Caitlin's Human Geo Blog

1/7 Class

Today we watched the video about the two Koreas. It is so tense where the North and South meet where there is a building connecting the two. In the video the South just wanted to return a ody that they found that they believe floated from the North. North Korea just turned their back on them anddidn't even listen. The North Koreans don't do anything unless instructed from Kim Jong-Il.

1/6 Class

Today in class we continued talking about the answers to the questions.

Two Korea's: One Situation

1. The official name of North Korea is Democratic People's Republic of Korea.1. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/kn.html

2. Kim Jong-il is the de facto leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea(North Korea); the official leader of the country is still his long-deceased father Kim Il-sung, the founder of the state. He is theChairman of the National Defense Commission, General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea, the ruling party since 1948, and the Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army, the fourth largest standing army in the world. In April 2009, North Korea's constitution was amended and now implicitly refers to him as the "Supreme Leader". He is also referred to as the "Dear Leader", "our Father", "the General" and "Generalissimo". His son Kim Jong-un was promoted to a senior position in the ruling Worker's Party and is heir apparent. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Jong-il
3.After World War II, problems emerged about over the issue of establishing a Korean national government. On August 15, 1948, the Republic of Korea was established in the South. On September 9, 1948, the North established the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. In July 1972, the two sides agreed to work toward peaceful reunification and an end to the hostile atmosphere. However, these initial contacts broke down in 1973 following South Korean President Park Chung Hee's announcement that the South would seek separate entry into the United Nations. http://www.historyofnations.net/asia/northkorea.html
4. ......
5. To the north of North Korea is China. To the east of North Korea is Sea o Japan (East Sea). To the south of North Korea is South Korea. To the west of North Korea is the Yellow Sea. http://wwp.greenwichmeantime.com/time-zone/asia/north-korea/map.htm
6. The 38th parallel is a cirlcle of latitude that is 38 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/38th_parallel_north
7. We (North Korea) are trying to take over South Korea
8. We have about 10,000 nuclear bombs and we are thinking about setting off some of them in South Korea.
9. ........
10. Pyongyang is the capital.

1/5 Class

Today's class was really relaxed. We just had a class for questions. Getting a deeper little history lesson on Korea.

1/4 Class

Today we first talked about starting a new unit on North and South Korea. We rearranged the room so that half the class is on one side (North Korea), then there was a "wall", and then the other half of the class (South Korea). We then did the questions about our Korea that we are.

12/16 Class

Today we just continued our discussion from yesterday. In our discussion we talked about causes of why people are blind in India, so many girls in India are skinny, bad economy - like how their rupees are way less than the amountof our dollar, and some other topics.

12/14 Class

Today we just got into our groups that we already had and continued to work on the assignment. I am with Kate and Elena and we are doing a poewrpoint about Mumbai, the Bombay Riots, nd Slumdog Millionaire. This assignment is due tomorrow.

12/10 Class

Today we watcheda couple of videos. One video was about a building crashing because the landlord instructs the builders to build more floors even though that is violating a building code. As a result the building are weak and one o the buildings crashed which killed and injured a lot of people. It was also about the Mall of India that is being built which is going to be bigger than the Mall of America! The Mall of India is oing to be the biggest makk in th world.

12/9 Class

Today we finally finished the movie which I really liked. I liked how we can base a whole subject off of just one movie. Also, how we got to watch it in class I think that makes class a lot more fun. Even though we had to write two papers I still liked it.

12/8 Class

Today we finished watching Slumdog Millionaire. Thankfully, we dont have any written assignments tonight and I am so happy.

Indian Essay

India is the second largest country in the world. The population is 1,173,108,018 as of July 2010. The only country above India is China. India has a billion more that the United States which is one below India. It has been increasing ever since.

Human trafficking is a major issue in India. Trafficking means the movement of vehicles, ships, persons, etc., in an area. In India it is very populated by men, women, and children and therefore is much trafficked. For the fifth consecutive year India is on the Tier 2 Watch List. The Tier 2 Watch List is a list of all the countries whose governments do not fully comply with the TVPA’s minimum standards, but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards. The Tier 2 Watch List has sub categories where countries are separated into instead of being generalized. Also, “the absolute number of victims of severe forms of trafficking is very significant or is significantly increasing; or there is a failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat severe forms of trafficking in persons from the previous year; or the determination that a country is making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with minimum standards was based on commitments by the country to take additional future steps over the next year”. However, India is on the Tier 2 Watch List because of its failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat human trafficking in 2007.

In the movie Slumdog Millionaire, India was not portrayed accurately. This movie only showed the slums and shantytowns of India. Amitabh complained that Mumbai was portrayed as a third world country. Obviously, Slumdog Millionaire only showed the slum parts of India and not the major cities. They did it that way because the point of the movie was to show a kid from the slums knowing all the answers on a game show, called “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?”. The idea was not to show the best parts of Mumbai, it was to show the shantytowns and the bad parts of Mumbai.

It is incorrect when people say that Bollywood is the whole India cinema which is only part of the total Indian film industry. Bollywood is the largest film producer in India and one of the largest centers of film production in the world. The name Bollywood originated from the combination of the two words Hollywood and Mumbai.

