w. 50

12 December 2016, Monday (posting 10:30 a.m. Tuesday -- may make some further additions/changes)

A first set of slides has been uploaded on Vklass.


ENGLISH
We've been focusing on abbreviations that you can use when writing your notes.

Here is a table of abbreviations you can think about incorporating into your notes:

Brief summary of material we've gone through regarding Swedish history:
(See also slides in pdf files on Vklass)

1 - Gustav Eriksson coming to power in Sweden, and taking Sweden out of the Kalmar Union. Sweden is now independent. As a result of the warring against Christian II, large debts are created.

 Sweden by the end of Gustav I's reign:

-Sweden united
-Sw. centrally governed
-Sw. has own foreign policy
-Sw. has own military force
-Sw. has substantial degree of self-subsistence
-Sw. has stable transfer of power
-Sw. is still independent

I noted that all of these are still true today with the possible exception of the high degree of self-sufficiency. And, indeed, three days after I said this to you, the Swedish news came with this report. Here's the webpage with the story from P1.

2 - Gustav I (today known best as Gustav Vasa) introduces the Reformation to Sweden, changing the state religion from Roman Catholic to Lutheran.

3 - GV centralizes power in Sweden, in large part through his ability to weaken the power that regional leaders had, and by creating a tax and administration system that was centrally governed.

4 - Succession of the throne: In 1544, GV, with the help of the Riksdag, introduces a new law establishing transfer of power to the monarch's eldest son, and then following by age and sex, the other children of the monarch. Sweden becomes a hereditary kingdom (arvsrike), which contributes to a more stable transfer of power.

Here's a link to the Swedish Royal Court's webpage with information about the laws of succession.

And here is the Riksdag's page on the Swedish Constitution. It explains things such as the lack of freedom of religion for the monarch, and that the government must give consent to prince and princesses of the royal house before they can marry -- otherwise they risk forfeiting the right to the throne.

5 - Expansion of territory/loss of territory.
We discussed various issues that can be associated with the addition of territory -- including economic issues (taxes, trades, resources as well as defense). We will connect back to the point that Swedes are "out and about" when in connection to intellectural development. One thing I want you to see is that by reflecting on issues (e.g., what does it matter if Sweden has control over Skåne and Bohuslän) you can come up with different ideas. You might not always have the historical information to back up an idea, but you have something that can then be tested, discussed, analyzed.

Here's a website where you can see the change of territory over time -- different maps than what I have put in the pdf of slides: Time Maps

Here are maps of Sweden from the webpage:

6. Literacy: We discussed how the switch from Catholicism to Lutheranism can be connected to an increase in literacy. We will contine and discuss how this high rate of literacy can be connected to intellectual development, political change, and industrialism in Sweden.

Gustav Vasa Bible:

7. Change in political power over time. I am planning on discussing this on Friday.

w. 49

Monday, 5 December 2016

I handed back the papers, along with comments.

One of the things I noted was the importance of avoiding opinion. Even though opinion is not allowed in history writing, it is still possible to present a point of view through logic and to then support that view with evidence. For example, here is an opinion:

It is wrong for women not to be able to have control of their own bodies.

 Here is an argument that can then be supported with specific information:

Women who are denied access to birth control are in many cases prevented from being able to decide if and when they want to bear children. And unplanned pregnancies can result in women being forced to abandon their education, it can create economic hardships, and it can interfere with the ability to get and keep a job or to develop a career.

The second example is in line with the opinion, but it uses logic based in evidence (which would then need to be provided further in the text to support these statements). 

SWEDISH HISTORY

We started with Swedish history. I can provide you with the slides I showed in class. If you missed class, you want to get notes and ask questions about what isn't clear. I will wait until after Friday's lessons before I put up the slides on Vklass.

w. 48

ENGLISH

In the last two lessons we've brought in sounds that are commonly problematic for Swedish speakers. The first step is realizing that these sounds are different. The second step is actively practicing them -- even looking at yourself in the mirror or filming yourself so that you can see and hear yourself.

th

all four of these sounds are different

1 - three, thing, think

2 - that, there, then

3 - free, fling, fink

4 - tree, ting, tinkle


y and j

Y: Yale, yet, yellow

J: jail, jet, Jello


SAVING THE BLACK RHINOS

One of the student papers written this fall was about the poaching of rhinoceroses, which is a practice in which the horn is hacked out of the rhino's body, and the animal then dies. Because of poaching these animals are under extreme threat.

 But the horn of a rhino can be cut off (albeit not easily) and it will grow back -- just like our fingernails. Here's a story about a South African veterinarian Mike Toft, who has been working with a group to de-horn the rhinos in a particular reserve in order to save the animals' lives. The horns are tehn stored in a undisclosed location, to keep them safe from poachers and illegal markets.

