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his book is many things. There are also
many things this book is not, including: in‐
sightful, meaningful, intelligent, or useful.
As the title of this book suggests, there is
nothing here. In reality, the content that ap‐
pears in this book is the product of yet an‐
other year spent idling in college. Slavery
takes a front seat on this journey, with in‐
equity and Asia bringing up the rear (with alittle be of Math thrown in for fun), making
for one hell of a boring, left‐wing indoctri‐
nated journey. Yes, the liberals are running the schools, and they are
openly recruiting.
Perhaps “A Book About Nothing” is too harsh of a title. Yes,
there are tidbits of introspection in here, and most, if not all, of the
topics covered have influenced and changed my perspective on life,
race, nationality, and relationships. Maybe there is something to begained from all this; and maybe you can figure it all out. As for me,
I’m happy just knowing another year is behind me, and that I’m inch‐
ing towards the finish line, my limp dick pressed between my
sweaty, fat thighs.
College is rough. It’s rough for an 18 year old, and it’s rough
for a 33 year old. It’s even rougher when you’re trying to hold down
a shitty job, pay the ever‐increasing cost of living expenses, and raise
a family (i.e. a rabbit). There are times when I think, “You know,
maybe this college stuff isn’t for me—maybe I should just be happy
with what I have.” And then there are times when I think, “Fuck the
rest of the world, I’m going to get what’s mine, and fuck over anyone
who gets in my way.” And, of course, there are times when I think,
“Why am I doing this? I should build a bomb or something.” Usually
it’s the first. Occasionally the second.
With that said, this book is really just another collection ofnotes, essays, papers, and study guides from my time at CSU. As it
goes, the past year has been spent acing humanities and mathemat‐
ics courses. I just didn’t have it in me for anymore science. That
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starts next year, so be prepared to see more editions of Madman Bi‐
ology (as if you wanted them).
Why am I writing this? I’m essentially talking to myself. Who
the fuck is going to read this? I probably won’t even read this. Is this
depressing or what?
Yours forever,
Thomas Trotter
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i
For Black America & Africa, Spring 2013
ook backward to look forward,” writes Robin
Kelley in Dreams of a New Land (Kelley
2002). The weight of this statement is felt in
nearly every facet of his introduction, and
carries with it the reverberations of past ten‐
ets, assuring history will not repeat itself and
informing us that social evolution requires
the edification of truth and the discovery ofyesterday. As a nation, or country, or world I
agree: we learn from those who came and
acted before us. As an individual I hesitate:
do I stop and allow the digressions of my forefathers to punctuate
the narrative of my American sabbatical, or do I purposefully blind
the peripheral and loiter around the horizon of tomorrow? Is it wise
or even fair, to carry the sins of white America? After all, there is no
hope for yesterday, but there is for tomorrow. White or black, anindividual who looks for reason in the auspices of yesterday be‐
comes bound by it, like a steel cage masquerading as self‐discoveryii.
Space is the place, as the infinitely kaleidoscopic Sun Ra put it, only
because the ethereal pages of world history are wrought with moral
depravity—an almost tangible cresting wave that washes over all
people, regardless of race. Space is the place because space is the
future.
Maya Angelou certainly does not share my viewpoint. Her
accidental exodus from America, while empowering in consequence,
seemed encumbered by the threat of pomposityiii. She begins An Af-
rican American in Ghana with an impressive, if not exhaustive, tally
of fellow expatriates and their condensed résumés—a list that forces
the implication that education can be positively correlated with rad‐
ical introspectioniv. What does it mean to be black in America? How
about Africa? Does your phenotype give allegiance to a land? Doyour genetics claim citizenship? If space is the place, why the Atlan‐
tic voyage?
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I understand the desire to feel ancestral connections, espe‐
cially when one’s line of ancestry is obscured by the unmitigated shit
that was New World slavery. As a white man born and raised in
America I can claim one of many countries as my Motherland, includ‐
ing Germany, the Netherlands, England, and Ireland. My bloodline is
a homogenous mixture of white Europeans and early 20th century
American immigrants. My parents and grandparents have traced my
heritage along the path of least resistance, to a small village in Ire‐
land where grass‐roof cottages adorn cobblestone streets; where
good, hardworking people toil in cold shafts of sunlight, filtered
through the billowing ironclad batteries that so often blanket the
rocky isle; and where a good few were, like those that gave meaning
and life to Maya Angelou, enslaved and sent off to build an empire.The question persists: do I identify with these people? Do I
look to their struggles and hope to divine, or construct the future?
Do I expect others to recognize my historical revelations? Even after
visiting Ireland and meeting other pallid, nearly translucent people I
can firmly affix my allegiance, heritage and home to the United
States of America—to Ohio, to Cleveland, to a small apartment I
share with a rabbit and a wonderful woman I love. I see no value in
the past; I only want to move forward in this life, preferably un‐hitched from dead people in dead times.
But that is me.
Era Bell Thompson’s opening in An African American in Africa
is, if anything, forthright. Her awareness and apprehension towards
Africa is slowly altered as she becomes informed of Africa’s hidden
history, eventually leading to an awakening in Nigeria. Unlike Maya
Angelou, Thompson would probably agree with my sentiments to‐
wards the aggregation, or evolution of personal identity. Like Robin
Kelley, Thompson must “look backward to look forward”, and does
so sincerely. Her travels across Africa inform her of a world shroud‐
ed by misconception, and reveal to her a race of people that mirror
not only her color, but her new found sentiments towards a black
nation. And yet in the end she anchors herself to America. Either
she sees that the ties are too strong to break, the similarities too few,
or that discovering yesterday is not about a total metamorphosis ofpersonal conviction but a granular addition to a constantly expand‐
ing world perspective.
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Or maybe I project too much. In reality I’m just a white man
trying to survive into the future. I see color and race and religion
and sex all around me. I know fuck‐all about the world or the people
that inhabit it. In fact, I tend to see them as obstacles. I hide my em‐
pathy with silence, and my conviction with apathy. I am a living
ghost.
But enough about me.
After some thought I have realized that (perhaps) it is less
about self‐discovery and more about rediscovery. Europeans
robbed black people not only from their homeland, but also of their
homeland. Perhaps the “awakening” associated with visiting Africa
is nothing more than a persuasive, Afrocentric culture shock, admin‐
istered by beautiful people in a land steeped in lore and veiled histo‐ries, invoking pathos and revealing a cultural identity that had been
locked away for nearly 400 years. And perhaps the rediscovery of
African history is the spark that ignites the fires of black power,
pushing black Americans towards the horizon of tomorrow, where
freedom is no longer just a joke on the inside of gum wrapper. After
all, you can’t get to space without first lighting a fire.
