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.

Poetry of the Past: Tang and Song Poetry

Upon reading poems from the Tang and Song dynasties, I must say that I enjoyed them. The way the poems are written it is usually very clear what the point of the poem is and what emotion is being portrayed of concealed. Even though my favoritism lies with the poetry of the Tang dynasty, I enjoyed the  perspective gained by reading the poetry of both the Song and Tang dynasties.

Throughout history, the reasons people share their emotions changes. Some dynasties oppressed the feelings of their citizens, while others encouraged the sharing and expression of life and culture. To me the poetry from both of these dynasties is an outpouring of emotion and culture. In poetry from both dynasties, the moon seems to appear as an emotional symbol of unity, while drinking is often associated with loneliness and nature, especially in the symbolic lines of Li Bai's poetry. Strong connections with nature also seem to be a motif throughout the poetry of both dynasties. However, Song poetry was much shorter than the poetry of the Tang, but was often much more morbid, focusing less on the unity of the world through nature, and much more centered around suffering. Often in Song poetry it appears that the author feels a pull towards death or a lost one whom they very dearly cherished. Song poetry also seems to carry some discontent towards the government and ruling bureaucracies at the time, while Tang poetry is much more about personal loneliness and grief.

Indirectly poems always reflect upon the person that wrote them, but not always on the societies from which they were written. In the case of Tang and Song poetry however, I think that the poems are an accurate reflection of the societies that they came from. Poetry from the both the Tang and Song dynasty is rich with themes and symbols that are reoccurring, such as the moon, alcohol and family. Through these poems we can see the strong aspects of Chinese society. Smart children, polite young children inquiring about a journey, drinking with the moon and the unity the moon brings to all those who are separated. These could very well have been feelings that the people of Song and Tang (post-clasical) China fostered and lived with. I think that this poetry could absolutely be used to reflect upon as well as gather knowledge of Tang and Song Chinese culture from. Literature is a rich source of information, and poetry helps to add another dimension to this literature, a dimension of emotion that can been seem from the eyes of the author, and I think that is important when learning about a culture and its traditions.

A Short Video: The Expansion of Islam

The link below is just a short ShowMe presentation on the expansion of Islam throughout the Middle East, Northern Africa and modern-day Spain. Enjoy!


Spread of Islam ShowMe (Click Here)