IHSS C2021-22

 Carson Dunaway Mr. Roddy IHSS 9/2/2021 IHSS HW: Cultural Anthropology Blog     The introduction to firestorms talks about the many annual firestorms in places such as Brazil, Indonesia, Australia, The United States, and even more. The intro states that this is a clear sign that forests are dying out and how this could be a worldwide issue. The intro then proceeds to talk about deforestation and how large achers of forest are cut every day to make conveniences for people, or to make plantations. It also talks about how we strip the earth clean of materials from the inside. The last thing the intro mentions is that there are forests that humans touch and don't touch that seem to thrive. Or how from a scorched earth new life grows.  A firestorm occurs when a fire grows strong enough that it is able to create its own winds.  Humans are what contribute to making such winds, but the problem is that we cant' control them.  synergies of power, economy, technology,...

 Carson Dunaway Mr. Roddy IHSS 10/22/2021 IHSS In-Class/HW: Prisoner of the Infidels Pick a section to note the style of his writing.  How would you characterize it?  On the first page at the end of the page, Osman says "Kill me if you wish. Or take me away from here. It's all the same to me." I would characterize this piece of writing as sad, or hopeless. He makes it sound like he could care less about what happens to him because life is awful and it really isn't worth living. After all, being a slave and being beaten every day, everyone would have a breaking point. In this part of the story, we see that Osman had reached his breaking point.  What role does his religion play in his thinking?  Give an example. It is no easy task to keep up with one's self when presented with such an opportunity. But the almighty exalted be his name in his grace and goodness created me bashful, such that I let thousands of opportunities slip by. In this text, we can see that Osma...

     After reading the Iroquois creation story I noticed a lot of crossover with the bible, to be specific the book of genesis. The Iroquois starts with two sides, in Christianity, this would be heaven and hell, they talk about the good mind and the bad mind, aka Lucifer and God. In both stories man is created from dust, God makes man, and the good mind also makes man living. The good mind ends up banishing the bad mind, such as God sending Lucifer down to hell. Overall the creation of animals and humans are fairly similar. Something I also noticed was how the television show It's Always Sunny in Philidelphia, references this story multiple times throughout the show. They talk about how the earth began on a turtle's shell many times, this is just something little I noticed. I really enjoyed reading this, it was really interesting comparing the story with the story of Genesis.

 Baker Croyle  Mr. Roddy  IHSS  10/21/21 Prisoner of the Infidels  Question 1  Osmans writing style was very much like an average diary but it with one difference. He seems to write things like a list sometimes and like a very direct recap of what happened. he also writes in the first person so we can tell that this is a diary.  Question 2  He seemed to speak to his god a lot. For instance he would say that he now understood gods plan, or he would indirectly reference god. He also used his god to guide him through things and he would ask his god for help.  Question 3  One of the decisions that he had to make was hiding from the supply officer when he was going to beat him. He chose to hide in the hay instead of take the punishment. I think that this was a good decision because it protected him and he realized that he needed to take better care of the horses.  Question 4  Osmans experience helps us understand history by showing ...

  Claire Thacker  Mr. Roddy  IHSS 21 October 2021    Pick a section to note the style of his writing.  How would you characterize it? Page 68. Osman’s writing is very simple and easy to understand. It also sounds like he’s telling an action story she writes. He’s setting up the sense and not making it sound, for example, “day 45: I rode on a  crippled horse to Jasenovac.”  I characterize it as adventurous/more in the moment because I was able to completely picture what was going on around him.  What role does his religion play in his thinking?  Give an example. “ But the Almighty-exalted be His name-in his grace and goodness created me bashful, such that I let thousands of perfect opportunities slip by.” Religion clearly plays a big role since from the way he's spoken he talks about his god a lot. I've also seen that when something significant he mentions the name of his god or praises him.  What is a decision that he had to make?...

 Imaar Chauthani Mr. Roddy IHSS October 20, 2021 Prisoner of Infidels - Questions The section I Chose to analyze is the first part of chapter five. Specifically the second paragraph. It is written in the first person. It is detailed about his surroundings. It is very to the point. It's written in reference to Allah. He includes a lot of dialogue.  I think his religion played a role in his thinking in a way of being true to god. He stayed in their home hoping and believing he will get out and get back to the country or city of Islam. He also said praise be to Allah and in Allah’s name. This shows his devotion to Islam and how it helped him find hope that he will make it out. A decision he had to make was to stay at the family’s house. I think this was a bad decision because soon enough the General and his troops will be searching all over for him. If he stayed in that one house there was a very high chance of getting found in the house. There was also a very high chance that on...

