Social Event Essay

The social justice event that I attended was at Kwantlen and it was about the trip to Ghana in Africa. The students who made the presentation had experienced the trip for themselves and shared their stories with us. They talked about how the trip affected them, the people you get to meet and how it changed their lives. Each presentation was unique and showed the state Ghana was in and how us helping is important to their country.

There are many reasons as to why going on the Ghana trip would be an eye opening experience. You get to learn about their lifestyle and way of life. All the people who went on this trip had jobs and these jobs would help to make the experience more fulfilling. They got the chance to talk with the people in Ghana, and share their experiences and challenges of their life. These jobs were difficult but according to these students it was different and helped them to interact with the people better. They had to work hard and it changed the way they thought about living here. They saw how they took advantage of the things we have here and how lucky we are to have the opportunities we have. This part of the trip showed gave them an eye opening experience. Also, Ghana has dealt with so much when it comes to stereotypes and their economy. This changed the students thoughts about the country. It is assumed that Ghana, or Africa in general, is a very poor country with no opportunities and famine. According to the students though, Ghana is not just made up of famine and poor people. It also has rich people and nice places to live. It is different compared to Canada, because unfortunately there was many poor people on the streets even with all the rich people around. Ghana has also been known for its bad economy and corruption. Schooling is hard to come across and there are no human rights when it comes to women. The students thought this was surprising because of the time we live in. It also was surprising to the students how the Ghanaian people had such high spirits, and that they looked at the better side of things considering their conditions.

Overall, the presentations were an eye opening for the students but also me. This event changed my way of thinking and made me look at Africa in a different way. This opportunity to travel to Ghana and see what they have seen and experience the different culture and life style would be life changing. It was definitely an amazing event and it helped me understand Ghana more than I did before.

 

Video – Face the Fear

“Affective Reading”

This video was about an experiment that was taken in the public to see the influence that is created from individuals by their actions. “This part of the video clip was taken in an elevator were a few actors were put into the elevator and one random person who didn’t know that this was an experiment was placed in there too. When the random person walked into the elevator, the actors came in and faced the opposite way of the door. The random person looked confused and ended up facing the same way as everyone else.

I think that this video shows how people are influenced by our society and other people.  Even though this was something small, in a bigger environment everyone is influenced by other people’s actions. I believe that even though we do not think we would fall for the experiment that happened in the elevator, all of us would. We are all influenced by society, regardless if it is small or big. After watching this video, I now know that it is easy to be persuade by society on how we should act in the world.

 

 

Video Blog – “Danger of the single story” by Chimamanda Adichie

“Paraphrastic Reading”

In this video we see how a society can influence people in many different ways. The lady in this video talks about how where she grew up there were not many books and she was influenced by many stereotypes. The single story is something everyone has experienced. But the dangers of a single story can be numerous. Thinking that the world is one way when it is many can create prejudice and bad stereotypes. Choosing whether or not to listen to this single story can make things better or worse.

In my opinion I thought that this video was very eye opening and important. It shows us that we must not think of things as one way, but instead look at the whole picture. We must see that there are many different stories and to accept them all.

 

Chapter 8 “Issues in Social Justice” – Affective

Minority Women in Violent Relationships by Krim K. Lacey

What is the reading about?

This reading was about how women of different minority, culture, or status in society changes there chances of getting into an abusive relationship. Many women get put into these relationships because there aren’t taught and they feel like they have no other choice. Especially if these women have children they feel that if they leave these bad relationships they will be alone and have no support.

How do I feel about the reading?

This reading is very close to my heart because I feel that is it important to get this issue out and to show how many people are affected by abusive relationships. This happens behind closed doors and therefore is not something we see or hear about everyday. It was also an eye opener to see how many women – just by their culture or social status – can be stuck in these relationships and see no way out.

What do I think about the reading?

I think that the reading is very informative and helps society to realize how big of a problem this is and how we can possibly prevent this from happening. It gives details about who these women are (usually women without education) and how their minority affects their will to leave these relationships.

What do I believe about the reading?

