Job Discussion Forums

[rogerwilco]

[Cardinal Synn]

[johntpartee]

Droll, Mr. Synn. Did he get the boot? I miss him, he was entertaining.

[AGoodStory]

[Sashadroogie]

[MisterButtkins]

Umm, in my opinion a Western culture class would properly begin with a discussion of Greek and Roman civilization and how these civilizations influenced subsequent 'Western' nations, and I think you would have to include a discussion of Christianity as well. Then you could mix it up a bit more, but apart from geography it's always seemed to me that Greek/Roman influence and Christianity were the main common forces which influenced the rest of 'western culture'.

[Zero]

Oh, so no Muslims live in the west? And they don't contribute? Also no African influence? Ever heard of Crispus Attucks?

[johntpartee]

This whole assignment is bogus; I personally would refuse to do it. They assigned this teacher a class based on......well, apparently the color of his skin. He has no experience with this type of teaching, no background that would qualify him to teach this course.... Weird.

[Sashadroogie]

Muslims were in Iberia for longer than Europeans were in America. Made as much of a contribution a civilisation too, some argue... Ottomans in the Balkans - gave coffee to the European world! Jewish communities did a lot too.

And let's not forget Communism - did a lot of shaping.

[Sashadroogie]

But before all that there were the Celts. Any survey course would probably have to begin with them. Yes, there were older groups, but there is not much info available - apart from a look at the Basques today.

[Sashadroogie]

[MisterButtkins]

[Sashadroogie]

Piffle, I'm afraid. That's Wikipedia for you. Messy. See the talk page. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Western_culture

Wikipedia:

Western culture began with the Greeks, was enlarged and strengthened by the Romans, reformed and modernized by the fifteenth-century Renaissance and Reformation, and globalized by successive European empires that spread the European ways of life and education between the sixteenth and twentieth centuries.

Graeco-Roman culture began with the Greeks, it's true. But to suggest that there was nothing in Europe before is simply not true. Celtic culture, to give one example, produced heroic poetry similar to the Illiad, and metal work to rival any elsewhere. Megalithic structures reveal a sophisticated understanding of the heavens and of the calender year etc. etc. Greek culture originally depended heavily on Egyptian culture and also on the settlements of the near East. Very non-European. So why exclude later contributions made by Muslims who were to live in Europe for centuries? Should we exclude the Jewish contribution too? European culture would be all the poorer for that.

By the by, most definitions of Western Culture like to exclude Eastern Europe and the nations following the Orthodox church, though they are of undoubted European origin. Some definitions even like to include Japan and South Korea. Messy.

Give the students a dose of this. As old, if not older, than Greek myths, though written down much later:

http://www.amazon.com/Tain-Thomas-Kinsella/dp/0192803735

[Beyond1984]

Were I teaching European culture, I would focus on those European countries with colonies abroad. England was paramount in this regard, with colonies extending from North America to India, Nigeria, Kenya, Burma, etc. Many of their former colonies, including the US, retain English as an official language.

The French had many African colonies now referred to as Francophone Africa.

Your course could become one in which students do some research on how the colonial powers (including Germany, until its colonies were given up according to the terms of the Treaty of Versailles) helped and hindered the natives.

-HDT

As an interesting footnote, notice how the US is colonizing Iraq and Afghanistan.

[Zero]

Another important element: Menudo.