culture :: memory :: history

History of Africa

2009-04-29T14:50:00.002-04:00

Africa is a huge country, with a lot of misinterpretations. This history of Africa does not start with the colonization of it, like many people seem to believe, there was a history at the beginning of time. According to archeologists primates originated there, the first "human" was in Africa. Even though we have the facts that Africa has more of a history then just colonization, why is it that

What is it if not Genocide?

2009-04-23T11:48:00.002-04:00

The two articles I read for this post are: http://www.nytimes.com/1994/06/10/world/officials-told-to-avoid-calling-rwanda-killings-genocide.html?scp=9&sq=rwandan%20genocide&st=cse which talks about the reluctance of calling the events in Rwanda a genocide. I also looked at: http://www.nytimes.com/1994/09/29/world/un-commission-recommends-rwanda-genocide-tribunal.html?scp=25&sq=rwandan%20genocide&

Avoidance of the Issue

2009-04-21T09:11:00.002-04:00

In reading newspaper articles published during the Rwandan genocide, one thing is very clear. During the time that the genocide actually occurred, it was not officially recognized as genocide from Western countries with the power to prevent the acts. There was no newspaper articles about what should or could be done, but rather only talk about whether the killings were acts of genocide or

genocide in Rwanda in the 1990s

2009-04-16T12:56:00.002-04:00

Belfast TelegraphDecember 19, 2008 Friday First EditionTop official convicted of genocide in RwandaSECTION: NEWS; Pg. 26LENGTH: 579 wordsFORMER senior defence official Theoneste Bagosora has been convicted of instigating Rwanda's 1994 genocide and sentenced to life in prison.Bagosora and two co-defendants were found by a UN tribunal to have led a committee that plotted the massacre of ethnic

Rwanda Genocide

2009-04-16T08:55:00.004-04:00

The first article I looked at was http://www.nytimes.com/1990/10/12/world/rwanda-says-its-army-didn-t-kill-civilians.html. The was from 1990 shortly after the violence had begun. During a rebel invasion, the Rwanda Government fought back, but in their violent attack killed hundreds of innocent civilians. Not only does the army and government claim that they did not kill innocent civilians, but

Rwanda; Seven Genocide Survivors Mysteriously Murdered in Last Eight Months

2009-04-16T02:21:00.002-04:00

This article struck me as interesting because of its relatedness to Malkki's work on the people of Kigoma in their search for an "identity" that did not revolve around that of a "refugee". As the title suggests, the article describes a number of murders that took place involving Rwanda Genocide Survivors. This struck me as interesting because Malkki's work immediately brought about sudden

Shouldering Responsibility for Rwanda

2009-04-16T01:06:00.004-04:00

I want to comment on two articles I read which discussed issues of responsibility both during and after the naming and occurrence of a genocide.The first is "Israel Urged to Comply with UN War-Crimes Tribunals" from the Jerusalem Post (Sun. Dec. 31, 1995 by Sue Fishkoff). It is about pressures on Israel to comply with international tribunals set up by the UN Security Council to prosecute war

Film Reflecting on History

2009-04-15T23:09:00.002-04:00

The Rwandan Genocide has been at the center of controversy and debate for many years. Based on the readings from the newspapers articles I found it interesting that many Journalists compared the genocide in Rwanda to the Holocaust. Nonetheless, it makes me question why both of these historical events are compared to each other. The Holocaust clearly made a significant impact throughout the world.

Gacaca and the Nuremberg Trials

2009-04-15T22:19:00.005-04:00

The article I chose was: http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/20/world/kanombe-journal-after-the-horror-truth-and-some-healing-maybe.html. In this article "Kanombe Journal; After the Horror, Truth and Some Healing, Maybe", by Marc Lacey, the focus is on gacaca, which means " justice on the grass in the Kinyarwanda language"(Lacey).The gacaca is a trial with judges to deal out justice. "It is a process

Was it worth not getting involved with Rwanda?

