Humanities III (FINAL EXAM: Post-Modernism, Russian Influence & Architecture) ***CORRECT COPY
What is the socio-political significance of the China's decade between 1966 and 1976? (Review: East vs. West)
"Cultural Revolution," Mao's 10-year political and ideological campaign aimed at reviving revolutionary spirit, but produces massive social, economic and political upheaval instead. There is no western-style "bourgeois" music; no traditional Chinese music either..
What does the name "Mahatma Ghandi" mean? (Review: East vs. West)
"Great Soul."
Define "dichotomy."
"Splitting into two," ideas that are opposite of each other. One can only be understood in relation to the other (i.e. wet and dry).
Philip Glass (postmodern composer)
- known for his film scores in Hollywood films such as "The Illusionist" and "The Hours" - rejected the atonality and harsh/sharp tones of modern music - mainly involves the synthesizer
Stromae (Belgian musician)
- likes American style, Jacques Brel and Cuban salsa. - He calls attention to societal issues - Samples Bizet's "Habanera" in his modern version which critiques social media culture.
Max Richter (postmodern composer)
- post-minimalist - recomposed Vivaldi's "Four Seasons"
Identify 5 signifcant post-structuralists who thoroughly impacted the movement through their published writing. ***IMPORTANT!
1. Amy Tan ("Joy Luck Club") 2. Alice Walker (African-American cultural issues) 3. Toni Morrison (African-American cultural issues) 4. Milan Kundera ("The Unbearable Lightness of Being") 5. Azar Nafisi ("Reading Lolita in Tehran")
List some examples of "homegrown terrorism." (Review: Terrorism)
1. Boston Marathon (2012) 2. Time Square Bombing (2010) 3. Shooting at Pulse Night Club (2016)
Identify 3 famous authors who are known to contribute their writing to "Magic Realism." ***IMPORTANT!
1. Gabriel Garcia Marquez (100 Years of Solitude) 2. Amy Tan (Joy Luck Club), 3. Salman Rushdie (Midnight's Children, The Satanic Verses)
Who is "La Fouine?"
A Moroccan Rapper who specializes in hip-hop to spread his beliefs and share messages of unity with other people.
How many people died in the 9/11 terrorist attacks? (Review: Terrorism)
A total of 2,996 people were killed in the 9/11 attacks, including the 19 terrorist hijackers aboard the four airplanes.
Define "Holy War." (Review: Terrorism)
A war fought for a religious cause- sanctioned by a religious leader or community.
Who was "Dunya Mikhail?"
An Iraqi-American poet based in the U.S., she famously polished her poem "The Iraqi Nights," later translated by Kareem Abu-Zeid.
Define "anarchist terrorism." (Review: Terrorism)
Anarchism is a political philosophy that advocates self-governed societies based on voluntary institutions. These are often described as stateless societies, although several authors have defined them more specifically as institutions based on non-hierarchical or free associations. Anarchism holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary and harmful. Irish Can na Gael leader explains that the "Irish cause requires Skirmishers. It requires a little band of heroes who will initiate and keep up without intermission a guerrilla warfare." (Bruce Hoffman, Inside Terrorism) Note that the IRA laid down its arms shortly after the 9/ 11 attack on the US.•The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is rife with terror. Groups
Who originally coined the term "subaltern?"
Antonio Gramsci!
Identify the speaker: "There will never be a really free and enlightened State until the State comes to recognize the individual as a higher and independent power, from which all its own power and authority are derived, and treats him accordingly." (Review: East vs. West)
Henry David Thoreau! (American "Civil Disobediance")
How does "historiography" connect with the term "subaltern?"
Historiography - the writing of history -must be redone to counter the erasure, silencing, and domination perpetrated by the ruling elite over the subaltern.
"The View" [I am Its Secret] 1993, by Shirin Neshat (Iranian b. 1957) "The texts are amalgams of poems and prose works mostly by contemporary women writers in Iran. These writings embody sometimes diametrically opposing political and ideological views, from the entirely secular to fanatic Islamic slogans of martyrdom and self-sacrifice to poetic, sensual and even sexual meditations."
Identify the name of this piece, the artist who created it and what it is supposed to represent.
