World History Fall 2018

I thought his explanation on why historians often only focus on Eurasia was also interesting. I always thought it had to do with white supremacy but it turns out that actually, during the Common Era, 85% of the world's population lived in Eurasia, so that's why historians tend to focus so heavily on it. Strayer wrote about Christianity spreading to Northern Africa and even specifically mentioned how Christianity "found an even more permanent foothold in the lands now known as Ethiopia" which I found interesting because I have several Ethiopian and Eritrean friends who are deeply Christian (more than my other Christian friends) and who put their faith in God before everything else. I thought it was cultural and had no idea that this goes back to the Classical Era! Lastly, I was saddened to read about the way Oceanic women were treated. Strayer described how women were treated as dangerous and were ISOLATED during childbirth and menstruation. I can't imagine a ...

I thought it was awesome that Strayer included a whole chapter on inequality. Not to impose my political views, but I am saddened by the current political situation with President Trump - especially as we see gender equality at the forefront of the news.

When I think of Chinese history, one of the first things that come to my mind are Confucius’ pacifist and accepting teachings. So I was shocked to learn that immediately before Confucius, Legalist philosophers were allowing China to run on a drastic, harsh system of rewards and consequences. The Legalists had an extremely pessimistic view of human nature, and almost, it seems, operated under an underlying belief that humans do not have positive intentions by nature. Strayer describes “most people, they believed, were stupid and shortsighted. Only the state and its rulers could act in their long-term interests” (150). As these philosophies were being used to govern China, Confucius was born and began forming his ideas. Confucius’ main political idea was the idea of “social harmony through moral example” (151). Confucius narrowed hierarchy down to relationships, and discussed how most relationships were unequal. The then advocated that if the person in “power” acted from a place of kin...

"Serving is Different From Helping and Fixing"  I LOVED reading this article. The part I especially resonated with was when author Rachel Remen referenced how using words like "helping" invariably establishes a relationship of hierarchy and of dominance instead of a relationship grounded in a mutual exchange of knowledge and information. She made a similar parallel with the use of the word "fixing" where she mentions that using such a word implies that the person being helped was in some way "broken" prior to receiving the help.  In my personal experience, serving others has been a learning experience on both ends. I have been able to grow as a person from exchanging stories with people who have different backgrounds and it has broadened my sense of social responsibility to hear and witness what other people are experiencing. 

For my Chapter 3 documents, I read Herodotus’ recollections on Egyptian and Persian culture. Herodotus is one of the first recorded documenters of written history as we know it. He traveled widely, thereby gaining a broader global perspective.   I was surprised by how structured Herodotus writing was. It is clear, concise and easy to read. He often takes advantage of creating lists to elaborate on the two cultures different customs. I didn’t know that Persians celebrated birthdays in such a grandiose manner as he described. I was also amused at Herodotus’ mention that “Persians say that the Greeks leave a meal hungry because they have nothing worth mentioning served to them as an extra after the meats and that if the Greeks did have extra courses served, they would never stop eating” (139). This made me laugh because my parents, who are from India, often still jokingly make similar comments and I can’t help but wonder if there is some overlap between Persian and Indian cultu...

One of the most interesting parts of this chapter to me was Strayer’s explanation of the concept of “Heaven” in Chinese culture. Basically, he explains that in ancient Chinese culture Heaven wasn’t seen as a place the way it is today, but rather as “an impersonal moral force that regulated the universe.” I thought this was interesting because in Western Christian-based culture, Heaven is so heavily perceived as a final destination and is used as a means of encouraging people to behave well such that they may   end up there at the end of their lives.