Today in Western Civ

January 31, 2011

Today in “Western Civilization” class we looked through Mr. Schick’s blog at some of the students snow day pictures then reviewed the little bit of the movie “Gun, Germs and Steel” that we had previously watched last Monday.  We then continued to watch more, taking notes as well.  I learned that:

·         To go back to pre-history before there were “haves and have not’s” you would have to go back some 13-thousand years to when the cave men were hunters and gatherers.  

·         Although, in the rain forests of Papua New Guinea, they still exist.  Gathering is done by women, as they try to find a “Sago” tree as they strip it down, for its pulp

·          In the Middle East, gatherers pick Barley and Wheat which is a simple but far more nutritious grass when compared to sago. 

·         In the Middle East, a “community” came up with the idea to build a Granary (building where they can keep plant that they harvest from animals and weather taking its toll on them).

·         While doing this, they were able to split jobs such as “making food, building shelter etc.) because they no longer had to hunt and gather.

·         The Middle Eastern people then started to grow their own food, for the first time in the world. They were the first farmers.  This is when people started to control nature “Domestication.” 

·         New Guinea crops are low in protein compared to wheat, and are harder to plant because they must be done one at a time when compared to wheat where you just shake your hand. 

·         Inequalities in the world are started by the crops and they shape the course of haves and have not’s.

Guns Germs and Steel

Jared Diamond, a biologist in training that enjoys the study of bird watching, travels deep down into Papua New Guinea and creates the documentary “Guns, Germs and Steel.”  Diamond, has become a leading expert on bird life, and feels that Guinea has some of the most fascinating to watch.  While watching and studying there, he has been shocked by the cultural diversity and adaptability that the people of Guinea share.  He was shocked after meeting a man at the beach, whom first questioned why the “white man” has so much of a larger amount of cargo compared to the “New Guineans.”  

GG&S Notes

• Papua New Guinea - where they are
• Name: Jared Diamond
• Biologist in training
• Passion: Studying birds
• Leading expert on bird life
• among the most culturally diverse and adaptable people on the earth
• Cargo was "evidence" of the white mans power
• Believed power was determined by race