APHumanGeography

Thank you for the great resource, Anne.  Class, notice any themes present within this info.?

Exam review: According to this population pyramid, what stage would the US be considered on the Demographic Transition Model? Why? Feel free to comment and/or post your PING PED country data using http://www.census.gov/population/international/data/idb/informationGateway.php as a resource.

These territorial conflicts are coming to be due to the fact that Islamic and Jewish Holy Lands are build right on top of each other and these two groups have to fight for control. Why can't Jerusalem just become a non governed state? Why do any of the conflicting religions need control?

I think its cool that your article, Lexi, connected to willows! This whole issue is fascinating and scary! Great article!

Eena - Why is this issue fascinating and scary to you?

The Swedes refuse Jews to become Swedes if they do not abandon their Jewish identity. How will Jews from other countries react to this resolution to decrease immigrant migration?

Wow. Interesting article. Why do you think this political party has a policy such as this? Does the US have any third parties with similar beliefs?

Areas of high religiosity, generally will not accept gay marriage which creates controversy in state governments. Why don't states legalize same sex marriage even if some people say it isn't right even when the pope himself supports the proposition? In my opinion it is an American citizen's right to be able to marry whomever he or she pleases.

If the Supreme Court ruled it legal then why are these other states still against it. Even if some states are very religious, it shouldn't be that big of a deal since, as Alec said, the pope supports it.

**Correction: The Pope does not support homosexual marriage. If he did, what sort of diffusion would that display?

To achieve peace in the Middle East, the European Union voted on a bill presented by Jordan. The bill states that Palestine should be recognized as a 'principle state'. The US and Israel both strongly oppose this bill. The conflict has escalated in the past years. This territorial conflict is occurring because two religious groups want the same sacred holy land. How is the bill going to affect Israel and Palestine in the future?

I only see two possible solutions, both flawed. Somehow, I believe that the two religious groups could find a way to coexist, allowing them both to have access to their holy sites, but this would mean accepting the fact that the other is there. This seems unlikely to happen. Another option is to not let either group have it, and that way neither could be angry that the other possesses it. This, however, is also unlikely seeing how each group strongly refuses to give up its sites. They would fight until death for access. I really don't see this conflict ending any time soon.

Interesting solutions to the conflict. Why do you think the United States government has been pro-Israel since the creation of the state in the 1940s?

Since the Communist takeover of the region in 1949, the Uyghurs, a Muslim minority in China, have gotten a lot of religious and cultural persecution by Han Chinese. Similar to convicted communists during The Red Scare, Uyghurs have been prosecuted under false circumstances for separatist activities. While this isn't necessarily a dispute over territory, it's certainly an ethnic conflict and because of these hostilities, Uyghurs have a hard time finding migrant work within China. How does this relate to other ethnic conflicts like in Russia or Palestine?

I agree with Alexander about the similarity to Native Americans. Not only is China helping these people with jobs, but they are also making them go through the training programs which includes learning Mandarin, to the point where the minorities are in fear of losing their own identities. The Native Americans were forced to go through similar programs in order to "help them".

One of the cities that we will be traveling to in China is Xian. This city has a large Muslim minority. Do ethnic groups form enclaves as a refuge?

The extremist Islamic group Taliban has attacked a Pakistani school for religious purposes. These conflicts occur because of strong religious opposition to modern government.Why would they target children of all people.

I also agree with Alec, people are racist to those who look middle eastern, just because of the horrible terrorists out there. It doesn't even matter if they are Islam, let alone extremists.

Nice thread of discussion. How are stereotypes formed?

A loss of power by the Nuer people has lead to conflict between them and the Dinka people due to a difference in ethnic and religious beliefs. Is peace possible in a place where one ethnic group rules over the other?

Emily- This is an interesting topic. When it talked about the different rivals I thought that was very interesting as well. In answer to your question. I don't think that in a place that has so many other problems along with this one that peace will a viable situation. The article shows a good example of forced migration.

This is quiet the tragedy. Merciless killing for, what appears to me, no logical reason. They did not deserve their fate, and while this is an interesting topic, it made me quiet sad to read this article. To answer the thoughtful question you asked, I believe it is possible, but only when both ethnic groups are willing to accept each other and share the area in which they live in a fair way, if they are not willing to accept each other and share, then peace is not yet attainable.

Happy Holidays, APHUG.   Do you think Santa uses GPS?