What is the significant connection between Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Ghandi? (i.e. who were they connected to each other?) (Review: East vs. West)
Influenced by "The Kingdom of God is Within You" (Leo Tolstoy), both men read Tolstoy and although they practiced different religions they both saw the need for peace and living a life that did not include violence. Both the East and the West were experiencing racial turbulence and were in need of reform. Gandhi and King were apart of this reform in similar ways. They were great orators and changed the world by speaking truth and inspiring others. Both men experienced racist attacks like getting kicked out of establishments
Who was an All-India Muslim League spokesman and the first prime minister of Pakistan? (Review: East vs. West)
Muhammad Ali Jinnah
Identify the author and title of the following poem: "The Arabic language loves long sentences And long wars. It loves never-ending songs and late nights and weeping over ruins. It loves working for a long life and a long death." (Review: Terrorism)
"The Iraqi Nights," written by Dunya Mikhail and translated by Kareem Abu-Zeid.
Arnold Schoenberg (Austrian/American Composer)
- As the Nazi party began to rise his work was labeled as "degenerate" because his music was modernist and atonal. - Created the twelve-tone technique Wrote: "Friede auf Erden, Op. 13"
Pharrell Williams (American Musician)
- an American musician who both celebrates emotion and even calls for social change while employing a relatively happy beat - "Happy" - "Freedom"
Identify two famous authors who openly confront African-American cultural issues in their published works. ***IMPORTANT!
1. Alice Walker 2. Toni Morrison
Who first introduced "Beethoven's 9th Symphony" to the Japanese? (Review: East vs. West)
Also, during WWI, German prisoners held captive by Japan introduced their captors to Beethoven's 9th Symphony. Japanese orchestras began performing it, and after the devastating events ofWWII, many Japanese orchestras began performing it at the end of the year, hoping to bring in enough audience members to help fund reconstruction efforts. Since then, it has become a Japanese tradition to perform Beethoven's 9th symphony at the end of the year.
How many casualties occurred at the Pentagon and on the terrorist planes? (Review: Terrorism)
At the Pentagon, 189 people were killed, including 64 on American Airlines Flight 77, the airliner that struck the building. On Flight 93, 44 people died when the plane crash-landed in Pennsylvania.
How many casualties occurred at the World Trade Center on 9/11? (Review: Terrorism)
At the World Trade Center, 2,763 died after the two planes slammed into the twin towers. That figure includes 343 firefighters and paramedics, 23 New York City police officers and 37 Port Authority police officers who were struggling to complete an evacuation of the buildings and save the office workers trapped on higher floors.
Who wrote the post-structuralist work "Reading Lolita in Tehran?"
Azar Nafisi!
What governmental change consolidated in China in 1925? (Review: East vs. West)
Chinese politician and leader Chiang Kai-shek breaks with the Communists and confirms the governing Kuomintang as a nationalist party.
Who was "Leo Tolstoy?"
Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy, usually referred to in English as Leo Tolstoy, was a Russian writer who is regarded as one of the greatest authors of all time. He received multiple nominations for Nobel Prize in Literature every year from 1902 to 1906, and nominations for Nobel Peace Prize in 1901, 1902 and 1910, and his miss of the prize is a major Nobel prize controversy. In the 1870s Tolstoy experienced a profound moral crisis, followed by what he regarded as an equally profound spiritual awakening, as outlined in his non-fiction work A Confession (1882). His literal interpretation of the ethical teachings of Jesus, centering on the Sermon on the Mount, caused him to become a fervent Christian anarchist and pacifist. Tolstoy's ideas on nonviolent resistance, expressed in such works as The Kingdom of God Is Within You (1894), were to have a profound impact on such pivotal 20th-century figures as Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. Tolstoy also became a dedicated advocate of "Georgism," the economic philosophy of Henry George, which he incorporated into his writing, particularly Resurrection (1899).
Explain the significance of "homegrown terrorism." How does it happen? Who causes it? (Review: Terrorism)
Definition: "a terrorist uses unlawful violence and intimidation, especially against civilians. In pursuit of their political aims." Radicalized, extremist, domestic terrorism is the term used to classify those individuals who attempt to perform terror attacks within the U.S. borders. There is actually no institutional statue against homegrown terrorism. For many years, the U.S. has focused on outside terrorist but there has been a shift. Home grown terrorism has been at its highest. Since 2001, about 300 violent attacks happen per year: Boston Marathon bombing: 2013, Time Square bombing: 2010, Shooting at Pulse Night Club: 2016.
