...About the Author: George Washington Williams wrote this letter to the King of Belgium. He was born to a free black family in Pennsylvania in 1849 (O’Connor 1). He served in the Union army, served as a pastor, studied law, and was a part of the Ohio legislature, to name a few things he did in his life (Andrea 309). To say the least, Williams was a man of many talents with an incredible background and was recognized by many important people. Williams’ interest of the Congo started when Chester B. Arthur introduced him to Henry Sanford, who was a friend of King Leopold of Belgium (Andrea 309). Williams traveled to the Congo, which was under the hold of Leopold, for six months while he was traveling Africa. Historical Context: This letter was written in 1890, after Williams’ six month trip to Africa. During this time period, much of Africa was being imperialized by European countries in order to gain land for crops and materials. The Belgians, under the rule of King Leopold II, occupied the Congo Basin in central Africa (Bulliet 679). The Berlin Conference in 1884 was a gathering of leaders from different European countries in order...
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...education. In Africa, one in every three children is out of school, as Kevin Watkins from Brookings writes. To put that in numbers, “61 million African children will reach adolescence lacking even the most basic literacy and numeracy skills” (Watkins 1). Sadly, although the number of kids out of school is high, the number of kids in school who cannot read or write is just as high. In a 3rd grade Sokoto class, 80% of the students...
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...BY JEFF KEITH MOLINE, ILLINOIS FEBRUARY 28, 2012 In Jeffrey Sachs article: Can Extreme Poverty Be Eliminated, he discusses how extreme world poverty affects about one-sixth of the world's 6.5 billion people, can be practically eliminated by 2025 at a cost much lower than most people realize. “Famine, death from childbirth, infectious disease and countless other hazards were the norm for most of history," Sachs writes that the application of scientific advances beginning around 1750 (Industrial Revolution) enabled most of the world to escape poverty. Yet in spite of known solutions to its causes, poverty still claims 20,000 lives daily due to lack of food, safe water, medicine or other essentials. Dramatic improvement in economic conditions in much of Asia in the past 25 years shows that ending poverty is an attainable goal, according to Sachs. If donor nations would fulfill their promise to contribute about 0.7 percent of their gross national product to the effort, Sachs thinks famine, epidemics, regional conflicts and poverty could be successfully combated. Americans overestimate the amount of U.S. foreign aid by as much as 30 times, he writes. Therefore, when they fail to see impressive results, they think aid programs have failed. In reality, official U.S. assistance to sub-Saharan Africa, one of the most entrenched poverty areas, runs about $3 to $6 per person daily, most of which does not go to improve health, nutrition, food production, or transport of needed items...
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...Transcript Courtesy of TED By Chimamanda Adichie Transcript: I'm a storyteller. And I would like to tell you a few personal stories about what I like to call "the danger of the single story." I grew up on a university campus in eastern Nigeria. My mother says that I started reading at the age of two, although I think four is probably close to the truth. So I was an early reader. And what I read were British and American children's books. I was also an early writer. And when I began to write, at about the age of seven, stories in pencil with crayon illustrations that my poor mother was obligated to read, I wrote exactly the kinds of stories I was reading. All my characters were white and blue-eyed. They played in the snow. They ate apples. (Laughter) And they talked a lot about the weather, how lovely it was that the sun had come out. (Laughter) Now, this despite the fact that I lived in Nigeria. I had never been outside Nigeria. We didn't have snow. We ate mangoes. And we never talked about the weather, because there was no need to. My characters also drank a lot of ginger beer because the characters in the British books I read drank ginger beer. Never mind that I had no idea what ginger beer was. (Laughter) And for many years afterwards, I would have a desperate desire to taste ginger beer. But that is another story. What this demonstrates, I think, is how impressionable and vulnerable we are in the face of a story, particularly as children. Because all I had read were books in which...