  Ethan Zweig Mr. Roddy IHSS October 21, 2021 Question 1: In the section where Osman goes to the Croatian village, the style of writing is a first person account of what his experience was. The writing shows how welcoming the people of the Croatian village were. For example when he first settled in the Croatians invited him to gatherings and offered him food.  Question 2: Osman knew that his master was abusive towards him because of the fact he was Muslim. Osman’s goal was to eventually kill him while they were camping but he knew that if he did that he would be put to death. He knew that since he’s Muslim, if he were to kill a Christian man he would have to suffer severe punishment.  Question 3: A decision Osman had to make was escaping his master. The plan was for him to be guided by a Croatian to Muslim territory. However, the plan was a bad idea because the Croatian family to him that he would be taken to Muslim territory by an Austrian who was actually not going to t...

  Noor Qureshi  Mr. Roddy IHSS 22 October 2021 Prisoner of the Infidels - Questions Pick a section to note the style of his writing.  How would you characterize it? Osman’s writing in general is very modern for his time. He wrote his diary in the 1700’s and language back then was very detailed and poetic, unlike the way our language is today. To take a specific section from his narrative, in the beginning, he writes in a very upfront, simple and direct tone. He just explains a series of actions like a list, so nothing too elaborate.  What role does his religion play in his thinking?  Give an example. Muslims believe that everything happens because of God, which is exactly the thinking of Osman in his  narrative. He mentions how Allah “decided that the dice would come up otherwise” which is implying that whatever happens to us is because of God’s will.  What is a decision that he had to make?  Do you think it was a good one? Why or why not? One maj...

  Wyatt Quillin Mr. Roddy IHSS 19 October 2021 Prisoner of The Infidels Question Responses  Chapter five, and most likely the rest of Prisoner of The Infidels is written very clearly for the time period. It reads more like a novel in the first person than an autobiography written in 1726. It is descriptive and written in plain language that is easy to read and understand. For example, “I was taken by the jailer to where the other Muslim prisoners were kept. During the daytime, they stayed in a small building by the guardhouse near the main town gate. But at nightfall, they took us to a cell between the inner and outer gates” (67).   Osman’s religion was a huge part of his life and was part of the reason he was captured in the first place, as he was in the Muslim army fighting against the Hapsburgs. Because he was so strong in his faith, when Osman’s master gave him new, fancy clothes and said that they were going to Vienna, Osman realized that he was not getting rele...

Carson Dunaway Mr. Roddy  IHSS 7/24/2021 IHSS Ethnographer Blog: In-class                    There was recently an island discovered off the coast of Spain. I had to explore it. When we get to the island there are signs of life. A man-made dock is where we stopped our boat. As we venture deeper into the island there is a thick forest that we have to venture through. At about halfway from the center of the island we can see smoke in the air from where we were venturing to. I can't tell if I'm excited at the fact that we may find people, or scared that they might hurt us. We go faster to the center of the island. We are within 30 feet of the smoke. The crew slows down getting scared of what lies ahead. I take the first steps to what we may find. As I walk through the jungle and into the open plain in the jungle there are small huts. about 8 of them. There is a small campfire that sits in the middle of it all. The crew never follo...

Carson Dunaway Mee. Roddy  IHSS 9/9/2021 IHSS: Historical Development Anthropology and Blog               France Boas is a German-born American born in the year 1858. Franz Boas studied historical particularism and cultural relativism. Franz Boas is mostly known for the theory of Anthropology he brought. Franz Boas is known as the father of modern-day Anthropology. Franz Boas's theory of culture and Anthropology was "all culture is essentially equal but only needs to be understood in their own terms." This theory shaped Anthropology into the modern form it is today. There were, of course, people at the time who rejected this theory but it managed to stick around long enough to become the largest known concept of Anthropology.  Franz Boas died in the year 1942. Even after his death, his theory remained the most evident. 