Maulana Karenga’s contribution to the inferno of Black Na‐
tionalism was Kwanzaa, the anti‐capitalist, anti‐white, anti‐establishment surrogate holidayv. While the origins of Kwanzaa lie
with one man whose ideas about America and Black Power eventual‐
ly led to the formation of the US Organization, its sentiments and
dogmas lie with the people who practice it. In particular, the seven
principles of Kwanzaa speak volumes about black power and its des‐
tination. The rise of Kwanzaa as an accepted holiday is punctuated
by several key moments that span the country, including experi‐
mental gatherings led by Sister Makinya in California and the EAST
Organization in New York. Yet still, after nearly sixty years since the
first celebration of Kwanzaa, the majority of the country is only pas‐
sively aware of its existence or purpose (BIG Research 2004).
I feel conflicted. There is an immediate assumption that
Christmas and capitalism are exclusively white affairs, ignoring the
fact that Christianity has proselytized people and spread its philoso‐
phy across every continent. There is no doubt that Catholicism isrun by old, nearly comatose white men garbed in dresses, but the
underlying message in Christian doctrine can be separated from the
popes and bishops dallying through Vatican City and applied to any
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person of any color, so long as they possess the ability to generate
faith. The perversion of Christmas in America is a symptom of capi‐
talism—and a mild one at that. I enjoy receiving gifts just as much as
the next person, but I gain more pleasure from giving. I do not hold
faith anywhere on or in my body, but I can always appreciate the
happiness propagated from charity, even if it is commercially driven.
I realize that Karenga fought against popular white culture in
a bid to push his ideals concerning black people in America, and that
the creation of Kwanzaa was an embodiment of that, but it seems
predicated on the total dismissal of the qualities of America that are
positive and, at the very least, potentially race‐neutralvi. Further‐
more, the separatist approach taken by Kwanzaa seems counterintu‐
itive to equality; after all, how can a group be inclusive and exclusiveat the same timevii. Former Black Panther member James Coleman
said it best, “By only stressing the unity of black people, Kwanzaa
separates black people from the rest of Americans. Americans must
unify on whatever principles ensure we live in a safe, prosperous,
God‐loving country, with the race and ethnicity of any American
seeking to abide by those principles being of no consequence.”
(Scholer 2001)
E. Frances White explores the possible reasons why capital‐ism and Kwanzaa should be shunned by black people in America.
His article, Africa on My Mind: Gender, Counterdiscourse, and African-
American Nationalism explores the more sordid, conspiratorial as‐
pects of racial relations in America. The white bourgeoisie, as he as‐
serts, engender racist and sexist views toward black Americans and
Africans via psychological warfare—a strategy primarily enforced
via the control of popular opinion (dictated by the white media) and
the misuse of language. I can certainly see his point concerning the
media: in today’s world interests are shaped by radio, television, in‐
ternet, and various news outlets that, quite curiously, congeal as
they swarm around hot‐button issues. Often times the turn is plain
to see, but I still have to wonder how often people are swayed or
fooled by liberal editing, fallacious anchors, or outright lies. At some
point I had to stop trusting “the news” and accept that the words and
images that constantly bombard me are simply advertisements con‐cocted by a controlling class. If this can happen with gun control,
missing white children, and presidential elections, then there is no
doubt that the dominant image of black culture (“a model of abnor‐
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mality”, as White puts it) had been, or continues to be fabricated by
elite old white men.
However, it could also be argued that the images of Africa we
are being fed in this class are similar fabrications, born from Black
Nationalism and the Afrocentric movement heralded by Molefi Kete
Asante and Kariamu Welshviii. In fact, the same could be true of any
view held by any country/person. It is all very confusing and convo‐
luted, and getting to the truth seems insurmountable.
Does this mean that Afrocentric ideals lie polar to, or conflict
with Eurocentric ones? As Asante argued in Afrocentricity, Race, and
Reason, the goal of Afrocentricity is not to isolate black culture from
white culture, but to coexist as best as possible. In fact, there seems
to be a lot of overlap when looking at the intentions of Afrocentricityand Eurocentricity. The five characteristics of the Afrocentric idea,
as outlined in Asante’s article, could theoretically be applied to any
group of people. The “subject‐object” relationship, however, is what
really drives Afrocentricity to the forefront of the American con‐
science.
There are so many threads to follow in these first few weeks
that my head physically hurts. It’s like trying to put together a puz‐
zle while wearing oversized mittens. It may not seem obvious, butthis reaction paper was written over span of two weeks, and the ini‐
tial apprehension and dissent conveyed near the start of it all is a
recorded manifestation of the resistant force applied when conven‐
tional ideas are challenged. Even now, as I go back and read the first
few pages, I feel the hesitance and chagrin from provoking an old
mind set in old ways. If time permitted, and if I were only going after
approval, I’d take a blowtorch to this paper and start it over. I tried
to keep my reactions as unadulterated as possible, even at the risk of
sounding ignorant and/or absurd. As is said, change does not come
easy, and must be fought for.
So keep fighting me; by the summer I may have a more pow‐
erful lens to focus the world through.
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i Please Note: these endnotes often contain reactions not pertinent to the topics at hand,
reactions that were cut from the original draft, and/or passages that attempt to elabo-
rate/clarify certain talking points. I understand that their use may be unconventional,
but their inclusion was a natural process involved in writing this reaction paper.ii
I should clarify that “looking at yesterday”, in this context, involves people and mo-ments not directly connected to the present—that is, the history of those that came be-
fore us. This says nothing about self-reflection, which can be a powerful tool when
dealing with psychological malaise. Looking at past moments in our lives can signifi-
cantly affect how we view and interpret the world. For some, I’d imagine, the act of
learning history and incorporating it into their personal views has the same effect. It
exists, and I’m aware of it—I’m just wondering if it improves or hastens the spread of
equality.iii This is based purely on an initial reaction to her writing. I could be totally wrong
(and likely am), but I’m leaving it as is. These are my reactions, for better or worse.iv This is a cut reaction: “She and her American-born, American-educated friends ro-
manticize the discovery of intrinsic African virtue—accomplished via intermittent and
exclusive gatherings—in a country that only now has raised its Human Development Rating to 130 (Klugman 2010).” There are several reasons why I decided to cut this
reaction from the body of the paper: It sounds mean, it is mean, and it paints Africa inthe same light that E. Frances White discusses in his article Africa on My Mind: Gender,
Counterdiscourse, and African-American Nationalism. I certainly don’t want to propa-
gate that image of Africa, but I think it is important to include my initial reactions sothat I know where my preconceptions lie, and were the dysfunction in them exists.v Now, when I read that one man is responsible for the creation of a holiday I ask two
questions: who is this man, and who is following him? I’m immediately reminded of
more nefarious actors such as Jim Jones, preacher to the poor, promising a new nation
in space to a group of well-intentioned but uneducated astronauts, or L. Ron Hubbard,
the quasi-Jesus who charged into Florida armed with new age decrees to purify and
cure the mind. While Karenga’s past is certainly filled with controversy, including
convictions for torture and kidnapping, the intentions of Kwanzaa, including its crea-
tion and practice, appear to be genuine, and born from a polarizing movement to unify
and differentiate black Americans from the white majority.
