A Look at Our Global History and What We have Learned

For this assignment, I chose the "Shogatsu" table. Shogatsu is the the Japanese New Year, and it seemed to be an appropriate holiday to post about in conjunction with what we have been learning about in the past few weeks, especially with the discussion of the development of both eastern Asia and Southeastern Asian states. The Japanese new years is perhaps the most important holiday that Japan celebrates. It involves parties attempting to forget the troubles and struggles faced in the previous year (a little ironic for history, no?). This is a long held tradition in the Japanese culture that started when Japan officially moved to the Gregorian calendar. What we have been studying, the post-classical era is an era that involves the evolution of cultures and the establishment of the foundations of traditions, as shogatsu is a great example of this evolution and establishment happening in a more current time frame (the late 1800s, when Japan adopted the Gregorian calendar).

A Personal Analysis of Review: 13-17

While reviewing for the test today, most of the question that I had gotten wrong or just not entirely correct fell into a few simple categories. The first category is Frankish and Germanic tribes and leaders, I seem to have these all mangled inside my head, so I have to get them straight. The second general category that I saw fall through no the review game was societal interactions. I seem to confuse turks and mongols, and their invasions and influences on the Islamic empire.

In order to review and grasp a better understanding of these concepts, I am going to start by resolving names, most likely by mnemonic devises in my head, then I am going to read the chapter and try to answer the interactive open ended questions on the book's websites, which have helped me to interact with the information in past exams, they also force a more critical reading of the material and tend (for me anyway) to lead to a greater understanding of the material.

Let's Examine "The Rule"...

4. Monasteries that kept to Benedict's Rule could be useful for many reasons. Those who join the monastery are committed to learning and their religion, and this could provide knowledge, help to increase literacy and preserve records and make advances in the literary and theological fields. Whats more, monasteries provided the stability to surrounding villages that could ease peoples fears and insecurities, which is incredibly important to helping build stable and lasting societies. The quiet, highly ascetic lifestyle that the monks had to live with incredible structure, such as "not to murmur", "Not to love much or excessive laughter." This pretty much only left learning, which the monks were prescribed to do "from the Calendars of October... let the brethren devote themselves to reading till the end of the second hour."

5. The Rule tells us about the societies in which it flourished. The strict laws and rigid outline that were provided by The Rule tell us about the lack of prevailing government and any strict from of enforced law. This loose administration shows through in the laws by providing incredibly strict outlines and structures for the day, as well as strict propriety and rule that were key to the structures of Medieval European societies. It also shows the lacking strength of the economy by stressing manual labor and the importance of respecting space, property and seniority. This can be seen in the need the Rule  stresses in manual labor "on coming out in the morning, let them let them labor at whatever is necessary from the first until about the fourth hour."

A View of Societies in the Indian Ocean Basin

A short showme displaying the societies that developed in the Indian Ocean Basin. http://www.showme.com/sh/?i=106833

An Analysis of Indian Poetry

After reading some examples of post-Indian poetry, it is time for a little reflection. Unlike the Chinese poetry,Indian poetry is much more vague, and the details it reflexes about Indian society are limited. Although the poems do give details about the position of human spirituality in Indian society, they do not give the same details about the interplay of peoples in the Indian society that the Chinese poems gave, but they do still reflect elements that could be considered crucial in understanding Indian society and literature.