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...demonstrate my understanding of how the visuals communicate its messages and meanings to me. I broke the visual pieces into parts and analyzed each source of dialogue. I can offer my insight of what I believe each piece means. Context that I am looking for referring to the circumstances of the environment where a piece of communication takes place. Sometimes the author has a measure of control over context, like whether or not the topic relates to the audience that the visual is for. Other times, a topic is specifically made for an audience to encounter their own emotions. Context clues are an important source of the rhetorical situations into the visuals and can easily make or break the effectiveness of...
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...Phillis Wheatley, a slave from Gambia, was the first black poet in America to publish numerous books and poems during the late 1700s. She was not treated as a slave as much as other slaves coming from Africa because her owners, the Wheatleys, took an immense interest in her being educated, (Andrew Spacey, Owlcation.com). Writings from the Latin, Greek and the Bible helped her learn to read and write. Her poems that would make her popular were influenced by famous poets- John Milton, Thomas Gray and Alexander Pope, (Jennifer Benka, Poets.Org). After releasing various poems, getting acknowledged by George Washington, and being nationally acclaimed all over the Colonies/ England, her poem, “On Being Brought From Africa to America,” brought mixed feelings on the attitude...
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...During the course of AAA 412, there was a major focus on what is next for Africa. Many classes the chronical the journey of Africa, and discuss Africa as a war torn continent, that all major powers in the world want control over because of the vast amount of resources. However, this class talked about the advantages that Africa has, and the possibilities that are ahead for its people and its citizens. This class specifically discussed West Africa and the unique challenges that it has faced and continues to face. However, it was not all doom and gloom, it presented a picture of hope for Africa, and presented solutions to their problems. This is what I found to be most compelling over the course of the class. The idea that Africa, and specifically West Africa, possibly can move past colonialism, imperialism, war, and poverty, to...
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...When the Europeans came to America in the 18th century, they brought along people from Africa, who they believed were genetically inferior. Both wrote and made notes of events that had happened in each other’s lives. Their experiences were horrible and deplorable, and the few who had learned to write, wrote stories talking about their experiences. The stories: “The interesting narrative of the life of Olaudah Equiano” and “On being brought from Africa to America” are both great examples of of Africans who had learned to read and write and spoke of their experiences. As shown by the stories of Olaudah Equiano and Phillis Wheatley, while the Africans were believed to be genetically inferior by the white men, both Equiano and Wheatley were able to an acquire an education, and inspire change using their own stories, knowledge and experiences....
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...“Stealth Philanthrocapitalism? New World Bank 'Game' Raises Concerns,” by David I. Waddington is about a game made by the World Bank called "Urgent: Evoke." Waddington wrote about how the game is not a game but used to teach us how to become "social entrepreneurship." “Be a Gamer, Save the world” by Jane McGonigal is about how playing games can help the world. McGonigal also wrote about how gaming can improve our lives. "My research over the past decade at the University of California, Berkeley, and the Institute for the Future has shown that games consistently provide us with the four ingredients that make for a happy and meaningful life: satisfying work, real hope for success, strong social connections and the chance to become a part of something bigger than ourselves." In this quote from the essay, McGonigal argues that people who play games will have happy and meaningful lives....
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...good out of myself. I have managed to complete ESL classes, which many people doubted. I feel that through my experience of this English course, I have gained the knowledge and confidence it takes to step out into the real world. My writing strength is the ability to use rhetorical strategies in a narrative essay to develop an academic prompt, but I still need to polish on how to demonstrate the facilities like improve my tone, how to persuade my reader, and how to organize...
