Vincent Van Gogh and The Potato Eaters

One of the greatest museums I have ever been to in this point in my life is the Vincent Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, Holland. I have always enjoyed viewing art, but never to the extent of this particular museum. I was truly fascinated with walking around to each painting and reading the stories, thoughts, and inspirations of Van Gogh throughout his professional career as an artist. One particular painting that I enjoyed was The Potato Eaters. Van Gogh prepared himself for years before he began this particular masterpiece. After a few years of painting Van Gogh realized that his skills were not enough to prove himself to the world through his vision of The Potato Eaters. Therefore, he began to paint still life pieces in order to practice using various color schemes together and simply handling the brush. Van Gogh also used subjects to practice facial features, but the people that would agree to sittings were mainly prostitutes. The paint he used, the canvases he painted on, and the people he used as subjects were all cheaper methods Van Gogh used to keep costs low.

Van Gogh moved closer to his masterpiece by practicing painting portraits of various peasants. His road to the final project makes the painting even more fascinating to me. His intention with The Potato Eaters was to produce a natural “peasant” setting where the images were not simply an imagination of the artist. “He wanted to stress the face that these people ‘have dug the earth with the very hands that they are putting in the dish and …that they have earned their food so honestly.’” Van Gogh did not intend to depict a cheerful setting where peasants sat around in an ideal sense. Rather, he depicted the life of peasants sitting around a table having a meal of merely potatoes, the only thing they could probably afford. Even though the colors he chose for The Potato Eaters are dark and dreary, I get a calming feeling from the painting. I feel saddened by the life of these peasants knowing that many others were living just like them all over the globe, however, Van Gogh was able to create a piece that many people today can view and become overwhelmed by its beauty.

After studying social and global inequality, this painting spoke out to me in a way that might not have before the course. It is no surprise that there are bourgeoisie and proletariat people in every society. There are those that hold power and those that work for those in power. The individuals who are the workers, work to feed the powerful their elaborate meals and cover their back with beautiful clothes. Looking further into the unfortunate inequalities all around, it saddens me that there are elite people everywhere that could aid those less fortunate. When I viewed The Potato Eaters I was able to see a group of proletariats in their natural setting, just like Van Gogh intended. The subjects in the painting were portrayed as drained, tired, and somewhat sad. Van Gogh did not try to hide anything; he showed the workers for who they are as a part of the inequality sector. They sat around the table and ate the potatoes they themselves grew and picked. While the elite down the street are sitting around an elaborate table with servants and a gourmet meals.

My Encouragement to Travel

Traveling is obviously one of the greatest things someone can do in their life. Especially in our day in age where its almost an aspiration for a young individual to do a bit of traveling before they settle down with a spouse and children. One of the greatest aspects of traveling I have now discovered is knowing friends and/or family in a host county. Visiting allows us to see the country from their point of view and experience the daily routines of people in that particular place. I have been fortunate enough to know family from several parts of Ireland. Dublin, Shannon, and Cork are among them, but the majority of the family is from Waterford. I was able to travel to Ireland when I was in my early teens and then again during my late teens. That traveling turned into necessary steps in my life to open my perspectives of the world outside the United Sates. However, I can make that statement now; if someone would have asked me 10 years ago about my experiences in Ireland, I would have never appreciated the country and its citizens to its fullest. I would have rambled off some fond memories of the trips, but would have not had any depth behind them.

By signing up for the NIU at Oxford program, I was able to re-live my experiences in Ireland. I decided that I would take a visit to Dublin and stay with a cousin of mine before the program started.

While visiting with my cousin we got to talking about celebrities, popular TV shows, and trends. However, none of the topics originated in Ireland. They [my cousin and her roommate] brought up people and shows that originated in the United States. I was very surprised to hear that they do not even enjoy shows that are out of Ireland, or even Britain! They believe the life of celebrities is fascinating and even knew that Brad and Angelina were about to have their twins (a fact that I did not even know!)

