Notes from day one, The Lost Boys Sudan

Frist Art Opening - The Lost Boys Sudan
Originally uploaded by St. Bartholomew's Church, Nashville, TN

Save Darfur!

The bloody civil war in the region of Darfur, Sudan, is of passionate interest to your generation. TV, radio and sites such as myspace and facebook invite the young to contribute energy and money to stopping the mass muder in Darfur.

The Lost Boys of Sudan were made orphans by a similar conflict in the 1980's. Darfur is a more recent problem. The Lost Boys lived in the south opf Sudan, close by the Nile. Darfur is in the Northwest.

The issue? The Arabic-African government believes that a genocidal action against the tribesmen will improve the nation.
Solution? There is no easy solution.

terms:
- genocide
- ethnocentrism
- refugees
- acculturation
- subsidy
- POV (point of view)
- pseudonym

In today's footage . . .
- respect for the US.
- Christianity among the Dinka tribe.
- ironing and clean clothes important to these refugees.
- soccer, basketball, dance and singing.
- mud huts, no conveniences (ironing with coals in a metal antique).
- fuf-fu, flat bread.
- acculturation in Houston.
- factory work.

Tomorrow:
Santino gets a car and begins to drive. Will he pass the test to get a driver's license?

- Make a graphic of the journey of Peter and Santino.

Lost boys of Sudan is a movie that will reference Africa, the US, ethnocentrism and humanitarianism

Mario...one of the lost boys of Sudan
Originally uploaded by .johanna.

Lost Boys of Sudan is the name given by aid organizations to refer to the more than 27,000 boys, says wikipedia, who were displaced and/or orphaned during the Second Sudanese Civil War (1983-2003, about 2 million killed).[1] This name was also used by the International Rescue Committee program which resettled some of these refugees from Sudan to the United States

In 2001, about 3800 Lost Boys arrived in the United States, where they are now scattered in about 38 cities, averaging about 100 per city.[1] Halted after 9/11 for security reasons, the program restarted in 2004, but peace talks were underway in Sudan, and so other refugee crises in other countries took priority.[1] As of 2006, the largest population of Sudanese refugees in the United States is in Omaha, Nebraska which hosts about 7,000 people[2].

Most of the boys were orphaned or separated from their families when government troops systematically attacked villages in southern Sudan killing many of the inhabitants, most of whom were civilians.[1] The younger boys survived in large numbers because they were away tending herds or were able to escape into the nearby jungles.[1] Orphaned and with no support, they would make epic journeys lasting years across the borders to international relief camps in Ethiopia and Kenya evading thirst, starvation, wild animals, insects, disease, and one of the most bloody wars of the 20th century.[1] Examiners say they are the most badly war-traumatized children ever examined.[1]

When villages were attacked, girls were raped, killed, taken as slaves to the north, or became servants or adopted children for other Sudanese families. As a result, relatively few girls made it to the refugee camps.[1]

Please see the background to the Lost Boys of Sudan documentary. Students will be tested on the notes to be taken from the award-winning 87-minute movie.

Lost Boys of Sudan will be rebroadcast nationally on PBSWorld Sunday, April 6th, at 10pm and Monday, April 7th, at 9am, 3pm and 2am. The film was originally broadcast on PBS/POV series in September of 2004.

Learning to learn

I Had a Guinea Golden
Originally uploaded by Renée Wirick

Mult-choice, open notes and hand-sketched map tests on Thurs:

Are you learning to learn? How to make the system work for you?
Learning ...
- to read and print out the web site notes on a rgular basis rather than the last minute?
- how to analyze a mult-choice question? How to seek the answer in the text or atlas?
- how to write an effective comparison essay as indie work? How to turn your score into an A by bonus work?

This week's project of writing test questions based on Africa Unit notes was part of teaching you how to learn.


Current indie work:

- 2-minute documentary of basic life in this town.
Ex: watching the sushi chef make a fresh batch of sushi.
Ex: watching a competent musician rehearse.
Students who made a walk-around-the-neighborhood goofy video for laughs is a good idea. Get it out of your system by doing one that you can show to your friends. But please don't bring it to me. If you're wondering what kind of video to make, email me your idea and I'll give you options and guidelines.