India has the largest number of child workers in the world. Many of the children work in hazardous industries. A Madras School of Social Work study found that among children employed as mechanics, factory and construction workers and weavers, 31 percent worked 10 to 11 hours daily and 22 percent worked 12 to 13 hours. In the unorganized sectors, children were paid piece rates, resulting in even longer hours for very low pay. In India’s commercial capital, Mumbai (Bombay), there are thousands of small units known as “zari factories”. Boys aged 6-14 work 20 hours a day, seven days a week, kneeling at low tables sewing beads and colored threads on to vast lengths of fabric.

Human Trafficking In India

Trafficking means the movement of vehicles, ships, persons, etc., in an area. In India it is very populated by men, women, and children and therefore is much trafficked. For the fifth consecutive year India is on the Tier 2 Watch List. The Tier 2 Watch List is a list of all the countries whose governments do not fully comply with the TVPA’s minimum standards, but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards. Also, “the absolute number of victims of severe forms of trafficking is very significant or is significantly increasing; or there is a failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat severe forms of trafficking in persons from the previous year; or the determination that a country is making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with minimum standards was based on commitments by the country to take additional future steps over the next year”. However, India is on the Tier 2 Watch List because of its failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat human trafficking in 2007.

Sources:

Research Questions

Bollywood alone produces more than 800 to 1000 movies which is one-third of the entire Indian film industry. .......................................
The three main characters in Slumdog Millionaire are Jamal Malik, Latika, and Salim.
A "chai wallah" is a sweet spiced milk tea.
Five things you must know about the Taj Mahal:

it is the pride of India
one of the Seven Wonders of the World
built by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, after the death of his dearest wife Mumtaz Mahal, as a memorial
in the city of Agra in Uttar Pradesh, on the banks of river Yamuna
literally means ‘Crown Palace’

SOURCES:

Bombay Riots

The result was 3.6 billion dollar in damages
between the Muslims and the Hindus
seven day riot
Hindus became convinced that a group of Pathans-Moham-medans of Afghan extraction-had kidnapped two or three Hindu babes and were going to sacrifice them to Allah
about religious tension
150 million people gathered around a place of worship and burned it down

12/1 Class

Today we continued to watch Slumdog Millionaire. It is about this young man who goes on the show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? and gets farther along in the game then most lawyer and doctors. That is so mind boggling because this man grew up in the slums of India and he had very little education. The producers of the show think that he is cheating because they think that just because a man who grew up in the slums cannot know all the answers. Therefore, they report him to the police who punish him to confess that he was cheating, which he was not. As the movie goes on it shows how he knows the answer to all of the questions.

Mumbai: 5 essential indian facts, Dharavi, and Bollywood

1.) Kaun Banega Crorepati is a game show that is like 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire?' and is really popular in India but has not been seen all over the world on television yet.

2.) Mumbai- 5 Essential Indian Facts:

formally known as Bombay
the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra
virtually never sleeps
biggest metropolis of India
addresses over 15 million Mumbaikars, including the well-heeled industrialists, ravishing celebrities and eminent artists

3.) Dharavi:

Asia's biggest slum in the world
home to more than 1 million people
one unending stretch of narrow dirty lanes, open sewers and cramped huts
18,000 per acre
house rents are among the highest in the world

4.) A shantytown is a slum settlement of impoverished people who live in improvised dwellings made from scrap materials. As of 2005, one billion people live in shanty towns.

5.) Amitabh Bachchan is an Indian film star in the early 1970's. Bachchan trashed the movie Slumdog Millionaire by writing on his webite: "projects India as [a] Third World dirty underbelly developing nation and causes pain and disgust among nationalists and patriots,"

6.) Bollywood:

Hindi language film industry based in Mumbai
incorrectly used towards the whole Indian cinema
largest film producers in India

7.) In American dollars, 250,000 rupees is 45.909 dollars.

Sites Used:

10 Questions About India

India's population is 1.21 billion. ----- CIA Factbook
The total fertility rate in India is 2.65 children born/woman. -----CIA Factbook
The percentage of the Indian population lives below the poverty line is 25%. ----CIA Factbook
Two terrorist attacks on India: a) Mumbai terrorists attacks from Pakistan to India b) Ten Pakistan-based terrorists attacked a busy train station, two five-star hotels, Nariman House and other places in Mumbai on Nov. 26, 2008 ------ New York Times
India's rank in the world by poverty is 119th out of 169 countries. -----New York Times
Monsoon's in India: The Ukai Dam has a water permit level of 350 and once it gets past that the engineers open the gates to let the water flood upstream to the city and in August it killed at least 120 people and more than 4000 animals ----- New York Times
Some of the problems India has getting clean water to people are lacking basic sewage and water disposal. ----New York Times
The literacy rate is 61%. ------CIA Factbook
Major religions in India are Hindu (80.5%), Muslim (13.4%), Christian (2.3%), Sikh (1.9%), unspecified(0.1%). -----CIA Factbook
India achieved their independence on August 15, 1947 from the UK. -------CIA Factbook

11/23 Class: China and India

China has 1.35 billion people
India has 1.21 billion
40% (every two in five people) live in these two contries
Each of their population is bigger than Africa, Europe, and the entire western hemisphere!
China's life expectancy is 73 years
India's life expectancy is 64 years
China has more people moving into urban areas
India is staying rural
They are getting illegal immigrants and dont want them

11/19 Class

We presented our coffee presentation to the small groups. We will finish presenting to the other groups in the next class.

Part 1 Coffee work link is here.

Part 2 Coffee Presentation link is here

11/18 Class

No class today. Freshman Retreat.