I really like this article because it seems almost more personal. Obviously the global effects of shipping food, such as pollution, are all many can talk about when arguing to eat locally. However I find that most people are out of sight out of mind kind of people and won't necessarily consider these risks important because they are not immediately affected. This article however makes some of the more personal, individual arguments for eating locally such as knowing what your local foods look like or how your surroundings look. Via Steph Dion 
Romney should be able to count on the votes of Latino Mormons. Many are conservative on social issues and would like to see a Mormon in the White House.
Identities are often overlapping and 'sorting' people into neat piles by one particular label is quite difficult. Take Mormons (traditional vote Republican), Latinos (traditional vote Democrat) and Latino Mormons (??). This last group represents a cultural pattern known as interlocking axes of identity--a fancy term to say that not all people in category X do Y, because identity (both on the individual level as well as the group level) is more complicated than that. 
Cinco de Mayo isn't a Mexican holiday but rather an American one created by Latinos in the West during the Civil War, a UCLA professor says in a new book.
We all know that Cinco de Mayo is more important in the United States then it is in Mexico, but it's origins as a holiday were on both sides of the border. 
David Pilgrim has spent decades collecting racist pictures, signs, and knick-knacks. Now he's sharing his collection with the world.
A culture of racism/descrimination goes far beyond the overt acts of racism; it permeates all aspects of society. This museum uncovers that to show the all-encompassing impact of racism in the Jim Crow era. To visit the museum's wesite see: http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/ Nina Jablonski says that differing skin colors are simply our bodies' adaptation to varied climates and levels of UV exposure. Charles Darwin disagreed with ...
This insightful TED video explains the biological and geographic reasons for the evolution of skin pigmentations. Nina Jablonski says that differing skin colors are simply our bodies' adaptation to varied climates and levels of UV exposure. See the TED-ED lessons for this video at: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/nina-jablonski-breaks-the-illusion-of-skin-color Another International Women's Day just behind us - the 101st - and it is hard to know whether to celebrate or give in to despair. "From London to Lahore," says Oxfam, "inequality between men and...
What do the stats say? This is a nice breakdown that highlights the global differences in gender equality. Kazuo Ueda toiled quietly in southern Japan for two decades in a quest both impressive and quixotic: compiling the world's first Yiddish-Japanese dictionary.
This is a fascinating podcast demonstrating cross-cultural interactions. Who would have ever imagined a Japanese-Yiddish dicitionary? 
African Americans and whites have starkly different views about the circumstances surrounding the shooting of Trayvon Martin, a new Washington Post-ABC News poll finds.
Opinion polls that swing widely based on race, ethnicity or religion always fascinate me. This underscores the cultural differences within the United States today (and no, we definitively do NOT live in a post-racial society). 
After a five year ban, FIFA agreed officially to allow players to wear the Muslim hijab (headscarf) during football games and all sports.
Many Islamic activists argued that FIFA was descrimating against Muslims by banning the hijab. Why change it now? Why would FIFA have made this ruling 5 years ago in the first place? Via Mr. David Burton 
"Nearly 200 years after his death, Napoleon Bonaparte is finally getting the greatest honor our age can bestow: his own theme park. Napoleonland -- stop laughing -- was concocted by a former French minister to rival Disneyland in its immersive fun and totemic cultural status. Shopping! Dining! Re-enactments of the Battle of Austerlitz! Not a bad rehabilitation for an all-conquering megalomaniacal exiled emperor." Culture and heritage are packaged in places such as theme parks as a commodity--what should we make of these spaces? What do they say about the society that creates them? What are the economic, cultural and political motives for creating such as space? Via Amarji Seth Dixon: This promotional video speaks to me because regardless of platform, I think that educational technologies should be used to foster the exact same type of learning environment that is described in this video. The Social Media Classroom isn't about "wowing" student with cool technologies. That flashiness is the educational equivalent of a twinkie. Fluffy, empty calorie that don't nourish. The ideological essence of content curation IS what good educators have always sought to do: only now there are new platforms for this process
Robin Good: Curatr, an elearning platform built upon the idea of discovery through the curation and sense-making of existing information. Curatr is about the construction of the scaffolding that allows people to learn and to find the resources that should help them best learn what they are interested into.
Via Robin Good 
"Last night, ESPN.com’s mobile web site posted an offensive headline referencing Jeremy Lin at 2:30 am ET. The headline was removed at 3:05 am ET. We are conducting a complete review of our cross-platform editorial procedures and are determining appropriate disciplinary action to ensure this does not happen again. We regret and apologize for this mistake."
This gaffe, whether intentional or not, belies the cultural 'otherness' that Asian-Americans receieve within the world of sports (and other arenas). The fact that this is such a big story (trending on twitter), THAT is the big story about the state of cultural diversity within the United States and and the power of a word. Some say it's a commmon phrase that was meant harmlessly, but considering it's probably the most offensive headline that could have been used in that situation, you have to wonder. It's that wondering that reminds us all of a more overtly racist past that isn't feeling so far in the past right now. 