Anyone can make that argument though; there are people from the U.S. that could have had the same discussion consisting of those that know about popular celebrities and those that don’t know…or care. But the shocking part of the conversation came when they both knew who was running for president, who is already out of the race, and who “should” be president of the United States. I didn’t even know what they formally called the head of their government! I questioned why that was and even asked them about it. “We’re taught your history. You’re not taught ours.” But they didn’t say it in a negative manor; they said it with a little laugh and said, “But you have all the interesting people there!” I think that if I would have asked an elder man or woman of Ireland the conversation would have gone extremely different.

It’s interesting to interact with the men and women of another country in the sense that it gives an insight to the world outside the U.S. I wouldn’t have even thought that people from other areas of the world new the popular culture and politics of our country. This is mainly because I never ventured to care about theirs. Through the ability to travel, my eyes have been opened. A quest for knowledge should begin to form when we realize we do not know as much as we should…at least that’s what happened to me through my travels.

Struggle for Superpower

When reading through Thursday, July 3rd's newspaper I came across an article on China becoming the world superpower. I remember talking about the shift between powers throughout history and this article mentioned several concerns regarding the shift. Because China is expected to be the most powerful to ever dominate, the public is weary. Technologies have allowed for people to see into the growing wealth and power creating unease in the ways China Chooses to act. The concern over world influence is established because China chooses to act in a way benefiting the government instead of the international "good". The choice to support Sudan instead of Darfur (ethnic slaughter) creates a public concern. It is seen that human rights are overlooked allowing the economy to rise about. Some see this situation as modernization. The article states the critical thoughts are propaganda by the West. This thought very well could be true because the West does not want to give up its power. The entire issue is about the struggle to hold onto power, and it seems to be as though as long as people (societies throughout the world) are continuing to form opinions based on what the news is telling them, their thoughts will be controlled. Not until people begin to look beyond headlines and research for themselves will true knowledge occur. People say knowledge is power, but what happens when the knoweldge is false?

Tower of London and the Crown Jewels

During our stay in Oxford we ventured into to London many times. One of the times I went to visit the Tower of London. The Tower contains the Beauchamp Tower which held many high-ranking prisoners such as Ann Boleyn, the chapel of St. John, the Bloody Tower, and my favorite part the Crown Jewels. This is the world’s best-known collection of precious objects, now displayed in an exhibit. This exhibit contains gorgeous regalia of crowns, scepters, orbs, and swords used at coronations and other state occasions. Most of them date back to 1661, when Charles II commissioned replacements for regalia destroyed by parliament after the execution of Charles I. The Jewel house also contains the world’s two largest diamonds the first star of Africa and the second star of Africa. These diamonds were excavated from Africa by Europeans, not sold to the Europeans.

This is an example of patterns of colonization. Colonization is the act or process of establishing control over a country of area by a more powerful and often distant country. The Europeans went into Africa and took what they wanted, jewels. The core nations, which are nations of high growth that engulf other nations to ensure ongoing political and economic success, such as Great Britain came in and took the jewels from the peripheral nation of Africa. A peripheral nation is a nation that is dependent on core nations for trade and income. This resulted f patterns of colonization in Africa, eventually causing parts of Africa to become a metropolis. England sipened the diamond resources from the poorer nation of Africa.

A chat with the locals of Oxford

The first week that we were in Oxford a few of us had gone out. We met some of the locals, and mentioned that we were planning a trip to go to Amsterdam. The locals asked us why we wanted to go there. I stated that I would enjoy going to visit the house of Ann Frank, the Van Gogh museum, the Heineken brewery, and all the beautiful canals in the city. I had also seen a special on the today show where Matt Laurer had visited Amsterdam, and it looked amazing. They proceeded to give us a hard time stating that the only reason that anyone has to go to Amsterdam is for drugs, and that we could just get drugs in Oxford from “any black guy.”

This statement shows that the black stereotype is present everywhere. In the Bhattacharyya book of Race and Power there is a quote on page 25 where a young black man being spoken about by a young white child to his mother saying, “Look at the nigger. . .mama a negro.” This young black man stated that he felt imprisoned and it sealed him into crushing object hood by the words of this other child. In Durban high school the white students that became the minority began to feel the same way.

