CH. 13 FIELD WORK

An emigrant that I interviewed was my stepdad, Brian. Brian migrated from Africa and moved to the United States when he was about 10 years old. The reason that he moved from Africa to the United States was that his mother and father had better living and working opportunities. He said that in Africa there weren’t as many working opportunities as there are in the United States because everyone in the village wanted to work so they could provide for their family. Also, the amount of money they were getting in Africa for working and the amount they would get in the United States differs by a lot.

There were many pushes and pull factors that contributed to Brian and his family moving from Africa to the United States. For example, a push would be the poor wages and lack of jobs in Africa. The pull would be that the United States has higher wages and job prospects in the area. Another major push that contributed to their moving was that there were limited opportunities, a lack of services, and violence. The pulls that made the United States better were that there is a better quality of life and availability of services. And it may seem as if wherever you go violence doesn’t change, but there is more violence in Africa than there is in the United States, according to Brian.

Brian has stated that there were 4 main barriers to migrating from Africa to the United States. One of the barriers was cultural differences. This was the biggest barrier that Brian and his family faced because they have different ways of living and going about themselves. For example, Africans may wash their clothes in a sink and hang them up because they may not be used to having a washer and dryer in their homeland. Another barrier that Brian and his family faced was housing transaction costs. The amount of money in Africa and the amount of money in the United States are two different prices. For example, 10 US dollars are about $170 in South Africa, according to Brian’s mother. As I wrapped up my interview with Brian and his family, they couldn’t remember much about migrating because it was a while back, but the information that I have received makes me wonder what other challenges immigrants or emigrants faced.

CH. 10 FIELD WORK

This article is a great representation of Marx’s theory of social class because it shows power imbalance. Marx’s theory mainly focuses on power imbalance and factory workers and how they are treated. In the article, they state “This is not a success story, however. If anything, it illustrates the injustice baked into the global health structure. The deal comes too late in the pandemic, falls short on a number of counts, and will have a limited impact on bringing about an end to the world’s coronavirus nightmare. What has been passed has little resemblance to what was proposed.” This quote is the sole purpose of the article and shows how there is power imbalance within the different social classes and economic classes, especially during the pandemic.

This article represents Weber’s theory of social class because it explains how social class affects covid-related layoffs worldwide. In Weber’s theory, he is mainly focused on politics, class inequalities, class struggles, and the distribution of power. Before the pandemic, there was social class inequality, but now that we are living through a pandemic there is even more equality around the world. After reading the article, it is clear that workers with lower income and education are getting laid off more than others with more income and more education.

Bourdieu’s theory of social class is about education inequality and what's a better way to show education inequality than to show the education gap between blacks and whites. In the article, the author states, “Our analysis reveals a stark divide in the social origins of Black and white children coming of age at the beginning of the 21st century – and the toll this divide takes on educational inequality.” This quote represents that there is a gap between the black and white communities and there is education inequality somewhere along the line. Also, there are far more gaps in other races as well as black and whites.

CH. 9 FIELD WORK

After writing down all of the connections of just a small portion of my family, I have noticed that my family differs from others. Although I have aunts and uncles, it is clear that I have more aunts than uncles and more girl cousins than boy cousins. When I am at family gatherings, I haven’t noticed the lack of men or boys in the family. With the realization that there are more girls than boys in the family, I have decided that it doesn’t really matter how much of one gender we do or don’t have because, in the end, we are family, and family sticks together.

CH. 6 FIELDWORK

My ethnicity is African American and Indian. On my father's side of the family, I am all the way African American, but on my mother's side, I am African American and Indian. I do not know much about what percentage of Indian I am, but I know that my great-grandmother has Indian in her from either her mother or her father. We didn’t know much about our ethnicity coming down from person to person because we were so young and we were not old enough to ask my great-grandmother these questions. I have tried to ask my grandmother and my mother, but they do not know much about it either because my great-grandmother got sick and that’s all they were worried about before she passed. I believe that my family has lived in this country forever because up to my grandmother's knowledge, she has stated that we lived here for thousands of years and that seems like forever to me. I am unsure about where my family necessarily “came from” because we were all born in the United States. Regarding American nationalism, I think my family and I stand at a 50/50 line with it because we show support for America, but we don’t go over the top with it because we might not agree with everything that is going on in America. None of my family members have migrated from another country, according to my grandmother. 

This is a picture of my mother and father. I don’t have much to say about my dad's side of the family because he doesn’t know much since he wasn’t around a lot.

This is a photo of my grandmother and her grandkids. She is the person that I interviewed for the field work, but she also doesn’t know very much about our ethnicity.