What famous author spoke these words in their written and published work? "Orientalism is ... a distribution of geopolitical awareness into aesthetic, scholarly, economic, sociological, historical, and philological texts; it is an elaboration not only of a basic geographical distinction (the world is made up of two unequal halves, Orient and Occident) but also of a whole series of "interests" which, by such means as scholarly discovery, philological reconstruction, psychological analysis, landscape and sociological description, it not only creates but also maintains; it is, rather than expresses, a certain will or intention to understand, in some cases to control, manipulate, even to incorporate, what is a manifestly different (or alternative and novel) world; it is, above all, a discourse that is by no means in direct, corresponding relationship with political power in the raw, but rather is produced and exists in an uneven exchange with various kinds of power, shaped to a degree by the exchange with power political (as with a colonial or imperial establishment), power intellectual (as with reigning sciences like comparative linguistics or anatomy, or any of the modern policy sciences), power cultural (as with orthodoxies and canons of taste, texts, values), power moral (as with ideas about what "we" do and what "they" cannot do or understand as "we" do)."
Edward Said!
Who wrote the famed book "Orientalism" in 1978?
Edward Said!
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (Russian Composer, Pianist and Conductor)
Famous from three ballets: Ballets-Russes: 1. "The Firebird" 2. "Petrushka" 3. "The Rite of Spring"
What did Dunya Mikjail's poem "The Iraqi Nights" convey to its audience? (Review: Terrorism)
Focusing on conflict within the Middle East, the English translation highlights the strife and difficulties faced on both sides: Instant messages ignite revolutions. They spark new lives waiting for a country to download, a land that's little more than a handful of dust when faced with these words: "There are no results that match your search."
Explain Martin Luther King Jr.'s personal involvement with India's peace struggle. (Review: East vs. West)
Following the success of the boycott in 1956, King contemplated traveling to India to deepen his understanding of Gandhian principles. To King, "India is the land where the techniques of nonviolent social change were developed that my people have used in Montgomery, Alabama and elsewhere throughout the American South" (Press Conference 02.10). On February 3rd, 1959, King, his wife Coretta Scott King, and his MIA colleague Lawrence Reddick, departed for a five-week tour in India. ... King told a group of reporters gathered at the airport, "To other countries I may go as a tourist, but to India I come as a pilgrim."
Who does Ghandi credit as his largest influences? (Review: East vs. West)
Gandhi's mother was deeply religious and most of his young life he observed her devotion to "Vaishvavism" and the temple. His father who was the chief minister of Porbandar and also influenced his son's beliefs. Leo Tolstoy in his "Letters to a Hindu," as well as fellow vegetarians in London.
What famous author focused their writing on the "subaltern" and post-colonial studies?
Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak ("Subaltern Studies, 1982.")
Who was "Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak?"
Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak (born 24 February 1942) is an Indian scholar, literary theorist, and feminist critic. She is a University Professor at the Columbia University and a founding member of the establishment's Institute for Comparative Literature and Society. Considered one of the most influential postcolonial intellectuals, Spivak is best known for her essay Can the Subaltern Speak? and for her translation of and introduction to Jacques Derrida's De la grammatologie. She also translated such works of Mahasweta Devi as Imaginary Maps and Breast Stories into English and with separate critical appreciation on the texts and Devi's life and writing style in general.
Who was Jaques Derrida? (Review: Philosophy)
He was an Algerian-born French philosopher best known for developing a form of semiotic analysis known as deconstruction, which he discussed in numerous texts, and developed in the context of phenomenology. He is one of the major figures associated with post-structuralism and postmodern philosophy. His work retains major academic influence throughout the English speaking world and in many other countries where "analytic philosophy" is predominant, primarily because of the analytic tendency to reduce philosophical problems to linguistic problems. Derrida's influence is prominent particularly in debates around ontology, epistemology (especially concerning social sciences), ethics, aesthetics, hermeneutics, and the philosophy of language. He also influenced architecture (in the form of deconstructionism), music, art and art criticism.