The Dolby article White Fright illustrates that blacks are seen as inferior being, and how the roles of racism can be reversed. This article focuses on a primarily white school that due to low admission rates begins to admit non white students. The non white students began to outnumber the white students. The white students were now becoming the minority, and began to feel that their academic achievements, freedom, comfort levels, and their options were beginning to become limited. “The white students began to feel resentful. That resentment expressed by the white students is under girded by fear; a fear that whiteness is no longer in control in South Africa, that the ‘other’ has seized center stage. White students sense that they are literally encircled by the dual threats of blacks and black economic prosperity.” (pg 9) It is see throughout the White Fright article that the fear of black violence is a constant theme.

The Mills article White Supremacy can also be applied to the original stereotype that all black men sell drugs. White supremacy is a racist ideology based assertion that white people superior to other racial groups. It is seen that insignificant traits such as race are related to significant theories such as selling drugs. This idea of white supremacy is so powerful that even non white people believe it. This idea of white supremacy is believed to have come from the colonization of Europeans.

Body Types and the British Museum

As I was standing taking in the British museum, I was thoroughly entertained. The grandeur of so many of the statues and artifacts is intoxicating. As I walked around I began to see a pattern of expected male body type and masculinity. Every statue of a man had a strong build. There was always a muscular stomach as well as broad shoulders. There seemed to be no evidence of being unfit as an accepted trait for males. I followed this theme in almost the entirety of the museum. This expectation of masculinity is continued today in the depiction of superheroes, male models, and in general the "accepted" male body form. Without the physique of so called perfection, with a strong back, arms, and legs and a chiseled stomach, it is as though a man loses his worth. This expectation of the strong male body has influenced sculptures and art for centuries, allowing a solid base for the current expectations of masculinity.
What is noticed in the statues and characterizations of women was that it is accepted and expected for a woman to have a full figure. No statues were of the current (Western) "ideal" of thin. The women of the past were seen as child bearing and their statued bodies exemplified this, a full stomach, wide hips, and full breasts were the womanly traits seen as desirable. Another common theme among the women, though not universal, was coverage of all or certain areas of the body. If a woman was nude she was many times covering her breasts or genitals. This to me established an idea of a woman being more modest, or at least an expectation of this. I found these characteristics of the statues fascinating because of our talk in classes aobut masculinity and the social expectations involved.

British Museum

Blog #1

I’m sitting in the British Museum right now trying to find the excuse they can use to sugar coat their conquest. Looking through the information pamphlet they supply a decent reason. To advance the understanding of the cultures they represent. Yet, this isn’t just for the benefit of the British. Let’s look at what ever benefits there may be. Considering the vast amount of people who visit London, knowledge of those cultures are expanding despite their treasures not being allocated in their country. Also, London is a nexus among Europe so those cultures that are outside Britain have access to a safe and prominent location. Granted it is not fair and mainly to the betterment and notoriety of the British people, but I can discern something good from it. It is located in a place where people of all countries can congregate. To the left of me they are speaking Italian and to the right I would guess Polish. We are in a way breaking the boundaries that diversity has created by uniting us under one roof. Yes, it is wrong the way they collected these items but there is a silver lining to every cloud. Maybe they should just give it all back (yah right!) but then we would isolate ourselves behind our history and make it even more difficult to see such treasures, having to travel from place to place. Sometimes one must accept that they were once the dominated, and learn from it. So they know not to do it to others, to preserve their culture and those they might encounter.

