Friday, March 25, 2011

How does ethnnocentricity cause conflict?

















Based on their cultural views, people tend to judge other people in negative ways. The difference between 2 cultural backgrounds can cause friction between the people. Their ethnocentric views cause each other to disagree. Nowadays the disagreements are minor and can be easily resolved. People are used to living with mixed cultures and people from different racial backgrounds. In the 1700's, however this wasn't the case. When the english colonized australia, they saw the indigenous people to be very animal like and inhumane. As the relationship between the 2 races started to develop, their differences started to fade. Over time the differences still existed and the english still looked at the aboriginals are being animal like. British soldiers were still hunting the aboriginals and killing the local people with their weapons. Treating them like they were wild animals. Pemulwuy, an aboriginal soldier, believed strongly in revenge to the British and set out to burn their crops. This only made the British more angry and giving them more of a reason to call the aboriginals, savages. The british carried on killing the natives and the natives carried on fighting back. Because the british's culture resolved around progress and educating their society. Mainly keeping their nation as developed as possible. The first australians however, focused more on their religions, They were more traditional than the British and therefore they didn't see thing in the same perspective as the British people. Their beliefs were different and so their actions were strange to each other. Their ethnocentricity caused conflict between the 2 nations because their views on each other, based on their culture, were not always positive and were mainly negative.

Thursday, February 24, 2011


Context: Portia is talking to Brutus after the conspirators leave. She is asking for an explanation to why he's been acting like he's troubled by something and she also says that she is a understanding wife.




PORTIA
Brutus, my lord!
BRUTUS
Portia, what mean you? wherefore rise you now?
It is not for your health thus to commit
Your weak condition to the raw cold morning.
PORTIA
Nor for yours neither. You've ungently, Brutus,
Stole from my bed: and yesternight, at supper,
You suddenly arose, and walk'd about,
Musing and sighing, with your arms across,
And when I ask'd you what the matter was,
You stared upon me with ungentle looks;
I urged you further; then you scratch'd your head,
And too impatiently stamp'd with your foot;
Yet I insisted, yet you answer'd not,
But, with an angry wafture of your hand,
Gave sign for me to leave you: so I did;
Fearing to strengthen that impatience
Which seem'd too much enkindled, and withal
Hoping it was but an effect of humour,
Which sometime hath his hour with every man.
It will not let you eat, nor talk, nor sleep,
And could it work so much upon your shape
As it hath much prevail'd on your condition,
I should not know you, Brutus. Dear my lord,
Make me acquainted with your cause of grief.
BRUTUS
I am not well in health, and that is all.
PORTIA
Brutus is wise, and, were he not in health,
He would embrace the means to come by it.
BRUTUS
Why, so I do. Good Portia, go to bed.
PORTIA
Is Brutus sick? and is it physical
To walk unbraced and suck up the humours
Of the dank morning? What, is Brutus sick,
And will he steal out of his wholesome bed,
To dare the vile contagion of the night
And tempt the rheumy and unpurged air
To add unto his sickness? No, my Brutus;
You have some sick offence within your mind,
Which, by the right and virtue of my place,
I ought to know of: and, upon my knees,
I charm you, by my once-commended beauty,
By all your vows of love and that great vow
Which did incorporate and make us one,
That you unfold to me, yourself, your half,
Why you are heavy, and what men to-night
Have had to resort to you: for here have been
Some six or seven, who did hide their faces
Even from darkness.
BRUTUS
Kneel not, gentle Portia.
PORTIA
I should not need, if you were gentle Brutus.
Within the bond of marriage, tell me, Brutus,
Is it excepted I should know no secrets
That appertain to you? Am I yourself
But, as it were, in sort or limitation,
To keep with you at meals, comfort your bed,
And talk to you sometimes? Dwell I but in the suburbs
Of your good pleasure? If it be no more,
Portia is Brutus' harlot, not his wife.
BRUTUS
You are my true and honourable wife,
As dear to me as are the ruddy drops
That visit my sad heart
PORTIA
If this were true, then should I know this secret.
I grant I am a woman; but withal
A woman that Lord Brutus took to wife:
I grant I am a woman; but withal
A woman well-reputed, Cato's daughter.
Think you I am no stronger than my sex,
Being so father'd and so husbanded?
Tell me your counsels, I will not disclose 'em:
I have made strong proof of my constancy,
Giving myself a voluntary wound
Here, in the thigh: can I bear that with patience.
And not my husband's secrets?
BRUTUS
O ye gods,
Render me worthy of this noble wife!

Knocking within

Hark, hark! one knocks: Portia, go in awhile;
And by and by thy bosom shall partake
The secrets of my heart.
All my engagements I will construe to thee,
All the charactery of my sad brows:
Leave me with haste.

Exit PORTIA

Partners with Krithika

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Learning profile P

hand_prints.jpg

I learn best when I am moving. When I move around I tend to engage into discussions and also listen better. When I did this in health last year, I learnt that I also learn better when
I focus on the bigger picture. I hadn't noticed until I was doing this in humanities but when ever my friends ask me for help and they try to explain in detail, I start thinking about other things. Also when they go into too much detail, my final question always is "So overall what happened?".

I need to, like I said above, move in order to concentrate. The profile info
recommends that I do lazy eights before any assignments. This will help both sides of my brain work better. I also need to connect with the emotional side of the situation in order to understand it fully. Even though it doesn't say this in my profile, I actually do appreciate detail. Even though i like to look at the bigger picture, when I get instructions the more detail the better.

The strategies that would help me in my learning are things like
I stated above. I should move around more while I am processing information or discussing things. If u watch me in humanities when we are doing the Socratic seminar you would see that I fidget or shift around in my seat
a lot. This is not because I am bored, it's because it helps me engage in the conversation. If I don't move around I tend to blank out in whatever we are doing. In Spanish for example, when we are just sitting down I almost dose of. But when we do things like acting situations out or do things where we move around to get answers, I am much more engaged.

I would like my teachers to know this about me is that I love colour. I really don't know why but colourful visuals draw me in. Most of my teachers probably notice that because on every thing (besides math and science tests) I use colours. They help me more when I'm studying because when most people study, they panic trying to memorize things. Colours stand out for me and they really make a huge difference to how I process the information. When I study I move around rather than staying in one place rather than writing things down over and over again. I read things out to help me memorize them. I absolutely love interpreting metaphors. They have so much emotion and meaning. Although I don't read that much. Its not because I don't like reading. Its because I wait for the right book. I love poetry, but not the type where its just rhyming words. I love reading poetry about people and their situations but I don't like reading novels about it. I find it weird how I love sound and music, but when I'm under stress my sense of sound and sight blur out. This normally happens when I am really tired and someones trying to explain something to me. I make them repeat things over and over again. Over all my Profile pretty much explains who I am.