Who was "Henry David Thoreau?" (Review: East vs. West)
Henry David Thoreau was an American essayist, poet, philosopher, abolitionist, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, yogi, and historian. A leading transcendentalist, Thoreau is best known for his book Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay "Civil Disobedience" (originally published as "Resistance to Civil Government"), an argument for disobedience to an unjust state. Thoreau's books, articles, essays, journals, and poetry amount to more than 20 volumes. Among his lasting contributions are his writings on natural history and philosophy, in which he anticipated the methods and findings of ecology and environmental history, two sources of modern-day environmentalism. His literary style interweaves close observation of nature, personal experience, pointed rhetoric, symbolic meanings, and historical lore, while displaying a poetic sensibility, philosophical austerity, and Yankee attention to practical detail. He was also deeply interested in the idea of survival in the face of hostile elements, historical change, and natural decay; at the same time he advocated abandoning waste and illusion in order to discover life's true essential needs.
Who wrote "Civil Disobedience?" (Review: East vs. West)
Henry David Thoreau!
Identify the speaker: "I heartily accept the motto, 'That government is best which governs least'; and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically. Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which also I believe--'That government is best which governs not at all." (Review: East vs. West)
Henry David Thoreau! (American "Civil Disobediance")
What significance does "Beethoven's 9th Symphony" have with East Asia? (Review: East vs. West)
In 1959, the People's Republic of China celebrated its 10th anniversary. The occasion featured the Central Philharmonic Orchestra performing Beethoven's Ninth Symphony (i.e. "Ode to Joy"), with Friedrich Schiller's poem translated into Mandarin.
When and why did the "Cultural Revolution" of China end after its extensive ten-year-long period? (Review: East vs. West)
In 1977, the Central Philharmonic Orchestra successfully performed Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. The last two movements were broadcast across China, in a moment that Cai and Melvin say many Chinese people remember as confirmation that the Cultural Revolution really was over. "They wouldn't have heard foreign music played on the radio for 10 years," Melvin says.
What do post-structuralists claim regarding literature and history? (i.e. what should present readers and writers avoid?) (Review: Philosophy)
In literature and history, we don't really know how to make sense of what we read, because we only see the dichotomy. In other words, don't assume an author's biography gives you any better reading of a piece of writing than anything else.
Define "subaltern."
In post-colonial studies and in critical theory, the term subaltern designates the colonial populations who are socially, politically, and geographically outside the hierarchy of power of a colony, and of the empire's metropolitan homeland. In describing cultural hegemony as popular history, Antonio Gramsci coined the term subaltern to identify the social groups excluded and displaced from the socio-economic institutions of society in order to deny their political voices. The terms "subaltern" and "subaltern studies" entered the vocabulary of post-colonialism through the works of the Subaltern Studies Group of historians who explored the political-actor role of the men and women who constitute the mass population, rather than re-explore the political-actor roles of the social and economic elites in the history of India.
Who famously spoke the following speech: "At the stroke of the midnight hour, ... India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long supressed, finds utterance. ... Freedom and power bring responsibility. ... And so we have to labourand to work, and work hard, to give reality to our dreams. Those dreams are for India, but they are also for the world, for all the nations and peoples are too closely knit together today for any one of them to imagine that it can live apart Peace has been said to be indivisible; so is freedom, so is prosperity now, and so also is disaster in this One World that can no longer be split into isolated fragments. ... We cannot encourage communalism ..., for no nation can be great whose people are narrow in thought or in action. ... [W]e send greetings and pledge ourselves to cooperate with them in furthering peace, freedom and democracy." (Review: East vs. West)
India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru.
When and why did the Iranian Revolution take place?
Iranian Revolution occurs in 1979 between American imperialists and Iranian leftist groups, who were quoting Edward Said. Israeli-Palestinian conflict became a symbol of East-West conflict from ME POV.
How does Japan forcefully affect China between the yeas of 1931 and 1945 (i.e. before and during World War II)? (Review: East vs. West)
Japan invades and gradually occupies more and more of China.
What artist is credited with creating the ideology of "deconstructionism?" (Review: Philosophy)
Jaques Derrida!
