Africa Map

Griots vs Textbooks

The Griots are story tellers. In some African societies, Griots basically held history in the palm of their hand. Griots told the history of their people through song and dance.

There are really pros and cons to Griots. Griots would definitely make history much more interesting than reading it out of a textbook. Personally, I find history interesting when it is told through primary sources, personal accounts. I hate it when history is presented as nothing more than facts, dates, and laws. I find this boring. Griots are nice because they have that personal touch added to them, and they also take advantage of music as a medium to entertain. The con to griots is that they can be very unreliable. Griots learn their history, passed down to them through passed griots, really. It's like playing the telephone game. The originial story can get twisted and lose its meaning as it is passed down. It also can be twisted by bias. Griot stories only shows the point of view of whatever side the griot is on.

I think Textbooks really are better for learning history. They provide valid information, and are written down, so you can always verify it, in a way. Primary sources and personal accounts sometimes are included in textbooks too.

... An occassional song wouldn't be bad though...

Mongol Trial

THE MONGOLS ARE GUILTY! ... No really, I wasn't in class today, did we win?

I enjoyed this project. Maybe it's because I already did a mock trial for Napoleon last year, or maybe it's the fact that I solely did the opening statement but I found it relatively easy. Most of my information came from the book and movies we watched in class, but it was sufficient to write an acceptable opening statement. I think I did well. I only wish I had my opening statement memorized better, so that I could make better eye contact with the audience. Apart from that, I think I did well. I woke up that morning planning on wearing sweatpants, but i sprung for jeans when I remembered the trial. I mean, that's got to mean something. :)

I see the Mongols as selfish. Not exactly as ruthless as I made them out be, although they are ruthless. I see them as selfish because every action was for their own good. The Mongols only had their own best interests at heart. Yes, they would allow the talented from the conquered people to live in Karakorum with good social standing, but only because they lacked someone of equal talent among their own ranks.

Call me biased, but I do think the Mongols are guilty of Kidnapping and Terrorism. I'll give the defense side genocide. Although they did brutally kill innocent people, they didn't discriminate who they killed, and I guess, on a technicality, that means they aren't guilty of genocide. However, the Mongols are completely guilty of kidnapping and terrorism.

Crusades Project pt 4

So today, Futaba, Eddie, and I stayed at school till around five working on our projects. We each wrote a mini-script for our prospective crusades and directed and acted. So for this project we all became writers, directors, and actors. What a group of multitaskers, huh?

Here's the link for Crusade #2, the one I was in charge of:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kMuZRB4ceU&context=C374cc30ADOEgsToPDskLtKJhVPIJUTA5D1fZozYhY

... and my bibliography:

• "Section 15: Medieval Christianity and the Crusades." Mark Daneman. USU 1320: History and Civilization. Utah State University. n.d. web. 11 January, 2012.
• Gasvoigne, Bamber. "History of The Crusades" History World. From 2001, ongoing. web. 11 January, 2012.
• "Perspectives and Religion in the Crusades:Muslim Perspective on the Crusades." Austin Cline. About.com.Agnosticism/Atheism. About.com. n.d. web. 11 January, 2012.

(Sorry the formating for the citations isn't exactly correct. I'm having difficulties setting them up on Blogger.)

I had fun with this project. At first it was confusing and a bit scary having no set boundaries or directions. It was wierd, being told to do something, without being told how. However, once I decided how I wanted to do this and set about doing it, it was really fun. And strangely enough, despite working with my friends, I actually felt like I learned a lot about the first three crusades. Who would've thought?

I believe, despite the obvious silliness, that our project is actually quite informative on the muslim point of view on the crusades.

Crusade Project pt.3

My partners and I decided to divide up what crusades we each study and then we teach each other about our individual crusade before we start filming. I am in charge of the second crusade.

I have used dogpile.com, a search engine themed with a little dog, it's actually really cute. I'm finding information on the crusade itself pretty easily. The second crusade was basically a failure, led by France and Germany in an attempt to regain the successes of the first crusade. I'm having trouble finding information from the muslim point of view. Going back to google helped, but in an attempt to not use basic google, I went to google.com.br. Why? Because I can understand the language. I found some things on the muslim perspective but not much. If anyone could help, I'd really appreciate it.

Crusade Project pt 2

For this project I will be collaborating with Eddie Gelhberg, http://eddiesdrwhoarriffictimeadventure.blogspot.com/, and Futaba Shioda, http://venturingthroughtimecrevices.blogspot.com/. We will be reanacting the crusades from the muslim point of view. We will still be doing Crusades 1,2, and 3. I need to start doing my research...

Crusade Project Pt. 1: Choosing the Crusades

I'm really picking the crusades at random here. I feel like aside from the basic information already given, I can only start my research once I've decided which crusades I would want to do.

So... I'll pick the First Crusade (1096), the Second Crusade (1147-1148) and the Third Crusade (1182-1192). That way, successful-ish crusades are represented as well as unsuccessful crusades. I also wanna do the "Children's Crusade" because I just find it hysterical. My focus though will be on the three.