Isa Pedersen Mr. Roddy IHSS 15 October 2021 Native American Writing Response     In a majority of the readings we read during class, I found the spirituality of these tribes stood out to me the most. For example in the first reading, The Iroquois Creation Story, spirituality was talked about a lot. A very interesting part of the reading talked about the difference of the good mind and the bad mind. While the "minds" were actually people, it talked about how the differences of how the thought and acted, the differences between good and evil, light and dark. The more obvious part of spirituality and mythology in The Iroquois Creation Story, was the referencing to monsters and the fact that the brothers were the start of the universe. I find it very interesting how so many tribes and civilizations are based off of the mythology of their religions. As we know, early civilizations started their settlements by rivers and land that had easy access agriculture. These situations a...

  Gustavo Alvarez  IHSS  Mr. Roddy  10/14/2021  Native American History Readings A big theme I can see with both the Iroquois creation story, and other similar written stories, is that the writer, someone who is most likely a white Christian, writes these stories through a Christian lense that tries to match creation stories like the Iroquois one, with the Christian creation story one. I wonder if these Christian writers are even doing this on purpose, or if they are just unconsciously heavily influenced by their religion. I do not think these writers that translated these works were influenced by their religion but rather by the society that they live in. If we look at authors and writers today, regardless of their religion, most write through a lens of their own society instead of a lens of their religion. Something that this also makes interesting is that these religions also have or had a big impact in our society. I would say 200-400 years ago religion, Chr...

Claire Thacker  Mr. Roddy  IHSS  15 October 2021  Native American writings blog A theme that I saw in the creation story was the theme of good vs evil. This is also similar to the Christian creation story. For example in the Iroquois creation story, it’s two brothers. In Christianity is adam and eve vs the snake. Another thing I thought was interesting was that it was a woman who was more focused on, she was seen in a more good-natured light than Eve is in Christianity. For example, Eve was blamed for banishing them out of the garden but it wasn’t really her fault. But, the woman in this story died and I dont know if she’s thought of the same way. For example, she had twins and one of them was evil so “she’s the reason we have the evil spirit.” In the Iroquois story, it says “and by his breathing into their nostrils he gave them the living souls.” This is also similar to Christianity because it’s thought that having someone’s breath in your nostrils means you are a...

Ethan Zweig Mr. Roddy IHSS October 14, 2021          The Native American stories were very interesting and talked a lot about what affected them like culture and religion. The Iroquois Creation Story had a lot of this because its main theme was religion and good versus evil. In the story there were two twins born into the lower world. One twin liked it and one twin didn't. The lower world contained monsters that's supposed to resemble the Christianity version of hell. This story also compared both twins. The evil one is comparative to the devil and the good one is comparative to God.     

 Baker  Mr. Roddy  IHSS  10/15/21 Native American historical readings  The common theme that I saw in the writings was the way that Indians were portrayed as below others and stupid and how they lived up to the expectation infront of others. In the superman and me writing I read about how the Indian children were expected to be stupid and not smart. He then said that he acted stupid on purpose the live up to the expectation but actually was learning. He said that he could tell complicated stories at the dinner table but he was monosyllabic infront of his teachers. in the other writings I saw how preacher thought that he could not be of service to the "poor" Indians because they would not understand him. I think that they probably did understand him and they just did not care about what he was saying. I think that the best way to sum it up is with a quote from the superman and me writing and it says that Indian children were expected to fail in a non Indian world...

  Claire Thacker Mr. Roddy  IHSS 24 August 2021       My favorite memory of when I spent 5 years with the Oceanic people is when they taught me how to catch fish. I was taught how to make a fishing rod, and how to make the string used to catch fish on. I was then taught how to get the fish bait, which was larva from around the more woody part of the area where they lived. They taught me how to cast my rod and wait, the waiting was the hardest part. We'd be out in the water for hours at a time waiting for a single fish. I eventually learned how to make the nets and was able to catch more than one fish at a time. We would work together to weave the nets together. After we had made the nets we'd take it out in the water,  and when we saw a school of fish throw it out and hope the fish went into the net. Fishing with them was one of my fondest memories. It really helped me to integrate into their culture as fishing was something that was very vital for the...