CH. 5 FIELD WORK

Racism is discrimination against one or multiple races. Racism can be shown by a person's actions or choice of words. This picture displays racism because the sign is telling blacks to go to one side and whites to go to another. Whoever made this sign wants black and whites to be separated because the two “races” are not equal.

White privilege is the multitude of social and economic benefits that white people enjoy because of their race in a society that is characterized by racial inequality. White privilege is shown more and more every day, especially during everyday tasks. This picture shows how a white man is given a job, but the black man isn’t even though they both have a criminal record. Most jobs won’t hire you because of a criminal record, but in this case, a man on the left is more likely to get the job because he is white.

Hypodescent, also known as the one drop rule is the designation or classification of a biracial or multiracial person as belonging to the lowest-ranking racial group in terms of social status. The one-drop rule can be used if you are black and white, black and Asian, white and Mexican, etc. This picture shows that once you are mixed with a different race, you are not classified as one anymore. As the chain gets longer and longer, you can see that the white figure disappears.

Microaggression is the everyday verbal, nonverbal, and environmental slights, snubs, or insults—whether intentional or not. Unintentionally communicate with target individuals in a hostile, derogatory, or hostile manner based only on their race or culture. In the picture above, they are asking if the woman in the middle speaks English because she is part of Asian culture. Also, they are asking the man on the right if he can get an American doctor because he looks to be of Hispanic origin.

Intersectionality is a way of understanding how different types of bias and discrimination might affect a person, a group of people, or a social issue. The concept of intersectionality reveals several advantages and disadvantages such as gender,  race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, etc. Intersectionality is shown in the picture above because all of these things can determine why someone is being discriminated against, no matter how big or small it is.

Miscegenation is the union or settlement of people from different races. In the picture above the woman and the man are of different races and the child is a mix of those races. Miscegenation is something that some people don't like, but it happens anyway.

CH.1 FIELDWORK

What is the history of the item?

The ancient Maya and even earlier Olmecs of southern Mexico are the first people to be known to have used cacao tree beans to make chocolate. Though the word "chocolate" may conjure images of sinfully rich truffles and delicious candy bars, contemporary confections bear little resemblance to the chocolate of olden times. The majority of its history saw chocolate as a bitter beverage rather than a sweet, rich treat. But after becoming popular in the streets of colonial America and the European courts, chocolate swiftly became the universally adored product it is today. (https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-americas/history-of-chocolate)

Where was your item made or manufactured?

Chocolate was made in southern Mexico. Now chocolate is made everywhere. The top four producers of chocolate are Poland, Germany, Belgium, and Italy. Belgium is one of the top producers and a lot of the chocolate is still made by hand there.

What impact does the item have on your life?

The impact that chocolate has on my life is really small. I use chocolate as something to eat when I am craving something sweet. However, chocolate can have a different impact on other people's lives. For example, researchers have found that dark chocolate can increase heart health, balance the immune system, combat diabetes, improve brain function, boost athletic performance, and reduce stress. This information surprised me because I did not know that chocolate can help out in someone’s everyday life. (https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/the-benefits-of-having-a-healthy-relationship-with-chocolate) 

Who are the people directly involved with making or manufacturing this item? What is life like for them?

The people directly involved with making chocolate are people who live in Ghana and Ivory Coast. In Ghana and the Ivory Coast, over two-thirds of the world's supply of cocoa is produced. On Christmas Eve, nearly all of the chocolate treats hidden in stockings by the tree will likely include cocoa from one of those countries. A farmer in Ghana named Asantewaa said that she thought farming cocoa was going to make her rich, but it turns out that she is not. Like the vast majority of the 2 million cocoa farmers in West Africa, she endures extreme poverty. She has a small forest area from which she only harvests four 140-pound bags of cocoa beans a year. Based on the prices from the previous year, she would have received close to $400 for that. The mud huts in the hamlet of Wawase in southern Ghana are without power and running water. (https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2019-12-17/africa-big-chocolate)

Time-space compression is a situation where, as a result of improvements in transportation and communication technologies, places appear to be more connected and closer to one another. An airplane in this instance is a great example of time-space compression because an airplane can get items or people from one place to another in a matter of hours or days rather than weeks or months.

Uneven development occurs when different regions develop at unequal rates. In the picture above, you can see that on one side of the highway there are nice buildings that have a great view of the water. On the other side of the highway, there is a village of some sort that has many buildings, but they aren’t the same quality as the buildings on the other side of the road. While one side is being developed nicely, the other side is not.