- comparison essay on movies about Africa. You may use movies that are familiar, such as Lion King, but you will not get points for writing the first thing that comes to mind. Points are earned by using sources such imdb.com, rottentomatoes.com, wikipedia.org.
- comparing the fabric types and designs of textiles in Africa and in Asia.

- visual essay - powerpoint or photostory or video - on African musical instruments or on African fabrics.

Djembe Fola says hello to geography class from Conakry, Guniea

Konden
Originally uploaded by Djembefola

The Djembe is a drum of the Mande people from West Africa, says the site djembefola.com:

Literally translated a djembefola is 'one who gives the djembe voice'. It is the traditional Malinke name for a djembe player.

We aim to connect the international djembefola community and be your Djembe and West African percussion resource on the internet.

Through this site we hope to help connect djembe players around the world, facilitating learning from each other and to help those eager to learn but have no access to teachers.

http://www.djembefola.com/

Blue Wildebeest in the veldt or savannah

Blue Wildebeest
Originally uploaded by Mark Turner

Wildebeest have been in East Africa for a million years, says National Geographic.

Since men were hunter-gatherers, which is quite primitive. Pre-farming.
Men did the tracking and hunting and tracking.
Women had the arduous task of digging roots every day and gathering berries and bark and boiling it all into a supper.

People ofter carry heavy loads by using a tumpline. Wikipedia says,
A tumpline is a strap attached at both ends to a backpack or other luggage and used to carry the object by placing the strap over the top of the head. This utilizes the spine rather than the shoulders as standard backpack straps do.

Tumplines should not be worn over the forehead, but rather the top of the head just back from the hairline, pulling straight down in alignment with the spine. The person then leans forward, allowing the back to help support the load.

Students in Georgetown against the use of coltan from the Congo

#5
Originally uploaded by nobloodforcoltan

The continent of Africa contains a world of minerals and plant resources that may be of enormous value in the future. An example is the mineral called coltan, which is needed in the making of mini-batteries.

Sadly, the value of diamonds and some minerals can distort economies and lead to horrendous situations, as in conflict diamonds.


"No Blood for Coltan" is a campaign to raise awareness of the role of coltan in fueling one of the most devastating human catastrophes since World War II. The war over coltan is estimated to be responsible for the deaths of four million people in the Democratic Republic of Congo since 1998.

Please check out our facebook page for more information about the campaign:
georgetown.facebook.com/group.php?gid=8467734022&ref=mf

Africa review test on Thurs; sketch map quiz, too

Worldcup Fever
Originally uploaded by *Dario*

Mon, Mar 17

In class activity:
Africa Quiz for parents or peers . . .

1. Write 5 multiple choice questions solo.
2. Write 5 mult-choice questions w classmates.
3. Legibility!

- 5 pts, or 6 pts if someone takes the quiz and signs for having participated.

Thurs
a) map of the continent of Africa. 12 items. spelling. borders.
b) Open notes, website-based test.

Simple documentary: watching Hu the sushi maker at Brookshire's

students inspired by Kente Cloth
Originally uploaded by trudeau

Please see the Finding Fresh Sushi in Shreveport documentary at Vimeo.com. It's a bit long at over 3 mins; my mistake.

Sustainability vs consumerism: a video called The Story of Stuff

The Story of Stuff
Originally uploaded by drinksmachine

The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns, with a special focus on the United States, says one observer.

All the stuff in our lives, beginning from the extraction of the resources to make it, through its production, sale, use and disposal, affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view.

The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues and calls for all of us to create a more sustainable and just world. It'll teach you something. It'll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.

From your teacher: While The Story of Stuff uses most of the forms of propaganda that can be imagined and does not offer internal documentation, I think it nonetheless offers a valuable point of view. American students are expected to grow and to observe many points of view. This analysis of life on the planet today may provoke you to valuable considerations of how our system of business, government and lifestyle might morph.

See it here.

Notes on African music

Notes on African music
Originally uploaded by trudeau

Key words describing the African aesthetic in music:

1. djembe, goblet-shaped drum.
2. dun-dun or tama or talking drum.
3. mbira, sansa, kalimba: thumb piano.
4. shekere, the gourd shaker with net skirt.
5. gong-gong, the double bells.
6. kora, the gourd-bodied harp-like instrument of the griot, or bard.
7. nyere, one of the African flutes.
8. marimba, balofon: the wooden, gourd-resonated xylophone.


