ALTERNATIVE FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE EVENT
ALTERNATIVE ASSIGNMENT
The video “What have my Coco Beans Got to do with Canada” illustrate the concept of the Global Sociological Imagination. The Global sociological imagination is a capacity, an ability, a quality of the mind that allows an individual to understand and connect his or her life with the forces and dynamics that impact it. Ultimately, this concept stresses the interconnectedness of globe. One may not realize how much of an impact they have on the people on the other side of the globe. This concept is important because it emphasizes that the world is one, and it needs all countries to work together to be successful as a species. The video “What have my coco beans got to do with Canada” uses the example of Canada and Ghana. Before watching this video, I did not realize that foreign countries have an impact on our society. In the video, it demonstrates the dependency Canada and Ghana have on each other. In Ghana, villages make coco plants to be exported to foreign countries like Canada to be made into chocolate and other food items that include the ingredient coco. Ghana is relying on Canada to buy the coco beans which help with their economy and provides jobs for many people in Ghana. Canada relies on Ghana for the natural resources. The coco bean is grown in Ghana because Ghana has ideal conditions for growing coco beans to be exported to Canada which affects te Canadian economy. It also affects every Canadian that consumes chocolate because the plants used to make it were planted and grown in a country on the other side of the world. In addition, my life is greatly affected by other people around the world. For example, today I bought a surround sound speaker system from a store in Canada. When I took a look at the box, I saw that I was made in China. The workers in China made this sound system which will now start to affect my life every day. I rely on foreign countries to make these products and since they are made in these countries that allow child labour and etc, I will receive these items at a lower cost. In the video, What have my coco beans got to do with Canada, it demonstrates my reliance on Ghana for the to plant and grow their coco beans. A small village in Ghana affects my everyday life because the majority of the time I consume chocolate, the ingredients were harvested from Ghana. Additionally, people around the world are also are impacted by me directly or indirectly. My family directly affects many children lives in India and Africa. My family sponsors multiple kids around the world by sending money to an organization to provide clean water and healthcare to these children. This directly impacts their lives by increasing their chance of survival by providing their basic needs. Hence, I indirectly affect people all over the world due to the fact that I buy products that are internationally manufactured. I impact their lives by purchasing materials that they have created on the other side of the world. In conclusion, the entire globe is interconnected and all the countries rely on each other for different items that the country may need.
FINAL REFLECTIVE ESSAY
FINAL REFLECTIVE ESSAY
Throughout this semester, I have realized aspects of societies around the world that I have never took into consideration before. This sociology class has taught me many fascinating topics such as the global sociological imagination and the founders of sociology. Throughout the course I started my studies on society and now at the end of my first sociology course, I feel content with the amount of information I learned about how individuals function within society and how societies function. The most important concept that I learned was to debunk ideas and beliefs. Debunking is looking at both obvious and surface level and the less obvious and deeper explanations for social behavior. In the course, we watched a video on an African writer. This video allowed me to debunk my preconceived notion on how the continent of Africa really is. The media shaped my perspective of Africa to be a sad, starving country that is dependent on foreign countries to help with their problems. I imagined every individual to be in poverty and to live a miserable life due to their poverty. After I watched the video, I realized how ignorant I was to believe my beliefs. I quickly started to realize that I could not only view the African people as poor, but they were humans that live fulfilling lives with different values and beliefs than me. I also realized that the violence and poverty does not affect the ENTIRE continent, it only affects portions of it. Africa is like any other continent! In addition, the most shocking information I learned in this course was the idea of race and the problems that come with it. Before this course, I believed that race was a genetic fact that applied to all types of people. In reality, race is a human made idea that affects all of our lives. Race is a system of categorizing humans due to physical adaptations that have occurred due to the different environments around the world. RACE IS NOT A BIOLOGICALLY PREDETERMINED!! When this idea of race was created, it also allowed the concept of racism to arise. Racism started when scientists believed that the “white/ European” race was superior to all other races. The majority of the population then started to believe this false fact and then treat people differently due to their physical features. Racism has been present for centuries and will not diminish unless the ENTIRE population is educated about this topic. Until this can happen, racism will survive and will affect millions of lives to come In conclusion, in my perspective this course was a success due to the fact that it has taught me valuable information that shall never be forgotten.
Canadian Culture-Affective
This song about Canadian culture shows what Canadian culture is in their perspective. They view Canadian culture in a very positive way with the multicultural population and describes a bit about Canadian features such as the beautiful scenery and diverse wildlife like the beaver. Canada is viewed as an accepting peaceful nation, I feel that their perspective of Canada is very accurate. I think that countries around the world also view Canada as a peace keeping country with a diverse population. This identity reduces any terrorist threats which is beneficial to all Canadians. I believe that the government of Canada is satisfied with the Canadian identity since they are the ones who help make it by not interfering with many international matters or interfering for the right cause. Canadians are perceived as polite and accepting and I know as a Canadian i am happy with the worlds perception of us.