I  believe that this reading brings out very important information that could help prevent abusive relationships from happening. I believe it brings this issue to light and shows how easily it is for any type of women to be brought into this. The man in these situations have a power over these women and this reading shows how horrible it can be in this situation.

What do I know about this reading

From this article I now know and understand what these women go through. It helps me to see the struggle these women go through and how the situations are tough to get out of – from worrying about their children to feeling helpless and unprotected. These women suffer so much and this reading really brings out the worst side of men in these abusive relationships. It helps me realize how important it is to help women that are in these relationships.

Chapter 3 “Issues in Social Justice” Dialectic

Human Trafficking by Darrick Brake

What question did the text/chapter raise?	How did the text answer this question?	How does the answer match our own ideas and experiences?
Discussing and defining the terms, context and factors that lead to an increase in human trafficking	The definition of human trafficking is the purposeful movement of any person to places in which they are sold, or purchased into forced labour or bondage such as prostitution, industrial work, domestic work or sex slavery.	After seeing this it makes you realize how big of an issue human trafficking is and the amount of problems are associated with this issue.
How is the crime performed or perpetrated, and what are the motivating factors that foster and sustain human trafficking	The people who commit these crimes are anyone who preys on children, women and even older people. The crime is being preformed by people forcing these victims into the trade through drugs or force. The motivating factors are to gain money.	Many of us are used to going to school and working to get money but in this case people are using other people to gain profit and it’s absolutely disgusting. It just shows how important money is.
What are the consequences of being trafficked, and what are the outcomes associated with human trafficking for the victims of these types of crimes?	The consequences and outcomes of being trafficked is mental and physically abuse, diseases and emotional problems.	This shows how unfortunate some people are and the consequences of making the wrong choices are.
How has the global community responded to the situation of a growing human trafficking problem? What specific political and legal initiatives have been taken to prevent this problem?	The “UNODC” are doing research to prevent this from happening and “NGO” helps victims who have gone through this.	It’s amazing to see how many organizations help to stop human trafficking and the efforts of these organizations to help those who have been affected by this.

Chapter 2 “Issues in Social Justice” Dialetic Reading

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Class Discussion – Can we ever be enthnocentrism free? Why?

Class discussion for Blog

1. Can we ever ethnocentrism-free? Why?

In class we discussed whether or not we can be ethnocentrism free and most groups agreed that it would be very difficult for this to happen. Most cultures have pride within themselves and it is hard for other cultures to accept that there culture is worse than another culture. To be ethnocentrism free, every culture would to stop having bias towards each other and understand that each culture is different and unique in it’s own way. In conclusion, it would be very hard to achieve this but even so cultural pride is not a bad thing, it is cultural superiority that is not right.

Blog Post # 2 – Nacirema culture

From reading this article I learned about the Nacirema culture, rituals, and the way these people are obedient to their customs. From just reading the first couple paragraphs, I learned about where the Nacirema people originated from (Between Canada and Mexico) and what they stand for. They view the human body as something distasteful and disgusting, rather than something beautiful and unique like the culture most of us are brought into. The rituals the Nacirema people go through to make themselves beautiful is horrific at the very least. For example, the ritual “mouth-rite” involves the “Medicine Men” uses tools to extract evil from the person, which causes huge amount of pain to the client.

Introductory Presentation: Biographical Sketch

My name is Melissa, I am nineteen years old and currently in my second year at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. I am still in most first year classes, including this one. My major that I am taking here is Criminology, and I’m looking to achieve my bachelors in this subject.  My interests are Criminal Law, Sports, Fashion and living a healthy lifestyle. I also enjoy community service and volunteer work. My current understanding of Social Justice  is that it means equality for all humans and that this keeps a balance in our society.  Without Social Justice, the society we live in would be in chaos. It is what helps to create a better world. When I was deciding to take this course, there were many reasons why I chose to enroll. First, to my understanding, sociology is about learning how our society works and why us humans do the things we do. It seems extremely interesting and I definitely considered Sociology as a major before entering Kwantlen. Secondly, this is one of the foundations on how to better understand the society I have to live in every day, and to me learning about this will benefit me in both my educational life and social life. Thirdly, this course does count towards my degree and it paves the way to my future.