Identify the post-structural speaker of the following passage: "Deconstruction unmasks duality, and it operates on them especially through two steps—reversing dichotomies and attempting to corrupt the dichotomies themselves. The strategy also aims to show that there are undecidables, that is, something that cannot conform to either side of a dichotomy or opposition. Undecidability returns in later period of Derrida's reflection, when it is applied to reveal paradoxes involved in notions such as gift giving or hospitality, whose conditions of possibility are at the same time their conditions of impossibility. Because of this, it is undecidable whether authentic giving or hospitality are either possible or impossible." (Review: Philosophy)
Jaques Derrida, the creator of the ideology "deconstructionism."
Who was "Jawaharlal Nehru?" (Review: East vs. West)
Jawaharlal Nehru was a freedom fighter, the first Prime Minister of India and a central figure in Indian politics before and after independence. He emerged as an eminent leader of the Indian independence movement under the tutelage of Mahatma Gandhi and served India as Prime Minister from its establishment as an independent nation in 1947 until his death in 1964. He has been described by the Amar Chitra Katha as the "architect" of India. He was also known as Pandit Nehru due to his roots with the Kashmiri Pandit community while Indian children knew him as "Chacha Nehru."
Who was India's first prime minister? (Review: East vs. West)
Jawaharlal Nehru!
How was Martin Luther King influenced by Mahatma Ghandi? (Review: East vs. West)
King was able to see the best attributes of Gandhi's teachings and apply them with a biblical background. He established a connection and a mutual respect between himself and Gandhi's family. This connection between the West and East is harder to see today, but if we look at any modern activists they all lead back to Martin Luther King Jr. and Gandhi.
What two Chinese political groups united in 1937? (Review: East vs. West)
Kuomintang and Communists nominally unite against Japanese. Civil war resumes after Japan's defeat in Second World War.
Who famously wrote "Letters to a Hindu?" (Review: East vs. West)
Leo Tolstoy!
Define "Magic Realism."
Magical realism is a style of fiction that paints a realistic view of the modern world while also adding magical elements. It is sometimes called fabulism, in reference to the conventions of fables, myths, and allegory. "Magic realism", perhaps the most common term, often refers to fiction and literature in particular, with magic or the supernatural presented in an otherwise real-world or mundane setting.
Who spoke this famous quote: "The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is an attribute of the strong." (Review: East vs. West)
Mahatma Ghandi!
Who famously compares themselves to a "Rodin statue" in their published epilogue? (Review: Nafisi)
Manna, Nafisi's student: "I also know of another "I" that has become naked on the pages of a book: in a fictional world, I have become fixed like a Rodin statue. And so I will remain as long as you keep me in your eyes, dear readers."
Who was China's communist leader between 1934 and 1935? (Review: East vs. West)
Mao Zedong emerges as Communist leader during the party's "Long March" to its new base in Shaanxi Province.
After communism takes over China in 1949, what major financial plan is put into place? (Review: East vs. West)
Mao Zedong launches the "Great Leap Forward," a five-year economic plan. It fails within two years, killing millions with starvation.
Who is credited with instigating the "Communist Victory" in China in 1949? (Review: East vs. West)
Mao Zedong proclaims the founding of the People's Republic of China. The Nationalists retreat to the island of Taiwan and set up a government there.
Who referred to India's Mahatma Ghandi's "the guiding light of our technique of nonviolent social change"? (Review: East vs. West)
Martin Luther King Jr.
Who was "Martin Luther King Jr.?"
Martin Luther King Jr. (January 15, 1929 - April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist who became the most visible spokesperson and leader in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968. Born in Atlanta, King is best known for advancing civil rights through nonviolence and civil disobedience, tactics his Christian beliefs and the nonviolent activism of Mahatma Gandhi helped inspire. King led the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott and in 1957 became the first president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). With the SCLC, he led an unsuccessful 1962 struggle against segregation in Albany, Georgia, and helped organize the nonviolent 1963 protests in Birmingham, Alabama. He also helped organize the 1963 March on Washington, where he delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. On October 14, 1964, King won the Nobel Peace Prize for combating racial inequality through nonviolent resistance. In 1965, he helped organize the Selma to Montgomery marches.
