Religious ethnocentrism (Paraphrastic)

In this video Sheikh Khalid Yaseen brings up the issue of Muslim not being able to wear their traditional head wear because of discrimination.  Yaseen explains that if a woman in a bikini were to walk into a room no one would question her because it is seen as normal in society.  Yaseen also explains how naturalist have the right to walk around in the nude.  However, Yaseen then explains how Muslim women are not given the same right as everyone else.  They are questioned on why they are wearing the veil.  Yaseen tells us that these women are not wearing this because they are forced upon by their husbands, but they are wearing it because of God.  This is there right of religion and society is trying to change that.

 

 

“Muslim ladies do not have to explain to anyone why they dress the way they dress.  Just like others who are undressed don’t have to explain to anyone why they are undressed” – Sheikh Khalid Yaseen

 

 

I chose this quote from this video because it explained how every one of us has the right to believe in what we want to believe in and no one can change that.  I believe that society tries to change people that do not fit the so called “norms” of society because they believe everyone should be like.  We all have a right to believe in what we want and this should be accepted in society.

Social Construction (Dialectic)

Q: What is Social Construction and why does it matter?

 

How did the video answer the question?

In the video, Social Construction, Gwen Sharp and Lisa Wade explain the meaning of social construction and why it is important to understand.  They say that social construction is one of the key concepts in sociology and that it “refers to the way we create meaning through social interactions with others”.  One type of social construction is language.  It is a “system of sounds, and sometimes figures, to which we, collectively, attach meaning” (Sharp, Wade).  Another is symbols or colour, which we use to identify certain things such as countries.  Social construction matters because social constructions such as race can have constraints on certain races.

How does the video match your own ideas and experiences?

From watching this video I have learned that many of the things around us are social constructs.  The language we use to communicate is a social construct.  The symbols and colours we use to identify certain countries or things are all social constructs.  Social Construction has a great effect on our everyday lives.  For example, the money that we use is a social construct that we have created.  Depending on how much you make separates us into different classes such as the middle and upper class.  Social Construction matters because it effects our lives in a powerful way both positively and negatively.

Lanterns for Learning (Parapharstic)

In this article, Lanterns for Learning, by Dr. Quist Adade explains how the students of Kwantlen Polytechnic University and Dr. Quist Adade himself supported growing education in Ghana.  Many children in Ghana don’t have the tools they need to succeed with their education.  Here in Canada it is easy for us to work late into the night because we have light and the tools.  However, in Ghana there are widespread blackouts around the region that keep children from reading and learning.  As a child Dr. Quist Adade grew up in one of these small communities where he was deprived of electricity and light.  After going back to Ghana he learned nothing had been done to change this problem.  So he and his students are building lanterns which they will take to Ghana on their trip to give to these children.  “If I had these lights I would have been a genius”, said Dr. Quist Adade explaining how these lanterns will help.  Not only is the group bringing lanterns, but they are also raising money to provide supplies and scholarship for these children.

 

“‘Knowledge for knowledge’s sake is not good enough,’” he said. “Theory without practice is blind, and practice without theory is empty, so what I do is I give my students an opportunity to translate the theoretical knowledge in to practical – especially to help the helpless”

Dr. Quist Adade uses this quote from Kwame Nkruma, the first Ghanaian president, to show how his theory is being put to work by his student.  This ethnographic study will show how the lanterns and tools given to these students will actually help them with their education.  By putting this theory into a practice it is no longer blind.

Thank you Bush for Giving Us Obama! (Dialectic)

• What question did the text raise?

Is George Bush responsible for giving us Obama?

 

• How did the text answer this question?

In the text it explains how the best thing that has happened to Africans in this century is George Bush.  All of Bush’s disastrous domestic and foreign policies and ideologies made it possible for Barack Obama to run in office. This would make MLK dream of a colorblind America a reality.  However, this is not all because of Bush.  It has taken painful trials and tribulations and aborted hopes and dreams to come this far.  From African Slavery, segregation, and recent events of Katrina there have been many hardships to get here.  Obama should not however forget the past because he will only be doomed to repeat them.  To bring change he must reject all of Bush’s policies in order to draw and spread his own wisdom to the country.  All in all “Without Bush, there wouldn’t have been Obama” (Quist-Adade).

 

• How does the answer match our own ideas and experiences?