Babatunde Olatunji, the Nigerian master drummer who came to NYC in the 60's to teach musicians the intricacies of African drumming.

Blood Diamonds finance murderous conflict

Charles Taylor Blood Diamonds Faces Trial
Originally uploaded by GilbertZ

The term conflict diamond, or blood diamond as others call it, became quite well-known to the average person in 2002 when the James Bond movie "Die Another Day" was released. This contribution to the legendary James Bond saga revolved around the idea of smuggling conflict diamonds, says http://www.stopblooddiamonds.org/.

So what is a conflict diamond? The UN formally defines a conflict diamond as a "diamond that originates from areas controlled by forces or factions opposed to legitimate and internationally recognized governments, and are used to fund military action in opposition to those governments, or in contravention of the decisions of the Security Council."

In short, a conflict diamond is any diamond that is mined from an area in which there is war, or armed conflict. The idea is that diamonds are very much in demand and that they fetch such a high price in almost any market. If you mine diamonds and sell them to other countries - of which there is definitely no shortage - you can get a large amount of money for them. Where does the profit from these sales go?

You guessed it - to finance wars and other forms of armed conflict in the affected areas.

Squeeze the drum while you beat it: the drum talks!

Habib Koité & Bamada
Originally uploaded by el*bandido

The talking drum is a West African drum whose pitch can be regulated to the extent that it is said the drum "talks". The player puts the drum under one shoulder and beats the instrument with a stick.

A talking drum player raises or lowers the pitch by squeezing or releasing the drum's strings with the upper arm. This can produce highly informative sounds to convey complicated messages. The ability to change the drum's pitch is analogous to the language tonality of some African languages.

Talking drums are one of the oldest instruments used by West African griots (storyteller / historians) and their history can be traced back to ancient Ghana Empire. The Hausa people, and by influence, the Yoruba people of south western Nigeria and Benin and the Dagomba of northern Ghana, have developed a highly sophisticated genre of griot music centering on the talking drum.

Among the Wolof people of Senegal, the talking drum (known as a tama) is an hour-glass shaped drum with two heads (goat, lizard (iguana), or fish skin) tuned by straps that connect the heads with each other.

A proverb associated with the drum: "Even if you dress up finely, love is the only thing."

The Djembe of West Africa energizes dancers and drum circles across the globe

Famoudou Konate and Seckou
Originally uploaded by Djembefola

A djembe, also known as djimbe, jenbe, jembe, yembe, or sanbanyi in Susu; is a skin covered hand drum, shaped like a large goblet, and meant to be played with bare hands. According to the Bamana people in Mali, the name of the djembe comes directly from the saying "Anke dje, anke be" which literally translates to "everyone gather together", says wikipedia.

The French were instrumental in studying and describing African drumming to the world. However, colonization by the French is a sore spot for many West African people, and spelling jembe with the "d" can be a painful reminder of that. Since independence (1958-1960) African governments have been working toward indigenous ways of spelling their local languages in accordance with international standards of phonetic transcription.

It is played in ensemble with the "dunun" drum (dununba, sangban, kenkeni), bells, with individuals playing different parts that lace together intricately to weave a delicate rhythmic tapestry. Dancers are accompanied by djembe and dunun drummers, including a lead djembe player, or soloist, who will play rhythms which align with the dancer's movements as they make them, and whose playing will signal changes in the dance steps, as well as the beginning and end of a piece.

The djembe is said to contain three spirits: the spirit of the tree, the spirit of the animal of which the drum head is made, and the spirit of the instrument maker. It is legend that the djembe and/or the tree from which it is created was a gift from a Djinn or malevolent demigod, male counterpart to the more familiar Genie. Properly crafted djembe drums are carved in one single piece from hollowed out trees called Dimba, or Devil Wood.

The Great Mosque of Djenne, one of the most famous structures on the continent of Africa

Djenné #2
Originally uploaded by foto_morgana

The Great Mosque of Djenné is the largest mud brick or adobe building in the world and is considered by many architects to be the greatest achievement of the Sudano-Sahelian architectural style, albeit with definite Islamic influences, says wikipedia.