Seggeling

British Museum

Blog #1

I’m sitting in the British Museum right now trying to find the excuse they can use to sugar coat their conquest. Looking through the information pamphlet they supply a decent reason. To advance the understanding of the cultures they represent. Yet, this isn’t just for the benefit of the British. Let’s look at what ever benefits there may be. Considering the vast amount of people who visit London, knowledge of those cultures are expanding despite their treasures not being allocated in their country. Also, London is a nexus among Europe so those cultures that are outside Britain have access to a safe and prominent location. Granted it is not fair and mainly to the betterment and notoriety of the British people, but I can discern something good from it. It is located in a place where people of all countries can congregate. To the left of me they are speaking Italian and to the right I would guess Polish. We are in a way breaking the boundaries that diversity has created by uniting us under one roof. Yes, it is wrong the way they collected these items but there is a silver lining to every cloud. Maybe they should just give it all back (yah right!) but then we would isolate ourselves behind our history and make it even more difficult to see such treasures, having to travel from place to place. Sometimes one must accept that they were once the dominated, and learn from it. So they know not to do it to others, to preserve their culture and those they might encounter.

Seggeling

Oxford Museum

BLOG 2

It has become obvious that technology is the key to power, especially when considering the modernization theory. I had the opportunity to visit the Oxford museum and a specific section caught my attention. There was a display concerning various weapons from other countries throughout Britain’s expansion, complemented by British weapons. The two groups of weapons were completely different, considerably those British compared to everything else. One of the weapons from Africa were for melee combat, spikes worn and held around ones hands to encompass the fist. Whereas the British had a gun with an axe head fixed upon the end so it could double its purpose (death). They also had an extravagantly designed long barrel rifle that was encrusted with carvings and gems. Whether brutality or fashion was important, I’m sure it still did well in getting the job done. Maybe this technology came from intelligence or innovation but what about conflict. British history is filled with it, the necessity to create such devastating devices lead to their power especially sooner than that of the colonized nations. One could consider the possibility that these nations that are being exploited modernized peaceful means to solving things before European nations. Look at Okonkwo in Things Fall Apart and how he was banished for a certain period of time to reflect on what has happened when he did ill. And now they must pay the reaper for rational thinking rather than abusive. From what I know until Europeans showed up in Africa they merely had sparse tribal warfare more on culturally based terms that complete destruction of a foe one loathes like the British and the French.

Seggeling

Party of Eight: Deal or No Deal for Africa?

The political leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States converged on Tōyako, located on Japan’s northern island of Hokkaidō, on July 7th to discuss, among other issues, African development. According to Patrick Wintour and Larry Elliott in their July 7th Guardian article G8 Summit: West told to fulfil its African aid pledge, the 2005 G8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland pledged to increase aid to Africa by a figure of $25 billion dollars by 2010. The article reported that with only two years left, an independent body called the African Progress Panel showed “…the bloc of rich nations was only 14% of the way towards hitting its target”. Although broken promises have become sadly commonplace amidst the routine compromising of politics, these agreements seem indispensible in the face of increasing food prices and poverty. According to Wintour and Elliott’s piece, the World Bank estimated that approximately 30 million more people could drop below the poverty threshold as a result of climbing food prices while the cost of food in Liberia has climbed by 25% in January, raising the poverty rate from 64% to more than 70%. While I believe these figures reflect patterns of growing African problems, there is reason to be suspicious of the World Bank.

Designed to stabilize national economies and invest in developing countries, the World Bank also has an incentive to identify African problems. Publishing reports delineating increasing food prices and poverty rates serves to create a demand for loans to African countries who cannot ameliorate their domestic problems alone as a result of war, droughts, rapid population growth, foreign debt, governmental corruption, and massive expenditures on AIDS treatment, prevention, and education programs. Thus, the World Bank secures statistical evidence that impoverished African nations are declining in certain measures of the quality of life in order to increase the likelihood that these nations will agree to loans with them. Stemming from its official independence from any nation or group (and this is reflected in its cosmopolitan name), the assumed creditability of the World Bank enables it to publish studies in major media outlets where this conflict of interest is concealed beneath statistics and methodological disclosures. Although the World Bank has an interest in the troubling patterns emerging from these studies, these patterns are nonetheless likely.