I personally agree with the text and Dr. Quist Adade that George Bush is to thank for giving us Obama.  When Bush was in office there were many policies that were not supported by the people.  People wanted change in office and that was brought by Barack Obama.  Even though recently we have to thank Bush for Obama, this change hasn’t come easy.  Through the years Africans faced slavery and segregation and other hardships to come to where we are today.  In order to not repeat the past we must educate ourselves on previous mistakes.  The obvious answer is that Bush is to thank for Obama because of his poor leadership.  However, it goes further than just that because MLK’s dream was not reached just because of Bush, but the many years of hardships that they had faced to get here.

 

What is ‘race’ and what is ‘racism’? (Affective)

In this article Dr. Quist Adade looks behind the obvious meaning of race and racism.  In the scientific sense one of them does not even really exist.  These two notions have brought great hardships and conflicts in the world.  The word ‘race’ is “defined as a grouping of human population characterized by socially selected physical traits” (Dr. Quist Adade).  Dr. Quist Adade explains that we has humans brought up the term ‘race’, this is what is known as a social concept.  From these different groups of so called races we began to discriminate against one another, this is now known as racism.  However, Dr. Quist Adade explains that we as humans are very similar to each other.  The geographical adaptations have changed how we look as different ‘races, but on the inside we are made of the same DNA.

 

I FEEL that these two notions of ‘race’ and ‘racism’ have created many conflicts in the world.  There are wars and crimes that are caused because of racism.  I feel that it is our own fault for creating this social concept that has brought hardship and conflict to the world.

I THINK/BELIEVE that we as humans tend to separate ourselves from one another by distinguishing different groups or so called ‘races’.  It is human nature for us to classify ourselves into groups and races to feel a unity with our own.

I KNOW that with the advancements in technology we have been able to prove that human and different races share almost the exact same DNA.  Even a “Black” man can have a closer DNA structure to a “White” man than someone from his own race.  This is because race is a social construct that we humans have created.  We humans differ from each other because of adaptations that have occurred over the years.

 

 

 

What Have My Cocoa Beans Got to Do with Canada? (Paraphrastic)

In this article, What Have My Cocoa Beans Got to Do with Canada, by Dr. Quist Adade, he talks about how he grew up planting cocoa seeds as a young child in the village of Teawiah.  In this Dr. Adade explains how actions from others in the past or present can affect us in the future.  Actions from one village can have repercussions in another.  Dr. Adade explains how the chocolate or hot cocoa we drink here in Canada today could be coming from the same cocoa seeds that he had planted as a child.

  “That is not all. All my education, from high school to graduate school, was paid for by people I call my unsung heroes and heroines in villages and cottages across Ghana. Money set aside by cocoa farmers in Ghana in the form of the Cocoa Marketing Board Scholarship Scheme financed my education. And here I am today, an instructor in Canada, helping in my own small way, to educate the future leaders of this country, my new found home”

 

This paraphrased segment really stood out to me because I feel like it has affected me as well.  Dr. Adade explains how his education was paid for by the village members to support the cocoa bean farmers.  His education was made possible by the people of the village, and now I feel that because of them Dr. Adade was able to get education and now I am the one learning from him.

Thinking about Sociology Ch.15: Gender Stratification, Inequalities, and Differences (Dialectic Reading)

What Question did the text raise?

Has there been and effect in the 21^st century from the equality rights and the Gender Revolution?

 

How did the text answer the question?

 

The Gender Revolution in women’s rights took place in the 1960’s.  The revolution did have a positive effect.  Women’s employment increased dramatically, birth control became available, and women caught up with men in rates of college graduation, and more women than ever got doctorates as well as other professional degrees.  Before the revolution most women were married of early and were usually expected to finish domestic chores and to have several children.  After the revolution many women were challenging men for well played professional jobs.  In spite the gains made over the years by women, gender stratification still remains.  Men continue to hold more powerful and high ranking jobs than women do.  Canadian women still earn substantially less than men do.

 

How did this answer match our own   ideas and experiences?

 

Personally from reading this chapter I have found that there has been a substantial effect by equality rights and the Gender revolution.  Decades ago women were not able to do half of the things they are today.  However, I agree with this chapter when it says that gender stratification remains today among Canadian men and women.  A metaphor used by our professor Dr. Quist Adade, was that women still face the glass ceiling to success.  This meaning that even though women are now able to get jobs that are highly professional they still face obstacles to reach high ranked jobs.  I believe that everyone should have an equal chance to succeed and that no one should be gender bias.