According to on literary discussion of the distinction between modernism and postmodernism in literature: "But--while postmodernism seems very much like modernism in these ways, it differs from modernism in its attitude toward a lot of these trends. Modernism, for example, tends to present a fragmented view of human subjectivity and history (think of The Wasteland, for instance, or of Woolf's To the Lighthouse), but presents that fragmentation as something tragic, something to be lamented and mourned as a loss. Many modernist works try to uphold the idea that works of art can provide the unity, coherence, and meaning which has been lost in most of modern life; art will do what other human institutions fail to do. Postmodernism, in contrast, doesn't lament the idea of fragmentation, provisionality, or incoherence, but rather celebrates that. The world is meaningless? Let's not pretend that art can make meaning then, let's just play with nonsense." Who spoke these famed words?
Mary Klages!
What two peace and civil rights activists were heavily influenced by Leo Tolstoy? (Review: East vs. West)
Matrin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Ghandi were both influenced by "The Kingdom of God is Within You," written by Leo Tolstoy.
Who was "Mahatma Ghandi?"
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was an Indian activist who was the leader of the Indian independence movement against British colonial rule. Employing nonviolent civil disobedience, Gandhi led India to independence and inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. The honorific Mahātmā (Sanskrit: "high-souled", "venerable") was applied to him first in 1914 in South Africa - is now used worldwide. In India, he was also called Bapu, a term that he preferred and is known as the "Father of the Nation." Gandhi led Indians in challenging the British-imposed salt tax with the 400 km (250 mi) Dandi Salt March in 1930, and later in calling for the British to Quit India in 1942. He was imprisoned for many years, upon many occasions, in both South Africa and India. He lived modestly in a self-sufficient residential community and wore the traditional Indian dhoti and shawl, woven with yarn hand-spun on a charkha. He ate simple vegetarian food, and also undertook long fasts as a means of both self-purification and political protest.
Who was "Muhammad Ali Jinnah?" (Review: East vs. West)
Muhammad Ali Jinnah was a lawyer, politician and the founder of Pakistan. Jinnah served as the leader of the All-India Muslim League from 1913 until Pakistan's independence on 14 August 1947, and then as Pakistan's first Governor-General until his death. He is revered in Pakistan as Quaid-i-Azam ("Great Leader") and Baba-i-Qaum, "Father of the Nation"). His birthday is considered a national holiday in Pakistan. Jinnah rose to prominence in the Indian National Congress in the first two decades of the 20th century. By 1940, Jinnah had come to believe that Muslims of the Indian subcontinent should have their own state. In that year, the Muslim League, led by Jinnah, passed the Lahore Resolution, demanding a separate nation. During the Second World War, the League gained strength while leaders of the Congress were imprisoned, and in the elections held shortly after the war, it won most of the seats reserved for Muslims. Ultimately, the Congress and the Muslim League could not reach a power-sharing formula for the subcontinent to be united as a single state, leading all parties to agree to the independence of a predominantly Hindu India, and for a Muslim-majority state of Pakistan.
Define "orientalism."
Orientalism is a term used by art historians and literary and cultural studies scholars for the imitation or depiction of aspects in the Eastern world. These depictions are usually done by writers, designers, and artists from the West. In particular, Orientalist painting, depicting more specifically "the Middle East", was one of the many specialisms of 19th-century academic art, and the literature of Western countries took a similar interest in Oriental themes. Since the publication of Edward Said's Orientalism in 1978, much academic discourse has begun to use the term "Orientalism" to refer to a general patronizing Western attitude towards Middle Eastern, Asian, and North African societies. In Said's analysis, the West essentializes these societies as static and undeveloped—thereby fabricating a view of Oriental culture that can be studied, depicted, and reproduced. Implicit in this fabrication, writes Said, is the idea that Western society is developed, rational, flexible, and superior.
Who was "Osama Bin Laden?" (Review: Terrorism)
Osama Bin Laden was a founder of the pan-Islamic militant organization al-Qaeda. He was a Saudi Arabian until 1994 (stateless thereafter), a member of the wealthy bin Laden family, and an ethnic Yemeni Kindite. One of the most highly controversial, influential figures in the 20th and 21st centuries, Bin Laden was described as a spiritual leader for al-Qaeda organization. He became one of the most symbolic figures in the Arab world following the Soviet withdrawal. Under his leadership, the al-Qaeda organization was responsible for the mass murder of 2,977 victims of the September 11 attacks in the United States and many other mass-casualty attacks worldwide. Joined the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood early, parents of every radical Sunni movement. For him, Islam was more than just a religion; it influenced every decision he made
How does post-structuralism fit within the model of post-modern thought context?