The story explains how the process of removing the horns works, and how this is considered the best option in the current climate. The hope is that once attitudes and regulations gradually change (particulalry in societies such as Vietnam and China, which are pushing the illegal trade), there will no longer be a need for these measures. Listen here.

w. 47

Source Evaluation Assignment

I am in the process of putting up information on Vklass for the Source Evaluation assginment. This includes

• the assignment
• a handout with information regarding things to reflect upon in your analyses
• the slides from class from w. 46
• a sample assignment from a former student (which is by no means perfect but which has many good qualities)

YOU and YOUR

Many students used the word "you" in their history papers. This is understandable (it feels like using man in Swedish), but it's something to be avoided. It's not good writing, and when writing about history, it can be very, very strange. ("When you torture someone . . . " Excuse me?)

The trouble is, it can be hard to figure out how to rephrase to avoid "you." Usually the trick is to re-cast the sentence -- to turn things around in the sentence. Here are some examples that I hope that help.

 

It gives you information that you can not find so much about

--> It offers information that cannot easily be found elsewhere

It is a site with a lot of information. It takes you from the 19^th century through World War One and World War Two, which gives you a broad picture of the roles of women at this time.

--> It is a site with information ranging from the 19^th century through World War One and World War Two, offering a broad picture of the roles of women during these times.

If you then click on the tab “A,” you will find all of the assignments by Mr. Z.

--> Clicking on tab “A” leads to a site with all the assignments by Mr. Z.

When you read the text you can’t see any author, but after looking around on the website you can read that they have two authors.

--> No author is indicated for the text, but elsewhere on the website there is information noting that the text has two authors.

Either / Neither

For those who would like a little more information to help figure out the differences between the words either and neither, here's a webpage that may help.

 And here are some sreen shots from that page:

 

w. 42

Friday, 21 October

Here's some information that I'll present at the beginning of class on Friday:


FOOTNOTES:

In your paper you need to have footnotes and a bibliography (källförteckning). I have uploaded a file to help you with how to write your footnotes. BUT, as I will say in class on Friday, it is okay if there is a certain messiness to your footnotes when you turn in your paper. I still need to see where your information came from, but if the notes or bibliography are not done completely to style, we can fix that on Monday after the break.

So, to summarize:

1 – You have to have footnotes and a bibliography when you turn in the paper.

2 – The notes and bibliography can be inconsistent in style.

3 – We will have time to polish the notes and bibliography on Monday after the break.

If you are using your book as a source, you can use the following reference:

Roger B. Beck, Linda Black, et al. World History: Patterns of Interaction,  Orlando, FL: Holt McDougal, 2012, p. #.

You need to add the proper page # or page numbers that you have used. For example:

p. 630

pp. 630–631.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The bibliography is alphabetized by the LAST NAME of the author, or the name of the organzation group behind the information.

Example:

Bassiouni, Mahmoud Cherif. “The Social System and Morality of Islam.” Middle East
Institute. http://www.mei.edu/content/social-system-and-morality-islam (accessed 2013-10-
12).

Calhoun, Craig. Dictionary of the Social Sciences. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.
Dictionary of World History. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.

Clearly Cultural. “Individualism.”  http://www.clearlycultural.com/geert-hofstede-culturaldimensions/individualism, (accessed 2014-01-30).

Groothuis, Rebecca Merrill. “The Bible and Gender Equality.” Christians for Biblical
Equality. http://www.cbeinternational.org/files/u1/resources/14-groothius-pdf.pdf (accessed
2014-01-28).

TIP FOR ORGANIZING YOUR PAPER

This is something I do when I write a paper. I write a draft of the paper. I then print it out and cut apart the paragraphs, and I lay out these paragraphs on a table and I test out different orders that I could put the material in, in an attempt to find a logical order for how to present my material.

Doing this often requires that I think about new ways to create bridges (transitions) between the paragraphs.

CAPITALS

Make sure you have capitalized historical periods, proper nouns, religions, countries, ethnic and national groups

All of the following are capitalized:

Scientific Revolution

Enlightenment

Renaissance

Middle Ages

Industrial Revolution (but industrialization)

American Revolution, French Revolution

England, English, Britain, British, United Kingdom, UK

United States, U.S., America, American

France, French

Sweden, Swedish

Are you unsure? Look in the dictionary you have in the dock on your computer?

PAGE NUMBERS

Make sure you have page numbers

HEADER

Have a header with your name

TITLE

Have a title for your paper

TIP FOR CATCHING ERRORS IN YOUR SENTENCES OR SPELLING

Read you paper out loud. This tactic will often help you catch errors – which we often hear even the eyes don’t see them.

Monday, 17 October

ENGLISH:

When quoting material, use quotation marks: “   ”

Do not use italics.

Thus:

Sandy Smith said, “Always use quotation marks for quotes.”

Not:

Sandy Smith said, Always use quotation marks for quotes.

And definitely not:

Sandy Smith said, “Always use quotation marks for quotes.”

Save italics for emphasis:

Sandy Smith said, “Always use quotation marks for quotes.”

w. 41

Monday, 10 October

ENGLISH

All of the following are capitalized

continents – Europe, Asia, Africa, North America . . .

countries – England, China, United States, France . . .

cities – London, Trollhättan, New Delhi

nationalities and ethnicities – British, Sámi, Indian, Bosnian . . . (exception: black and white)

religions – Christianity, Islam . . . (as well as Christian, Muslim, Jew . . .)

