a very large influence on my decisions and opinions. At most family get togethers, there are not the usual 'I had to walk to school, uphill both ways' there are the stories of “when I was stationed in ____” I think that having heard these stories, and having read the letters that were sent back home from war and the first hand accounts that my dad, or my aunt, or my uncles, or my cousins, or grandpa had witnessed caused me to view things in a different way.

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/congothedemocraticrepublicof/index.html?scp=2&sq=democratic%20republic%20of%20congo&st=cse

This article talks about the issues that the Congo has faced, and how they are impacting/have impacted the people.The Congo has vast rainforests and natural resources. There have been many lives lost and battles fought in recent years. In 1960 the Congo was set free and basically didn't know what to do, and became a pawn for more powerful countries to utilize. The article talks about the United Nations' impact on the Congo. However, 4 million people have died since 1998; over half of them were children under the age of five. How can the United Nations not be able to protect them? How can a country that has so many natural resources, and has had billions of dollars invested in rebuilding it, not be able to sustain itself (that's not the right word)?

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/africa/10/01/congo.atrocities.un.report/index.html

This article talks about the recent report that the UN published regarding the many atrocities in the Congo. The report talks about how children were recruited for the army, and millions of people died. The report also focuses a lot on the horrible things that have happened to women and children. This article makes me wonder, if we know that these things are happening, why can't we help figure out a way to stop them? What caused the Congo to be in the constant state of war and heartbreaking atrocities? Just why?

Something that stuck out to me

A quote that really stuck with me was "Even those who volunteered often did so because, as one soldier explained to a European visitor, he preferred to be with the hunters rather than with the hunted'"(127). I found this one to be particularly interesting because it showed that people knew that the abuse was wrong, however the fear that they would now become the abused was greater than their desire to stop the malicious actions that were going on. 

KLG 33-60

Quote that sums up King Leopold, "Leopold was nonetheless a dedicated scholar when it came to one subject, profits" (37).

Quote that sums of Stanley, "To read Stanley today is to see how much his traveling was an act of appropriation. He is forever measuring and tabulating things"(51).

Quote that supports King Leopold's desire for profits, "His drive for colonies, however, was shaped by a desire not only for money but for power"(39).


Ms. Knechel - I think I may have done this homework wrong : (

KLG 1-32

I found the reading to be very interesting. The different perceptions, while limited, were insightful and helped shed a light on the what was happening. I also thought it was very interesting to hear what the Africans thought of the Europeans, and how Africans had once been described. As for John Rowlands, better known as Henry Morton Stanley, I thought it was kind of weird that he embellished his stories so much. I understand that he was trying to impress people and separate himself from his childhood, I thought it was a little weird that he changed his name so many times and that he embellished his stories so much that they became rather far-fetched. However, I also thought it was interesting that he considered Africa his place to seek solace.


Why do you think the Europeans felt it necessary to take people from the Congo?

What are some similarities and differences in the ways that the slave trade is viewed? What did the ManiKongo think? King Joao III?