The first mosque on the site was built in the 13th century, but the current structure dates from 1907. As well as being the centre of the community of Djenné, it is one of the most famous landmarks in Africa.

The walls of the Great Mosque are made of sun-baked mud bricks called ferey, a mud based mortar, and are coated with a mud plaster which gives the building its smooth, sculpted look. The walls are between 16 in and 24 in. thick.

Bundles of palm wood were included in the building to reduce cracking caused by frequent drastic changes in humidity and temperature and to serve as readymade scaffolding for annual repairs. The walls insulate the building from heat during the day and by nightfall have absorbed enough heat to keep the mosque warm through the night.

The prayer wall of the mosque is dominated by three large, box-like minarets jutting out from the main wall and has eighteen buttresses. Each minaret contains a spiral staircase leading to the roof, and on top of each minaret is a cone shaped spire topped with an ostrich egg.

The entire community of Djenné takes an active role in the mosque's maintenance via a unique annual festival. This includes music and food, but has the primary objective of repairing the damage inflicted on the mosque in the past year - mostly erosion caused by the annual rains and cracks caused by changes in temperature and humidity.

Men climb onto the mosque's built-in scaffolding and ladders made of palm wood and smear the plaster over the face of the mosque.

The original mosque presided over one of the most important Islamic learning centers in Africa during the Middle Ages. Thousands of students came to study the Qur'an in Djenné's madrassas.

Djenne, home of the Great Mosque, is parallell to Timbuktu in the history of West Africa

The great Djenne mosque
Originally uploaded by El Rabbit

Djenne is a small city near the River Niger in the nation of Mali. t is famous for its mud brick (adobe) architecture, most notably the Great Mosque of Djenné, originally built in 1220 and rebuilt in 1907. In the past, Djenné was a centre of trade and learning, says wikipedia.org.

Your teacher is reminded of the French city of Orleans. At only 100,000 people, it is half the size of Shreveport. But it has an enormous Gothic cathedral, the Cathédrale Sainte-Croix. Therefore it is a classic stop for people visiting France.

Djenne was once a base for the trans-Saharan trade. It rivalled Timbuktu, also a city built of mud structures.

Timbuktu is populated by Songhay, Tuareg, Fulani, and Mandé people, and is about 15 km north of the Niger River. It is also at the intersection of an east–west and a north–south Trans-Saharan trade route that crosses the Sahara. It was important historically (and still is today) as an entrepot for rock-salt.

Its geographical setting made it a natural meeting point for nearby African populations and nomadic Berber and Arab peoples from the north. Its long history as a trading outpost that linked west Africa with Berber, Arab, and Jewish traders throughout north Africa, and thereby indirectly with traders from Europe, has given it a fabled status. In the West it is a metaphor for exotic, distant lands: "from here to Timbuktu."

Timbuktu's long-lasting contribution to Islamic and world civilization is scholarship.[2] By the fourteenth century, important books were written and copied in Timbuktu, establishing the city as the centre of a significant written tradition in Africa

Key words from videos on the continent of Africa, continent of Africa

students inspired by kente cloth
Originally uploaded by trudeau

These key words just happen to fit the video review questions that follow below.

1. dhow 2. Christianity 3. Islam 4. Swahili 5. henna
6. rafiki 7. okra 8. eggplant 9. cloves 10. cinammon
11. black pepper 12. mortar & pestle 13. pilau 14. cassava
15. eating by hand; eating segregated by gender
16. minaret 17. Islam 18. Arabic 19. Zanzibari 20. night market
21. monsoon 22. India 23. patriarchy (grandfather) 24. TV "presenter" 25. tribal languages, such as Masai
26. Caddo language 27. Accra, Ghana 28. Britain
29. Gold - Gold Coast 30. Ashantih 31. charcoal

togo-pwl-roll-02-30

togo-pwl-roll-02-30
Originally uploaded by Paul-W

Fufu, also spelled foofoo, foufou, or fu fu, is a staple food of West and Central Africa. It is a thick paste or porridge usually made by boiling starchy root vegetables in water and pounding with a large mortar and pestle until the desired consistency is reached, says wikipedia.org.

In Western Africa, foofoo is usually made from yams, sometimes combined with cocoyam, plantains, or maize. In Central Africa, fufu is often made from cassava, as is the Liberian dumboy. Fufu can also be made from semolina, rice, or even instant potato flakes. Often, the dish is still made by traditional methods: pounding and beating the base substance in a mortar with a wooden spoon.