While it is challenging to predict whether or not the wealthy G8 nations will meet their pledge of African aid, it is even more challenging to provide a structural solution to the interrelated African problems. Agreeing to more loans from the World Bank may sink African countries deeper into debt or gut their domestic social welfare programs like education and health care. Refusing loans, on the other hand, may lead to crime, violence, and starvation as families become desperate for nourishment. Protectionist policies rather than foreign loans may also lead to both economic and social sanctions. Embargoes may serve to inhibit industrial growth fueled by foreign capital while framing African leaders as nationalists, dictators, and communists in media propaganda campaigns may undermine their public image and the trust their populations have in them. Echoing Fernando Henrique Cardoso in his 1972 article Dependency and Development in Latin America, African countries may need to resort to simultaneous modernization and dependency in order to keep short term problems at bay while slowly chipping away at their dependency on the affluent nations. This could take shape as African countries emphasize sustainable development and modernization, ignited by foreign capital, but later sustained by indigenous investments. Although declining foreign aid would certainly cause a recession in African countries, microcredit loans from African banks and African entrepreneurship may be able to boost the economy out of a recession and free of its dependency on the wealthy nations.

American Independence Day with Your Host Karl Marx

Although I feel like I have little in common with the founding fathers of the United States, the emancipatory zeitgeist of the forth of July loomed large during our field trip to Karl Marx’s final resting place at London’s Highgate Cemetery. After riding a bus to London and the underground train system once in London, we trekked through a park and beneath an ominous stone gate to reach Highgate. Strolling among the tombstones of 19th century Brits, we followed a curved walkway to the towering monument erected to the pioneer of conflict theory. The rectangular base of the monument was etched in gold letters with the phrase “workers of all lands unite” while “the philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways – the point however is it change it” was etched out in gold near the bottom. Atop this stone base was a sculpture from the shoulders up, complete with full beard and deep eyes. Above his gold lettered name a shriveled flower lied on a stone ledge protruding from the surface. While I absorbed this imagery, I began to think of Marxist theory.
Despite considering Marx my favorite sociologist, I think the contemporary validity of some of his ideas deserves to be called into question. Touching on the possibilities of revolution after reading The Manifesto of the Communist Party for class, I wondered about what had changed in the 160 years since the manifesto. While technology has facilitated rapid communication and travel, it has also given birth to new modes of isolation. Portable audio and video devices like the iPod enable individuals to replace social interaction with songs, music videos, and movies. Although, admittedly, this does not necessarily dead end at Alienation Street, liberal cultures like the United States which value individual liberty are especially vulnerable to this type of alienation. Likewise, the post-Second World War explosion of suburbs and emergence of gated communities in the United States pose considerable obstacles to revolution. Although individuals may work side by side at their jobs, social change among the proletariat is continually undermined through the myriad divide and conquer strategies of race, ethnicity, sexuality, and sex. The variations in these attitudes, behaviors, and identities are emphasized in pop culture literature like Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, and television programs which racialize crime by documenting non-white gangs which often do not have the resources to conceal their activities (in contrast to white, organized, and wealthy gangs). Furthermore, contemporary discourses of immigration and terrorism serve to divide people and prevent the development of class consciousness. In sum, I think the pervasive social change of a revolution is a distant dream.

Great Experience!!!!