In this article, ethnic groups, such as the Maori, which are found in New Zealand, are getting paid lower wages and they are not considered equal to the other non-ethnic groups. Even though this has not escalated to a full out war (yet), what would happen if the Maori stopped putting up with being "inferior" to the other groups? Would a territorial conflict arise? I think the answers to these questions are obvious because land equals money, which equals power. So, for these Maori people to get the equality they deserve, maybe all they need is a territorial war to gain back power?

I don't think war is a good idea, it seems that if the people want equal pay, they have to do something about it. As seen in the Arab-Israeli conflict, it may not be the best idea to go to war, but perhaps the people need to do something else.

I agree with Brooke. Despite the fact that land equals money and money equals power, does a war guarantee that the minority group will gain land and thereby power to be paid the same amount? In addition, a war requires political power and money in order to gain access to resources. If the minority group has little power to begin with, how are they to obtain the resources necessary to win a war? There must be a better solution to this issue than to go to war.

This article links to religious conflicts as it shows the anger towards ISIS, an extremist sect of Islam, from other Muslims in the area and other Arabs who are atheist. Why does ISIS feel the need to have such a tight and violent grasp on the community they inhabit?

I would also ask the same question on why the extremists are so violent towards others, and another important question is why are they violent to other Muslims.

According to this article, the land reserved specifically for the indigenous people of Brazil is being threatened to be taken away from them for industrial uses. Apparently, the reserves have been a source of multiple conflicts concerning who the land should belong to. While reading this article all I could think about was how this is similar to the depleting reserves of the Native Americans in the United States.

This does not seem to be so much a conflict of religions themselves but rather the conflict of beliefs of one with the modernizing world. Perhaps, in the case of the natives of Brazil and Native Americans as you mentioned, the conflicts are needed to protect the environment and almost play devil's advocate in order to keep some of the world alive for future generations.

This article is about the Palestinian conflict we have been discussing in class, and how it seems to be turning from a racial to a religious war, changing from bad to worse. How much longer can this region go before full-out war begins? What other countries may be dragged into a possible war?

I think because of the histories of the two places and the fact that what is happening now is because of years of increasing tensions and dangerous conditions, this conflict will not be solved soon, and because of that, it will only get worse. Both groups want the territory, but one group was placed there (the Jewish people by the British) so they spread and began to dominate, claiming it as theirs.

I agree with Alex, the tension in this region is historic and recently rekindled with the insertion of Israel back into this area. The conflict there is essentially a time bomb on its final countdown and is not likely to be dismantled before it goes off. From my perspective there is no way to stop it unless one religion is removed which is even more impossible.

3 main ideas of the article: -Ultimately, Northern Ireland is a very small place, with a lot of madness, and in this sense it is also very similar to Israel. -Peace in Northern Ireland is there, but it's an unsettled peace. -Protestants, many descendants of Scottish and English settlers, see themselves in the Israelis' position - staking a righteous, ancient claim to territory in defiance of a force they view as bloodthirsty insurgents, the Irish Republican Army. This article talks about how there is still some unsettled people in all of Ireland, regarding religion. Also, during the unsettled peace, there are some incidents between Protestants and Roman Catholics, that connects to the Palestine-Israel conflict today. Will there be another religious war in Ireland?

It reminds me of the book I read, "Angela's Ashes" where the author mentions the stereotypes about Protestants that the Roman Catholics held even though these people weren't part of the conflict so long ago. The article is a reminder that history often repeats itself.

I liked how this article talked about two different conflicts and made a connection between the two. I also read Angela's Ashes, and it discussed the same religious conflict between Catholics and Protestants. Both of these issues signify the importance or meaning of territory to a religion, especially universal religions because of the hearth or birthplace. They have expanded and now try to return to the hearth which creates conflict as there are already people who have inhabited the area.

This conflict connects to territorial conflicts among religious groups because it talks about how various countries are starting to persecute Atheists and target them with hate campaigns. Why have countries started to bring up the past of Religious prosecution if it destroyed so many lives in events like The Holocaust?

This is different from the religious conflicts we discussed in class because the conflict between Palestine and Israel is mainly over the land, whereas this example of persecution is a result of the concept of atheism. In addition, Saudi Arabia, one of the countries mentioned in the article, is almost all Muslim and religious freedom is virtually nonexistent. Of course a country like this one will not tolerate atheists as other religions and freedoms are also extremely restricted.

Myanmar is a region of high ethnic conflict because there are about a dozen ethnic groups who all want more power in the government.  How would ethnic conflict in Myanmar effect religious tension?

Kara- I liked how you chose an article that dealt with ethnic conflict. In Myanmar, the ethnic groups struggling to gain power are a great example of how ethnicity effects the way people live and what their culture is like. This situation shows that ethnic conflicts are more common than people seem to notice.