In Western and Central Africa, the more common method is to serve a mound of fufu along with a sauce made from okra, fish, tomato, etc. The diner pinches off a small ball of fufu and makes an indentation with the thumb. This reservoir is then filled with sauce, and the ball is eaten. In Ghana and Nigeria, the ball is often not chewed but swallowed whole. In fact, among the older generation, chewing fufu is a faux-pas.

Cassava, or manioc, is extensively cultivated as an annual crop in tropical and subtropical regions for its edible starchy tuberous root, a major source of carbohydrates. Indeed, cassava is the third largest source of carbohydrates for human food in the world, with Africa its largest center of production, says wikipedia.org.

Pilau: a rice porridge or stew that connects the MidEast, Africa, Europe and the US

Ham pilau and chutney
Originally uploaded by WordRidden

From about.com on Rice Pilau:

Is it pilau, perloo. perlau, plaw, pilaw, pilaf, or pilaff? The word comes from the Turkish pilaw, from the Persian pilaw, and from the Osmanli pilav, "rice porridge." Pronunciation is just as varied, as in PER-lo, PEELaf, or per-LO. According to Bill Neal, Charlestonians, no matter how they spell it, all pronounce it PER-low.

English writers spoke of the dish in the seventeenth century, and by the eighteenth century it had taken hold in Britain, especially after the empire spread through the Middle East and into India. In America, the Southern rice crops and the influence of the spice trade made the dish popular. Pilau has been a popular dish in many Southern states for 300 years, particularly South Carolina, Florida, and Louisiana.

Africa review: Zanzibar & Ghana

Originally uploaded by Nesos

Africa review
1. Name the famous type of ship sailed on the Arab-African coast. Unlike the sail on a European sailboat, the mast and boom rotate as needed.
2. Since colonial times, this religion has been the dominant religion of Tanzania and Kenya in East Africa: __.
3. Religion dominant on the Swahili coast?
4. The language of the Indian Ocean coast of Africa?
5. Dye used in decorative hand painting in India, Arabia and Africa?
6. East African word for “friend”?
7. This vegetable has green, bullet-shaped pods. It is used in both Louisiana and Africa for thickening the soup or stew. Its name in Africa is “gumbo.”
8. Name the purple vegetable that in French is called aubergine (the vegetable and the color).
9. Sharply-flavored spice harvested by the Tanzanian girl froma tree on her family land.
10. Spice gotten by cutting tree bark into strips.
11. Piper nigrum is the Latin name for this spice; in the ancient world is was a very expensive commodity.
12. Ancient bowl and pounder used in grinding spices.
13. A rice dish with spices and vegetable as prepared by the family of Zanzibar.
14. Tasteless, potato-like root vegetable of Africa.
15. Two ways in which the East African eating habits were different from those of the US.
16. The tower aside a mosque which is used to call the faithful to prayer.
17. A madrassah is a school that most students attend after they go to their regular school. It is associated with which religion?
18. In a madrassah, what is the language of the lessons ?
19. What do you call a resident of Zanzibar?
20. Sizzling food is available along the waterfront in the evening at a place called simply the __ __.
21. East Africans use the winds that accomapny the rainy season, the __, to send ships on long regional trading voyages.
22. The most distant region region of the world for trade by East African sailors: __.
23. In Zanzibar we saw a family of several generations under one roof. Was it a patriarchy or matriarchy?
24. The girl of Zanzibar has a goal in media work. What does she hope to do as an occupation?
25. What do we call the indigenous languages of Kenya?
26. What is the indigenous language of NW Louisiana?
27. The girl of Ghana lives in the capital. The name of that city?
28. For centuries the people of Ghana were ruled by Europeans from the nation of __.
29. Europeans gave this part of the coast of West Africa a name indicating a valuable commodity: the __ Coast.
30. The dominant tribe of Ghana?
31. Cooking on an outdoor stove in Ghana is done sometimes by propane and sometimes a more ancient fuel: __.

Snow Day in Shreveport - in March

Sanmi Adegboyega, Yusheng Qin, Shreveport
Originally uploaded by trudeau

Hmm. Here's our wee snow video.