I truly enjoyed our discussion in class of what it means to be wise...are all old folk wise? what about leaders? what about religious leaders? These questions I must say...I can not answer for you...
I also really enjoyed the presentations - Aristotle - who probably had something to do with killin' Alex the Great - and - Lao Tzu - who brings new meaning to the words Pu Pu...ha, Mr. P is so wise!
Here you go:
First, answer the following questions on loose-leaf paper based on chapter 9:
1. What is the difference between Leavers and Takers (166-168)?
2. Ishmael helps the pupil see the story of Cain and Abel in a new light - what is the new understanding the pupil has about the story?
3. Based on this new understanding can you make any real-life connections? Think about how peoples are viewed or perceived by others.
Second, read the article that I gave to you in class. Post a comment on the following two statements:
1) Are the leavers exotic? Think about what the author of this article notes about the connotations to the word "exotic"
2) Do the victors always write the history books? If so, why do we study history? How do we typically study history in school? Is our way of study of history messed up?
On Friday we will continue discussing the novel - chapter 10 - in groups. Also, we will explore Ethics. Please continue to brainstorm your essay options - you should have a clear idea of what you want to write about. If not, revisit the last post for the options. If you have ideas outside the options I have provided, please let me know.
On another note, check out this spoken word segment (incredible): saul williams
By: jean-luc
ReplyDeleteThe exotic people are seen as different people and live a unusual lifestyle. I do think the leavers are the exotic ones because they rely on thier surrounding resources as a hunter-gatherer. They are the ones that live without goverment,education,and technology. They are the ousiders from the technological world.
I propose that the victors always write the stories for history books because we are the ones that took over and wiped them out like the American Indians. Some of us study history because we have to, but others are actually interested in learning what the past is like. In a way, it is important to learn history because we can learn from our mistakes. We study history from our point of view only but not from the American Indians or Ainu's point of view. I do think that some of our way of studying history is messed up because it might not all be facts or parts of the story may be missing.
Ismael
ReplyDeleteThe author uses the term "exotic" to show us that the leavers' culture is strange and quite unusual to us, takers.
From the point of view of a taker, the leavers may seems "exotic", just because their way of living differs from what he thinks is the "normal" way of living.
VIctors are surely the one who write history books. They are proud of their victory over the indigeneous, over the past. They want to impose their views and their thoughts about how life should be.
This is why they use their books to teach us history. The facts found in those books can sometimes differs from reality, but as the indigeneous don't have a written language, they cannot be verified. So the history we study in school is told from the perception of the victors, which seem like the saviors of the human race.
By: Gonçalo
ReplyDeletePeople often seem to use the word exotic in places where it just isn't appropriate. Yes to us, the Ainu people are exotic but that is because they are different from us. In Ishmael, he makes it pretty clear that the way we're living now, isn't the way that humans are supposed to live so I guess this means, we are the ones that are not normal, we are the exotic ones.
It is not only the victors that write the history books, but it is always the victors' stories that are read. In the past, the victors usually exterminated the losers or at least made it so even if they wrote history, it wouldn't be taught or promoted as the truth. Now a days, things are changing and history is beginning to be written from different perspectives. At school we study history by reading from a book that tells the story of different civilizations and events. We trust the book blindly and accept everything in it as the truth because we simply don't know better. Is it messed up? Definitely! But Unless history book writers start finding material from different perspectives there is no alternative. If we don't know what is on the book, we fail class but if we follow it blindly we get A's even though what we learned isn't necessarily (and in my opinion rarely) the truth.
Toby
ReplyDeleteI suppose that it very much depends on the point of view, one is considering someone "exotic" from. Jonah Blank describes the connotation of something "exotic" to be strange or something we are not used to. So from the leavers' point of view, the takers could be exotic, due to the idea that they're simply different and we are not used to see these kinds of habits and behaviors.
I wouldn't say that the non-successful in history don't write their history or keep track of the events. It rather might be that the victors have always opressed the minority to keep them from publishing, promoting and recording their history. Take Africa for example, in which average history text book nowadays do you find sections about ancient Ghana? The most successful society in Africa that managed to promote itself to today's history textbooks would probably be the Egyptians. But what about the other dozens of African nations that are not explicitely mentioned in our text books? We just don't know about them, and I guess that is where a great part of the ignorance towards Africa comes into play. It is definitely not right that so incredibly much history is just being hidden from the world; a factor that is required to change in the next few years; especially if Africa is the world's last resort.
I don't think the leavers are not exotic. Just because something is different doesn't mean that it's strange. I agree with Gonçalo who said that we could be the "exotic" ones because we are taking all the earth's recourses. I don't think that anything is exotic because there are different ways of doing things and they should not be considered weird just because they are different from how we do things and we are not used to them.
ReplyDeleteThe victors do usually write the history books. Sometimes it is the only written source we have.We usually learn history with over-sized textbooks, overwhelming dates and boring events. In the study of history, we need to make room for more sources, more stories, more voices. We also have to valorize oral tradition.
Aya
The leavers in this article are considered exotic because they have a different culture from the rest of the population. Since they are a minority, they can be easily be classyified as different or in this case "exotic".
ReplyDeleteOfcourse victors always write history. One simple example is the history learned in USA about the IIWW and the same subject learned in Germany. USA will certainly glorify their actions and ,aybe exaggerate a bit, while the germans may blame all of their misdoings on Hitler. We study history because it's important to know where we come from, and what our civilization has done to become what we are today. I do not think that studying history is messed up because it's better to know little than to not know at all. Ofcourse there might be some facts or statistics that have to be changed but this doesn' mean that the whole history is wrong.
By alex
I believe that the leavers are seen as exotic people, since they live a totally different lifestyle than we do. However the reverse is also possible. Takers are exotic people from the leavers' perspective. And so it really just depends on what perspective you decide to view it in.
ReplyDeleteI think most of the history books, if not all books are written by the victors. This is normal, and so we have not much of a choice whether or not to study them, because they are our only resource to past information. Because of this, some information is missing, some information is modified, and so on. We're learning a subjective event, because an event is almost never the same for all people.
Renaud