vi This is in specific reference to the philosophies behind Christianity and capitalism. I
understand that, as practiced in America during time Kwanzaa was invented, these two
philosophies were stacked in favor of white men. However, this says nothing about themoral implications behind these two philosophies, and everything about their corrup-
tion. vii
Original draft read: Furthermore, the separatist approach taken by Kwanzaa seems
counterintuitive to equality; after all, if a group of people can manufacture a nationallyrecognized holiday whenever they choose, the idea that black and white Americans are
somehow equal, or ever will be, seems trivial. How can two groups be equal if one is
given the power to reinstate, subjugate or fabricate culture? The rural plains of Ameri-ca may be overrun by conservative white men, but its cities and borders and universi-
ties house its greatest secret: that every religious, political, racial and special interest
group under the sun has a hand in shaping the country’s underlying moral fabric. If
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every group has a voice, then Kwanzaa is a god damned power ballad, sung through abullhorn atop a ladder made of light . This reaction was cut for obvious reasons.viii
I certainly enjoyed how Asante mentioned that it was Asante who first started the
Afrocentric movement. My initial comments on Maya Angelou’s pomposity pale in
comparison to this. While it may be true that Asante was the proverbial progenitor ofAfrocentricity, self-aggrandizing the fact (when no challenge to the contrary had been
issued) seems unnecessary. As is this commentary on it.
References
BIG Research. 2004. 2004 Holiday Spending by Region. Report, WashingtonDC: National Retail Federation.
Kelley, Robin. 2002. "Dreams of the New Land." In Freedom Dreams: The
Black Radical Imagination, by Robin Kelley, 14-35. Boston: Beacon
Press.
Klugman, Jeni. 2010. Human Devleopment Report 2010. Report, New York:
Palgrave Macmillan.
Scholer, J. Lawrence. 2001. "The Story of Kwanzaa." The Dartmouth Review.
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For Black America & Africa, Spring 2013
he rich and intricate history of the black At‐lantic is, in many ways, responsible for the
American diaspora. From the buildup of
port towns and urban centers in Africa, to
Africa’s intercontinental slave trading, and
eventually to the dispersal of Africans to
various places across the Atlantic, these
narratives aggregate and congeal into themodern sentiments that support and spread
the foundation of the American diaspora.
However, I have to question the validity of a
vast, overreaching black diaspora existing in country that is, in my
opinion, a machine that constantly churns out smaller and smaller
diasporas.
I think it is only right to start with the definition of “diaspora”.
David Northrup, in his introduction to Crosscurrents in the Black At-lantic, describes a diaspora as, “[the] people dispersed away from
their homeland by force or other circumstances” (Northrup 2008).
This seems like a concise definition, and one that applies not only to
dispersed black people but to any group ejected from their home‐
land. However, as pointed out later in Northrup’s introduction only
a small percentage of African‐Americans are in touch with their Afri‐
can roots, and many still view Africa as a continent rife with poverty
and savagery, an unconscious image perpetuated by the dominanceof Eurocentric ideals. This begs the question: is a diaspora a label, an
emotion, an elevated sense of identity, or a movement? Are African
Americans—those who do not identify with either Africa or slav‐
ery—still part of a diaspora, despite their views being predicated on
subliminal misinformation? Can we refine the definition of a diaspo‐
ra and extrapolate a more broad meaning, or is it too specific? Can I
experience a diaspora in my own family? In school? In my commu‐nity? What entails being dispersed and what constitutes a home‐
land?
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Stuart Hall’s rise to diasporic intellectuality was maintained
and underscored by his involvement in the New Left Movement and
his education in England—a place that he describes as a diaspora
within a diaspora. From his interview, The Formation of a Diasporic
Intellectual , it can be seen how formal European education eventual‐
ly led him to a more mature and worldly view of the diasporic phe‐
nomenon. It is interesting, then, that Hall chose to stay in England
rather than return to Jamaica (or set off for Africa). Most of his black
colleagues/contemporaries (many from Africa) took their white Eu‐
ropean education back home in an attempt to mend whatever politi‐
cal, cultural, or economic landscape that needed repair.
Like many of us today, Hall experienced a feeling of separa‐
tion/alienation from both his home country and the country he livedin. He alludes to the idea that this is an increasingly potent part of
the human condition—that as technology and human ingenuity con‐
tinue to increase, in both speed and availability, the world shrinks.
Culture and customs and information bleed through satellite feeds,
phone towers, and fiber optic cables, spreading across the world in‐
stantaneously. Humans move and shuffle across borders, learn new
languages, share experiences, and make what is foreign known. We
form our identities based on this wealth of variability. We group to‐gether in countries, in cities, in schools, in cliques, in pairs, and even‐
tually we find ourselves alone, sitting on the precipice of self‐
awareness, wondering why we are so different from everyone else.
For many, then, it seems as if such isolation outweighs the
emotional thrust of being part of a focused diaspora. Hall’s situation
was certainly unique, but his identity was formed, in part, by this al‐
ienation, as well as the speed of the world and its ability to pass you
by—an aspect of life that affects all of us, regardless of race.
In comparison to Hall, President Obama’s diasporic arousal
was more succinct. He starts off chapter 15 from Dreams of My Fa-
ther by contemplating the dichotomy of Africa; how the dissemina‐
tion of the Eurocentric‐led condemnation of Africa clashes with the
Afrocentric, near utopian notions of black Africa. This same dichot‐
omy carries over into his physical presence in Kenya—from his
wholly unimpressive arrival at the airport, to his treatment as atourist at the market, and eventually to his sense of belonging when
reunited with his family. Still, he seems conflicted at times; he real‐
izes the world has changed and that he must adapt to survive, but
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also that the changes are so damaging to the perception of Africa and
black people that he must rebel. He wants to take Africa to America,
but sees the futility. He wants to feel united, but isolation still haunts
him. Even his sister, who spent time in Germany, still clings to an
identity that is, at times, European—and one that seems incongruent
with the identities forged by the people of Kenya. He sees the sin‐
ewy connections in Africa, but knows he is an American.