As I sit here in the dwindling time I have left on this trip I think about all of the new experiences that I have been through and how much I realized that one can grow in five weeks. I have been thinking about all the things that have opened my eyes over here in Europe. In my travels to Edinburgh, Scotland, Paris France, London England, Birmingham England and many more trips all over England I think about the responses that I received from people that I was an American. In some countries I was accepted as just another human being, however in others there was a stiff sense of dislike toward Americans. I reflect back to a story that Professor Goar told us in class about her trip to Turkey. To make a long story short she was at dinner and this dinner involved many people from many countries and the MC would go around and introduce all the countries and use various countries throughout the night to do different activities. However the MC seemed to pass over their table many times and throughout the night ended up never calling on their table once because of the American Flag representing their group. I tried to think of why this would have happened and could not come up with anything other then that this man must have not liked Americans. I cannot fully understand why this is. I know that we are not on the best terms with the world at this point however I just don’t see why this would happen. I mean we are all individuals and should be treated as individuals. In this vastly globalizing world I do not understand how stereotypes and racism and hate continue to grow. Everyday in the states we are reminded to accept everyone for who they are, how ever the rest of the world seems to continue to hate Americans. I do agree that there are some Americans that believe that every country should know the English Language and never attempt to learn even basic phrases to help them bridge the language gap and I do not agree with this. I think that if you are traveling to a foreign country that you should be obligated to learn the language in order to bridge that gap or at least some small phrases to get you by.
Along with Dr. Goar’s experiences I also ran into my own. While traveling in France I conducted a few small social experiments of my own. Since I knew a small amount of French I used that to initiate conversations, I also initiated conversation just speaking in English with my American Accent, and finally I used a horrible fake British accent to start conversations. I notice that I received the best response when I used my French to initiate and then the fake British accent and finally my American Accent. I could understand this because it seems a little more polite to know a countries language when initiating conversation. However I could not understand how my horrible British accent received a better reaction then being American.
I just feel that from this trip that I have learned a lot. I believe that when I return home I’m going to try my hardest to make people that I run in to in America that are visiting that I’m going to try and make them feel as comfortable as possible. It is just not right to feel the way I felt in France and we should all accept all people as the individual that they are and not any different because they come from a country that is not so appreciated on the global scale.

Brent

Colonization or Not?

While in London my mind began just running wild. I began to think about all the things that we had talked about in class. On our trip to Highgate cemetery I don’t know if sitting on Herbert Spencer’s grave inspired me to start thinking about everything in a sociological way. However the second that I began to explore the British Museum and see items on display from every corner of the earth. I started to think about colonization and globalization again. The thing that struck me the most was that the British Museum held Cleopatra’s mummy. Although museums are an important part of our society I do believe that they are just a huge sign of colonization. If the United Kingdom, United States, and the majority of core countries would not have expanded and turned to divide and conquer, these things would still be in their rightful state. The things in museums, such as mummies, bodies, jewels, etc. although very interesting to look at and say that you have seen, should be left in their natural state. For the greater good of the sciences if these things were not discovered and studied we would know less about the past. However these things should stay and be kept on display in their original place of discovery. Just because an American and or Brit etc. found it does not give them rights to keeping it and bringing it back to the States or England. It should stay in its country off origin to be put on display. Like Cleopatra, who was a ruler of Egypt, but her final resting place is not Egypt it’s the British museum in London, England. Now is that right? For me I can’t say as a scientist I love to explore and view things from all over the world without ever leaving home but on the other hand I believe that Cleopatra should be resting in the country in which she once ruled. Along with all the other things that do not belong to us!

Brent

Greetings from Oriel College at Oxford University!

It’s hard to believe that two weeks have passed since the sociology students arrived at Oxford. Time passes quickly on the Thames.

We’re having a lovely time. Our host college, Oriel, is centrally located and within walking distance of many museums, theaters , and gardens. Both students and faculty have taken full advantage of this. We’ve also taken advantage of our close proximity to London and have taken several trips into the city. Our first trip was to Highgate Cemetery to see the grave of Karl Marx. What an adventure! After two hours on a bus, one hour on the tube, a long walk up a steep hill and through a city park, we finally reached the cemetery and found Marx’s grave. The students were so thrilled that they fell to the ground and spelled out a word using their bodies. Can you read it?

The following week the political science students let us tag along with them to the Cabinet War Rooms and Churchill Museum in London. Amazing! Then we all enjoyed Shakepeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Globe Theater, a 16th-century open-air theater. Many sociology students also went along with the biology students on their day trip to the coast of Wales. They had a grand time!

Oh, by the way, classes are going swimmingly. Both courses have a global focus: the Social Inequality class focuses on the linked histories of west and non-west global nations, examining ways that inequalities become institutionalized (with primary focus on labor, health, and energy), and the Race class focuses on how the colonial past and current conceptions and use of race shapes economic relations between first and third world nations. Students are prepared and engaged (though they are presently panicked as there is a midterm in the morning).

Beneath the Dreaming Spires