Post-structuralism fits within this framework because it levies an attack against the hegemony of western philosophy, especially that rooted in Enlightenment ideals. In leveling this attack, it operates as critical theory—that is, as a radical philosophy seeking social change.
Define "Post-structuralism." (Review: Philosophy)
Post-structuralism was either a continuation or a rejection of the intellectual project that preceded it—structuralism. Structuralism proposes that one may understand human culture by means of a structure—modeled on language (structural linguistics)—that differs from concrete reality and from abstract ideas—a "third order" that mediates between the two. Post-structuralist authors all present different critiques of structuralism, but common themes include the rejection of the self-sufficiency of structuralism and an interrogation of the binary oppositions that constitute its structures.
Identify the type of philosophy that conveys the following: "Fragmentation is part of the experience, part of the human condition ... sometimes there is no meaning or the meaning is fragmentation." (Review: Philosophy)
Post-structuralism!
What type of philosophy deems that it is "impossible to find "the truth" to society"? (Review: Philosophy)
Post-structuralism!
Define "post-modernism." (Review: Philosophy)
Postmodernism is a broad movement that developed in the mid- to late 20th century across philosophy, the arts, architecture, and criticism and that marked a departure from modernism. The term has also more generally been applied to the historical era following modernity and the tendencies of this era. (In this context, "modern" is not used in the sense of "contemporary", but merely as a name for a specific period in history.) While encompassing a wide variety of approaches, postmodernism is generally defined by an attitude of skepticism, irony, or rejection toward the meta-narratives and ideologies of modernism, often calling into question various assumptions of Enlightenment rationality. Consequently, common targets of postmodern critique include universalist notions of objective reality, morality, truth, human nature, reason, language, and social progress. Postmodern thinkers frequently call attention to the contingent or socially-conditioned nature of knowledge claims and value systems, situating them as products of particular political, historical, or cultural discourses and hierarchies. Accordingly, postmodern thought is broadly characterized by tendencies to self-referentiality, epistemological and moral relativism, pluralism, and irreverence.
Who was Shirin Neshat?
Shirin Neshat (1957 to present) is an Iranian visual artist who lives in New York City, known primarily for her work in film, video and photography. Her artwork centers on the contrasts between Islam and the West, femininity and masculinity, public life and private life, antiquity and modernity, and bridging the spaces between these subjects.
Define "state sponsored terrorism." (Review: Terrorism)
State-sponsored terrorism is government support of violent non-state actors engaged in terrorism. Going back to "La Terreur" after the French Revolution, Robespierre explains that the use of "[t]error is nothing but justice, prompt , severe and inflexible ; it is therefore an emanation of virtue." (Bruce Hoffman, Inside Terrorism, p. 3.)
TRUE or FALSE: Jaques Derrida says that "we should feel liberated from the constructions of the past. We should explore history from different points of view." (Review: Philosophy)
TRUE!
Define "Great Leap Forward." (Review: East vs. West)
The "Great Leap Forward" of the People's Republic of China (PRC) was an economic and social campaign by the Communist Party of China (CPC) from 1958 to 1962. The campaign was led by Chairman Mao Zedong and aimed to rapidly transform the country from an agrarian economy into a socialist society through rapid industrialization and collectivization. These policies led to social and economic disaster, but these failures were hidden by widespread exaggeration and deceitful reports. In short order, large resources were diverted to use on expensive new industrial operations, which, in turn, failed to produce much, and deprived the agricultural sector of urgently needed resources. An important result was a drastic decline in food output, which caused millions of deaths in the Great Chinese Famine.
Who were the "Kuomintang?" (Review: East vs. West)
The Kuomintang of China, often translated as the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party) is a major political party in the Republic of China on Taiwan, based in Taipei, that was founded in 1911, and is currently an opposition political party in the Legislative Yuan.
What Chinese issue specifically occurred between the years of 1911 and 1912? (Review: East vs. West)
The Republic: The Republic struggles to consolidate its rule amid regional warlordism and the rise of the Communist Party.
What is the overall "critique" of post-modern thought?