So again I ask: what is a diaspora, and how is it bound? If we
abide by the definition given by Northrup, would Obama be part of a
diaspora? How can he be dispersed away from his homeland if he is
an American? Was slavery even a factor? Many paths lead back to
the enslavement of Africans and their displacement across the Atlan‐
tic, but in today’s world, in today’s America, in a time when we allstruggle to identify who we are, what we are, and why we are, we
must first recognize the emotional buffers that shine and illuminate
the patina of our individual identities before we blanket ourselves
with the horrors of history.
Of course, that is not to say that slavery cannot, or should not
fit alongside the gears that turn identity, or that slavery is not a fun‐
damental pillar of the diaspora; it is more a question of whether or
not current generation African Americans attribute slavery as a rootcause for their cultural/societal detachment (if any even exists).
Let me try to explain. I consider myself an average human being in
nearly every facet: height, weight, wealth, education, intelligence,
wit, and so on. I am a shining example that the distribution of such
characteristics fit nicely within a bell curve. My knowledge of Afri‐
can slavery was one of profound ignorance—that evil (and primarily
white) sea pirates sailed the Atlantic, drunk on rum, high on opium,
and stole their human booty from the shores of foreign lands. These
sea pirates, like most pirates of fiction, would rape and loot and
murder and plunder wherever they went. They were, as guilt and
race would have it, my relatives. I carried their blood in my veins
and their sins in the color of my skin. I would forever be branded as
such, and held responsible for the consequences of their slanted mo‐
res.
Being an average human I now wonder how the perception ofslavery plays out in the minds of others. Are they just as erroneous?
Do they exist on a spectrum of color, where white leads to guilt and
black to reproach? Is the concept, not the content, of slavery used as
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an excuse for such learned emotions? Or is my gap in knowledge an
oddity? Furthermore, can a middle‐aged white man who never
cared for history class—who much preferred the cold calculations of
science and math—be qualified to comment on how slavery, race,
and history factor into the densely wound tendrils of the diaspora?
In short, if I am average, and if I am an idiot, then so too are the ma‐
jority of Americans. We are mostly unaware of what motivates, in‐
spires, or moves us. Our identities are a heterogeneous mixture of
lies, half‐truths, and straight out delusions.
Stephanie Smallwood’s Saltwater Slavery: A Middle Passage
from Africa to American Diaspora works against my factually (and
intellectually) deficient picture of slavery. Thus far, Smallwood’s
book has accomplished two things: it has corrected and focused myinept sea pirate metaphor, bringing life to some aspects and killing
others, and it has me wondering if Karenga was right about capital‐
ism. Philosophically speaking, and seeing as how the timeline of
human ethics appears to be entirely relative, I am also wondering if
Immanuel Kant was full of shit.
The enslavement and commodification of people, as de‐
scribed by Smallwood, certainly provokes an emotional response—
primarily that humans are severely and unabashedly fucked up—butit also illustrates how a cultural (and evil, immoral, disgusting, etc.)
practice of taking slaves from warfare can be corrupted into an en‐
terprise that spans the world. Humans seem to be good at manipu‐
lating and exploiting markets, and slavery was no different. Small‐
wood meticulously walks us through the struggles Europeans faced
as trading in slaves became big business, as well as the cultural and
societal impact it had on the enslaved. It is a surprisingly detailed
account of how, in her opinion, the American diaspora was born1.
I feel a bit lost. Perhaps these events coalesce and ripple
across time, like a handful of rocks being thrown into a lake that is
already crowded with cresting whitecaps. Perhaps I lack the insight
to see it all, or perhaps I don’t want to see it. The sea pirates found a
way to turn humans into coconuts, and kinship into nihility, but how
does that connect to Stuart Hall and Obama, whose own Diasporas
1 The fact that African and European slave traders/factors kept such detailed logs and
diaries during this period further illustrates how human ethics takes a back seat to
greed. I should stop being so surprised by this.
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had more to do with uncovering and facing personal dilemmas than
with the implications of saltwater slavery? Is there some bolded
thread that I’m missing? Does history channel and direct the flow of
emotion over generations?
I am not saying the connection to slavery is absent or trifling
when considering the American diaspora, or that its existence hinges
on understand and/or relating to the experiences discussed in
Smallwood’s book, but more and more I wonder how many people
actually incorporate saltwater slavery into their personal identities.
The concept of a diaspora is clear in its meaning, but when its prin‐
ciple—that people can be neatly grouped together based on a second
hand experience—takes precedence over the innate individuality
and pervasive alienation in modern America, the diaspora trans‐forms into a pseudo‐boundary between people of different racial
backgrounds.
We are all lost. It is part of the reason people like me (those
who are not in their early twenties, who are not coming into adult‐
hood, and who think a fedora should not be worn with jeans) go to
college and take history classes about things they know nothing
about. We don’t know what else to do, and no one is there guide us.
We are all struggling to fulfill a role in a society that neither caresnor wants us. I am one of over a hundred biology majors at Cleve‐
land State University, one of thousands in Ohio, of tens of thousands
in the country, and, if karma has its way with me, in several years we
will all be fighting over a single, low‐wage job in a town or city or
country that only exists to bleed us of our money and privacy. The
thousands of dollars I owe to the government will be paid back in
small increments, each check a woeful reminder of how totally bro‐
ken our higher education system is. There is no time to sit around
and contemplate slavery when contending with such immediate and
pressing matters. The same, I assume, applies to many in my posi‐
tion.
To put it another way: there are no slaves or slavers on a
sinking ship. There are no class lines, no sexism, no racism, and no
divisions among men. What you will find, however, is a bunch of
brainy, fire‐wielding apes, all clinging, crawling, fighting and drown‐ing in a deep and dark blue abyss.
References
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Northrup, David. 2008. Crosscurrents in the Black Atlantic. Boston:
Bedford/St. Martin's.
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For Black America & Africa, Spring 2013
s of late I have been working nearly 60hours a week as a bookbinder in a win‐
dowless brick building, plodding along at
heart‐attack‐pace to make someone in a
suit another hundred thousand a year.
