Chapter 14

Claudia Hernandez

April 23, 2008

Las 284

 

Chapter 14 talks about the injustices towards those citizens that are born of immigrants. An example is seen with the Japanese Americans. When Pearl Harbor was attacked, the government acted out of fear instead of reason. Many Japanese were moved to concentration camps. Although there might have been a great number of them that could had been dangerous, for the most part many of them were hard working families that were treated unfairly.

Young married couples were having children at these camps. A Nisei woman told her husband “This is crazy. You realize there is no future for us and what are we having kids for?” I cannot even imagine all the pain and suffering that all these families must have gone through. Many Japanese-Americans found themselves joining the armed forces not to get medals or because they wanted to live that experience, but they were doing it to prove to others that they loved America. This was their home, their nation, and they had to join to be proof that their families were not “the bad guys”.

Chapter 11

Claudia Hernandez
April 21, 2008
LAS 284
Chapter 11
Between “Two Endless Days”

The Jews of Russia and Eastern Europe also began their migration to America during the 1800’s. Unlike the Japanese immigrants, they could not return to their homeland, and almost everywhere government officials had encouraged acts of violence against Jews. “The pogroms, observed Abraham Cahan, forced Jews to realize that “Russia was not their homeland and that a true home must be found for the Jews. But Where?”” (279) So when they heard stories about freedom and a better life in a land called America and how well ordinary people were doing here they started to migrate. By the beginning of World War I, one-third of all Jews in Russia and Eastern Europe had emigrated, most of them to the United States.
Although they often thought about all the possibilities and wealth that could await them in America, they couldn’t stop but wonder if they would ever return or see their loved ones again. This is something that I think all people migrating here or to another place in hope of a better future must go through. Sadly, most immigrants saw themselves as exiles, unable to return to Russia as long as religious persecution persisted. The Jews had to make America their new home.
Jewish immigrants were educated, 80% of the women and 63% of the women who came between 1908 and 1912 were literate. Not only did they bring their values, they brought something more useful, their skills, especially in the sewing trades.
They settled in the lower east side and began to establish a community. They formed networks composed of people from the same town or district in Russia. This is still seen nowadays.
Similar to the Irish women who migrated here, most young Jewish women working were single, planning to work for a few years before marrying.
Similar to the

DeToqueville Pages (11-26)

DeToqueville – Pages 11-26 (R).

* On page 16, the author writes, “A new political science is needed for a totally new world.” Why does he think this? What is political science and why is it necessary? How would he go about constructing a new political science? What are the challenges he faces in coming to understand America? Write your reading journal blog-post on this question.

The reason why he might think this way is because he knows how governments have ruled in the past. No matter how smart or bright people are, governments are the ones to guide its civilians.
Political science is “a branch of social science concerned with theory, description, analysis and prediction of political behavior, political systems and politics broadly construed.”
It is necessary so that there can be predictions of the future, being for example in the nations wealth, or in the functions of civilians in any given state.
When it comes to him understanding America, it must be difficult, for people here each have a certain understanding of government, and although they might have left their country to come here and start a better life, a better “nation” where everything would be different, they are still going to go on the basis of what they have lived their lives.

Questions

1. From what you can tell from the account, what were the purposes of Zheng He’s voyages?

Zheng He’s was elected at the age of ten to be a eunuch. The purpose of his voyage was “to go and confer presents on them in order to make manifest the transforming power of the (imperial) virtue and to treat distant people with kindness.”
Later on in the text, it is mentioned that they are also doing this in part to serve their dynasty.
2. What is tribute and how did it function in the Chinese world order?
Tribute is referred to as “The precious objects refer to tribute sent to the emperor of China by various other countries. The fundamental principle by which the Chinese international order was governed was the tribute system. Foreign princes would send tribute to the emperor of China. Tribute often consisted of rare and precious local items, such as the giraffe sent from Africa. The foreign rulers would acknowledge that the emperor of China was the son of heaven, and would often adopt the Chinese calendar. In return, the Chinese would send gifts, often of value equal to or exceeding those presented as tribute. But the most important benefit was the formation of a peaceful and stable diplomatic relationship among the two countries. One of the main purposes of Zheng He’s voyages was to reinforce existing and create new tributary relationships.”
3. Where is the account of the voyage written down?
The account of the voyage is written down in a stele; a stone.

4. From what sorts of records do we find accounts of East Africa from other perspectives?

The records of East Africa come from the Ming Dynastic History, Swahili oral accounts, the accounts of Ibn Battuta, and Duarte Barbosa’s Account of Brava.
5. If you follow all the links, you will discover that two of them mention the city of Mecca. Which two, and is it just a coincidence?
*The first link in which it mentions Mecca is in Zheng He’s link. It talks about how his family was originally surnamed Ma, and his father’s name bore the designation Haji, indicating that he had gone on a pilgrimage to Mecca.
*The second link which mentions Mecca is in the Mohammed link. “Mohammed (or Muhammed) was born in Mecca on the Arabian Peninsula in the year 570. He died in the year 632. Mohammed was a prophet and religious messenger and founder of the religion of Islam. His teachings are preserved in the Koran, the sacred book of Islam.”
6. What information about political authority can you glean from each of the four different perspectives on East Africa (15th-century Chinese, 14th-century North African, 16th-century Portuguese and Swahili oral traditions)?
The information gathered from the 15th-century Chinese is that the Portuguese were attempting to bring the Coast under Portuguese control.
The information gathered from the 14th-century North African is about the relations with Trade of China and Eastern Archipelago and the coasts of the Indian Ocean.
The information gathered from the 16th-century Portuguese and Swahili oral traditions is that in the oral histories, ties between the two peoples are typically cemented by marital and political alliances, although some refer to periods of warfare as well.
7. What can you infer from Fei Xin, Duarte Barbosa, Ibn Battuta and the Swahili oral histories about what goods were traded to and from the East Coast of Africa?
Some of the things that were traded to and for the East Coast of Africa traded dried fruits, fish, garlic, and onions for gold, silk, silver, satins, silks, rice, beans, and chinaware, and also animals.

DeToqueville_ 895-907

Why does the author go to the Wilderness?

The reason why the author goes to the wilderness is that as he states when he is with the host, “There are many reason’s driving us to it, my dear host”. They are heading to Saginaw. I think they are searching for the interior of an untouched forest. (905) 

What does he think of White Americans?

As he is traveling through the wilderness, he is describing the nature and he believes that in a few years, the Europeans will come and destroy all of nature’s beauty, along with forcing out its inhabitants into the wilderness.

 What of Indian Americans?

He gets different opinions of them. Mr. Williams says that he would sleep more calmly among Indians than among whites. However, the author says that in the more populated areas, people speak of them “only with a blend of fear and scorn”, and the author believes that they deserve both of these opinions. An Indian the author encounters has white teeth, which proved to him that the savage had cleaner habits than the American neighborhood.  

What of the relationship between the different groups?

On page 899, the author describes how although the European and the Indian were born and raised in different places, they still manage to communicate and interact with one another. Also on page 905, it mentions the Indians and the white each have advantages in certain situations. The whites in socializing, but the Indians knew the forest like the palm of their hands. Both of these groups need of one another in life.  

How does he describe the wilderness and what impresses him?

 He describes the wilderness in detail. He says how magnificent Mother Nature is, but how destructive we as humans can be. Nature impresses him, he finds it fascinating how trees can grow for years and still produce and be of aid to other life.