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...time, Zika virus disease was confined to the equatorial regions of Asia and Africa” (Virus D. a., 2016); “The Zika virus is an endemic microorganism in Africa and Asia; it is related to a group of viruses named flaviviruses and is connected to the dengue virus” (Virus T. Z., 2016) However, during the post-2005 period, Zika virus disease began to spread to other parts of the world too. The appearance in South America has been linked to an increased incidence of microcephaly (small head and brain practice) among newborns (causation has not been established yet). “Recent studies have pointed to the fact that the Zika virus has the potential to be extended to those regions of the United States, where more than 60% of the population (200 million) reside” (Virus D. a., 2016). As malaria and dengue fever are believed to Zika virus to spread by mosquitoes bite; Aedes aegypti is considered to be the culprit. This species of mosquito is the same that is involved in the spread of diseases of dengue and chikungunya. Some Ideas: * Where Zika virus is present? * What are the symptoms of the disease virus Zika? * How you can diagnose Zika? * What is the difference between the Zika, dengue and chikungunya? * About Prevention * What Steps is taking the World Health Organization? * Zika virus is present in tropical areas with high density of mosquitoes. It is known that circulating in Africa, the Americas, South Asia and the western Pacific. Zika virus was discovered...
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...Mem fox Quick facts • She was born on march 5 1946 Melbourne Australia • went to Africa when she was six • she got bullied in school • she is currently 68 years of age Early life Family Her mums name is Nancy and her dads name is Wilfred. Both her parents were missionaries. Her dad was the director of teaching training school, on hope fountain mission. Mem is the oldest out of the three children, all sisters of course. Her sister’s names are Jan and Alison. Schools When she was six she went to Africa. She went to an African school called “Mission school”. She was the only white person in her...
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...“Until the lions produce their own historians, the story of the hunt will glorify only the hunter.” Chinua Achebe, Home and Exile Literature is the expression of life in words of truth and beauty.It encompasses all genres of literature-poetry,prose,fiction,drama,philosophy,history etc.Among them,fiction is any narrative,whether in prose or verse,which is invented instead of being an account of events that actually happened. The voice of Africa in the world of letters tries to emancipate Africa from its literary stereotype.Africa is no longer a gloomy phenomenon,a dark continent.Chinua Achebe, the major exponent of the modern African novel,is greatly concerned with the two realities of social man –his individual and group identity,the legacy of colonialism, and the shift in the system of values of life leading to rampant corruption- moral and monetary. He is also concerned with the use of English as the medium of expression of African experience defining the relevance of colonial and post-colonial experience to the present .Achebe’s novels are dialectic tranformation of experience, a new way of looking at tradition to create a different order of reality through universalizing imagination.Though he has followed the established tradition of novel writing in English, Achebe has put few things ‘African’ and has successfully employed certain narrative techniques of narration to give authenticity and African flavour to his novels in order to attract the native audience and...
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...Cultural Imperialism in Africa European imperialism had a strong influence over African culture in many ways. Essentially all of Africa fell victim to the very influential and dominant European nations. The process of imperialism on these economically and militarily weak countries of Africa was obviously simple for the Europeans. In most of Africa, there were no countries, only clans and tribes, which made the imperialization much easier as well. These imperialist nations, such as Great Britain, France, Italy, and Germany, showed African nations many new ideals and tools that spread like a cultural virus. One very well-known story of this part of history is a book written by Chinua Achebe, titled Things Fall Apart. The book tells a fantastic story of a tribe in Nigeria which becomes a victim of the European imperialists. Achebe does a remarkable job of giving the reader the vivid change from the African tribe before and after the Europeans arrived. Things Fall Apart centers around a Nigerian tribe leader named Okonkwo. Known for his strength, courage, and most of all, pride, Okonkwo is looked up to by most the people in his tribe. Okonkwo doesn’t handle the European invasion as well as others due to his large sense of pride, which ultimately leads to his downfall and death. Christian missionaries were one of the main forms of imperialization used by Europeans. The two missionaries in Things Fall Apart were Mr. Brown and Mr. Smith. It is common in African communities...
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...story, news or information about something comes to us, we generally believe in this story and make respective about it in the same way. People make their perspective towards other and judge them before even they actually meet them. In this TED talk, Adichie talks about how she become a victim of a single story of others and how others were a victim of her single story. Throughout ted talk, she explained it in very well-mannered fashion by giving the examples from her personal life experiences. I choose this topic because this topic is related...
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