The few moments I have at home I spendreading. I read about men and women,
religion, slavery, taxes, education, racism,crime, poverty, hope, fear, heaven and
hell. I read and I think, ‘what, exactly, is
slavery?’ It is control or forced obedi‐
ence? Is it the denial of freedom? Is it a seizure of the psyche, or a
battering of faculties? It is expressed physically or emotionally? It is
all of that, or none? The more I think on this the more I come to real‐
ize: I am just an amalgamation and representation of the vastness of
humanity. I own nothing. My thoughts, my genetics, my desires, myinstincts are all products of the past. There is nothing original about
me or any other human. I parrot talking points expressed by the
culmination of human discourse, seek women, food and fighting that
satiate the chemical hunger embedded in a mass a grey matter, fold‐
ed in the electric wool of neurons and synapses, and I write with the
sedated aplomb of those that came before me, the Vonnegut’s and
Orwell’s that I so passionately envied and mimicked. Religion stillperverts my intimations of life and death, like a thin nimbus cloudinflated over a barren desert, and science casts an austere shadow
over an existence that, at one point, seemed crowded with romance,
mystery and creativity.
And then I think, ‘I am a slave’.
Immediately such a thought would be discarded as absurd. In
fact, I would have to be drunk or high to make such a claim. How can
my American life—one festooned with amenity and luxury—possibly compare to that of an African slave in the 18th or 19th centu‐
ry? I am neither beaten nor raped by captors. I am not chained. I
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am not forced to work in that windowless brick building, nor am I
forced to sit here and write about it. And yet I still feel throttled by
this existence, as if some pair of inexorable hands were pulling me
towards surrender and conformity. I feel owned; not by any one
person, but by the remnants of history, by the nucleotide sequences
in my genes, and by the ideas passed on via friends, family, film, and
every other influential medium. To be sure, my life is neither physi‐cally torturous nor lamentable when compared with any individual
that existed during the period of African slavery, but the effects arethe same. I carry with me these sentiments, and if I were selfish
enough to reproduce I would pass them on to younger generations.
And then I think, ‘I am a slave’.
The people I read about are slaves as well. Their tales are thesame. Whether originating from Meriwether’s “Proudly We Can Be
Africans” or Campbell’s “Middle Passages”, these stories aggregate toform a singular narrative of misplaced obligation to Africa, no doubt
spurred by common misconceptions about the continent (and itspeople) as well as the blindingly surreal machinations of Christiani‐
ty. William Sheppard stands as the exception to the rule; though his
involvement in spreading God’s gospel remained strong until his
death, the common image of Africa being populated with unenlight‐ened savages was quelled and contorted to something more in linewith the truth—that the people of Africa had their own cultures and
societies, their own methods of governing, each of which was no lessvalid or savage than America’s, Belgium’s, or Britain’s. It is a shame
that it took years of comingling with native African’s to find this uni‐
versal axiom.
The other characters in this history are sheathed in grime.
Delany, who thankfully left the dissemination of Christian idealism
to others, reeked of self‐aggrandizement. His constant flip‐floppingon issues speaks to this, and shows he was more concerned with
garnering recognition from those in high places than enacting actualchange. That’s not to say a person cannot change his mind. Certain‐
ly I have had my fair share of flip‐flopping, but changing an opinion
when convenient, or when opposition bares down on you, is more
akin to modern politics. Yes, the Fugitive Slave Laws of 1850 pro‐vided a prime opportunity to change opinions on emigration, butDelany would change again and again depending on where he was
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and with whom he was in negotiations with. He would have made a
very good senator or congressman.
Henry Turner was at least consistent when it came to emigra‐
tion. I find it hard to villainize, or at least criticize those who hold
faith in religion or God. I cannot cast aside statistics—that the ma‐
jority of humans gravitate towards some Godly explanation as to our
existence and purpose—but I also cannot ignore my instincts.Turner certainly felt that what he was doing would benefit black
people in Africa and America, but to what cost? I read of these in‐trepid men and their exploits in Africa and only see cultural destruc‐
tion. Christianity has this curious ability to shape and mold cultures,
to obliterate tradition, to convert innocence into sin, and to shame or
kill those who stand in its way. Turner came into Africa bleating thetenets of the Bible and parroting the populist American opinion that
Africa was a land shrouded in heathenish darkness, two powerfultools he used assail the native African cultures. He wanted to “uplift”
the African peoples with stacks of Bibles, with the wise words ofChrist, and with promises of redemption and permanent placement
in some utopian afterlife. He was a slave to his beliefs, a carbon copy
of every other American missionary, only louder.
This, of course, assumes that Christianity, or missionaries ingeneral, had a net negative effect on African people. If this were amanifesto I would loudly proclaim that religion always has a net
negative effect on people and society; but these are not the pages ofmy diary, and I am neither stupid nor brave enough to swing such a
sword. I find myself hung up on this point because I recognize how
religion plays a part in my own world view. I cannot subscribe to
religion because it delays the advancement of human civilization, but
I cannot subscribe to atheism either. I cannot spout atheistic rheto‐
ric without feeling dishonest, without admitting that I’m just someknow‐nothing shithead living in a malaise of intellectual laziness. I
don’t know if God is dead, or if life really is a divine spark. I onlyknow what I believe, and that makes me just as suspect as Turner
and Sheppard, just as much a slave to authority and influence.
Charles Joyner offers some insight into African American
Christianity in “Believer I Know”. Again we find Christianity beingused as a tool to subjugate and “domesticate” so‐called heathens.What astonishes me is that the slaveholder’s mission was predicated
on outright lies, contradictions that can be easily traced through
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Christian scripture. Follow Jesus and you’ll be a better able to serve
your master. Follow Jesus and your soul, not your life, will be saved.
It is amazing that black Americans were so quick to adopt and
transmute Christianity, even if it contained “seeds of disorder”.
The development and spread of Christianity amongst the en‐
slaved laid the groundwork for what would become a quest to save
Africa from itself. If we ignore the spirit possessions, the “Plat Eyes”,and the magical shamanism (and its derivatives), we find a set of
moral tenets that practically compel the most devout to lay hands ofsalvation on Africa. These are the sentiments that expose organized
Christianity as the corrosive toxin it is. Throw some missionaries
into the “heathenish darkness” and you can simultaneously save and
destroy a culture. It casts aside native African society as intrinsicallydevoid of worth. These enslaved peoples, some of whom had been
taken from Africa, quickly found faith in a religion that was able tojustify the horrors of slavery, and then sought to spread it to their
motherland. This truly confuses me.So, naturally, we look to history in hopes that it will illumi‐
nate the reasons for why these people were so quick to adopt and
spread their ideas of civilized culture. Some historical retellings
would have me believe that slavery was abolished in this country,that the land of the free finally earned its name by putting question‐able words into law. However, there is so much evidence that points
in the opposite direction. As an institution and commerce slaverymay have heard its death knell, but its recession into history only
opened alternate avenues of repression, control and segregation.