 ****

As you write your paper, here are some things to help you:

-       Figure out what your main point (or main thesis) is and then determine which historical material helps you make that argument. 

For example, if your thesis is

Campaigns for equal rights have been one of the main driving forces leading to laws expanding LGBT rights and laws in Sweden

then you want to bring information and issues connected to

o   campaigns for equal rights

o   examples of expanding rights/laws for the LGBT community

Examples of “campaigns for equal rights” could include

          -groups formed to lobby for LGBT rights

          -groups formed to lobby for women’s rights

          -groups formed to lobby for workers’ rights

          -protests or demonstrations in favor of LGBT or women’s or workers’ rights

          -speeches or editorials or petitions in favor of LGBT or women’s or workers’ rights

          -proposed laws. When laws are proposed but not adopted, they often broaden the public discussion about a topic

          -etc.

         

Examples of expanding rights/laws for the LGBT community could include

          -laws about access to education and jobs

          -laws limiting discrimination

          -laws permitting adoption, marriage, or other legal procedures

          -laws connected to medical treatment

          -proposed changes to law. Even if a law doesn’t get adopted, a proposed law often

         

                     

w. 40

Monday, 3 October

ENGLISH:

Large numbers have commas in them:

1,200

32,000

487, 909

1,593,000

and so on

Decimals have periods in them:

20.5%

0.1 ppm

1.2 billion

INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

Some key issues we covered:

-social consequences of the IR: (urbanization, rise of the middle class, increased in education for large sections of society)

-political consequences (formation of organizations such as labor unions, women’s rights movements, abolitionists, even animal rights activists)

-economic consequences (rise of the middle class, gradual increase in wages)

-further political/economic consequences (colonization or economic domination of lands in order to secure natural resources needed for industrial process AND/OR to secure trading partners and opportunities.

The IR is discussed in chapter 25 in your book. There are some very nice summaries, tables, and graphics. See, for example:

pp. 724–725: “The Day of a Child Laborer, William Cooper”

P. 727: “Industrialization” – a summary of some of the effects of industrialization + the growth of cities

p. 724: “Visual Summary – The Industrial Revolution”

The Industrial Revolution starts in England in the 18^th century. In class, I didn’t go into the reasons why the IR starts in England, but here’s a little info. If you need more explanations about this, let me know.

England had the necessary “factors of production”:

1.     land – natural resources – coal, iron ore (malm), + harbors that made it easy to transport

2.     capital – money, tools, machinery – rich Britons from 1700s (agricultural surplas à capital)

3.     labor – growth in population *                                (better agricultural methods meant that fewer farm workers were needed)

ALSO

A.    markets – overseas colonies, U.S., India

B.    best naval fleet in the world (by mid-18^th c. about ½ the world’s sea trade carried on Br. ships)

C.    laws to help business owners (Parliament passed laws that protected businesses)

Consequences of the IR:

 

Factories

With the move from making things by hand to making things with machines, factories are built to house the machines and workers. And as is discussed in Section 2, these factories were often dirty and dangerous. They were often also very uncomfortable places to work in terms of temperature, air, and general sanitation.  Often child and women were employed in the textile factories: there small hands made them suitable for adjusting parts in narrow spaces, and their lack of political and economic power made it easy to take advantage of them as workers.

Urbanization

As factory work expanded, more and more people moved away from the country into the city – which can also be called urban areas. People often lived in very cramped quarters, frequently without good sanitation.

Rise of Middle Class

Over time, wages for factory workers increased, and more people moved opened businesses, allowing them to rise in their socio-economic status.

Political Activism

With a more money and more time, people were able to participate in political activities working for expanded political and economic rights. Examples:

-       labor unions

-       women’s rights movements

-       abolitionist movements

-       animal rights movements

The basis for these political movements are found in the ideas of the Enlightenment. 

We can also note the publication of The Communist Manifesto, by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in 1848.

Exploitation of Resources

With industrialization came the need for new and more resources, such as

-       raw material for textiles (cotton and wool)

-       material for making machines (various metals)

-       material for new inventions (rubber)

-       energy to run machines (such as coal and, later, oil)

Europeans took advantage of their presence in many parts of the world to continue to spread their political and economic domination of the Americas, Africa, and much of Asia. The marked increase in European colonies and other forms of domination in the 19^th century and early 20^th century is know as the Age of Imperialism. And we refer to this political/economic domination and exploitation as colonialism.

On p. 777 you’ll find a map of Africa after it was divided among the various European nations. And on p. 792 you’ll find a map of some of Europe’s possessions in Asia and the Pacific. While countries such as Sweden, Norway, and the Netherlands are not found on the map on p. 777, they nonetheless played a role in systems of colonialism in Africa. Trading companies run either by the countries or businesses with the countries counted on trade that benefited the European countries. Many of these trade agreements were established at the Berlin Conference of 1884.