  Aiden Cunningham Mr. Roddy IHSS 14 October 2021 IHSS HW: Native American Writing Response Blog      The major theme I saw in the Native American writings was the expectation that Native Americans were expected to be submissive to and less smart than the ‘non-Indians’. Native Americans were always expected to be the ones in the back of the class struggling and the ones who sometimes try things considered only for smart academics, but who will never amount to the ‘non-Indians’. This discouraged many young Native American writers from following their passions towards the career path of being an expert writer, and it also kept them from publishing their writing works due to fear of being rejected: "Those who failed were ceremonially accepted by other Indians and appropriately pitied  by non-Indians." Many young authors had a hard time finding the ability to get their books heard in the onslaught of book publishing. Despite these expectations and imposing situ...

 Wyatt Quillin Mr. Roddy IHSS 14 October 2021 Reading Response     The Native American readings, including the creation story of the Iroquois and Samson Occum's sermon were very interesting to read and observe how other cultures and religions affected them. The Iroquois creation story was fascinating because it was probably documented by a Christian, and there were some parts of the story that were strangely similar to the Christian creation story. For example, a part in the story talked about two beings that were created "in his image" and he "breathed life into their nostrils". This is something that occurs in Genesis in the Bible. Another reading that I found very interesting was the sermon Samson Occum gave before the hanging of a Native American man. Samson Occum was a Native American pastor, which means that he assimilated into the Christian religion which originally came from Europe. He writes that most sermons given are full of sophisticated, complicated...

  Noor Qureshi Mr. Roddy IHSS 14 October 2021 Native American Readings                When reading "Superman and Me" and the "Iroquois Creation Story," I noticed two different themes- the theme of good vs. evil, which is portrayed in the creation story, and the theme of education vs. cultural background in "Superman and Me." The theme I want to hone in on is education vs. cultural background because I feel like there is a meaning behind that short story. The author, Sherman Alexie, explains that there is a stigma around Native Americans and how they are not supposed to be smart. They are not supposed to be arrogant or proud, and they certainly should not be able to read. Instead, they were supposed to keep their heads down and shy away. Your cultural background determined your education, hence the theme. There was a lack of opportunities which lead to less motivation in these minority groups. If you know there's nothing waiting for ...

  Native American Writing Response  Camila Yengle          `  One of the major themes that I saw reoccurring in our readings about Native Americans was the theme of books and literature.  Books are written about so many different things but religion is the most written one. In the story Iroquois creation story, although we cant clearly see the theme of literature appear, we can conclude that all creation stories have been formed and written down to help be passed on. Many Native Americans struggled to make their voiced heard in America and so in the 18th and 19th century, many began to write literature like autobiographies. The image of Native Americans by colonizers was very specific and stereotypical so these writings fought against that stigma. In the story Superman and Me the narrator recalls his childhood where he grew up with books.His dad loved books and so he started reading at a very young age and fell in love wit...

 October 14, 2021 Imaar Chauthani Mr. Roddy IHSS Native American Writing Response Blog      In this week's reading, we read   Iroquois Creation Story, Early American Literature Synopsis, Samson Occum Sermon Sherman, Alexie Bio, and Superman and Me by Sherman Alexie. In most of these, the main theme I saw was storytelling and 2nd person point of view. In the Iroquois Creation Story, I observed that a Christian wrote these stories because the only way to record these stories is through writing and the only people that would have recorded the native American ways are the colonizers when they first came to America. Since the author is Christian it could have affected the point of view leading to wrong information. In some stories such as the Creation of the Iriquious, it was very similar to the Christian Creation Story.  It was interesting to see how different many societies' points of view can be from each other. For example, if a child in a reservation and wa...

     One theme I noticed that spanned multiple readings this week was the theme of Storytelling. More specifically, the enthusiasm and importance of storytelling in Native American Culture. For example, in Superman and Me, the author discusses his father's love for books. The author calls his father "an avid reader of westerns, spy thrillers, murder mysteries, gangster epics, basketball player biographies and anything else he could find." This was certainly passed down to his son,  who we learn taught himself how to read through the pictures in his superman comic. This theme also persists in the creation story. The creation story has been passed down through numerous generations of Iroquois. Without having a written language, this is incredible, because it means that they have been telling this story to each other for the entirety of its existence. This theme is true for the sermon, too. During Occom’s sermon, he tells stories from the bible. Although these stories d...