Even Sheppard, a man celebrated among white and black communi‐
ties, could not shake the body blow delivered by Southern life. As a
man who accomplished more in life than most could ever hope for,
he still felt pinned under the white finger of inequality, never ques‐tioning the white man’s position on the Congo or its problems.
I find it troubling that Turner, Sheppard and Delany were soquick to adopt a culture that, for the most part, would not accept
them as equals. Inequality, as a cultural cornerstone, was carried
across the Atlantic by those who had been slighted. African Ameri‐
cans came to the shores of their motherland—to Sierra Leone andLiberia—with the same mentality as their white suppressors, goingso far (in some cases) as to enslave native Africans, or to take em‐
ployment amongst the slaving syndicate. These immigrants were
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not Africans, they were Americans through and through. I tend to
agree with Fredrick Douglass, who positioned himself against emi‐
gration, claiming the onus was on America, his home, to enact radical
change.
Of course, African Americans were also carving out their own
culture from the subjugating fabric of American democracy. Gomez
discusses this brand of cultural development in “Talking Half Africa”,shedding light on the adoption and molding of the English language
amongst enslaved populations. So we see that culture is a malleableproduct of human evolution, able to be plied and folded into virtually
any shape. And we see that enslaved blacks, who had no choice but
to integrate into American culture, affixed their own poetic flair to
the language. This appropriation and metamorphoses of culturalmainstays cascaded into the religious realm as well, seeing the ad‐
vent of a distinctly African American Christian sect. Still, these slightmodifications do not make up for what is, at the very core, tainted.
Cultures clash and adopt various mores from one anothernaturally. This much I understand. I do not want to paint either
American culture or African culture in any color other than clear
coat. It just seems that the colonization of Africa was so violent and
forceful that any cultural comingling that occurred was aberrant. Ido not mean to sound opposed to interweaving cultural fabrics, butwe can at least let it happen naturally via the more docile facets of
culture (music, writing, photography, etc.) without the sacking ofcivilizations or the complete proselytization of people’s beliefs.
Without turning them into slaves.
This relationship America had with Africa went further than
just Liberia and missionary efforts. For some it was cerebral, with
Africa representing an uncivilized expanse, replete with barbarism,
cannibalism and horrid disease, often attributed to supernaturalforces. Other saw Africa as the shadow of a kingdom long gone, of‐
ten claiming that their blood was that of royalty. As Campbell shows,some of that is true: the Zappo Zaps often roasted and ate human
flesh, disease was one of the more deadly aspects that Westerners
had to contend with, and kings certainly did rule and procreate, but
by and large this image of Africa was false. Chapter four in yourbook explores how some African Americans confronted these no‐tions via stage plays, and illustrates how influential arts can be when
assaulting a culture’s dominant discourse. Whether the plays were
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successful or not matters little; their existence stands as a testament
to a changing tide in African American sentiment, one that wiped the
lens clean of white bigotry.
I spoke briefly of emigration in class, and my thoughts on it
are as muddled as ever. Cugoano certainly saw the predicament
black people were being swayed into when the first ships sailed for
Sierra Leone, and the American Colonization Society is the antithesisof a morally pristine charity, further cementing Cugoano’s fears.
There was nothing graceful or humble about the intentions of thosewho advocated for freed blacks to emigrate from the United States,
and there was nothing punctual or organized about the logistics of
transportation or colonization. For all intents and purposes, emigra‐
tion and colonization were synonyms for the plunder of Africa, andboth represent breeding grounds for corruption and mismanage‐
ment. As for the people that partook in emigrating, I feel as if theyleft one country that did not want them and found another that did
not need them. It is hard for me to sit here and question their mo‐tives for leaving America, for in the face of racism, inequality, lynch‐
ing and political marginalization I cannot fault a man or woman for
seeking asylum elsewhere. In reality, I’m surprised that violent up‐
heaval was not more commonplace in the South. It would have beenbloody and unnecessary, but justified.
Emigration presents an interesting argument: does a margin‐
alized person flee from the land that marginalizes them, or does heor she fight to change the cultural and societal landscape, hit the
problem head on, and assault those who stand opposed? It is a ques‐
tion that I am not equipped to tackle. To run, whether from defeat or
in search of respite, corrodes social progress. To stay and fight
strengthens the resolve of the enemy, confirms their suspicions, and
forces tumult. Douglas argued that freed blacks should stay in Amer‐ica and fight, a position that I find to be more manageable, if not
more righteous, than emigrating. Sheppard and Delany (occasional‐ly) argued the opposite. I have to reiterate: the end of reconstruc‐
tion saw the South return to slavery, if only by another name, and
had those in power actively working to disenfranchise, if not eradi‐
cate, free black Americans. How do you fight that? And how can yourun from it when such sentiments are firmly engrained in the Ameri‐can psyche?
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In the end I see no clear answer. In the mind’s eye emigration
is painted with wide, disingenuous strokes, and highlighted with far‐
cical tones. It seems as if it were nothing more than a ploy to get rid
of freed black people. However, proponents like Alexander Crum‐
mell and William Sheppard describe Africa as a land steeped in beau‐
ty and riches, a place ripe for cultivating a black Christian nation that
could rival America. How could one deny this possibility? How couldone balk at such an idealized future? In the end, however, Africa
would not be transformed into some Afro‐Christian superpower; ra‐ther, it would be divided and sectioned off, like a golden pie, and
served to European countries whose sole intention was to gorge on
it. It would be given to people like King Leopold and others of simi‐
lar ilk.This can be quick and dirty: King Leopold was a prick. He rep‐
resents all that is wrong with government leadership. How do suchmen rise to power? Why is necessary that those who lead countries
be sociopathic assholes, devoid of humanity, hell bent on power andgreed? What creates these men, and what festers in their soul?
Honestly, he reads like some James Bond villain, or Orwell’s Big
Brother, or Koestler’s No. 1. I have to constantly remind myself that
I am reading historical accounts and not some political thriller.There was a lot of talk about social Darwinism during this time, and Ican think of no greater antagonist to this already feeble hypothesis
than King Leopold. He demonstrates that power and prestige arenot won with merit, but with nepotism, deceit and murder, qualities
that make him more a savage than the people he bled in the Congo.
I am finding it hard to put a wrapper on this reaction paper. I
have ignored large topics, including: the conditions immigrants met
in Sierra Leone and Liberia, Paul Cuffe and his involvement during
the infancy of the emigration movement, Thomas Jefferson and hisabsurdly malignant plan to “eliminate future breeders”, and I cer‐
tainly missed a prime opportunity to further explore the cartoonish‐ly immoral American Colonization Society. On top of that I cut about
a thousand words that drunkenly wobbled into the realm of philo‐
sophical bullshit, paragraphs that attempted to explore the origins of
evil and the ethical principles of utilitarianism and egoism. Again, Ifound myself emulating others, spouting ideas that were never myown.