The critique against modernism (by those called "postmodernists") in part is based on a belief that it is impossible to find "the truth" to society. Embedded in this critique, they point to specific intellectual trends within existentialism, Marxism, Freudianism and semiotics. Most specifically, it has been argued that postmodern critiques attack Marxist economic models of class struggle and the underlying social structures that develop human societies (i.e. base / superstructure model).
How did Antonio Gramsci create the term "subaltern?"
The term goes back to Italian Marxist thinker Antonio Gramsci, imprisoned under Mussolini's fascist rule. He invented terms so that prison guards wouldn't understand and consequently wouldn't censor his work on behalf of the "subaltern" class. He writes: "The subaltern classes by definition are not unified and cannot unite until they are able to become a "State": their history, therefore, is intertwined with that of civil society, and thereby with the history of States and groups of States." In short: peasants exist and their history has just as much importance and affect on society as the history of its leaders.
Define "historiography."
The writing of history.
Read the following script: "Five years have passed since the time when the story began in a cloud-lit room where we read Mme. Bovary and had chocolate from a wine-red dish on Thursday mornings. Hardly anything has changed in the nonstop sameness of our everyday life. But somewhere else I have changed. Each morning with the rising of the routine sun as I wake up and put on my veil before the mirror to go out and become a part of what is called reality, I also know of another "I" that has become naked on the pages of a book: in a fictional world, I have become fixed like a Rodin statue. And so I will remain as long as you keep me in your eyes, dear readers." Who is speaking, and what are they trying to convey to their audience? (Review: Nafisi)
This is a transcript (epilogue) written by Manna, Nafisi's student. Manna, by saying she has "become fixed like a Rodin statue," emphasizes how the West has influenced her and how she has become transfixed into it's ways. She has bee changed by the West, and cannot go back; only forward.
Who openly spoke out against "American Disobedience?" (Review: East vs. West)
Thomas Paine! He declared: "When we survey the wretched condition of man, under the monarchical and hereditary systems of Government, dragged from his home by one power, or driven by another, and impoverished by taxes more than by enemies, it becomes evident that those systems are bad, and that a general revolution in the principle and construction of Governments is necessary."
How did Thoreau act out on his personal views and claims regarding American civil disobedience? What consequences did his actions redeem for him? (Review: East vs. West)
Thoreau had already stopped paying his taxes in protest against slavery. The local tax collector had ignored his tax evasion, but decided to act when Thoreau publicly condemned the U.S. invasion and occupation of Mexico. In July 1846, the sheriff arrested and jailed Thoreau for his tax delinquency.
How did Dr. King view the prejudice and racial discrimination struggles in American in comparison with India? (Review: East vs. West)
Throughout King's travels, he began reflecting on the similarities and differences between India and the United States. He observed that although India was rife with poverty, overpopulation, and unemployment, the country nonetheless had a low crime rate and strong spiritual quality. Moreover, the bourgeoisie—whether white, black, or brown—had similar opportunities. Upon his return from India, King compared the discrimination of India's untouchables with America's race problems, noting that India's leaders publicly endorsed integration laws. "This has not been done so largely in America," King wrote. He added, "Today no leader in India would dare to make a public endorsement of untouchability. However, in America, every day some leader endorses racial segregation."
Miles Davis
Writes score for Film Noir (Louis Malle film "Elevator to the Gallows" and "So What")
Claude Debussy (French Composer)
Wrote: "Arabesque" "Claire de Lune"
Maurice Ravel (French Composer)
Wrote: "Bolero"
John Coltrane
Wrote: "Equinox"
Erik Alfred Leslie Satie (French Composer & Pianist)
Wrote: "Gymnopedies" "Gnossienne"
Bessie Smith (Blues)
Wrote: "I Ain't Got Nobody"
Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff (Russian Composer, pianist and conductor of the late romantic period)
Wrote: "Piano Concerto No. 2"
George Gershwin
Wrote: "Rhapsody in Blue"
Dave Brubeck
Wrote: "Take Five" (written in 5th time)
Dmitri (Dmitriyevich) Shostakovich (Russian musician)
Wrote: "The Second Waltz, Op. 99" - Composed his 7th symphony during the German siege on Leningrad
Louis Armstrong
Wrote: "West End Blues" "What a Wonderful World"