The illegal and denounced practice of “baad,” the giving of girls as payment for offenses committed by their relatives, is pervasive in parts of Afghanistan, according to human rights workers.
Deeply rooted cultural traditions that clash with modern values are increasingly politically problematic. How should cultural practices such as this been changed? By pressure from people on the outside? Through efforts by those from within the society? |
How I went from hating to loving Israel and the Jewish people (RT @Lost4DrJack: Kassim Hafeez: "It was shocking and eye-opening.)...
This is proof that, while various axes of identity often overlap, that are not necessarily one and the same. Most Muslims are pro-Palestinian, but not all are (as shocking as this was for me to read). Most Arabs are Muslims, but don't tell the Christian Arabs that they are any 'less Arab' because of their Christianity. Via elsa hunziker 
Gay rights laws in America have evolved to allow — but in some cases ban — rights for gay, lesbian and transgender people on a range of issues, including marriage, hospital visitation, adoption, housing, employment and school bullying.
Not all states are the same culturally speaking, and consequently, not all states are the same politically the same as well. What cultural traits shape the various regions of the United States? Rhode Island is highlighted in this image, but follow the link to the interactive version which will allow you to select any given state. 
The Olympic hopeful Amantle Montsho, who won the 400-meter title at the world championships in August, has inspired a generation of female athletes in Botswana.
This is a great cultural look at sports, gender and economics within Botswana. 
Like a detective at a crime scene, chief language inspector Antons Kursitis scans the lobby of a hotel in downtown Riga. He spots a brochure that lists hotel services in Russian only, a flagrant violation of Latvia's language laws.
"Protecting the Latvian language — that is, safeguarding its supremacy over Russian — has been a priority here since the Soviet occupation ended two decades ago. Those efforts face their biggest test yet on Saturday, in a referendum on whether to make Russian the country's second official language." What historical, political and demographic factors shape this cultural issue of language? Why is language often seen as so crucial to cultural identity?
The Latvian voters have spoken: in a massive voter turn-out, they struck down the referendum that sought to make Russian an official language. "Latvia is the only place throughout the world where Latvian is spoken, so we have to protect it," said Martins Dzerve, 37, in Riga, Latvia's capital. "But Russian is everywhere." For more on the vote, see: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17083397 Laws in Hungary have criminalized homelessness at a time when the country is in financial crisis and poverty is on the rise.
Homelessness is the eternally "out-of-place" activity or state of being. It transgressiong middle class norms of acceptable uage of public spaces. So what should a society do about/for the homeless? 
In season five of cricket's Indian Premier League, the teams' Western-style cheerleaders are taking on a decidedly Indian look, reports Shamik Bag.
What happens when westernized cheerleading arrives in India's massively popular cricket sporting events? After a backlash against the cheerleaders, they culturally reinvented the practice and made it their own, in a fusion of global and traditional cultural practices. 
"I spent a lot of years living in Soviet Russia and wrote my first book on Queer in Russia. Back then there was a joke: 'In America, you send your gays to Camp San Francisco. Here we send our gays to Camp Siberia.'"
The tolerance/acceptance of homosexuality and sexual norms in general vary highly from place to place. 
Sanford, Florida was founded as a transportation town, with admirable public space and smart urban planning.
The distinction between public and private space (and the netherworld of publicly owned private spaces) have played important roles in the #occupywallstreet #OWS movement. Why is public space playing a role in the case and the reactions to the legal case? 
This is a beautiful photoessay of the Hajj, with excellent captions that shows many of the cultural customs that are associated with the massive pilgrimage. The tremendous influx of tourists/pilgrims into the Mecca area, there is a huge economic industry that supports and depends on the tourists. For a BBC article about the market impacts of the Hajj, see: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11777483 This amazing Hambone performance by Samuel Hicks starts out at a normal pace and then increases in tempo to a blazing finish. Shot in North Carolina back in ...
Folk cultural traits being distributed by popular culture technologies. 
Uzbekistan cancels a much-loved Valentine's Day concert in the latest move against Western culture, report the BBC's Johannes Dell and Shodiyor Eshaev.
On my Google+ page (Geography Education) or Facebook account, I posted the thought on Valentine's Day, "who doesn't love love?" Not that the Uzbek people don't love love, but the goverment officials in the 'Department for Enlightenment and Promoting Values' isn't feeling the love. He issued a decree to "not celebrate holidays that are alien to our culture." This is an active attempt to supress the diffusion of globalized cultures since, from his perspective, it would tarnish their local culture. Instead, the Uzbek government wanted to celebrate a local hero born on February 14th. Is it possible to stop the spread of popular culture today? Do you see this as a noble or disguided effort? |
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