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I suppose there is no logical end for this paper. The ideas that
exist here will bleed into the next reaction, and I have no doubt that
in a couple of weeks you’ll be reading another collection of words
that attempt to cobble together this historical narrative. I apologize
for the length and promise to be more active in culling the more su‐
perfluous tangents.
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For Black America & Africa, Spring 2013
am still not sure what to make of Marcus
Garvey. Is he a prophet, as the Rastafarians
claim, or is he a dedicated grifter, setting up
pyramid schemes like the Black Star Line
only to extract money from the poor? It is
hard to classify a man who is so revered yet
stumbled so many times. His United NegroImprovement Association certainly had de‐
signs on uplifting poor black African Ameri‐
cans, and he did firmly fix his eyes towards
the Western shores of Africa, where Liberia
stood on the precipice of Black Nationalism, but the methods he em‐
ployed to convey these designs were often times marred by poor
leadership. However, does this detract from the message he propa‐
gated through books and newspaper articles? Are his shortcomingsthe epitaph for the movement, or can Garveyism transcend these
faults and rally on into new generations?
Garvey’s message of “Africa for the Africans” appealed to all
permutations of African Americans, but his following mainly consist‐
ed of the under‐privileged. This makes his appeal for money (in the
form of stocks) a bit suspect. I understand that his jail sentence and
deportation was largely political, but the single instance of defraud‐
ing a man for 25 dollars seems indicative of a larger problem—thathe would ask for and misspend money from people who had little to
offer other than hope. The Black Star Line is one example of how
Garvey was able to defraud his followers in the name of sensational‐
ism and spectacle. Garvey seems to exude this palpable bravado,
never deviating from the pomp and circumstance of public demon‐
stration or from the trivial titular endowments he was so fond of
(Provisional President of Africa?). His conquest for racial unity and“Africa for the Africans” seems steeped in naiveté, probably a conse‐
quence of him never visiting Africa (or from misinformation on the
topic). Furthermore, his personal views concerning black people
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seem to contradict his message; if the majority of “his” people “are in
darkness and are really unfit for good society” how can they rule Af‐
rica for themselves? If his intentions were to uplift them (which, I
suppose, they were), you only need to look at Liberia as an example
of what black immigrants “uplifted” in a Western culture will do
when tasked with colonizing their Motherland. To make matters
worse, Liberia, the one foothold America had in Africa, did not want
Garvey or his ideology to penetrate its borders.
Garvey’s faults become even more apparent when examining
his personal life, particularly his romantic endeavors. By all ac‐
counts Garvey had great taste in women: strong, independent, intel‐
ligent, motivated, and free from the mold of subservience. And by all
accounts Garvey had great trouble with women: the qualities thatinitially sparked his attraction were moot when marriage entered
the equation. Amy Ashwood, his first wife, found this out the hard
way. He abandoned his second wife, Amy Jacques, when he traveled
to Britain. Both women embodied the feminist movement of the late
19th to early 20th century, when cultural and social inequalities ap‐
plied to both white and black women. Ashwood’s involvement in
creating and organizing the UNIA illustrates the influence feminism
had over Garvey during his early years, and her intimate involve‐ment in the organization, even after (supposedly) divorcing Garvey
stands as a testament to her dedication to the cause.
Aside from these criticisms, Garvey’s message to African
Americans was one of profound truth. He, like other prominent
black figures of the time, rightfully advocated for all forms of equali‐
ty, and his U.N.I.A. justly argued for rise of a black nation (even if
Garvey’s own designs for said nation were “vague”, as Sundiata put
it). Furthermore, as Vinson points out in his chapter “The Rise of
Marcus Garvey and His Gospel of Garveyism in Southern Africa”,
Garvey also “demanded freedom for the people of India and Ireland
and all other colonized lands”. He was not afraid to rattle the cage,
so to speak, which is probably why he drew so much attention from
Hoover and the F.B.I.
I think it is apparent that Garveyism was able to transcend
the failings of Garvey. I suppose all movements are shaped in a simi‐lar manner: via the distillation of basic principles. I am reminded of
Occupy Wall Street, which despite being a failure on the frontline
planted its seed in the American psyche, assuring that its sentiments
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would live on. Garvey assured his gospel would rise above his per‐
sonal defects by basing his assertions in clear truth. His anticolonial
ideologies would live on in the early Rastafarian movement, where
he would be described as a prophet, his divinity second only to Se‐
lassie.
Like Marcus Garvey, W.E.B. Du Bois is a hard man to catego‐
rize. Early on in life he viewed Africa in burnished shades of racial
divergence, advocating for “self‐segregation” and “separate but
equal” treatment of blacks. To Du Bois, black Africans were crea‐
tures driven by emotion rather than logic, a quality that lent beauty
and romanticism to native Africans, and one that stood out as sepa‐
rate from white men. It also reinforced the idea that skin color is
correlated with expectations of cognizance, an argument that, in myopinion, only pushes the racist conceit of human speciation further
into the collective white mindset. Even when working and living in
Liberia, Du Bois directed most of his attention to the controlling set‐
tler class, further illustrating, if not accepting, the cavernous divide
between the indigenous population and those in power.
Liberia held promise for both W.E.B. Du Bois and Marcus Gar‐
vey. It served as a staging ground for the whole of Africa, and if suc‐
cessful would bolster their impassioned ideas of a successfully runblack government. Early on Du Bois used religious mysticism to pos‐
it black solidarity, relying on specific scriptures and divine authority
to rally supporters. It was not until later in his life when the common
threads of oppression and global enslavement wound around the
diaspora. This, perhaps, allowed Du Bois to see Liberia in terms of
social and political terraforming—as a piece of the Motherland that,
with his ingenuity and support, could be sculpted into the penulti‐
mate black nation, the last stop on the road to a unified Africa. Never
mind the corruption, stemming from both the colonial government
Liberia adopted and the divide between Western immigrants and
native Africans. Never mind the greed, the missing funds from loans,
or the complete mismanagement of assets. Let us just forget about
the Firestone Rubber Company steamrolling through, effectively en‐
slaving a nation founded by the enslaved, a deal Du Bois helped to
fruition. If we could only see around these innately human forms ofexploitation and demoralization, we could position Liberia as the
centerpiece of global black power.
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Du Bois knew of the corruption taking place in Liberia and
remained silent, evidence that he was either party to it, or indiffer‐
ent. Liberia was rife with forced slavery, rape, and open rebellion.
