Category: Social Studies

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Making Sense of the Israeli-Palestine Conflict

Both sides are in the wrong.

Last Saturday, the terrorist organization Hamas attacked Israeli citizens partying at a music festival.

The attack was brutal and barbaric as they kidnapped, raped, beat, and killed innocent people who were going about their day. Hamas shot missiles into the town and charged into the territory with military weapons and armour as they massacred at least 260 civilians.

Since that initial raid, the Israeli government, who received support from first-world leaders such as Canada’s Justin Trudeau and the U.S.’s Joe Biden, has responded with retaliation.

After hearing this news, I was unsure what to think. I didn’t know who or what to support and how. Continue reading “Making Sense of the Israeli-Palestine Conflict”

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What is Nationalism?

When the “Donald” (aka Donald Trump) was the President of the United States, he was constantly referring to himself as a nationalist and as a person who believes in American interests first.

He said he wanted to give Americans their jobs back so that America can be wealthy and strong.

He believed that America should keep out illegal immigrants, and limit immigration and the sponsoring of refugees. He also believed that kicking out illegal immigrants was one of the best things for American interests.

This, to him, is nationalism.

But is it though? Continue reading “What is Nationalism?”

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What is Ethnic Cleansing?

The term ethnic cleansing has been tossed around a lot lately. But not many people are explaining what it means. So in this article, you will find out its definition and examples of its uses.

Ethnic cleansing is just the worst, isn’t it? (hint: it is.)

This happens when, as Merriam-Webster puts it:

“The expulsion, imprisonment, or killing of an ethnic minority by a dominant majority in order to achieve ethnic homogeneity.”

In laymen’s terms, ethnic cleansing is pretty much a dominant ethnic group coming into another nation and tries to remove the original ethnic group from that land via deportation, displacement, evictions, mass killing, or whitewashing.

Additionally, the ones who “cleanse” will also turn the land they attack into their own nation. They will remove the original laws, cultures, and traditions, and replace them with their own.

They pretty much jack the land and turn the original occupants into second-class citizens. Continue reading “What is Ethnic Cleansing?”

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The Story of Victoria’s Chinatown

Victoria’s Chinatown

Are you curious about Victoria’s Chinatown? If so, read on and learn the story of one of the oldest Chinatowns in North American history.

I was initially doing some research for an article on Victoria, B.C. because I visited it many times when I was younger and wanted to learn more about it. And through my research, one fact caught my eye more than anything else –Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia!

Okay, just joking! That’s not the fascinating fact that I learned, though I didn’t know that prior to my research. The interesting tidbit is that Victoria’s Chinatown is the second oldest Chinatown in North America.

I always thought that New York’s and San Francisco’s Chinatowns were the two oldest. But nope, San Fran and Victoria are home to the two first Chinatowns in the Americas.

Intriguing right? Continue reading “The Story of Victoria’s Chinatown”

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Divide and Conquer and Racism

Divide and conquer is a sociological and political concept where one group pits other groups against each other. So, how is it being used systemically?

I recently came across this video on Instagram that talked about the attacks on Asians that’s been happening since the start of the pandemic.

In it, the host brought up how some people claim that these attacks aren’t because of white supremacy (or colonialism) because, in many of them, it was black people who committed the crime. She said that this was a lazy way of looking at the problem and that the people who claim this don’t understand the larger structure of racism.

I admit -I was initially confused by this statement. But then I started to think about it. And I remembered this theory that I learned in a sociology class called “divide and conquer.” Continue reading “Divide and Conquer and Racism”

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What is Evolutionary Psychology?

Ever wonder what evolutionary psychology is? I did so I decided to do some research. Here are my findings and thoughts on the topic.

I was watching this show called “Warrior” the other day (well, I was actually re-watching it because it’s that dope). It’s based on this story that Bruce Lee created.

Anyway, this show has a lot of martial arts and fighting in it. This is one of the reasons why I like it so much.

As an example, in the very first scene, the main character gets into a fight with two racist immigrant officials. He uses his martial arts to beat them up and as I was watching this, I felt this aggression run through me.

And this feeling happened every time I watched a fight scene in this show (which is often). In one of the last scenes of the season finale, there was this big fight scene. And as soon as I finished watching it, I just had to hit something.

So the next day, I dusted off my old punching and hung up. I went 3 rounds with it and I felt great (I felt great in that I got to release all the aggression. Physically, I felt horrible).

But why did I feel this way? Why did my body shoot an injection of testosterone into me? Continue reading “What is Evolutionary Psychology?”

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What are Economic Universals?

Economic universals are three issues that all economies want to solve. Regardless of where the economy is (in North America or Asia), it has to deal with these universals.

So, I’ve been reading up on anthropology a lot lately. More specifically, economic anthropology.

I wrote an article talking about it here.

But I came across this interesting theory while reading this one article.

The theory is called economic universals. When conducting research, anthropologists have to take this concept into consideration. Continue reading “What are Economic Universals?”

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What is Economic Anthropology?

Economic anthropology looks at how people from different cultures make, buy, and share things.

However, you shouldn’t confuse economics with the topic at hand.

Economics mainly looks at how people and societies can earn more capital.

Economic anthropology, on the other hand, looks at the different economic systems used in the world.

Economic systems are the various ways that different cultures exchange goods. It also looks at how cultures place value on the economy. Continue reading “What is Economic Anthropology?”

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