2009-04-15T21:24:00.002-04:00

http://www.nytimes.com/1994/04/15/world/for-west-rwanda-is-not-worth-the-political-candle.htmlUnderstanding now, what had happened in Rwanda about 15 years ago, strikes an interest in many people to findout why didn't the US get involved? Why didn't the UN take their troops out? After reading this article by the NY times in 1994 about 2 weeks, i believe, after the genocide started, thereare many

Dangerous Labels

2009-04-15T21:10:00.003-04:00

The information in this article was taken from The New York Times archive on the political situation of Rwanda in 1990.In October 1990, a group of Tutsi from Uganda, thousands strong, stormed into Rwanda attempting to overthrow the Hutu-dominated government. These Tutsi were living in exile in Uganda, having escaped Rwanda after a long period of persecution at the hands of the Hutu decades

Historical Amnesia in the American South

2009-04-09T17:26:00.000-04:00

In Response to James Perry’s The Living ConsequencesIn this entry, James acknowledges the tendency of Americans to downplay or even ignore the effects of the effects of the hundreds of years of slavery in America. The difference between those memories of the North and the South is distinct in the fact that, with the exception of Traces of the Trade, Northern based slavery is not the focus of many

2009-04-09T13:21:00.000-04:00

In James' blog, he posts an article about the Armenian genocide and historical amnesia. I think historical amnesia is an interesting term, especially when we apply it to our discussion of slavery in class. Someone in class mentioned how when we learned about slavery in elementary school, we were basically taught that the North were the good guys, and the South were the bad guys. Seeing slavery in

Battle Star Galactica, and the U.N.

2009-04-09T13:12:00.002-04:00

James Olmos' and his non-racist approach is admirable. It also makes me want to watch the show battle star galatica all the more. I do disagree with him at one point. There is such things as a latino race, asian race, and etc. Although biologically the differences between each race, and using race as a cultural determinant is racist, it doesn't constitute the non-existance of race. Race is a

Response to Perry's About His Blog

2009-04-09T12:41:00.002-04:00

After looking through Jame's blog I was a little confused. It all seems to be news blurbs on recent race developments. Most of the posts seemed rather clinical. I suppose my confusion stems from a dissonance between what I was expecting and what Perry actually writes about rather than my inability to understand the material. I felt that if he was so affected by his journey, enough to maintain a

Traces of the Trade and it's Results

2009-04-09T11:22:00.002-04:00

(Sorry for the delay, forgot all about posting last week's til I went to post this weeks)Watching Traces of the Trade sparks mixed feelings for me. Yes, the slave trade was a horrible trade. However, for all intents and purposes, its been over for almost 100 years. Of course, there is still racism, but this is a seperate issue in my mind. Racism is something horrible that still goes on today, and

Races and Faces

2009-04-09T10:23:00.002-04:00

I visited http://living.jdewperry.com/ and was immediately drawn into the frequently updated entries that deal with modern events. The article I chose was "Facial recognition and “implicit racial bias”"(http://living.jdewperry.com/2009/03/facial-recognition-and-implicit-racial-bias/#more-1388). I chose this article because of a psychology class I had taken where we talked about this subject.

Brown's Slave-Trade Memorial

2009-04-08T22:34:00.003-04:00

This post, "Brown University to Erect Slave-Trade Memorial," from The Living Consequences interested me because it relates so directly to Traces of the Trade and which is probably the result of efforts such as those made by the DeWolf descendants, including James with this blog. I was shocked to read that "James D’Wolf and his family sent out a thousand slaving voyages, more than half of those

Unemployment for blacks in 2009

2009-04-08T17:09:00.002-04:00

http://living.jdewperry.com/2009/03/black-unemployment-rates-soar/Above is the website I took my information from.While looking over the website of James Perry, there was one article that struck me as interesting. I guess it struckme as interesting because i took a class on Race relations last semester and this topic was highlighted throughoutmost of the class. James wrote about the unemployment

Traces of the trade

2009-04-03T18:22:00.002-04:00

So better late then never....My blog is finally working... After seeing "Traces of the Trade", I didn't really know what to think. My reaction at first was, what is the overall goal in tracing the steps of your ancestors to Ghana and Cuba, just to see how horrible the slaves were treated? To me it seemed as if they wanted to clear their conscious saying that they went through that experience and

Traces of the Trade

2009-04-02T13:38:00.003-04:00

After watching this film I have a lot on my mind. I feel like everything I've ever learned about slavery is different from the way I learned it. To me, the most unsettling aspect of the film was how large the scope of slavery was to the birth of this nation. Slavery seems to be at the root of all production. I have a different view of the North and the Civil War. In my mind, the Civil War has

Traces of Trade

2009-04-02T10:51:00.011-04:00