The single story-Affective
The single story-Affective
This video about the “Single Story” demonstrates how people perceive people or places due to a single story, they fail to comprehend that they must have multiple perspectives to understand the story. The speaker is emphasizing this point by several examples such as only being told about her servants financial struggles so it was difficult for her to see the servant’s family anything other than poor. This video makes me feel ashamed. I feel ashamed because I am very quick to change my perspectives on things after a single story. Many of my beliefs have been shattered since I realized that the only reason I perceive it in that sense is due to a single story. I think that the majority of the population has the single story problem which could alter their actions towards a group of people for the better or worse. I believe that the only way to fully understand an issue one must look at every aspect of the issue before coming to a conclusion. I know that the only way to overcome the single story is to educate the population about how important it is to look at situations from many perspectives which will benefit society as a whole.
Coco Beas-Affective reading
The video “Coco Beans” demonstrates how the globe is interconnected with countries far away such as Ghana. It provides an example of the global sociological imagination (The global sociological imagination is based on the assumption that our individual biographies are not created by us as individuals but are a collective product of actions and reactions of legions of people around the world). This video uses the example of coco beans. In a small town in Ghana, the villagers planted coco beans to be grown and exported to other nations. The coco beans are shipped to nations such as Canada and are used to create chocolate. Therefore, the video is illustrating that the coco beans planted in Ghana have an impact on our lives despite the distance between us. This video makes me feel shocked due to example used. I did not realize that the coco beans that make the chocolate I eat are made thousands of miles away in Ghana. I think that nations rely on other countries around the world to function properly by trade and etc. I believe that the countries that make the ingredients should be provided with more benefits. The companies that buy the product should provide these towns, cities etc with either financial support or any other needs of the area to show their gratification. The video allows me to fully understand the global sociological imagination because before this video I did not believe that countries around the world rely on each other to allow society to continue to function successfully.
NEGOTIATION, NOT RETRIBUTION-Paraphrastic
NEGOTIATION, NOT RETRIBUTION
PARAPHRASTIC READING
SUMMARY: People are in grievance around the world due to the actions of a group of terrorists that affected the entire globe. We should understand that people around the world in developing countries are constantly dying due to the actions or inactions of the United States. The United States attack on global terrorism is widening the gap between the rich and poor countries causing these developing counties to constantly struggle for life. These issues are permanent but in politics friends are not permanent. A friend possibly could be on ones side and then instantly changed to become the nations most wanted. An example of this would be Osama Bin Laden who was an American trained solider set out to kill Russians and afghans then constructed the 9/11 attacks on the United States of America which resulted in the invasion of Afghanistan. Humans will not learn from history according to Hegel for example the United States was in search for revenge, not retribution.
“As United States launches its open-ended attack on global terrorism, the West should not be oblivious to the ever widening chasm between the rich and poor nations, between the haves and have not’s in their own backyards. Playing the ostrich may have even more devastating consequences.
Several Years ago, Lord Pamelston reminded us that in politics there are only permanent interests, not permanent friends. Osama bin Laden, if indeed he master minded the Sept 11th attacks, was courted, trained, and armed by the US to kill Russian soldiers and Afghans, including mothers and their children in order to roll back the Evil Empire.”
As the US attempts to stop global terrorism they are making the developing countries stay in the state they are currently in by providing them with many more difficulties due to their actions of war. The United States are like ostriches in the fact that they put their hand in the sand and ignore the consequences of their actions.
The issues the world presents are a constant but the people who assist in these issues will not always be a “friend.” The United States used Osama bin Laden to try and prevent terrorism by training him to kill opposing forces. The threat of terrorism never stopped but their previous ally is the cause of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
I chose to paraphrase this segment because it illustrates the difficulties the developing countries have to face due to Western colonies and also demonstrate how problems always occur. I particularly like the segment where it portrays how the United States possesses a problem to developing countries by their actions of war and extraction and how the United States ignores these issues. The second segment I chose was due to the fact that is provides the information that Osama bin Laden was trained and working for the US government at one point.
THE PHANTOM OF RACE-AFFECTIVE
THE PHANTOM OF RACE: THE MYTH OF RACE AND THE REALITY OF RACISM
AFFECTIVE READING
The myth of race and the reality of racism demonstrate how these concepts are human made. Race is not a biological truth but only a physical adaptation by humans to cope with their geographical conditions. It was a social construct which means it was made by humans. Race is a physical characteristic which provides a distinct perception of the race by the world. Racism is the systematic means of denying access to opportunities and resources based on physical characteristics (race). It was created by scientists that stated that some races receiver superior genes and some received inferior genes. Due to this assumption, racism is also a social construct constructed by European scientists which now affects the entire globe.
I feel that race is providing difficulties and assistance to different groups of people based solely on physical characteristics. I feel that this is unfair and makes equality unachievable by having these views. We are all humans and physical characteristics should not be an issue on how one is treated is any context. I think that race and racism are used by governments around the world to control the population. The leader must be the same race as the majority or one will not be successful. Due to similar physical characteristics, the population believes the leader understands their problems because they are from the same “race”. I believe race and racism will eventually be debunked and the majority will understand that there is no difference between races other than physical characteristics. Education will slowly inform the public of this social construct and will initiate change for the better. I know that society is slowly starting to understand that this a social construct due to the fact that the United States has a president that is not of the majority “race”. Therefore, equality will be achieved if society can accept that race is nothing more than physical similarities which will diminish racism!