The conditions were so amiss that American officials attempted to
paint the Firestone Rubber Company as a victim of Liberia’s social
decay, unable to conduct legitimate business in a country ravished
by corruption. Du Bois even blamed Africans for the inception of the
transatlantic slave trade, the point in time that he knew to be the
framework for the African diaspora. Thankfully, George Shuyler
was around to contend with Du Bois’ combative conjecture. He lifted
pockets of truth from Liberia and exposed them to his readers, al‐
lowing a more transparent discussion to take place. His advocacy of
colonial over indigenous rule in Liberia, while controversial in itsown right, spoke to the corruption that permeated every nook of the
government.
In many ways DuBois and Garvey were similar. They both
sought freedom from, if not the abolition of white supremacy the
world over. They both conceived of a solidified black nation existing
in Africa—a nation capable of self‐preservation without the support
of Europe or America. They both inspired masses of African Ameri‐
cans to reinterpret their conceptions of Africa and its native people(DuBois more so). And both made considerable missteps along the
way. Yet they hated each other, squabbling over ego, jabbing each
other with childish insults and public mockery. The foundation of
black solidarity, built and supported by both men, seems to crumble
under such behavior. Here we have two giants working towards
similar goals, yet unable to collaborate or even discuss their differ‐
ences in a civilized manner. It all seems silly and pointless.
Du Bois describes Africa and its native people as beautiful.
The popular movement to “uplift” Africa from heathenish darkness
was lost on Du Bois, who viewed Africans through a lens of pride.
Ethiopia’s triumph over Italy in 1896 had a similar effect on African
Americans, who were able to look across the sea with contented eyes
as members of their race defeated an invading white army, illustrat‐
ing how war has the ability to inspire solidarity. Similarly, when
Mussolini came looking for retribution in the early 1930’s AfricanAmericans were again able to rally around Ethiopia as a beacon of
racial pride.
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James Meriwether’s “Proudly We Can Be Africans” throws so
much history at you in the first two chapters that I have to wonder if
each paragraph could be extrapolated into its own book. There are
certainly some odd bits thrown in there: white people claiming Ethi‐
opians as members of their own race, the protracted pleas from Afri‐
can Americans as they petitioned the impotent American govern‐
ment to show support for Ethiopia, and the role of communism in
reshaping the struggle for black solidarity. African Americans, it
seems, met with opposition every time they moved to support Ethi‐
opia, culminating in a level of frustration I cannot even imagine.
They wanted to volunteer their service to the Ethiopian army but
were blocked and threatened with denaturalization or jail time.
They wanted to send aid and supplies, but only a few charities werelegitimate, the others existing to con people of their money (none of
which were charged!?). Competing newspapers argued about the
level of involvement African Americans should take in the war (if
any), at least one of which doubled back on their position and then
conveniently forgot the path they tread. The general lack of re‐
sponse from the American government prompted many African
Americans to question Washington’s political motivations, some
claiming America wanted Italy to win, effectively forging an allianceagainst Hitler.
As Meriwether points out, the turn‐of‐the‐century idea that
Africa needed European colonialism to uplift its people began to dis‐
sipate as African Americans investigated and read more about the
continent. The fact that Ethiopia was able to stand united against a
foe was, according to The Courier , enough to inspire African Ameri‐
cans to unite. I still do not fully understand Mussolini’s reasoning for
invading Ethiopia, other than retaliatory. Was it that easy to sell war
to the Italians: revenge for a battle lost nearly 40 years ago? Where
was their outcry? Where was their opposition?
Then the Nazis come swooping in with their notions of racial
superiority. For all of America’s faults—their history of slavery, the
American Colonization Society and emigration, Jim Crowism, segre‐
gation, lynching, and so on—I am honestly surprised that America
did not carry Hitler’s torch as he cut swaths through Europe andRussia. I suppose it speaks to the changing mentality in the States,
especially concerning racial superiority and communism, the emerg‐
ing menace to freedom.
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So let me get this straight: America fought against fascism and
communism, and today we fight against socialism. Is there any –ism
we won’t fight? Moreover, in fighting against communism America
decided it was better to allow European countries to keep their col‐
onies in Africa rather than let newly independent nations develop
their own forms of government, some of which may have been com‐
munist. That rationale seems broken. Why would America fear the
development of communism in Africa? As Meriwether points out,
Washington had little interest in Africa South of the Sahara, so why
the concern?
For me, a lot of this information is lost in translation. I can
see why Russia was a threat to our survival, just as any nuclear pow‐
er is, but communism seemed to have a place in American politicsduring the 30’s and 40’s, when many black activists supported Marx‐
ist interpretations. Furthermore, the fact that Washington began to
question Jim Crowism only when segregation was used as anti‐
American propaganda shows how reputation took precedence over
equality. Both of these chapters weave a story of African American
pleas falling on deaf ears, and that the speed and moral “uplifting” of
Washington was motivated solely by the machinations of politics,
war, and imagined “red” threats in Africa.
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For Black America & Africa, Spring 2013
n 1948, we find the notions of white su‐
premacy transfigured into government pol‐
icy. How Malan was able to sell apartheid to
anyone is disconcerting in itself; however,
the fact that he nearly doubled his majority
in Parliament in 1953 indicates that white
South Africans were supportive of apart‐heid’s inherent racial bias. In general, this
seems like a fundamental problem arising
from the construct of race. More specifical‐
ly, the (mostly) nonviolent opposition aris‐
ing from the Defiance Campaign worked against the fight for racial
equality; the government was able to portray opposition to apart‐
heid as savage pro‐communism. Furthermore, America made it clear
to the world that communism in any form was the real enemy tofreedom and democracy, therefore providing justification for color‐
ing anyone who opposed Malan and apartheid in the most fervently
anti‐democratic shade of red.
America’s indifference to apartheid went beyond cold war
anti‐communist rhetoric and supplanted the fundamental ideals of
democracy with the need for strategic material goods. America
needed uranium, and South America had plenty of it. This seems to
be a problem birthed by global markets, and one no longer unique toAmerica. America needed uranium to build nuclear weapons during
the cold war, so it ignored racial inequality in South Africa as a
means to obtain it. Today, America needs a variety of transitional
and rare metals to produce iPhones, computers, weapons and so on,
so we ignore the racial inequality, human rights violations, and vio‐
lent conflict arising from their acquisition. The convenience and im‐
mediacy afforded by these products far outweighs the destructionleft in their wake. Capitalism wins again.
As well, the marginalization and denial of civil rights to Afri‐
can Americans at home severely limited Washington’s willingness or
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ability to criticize South Africa’s raced‐based legislation. America’s
lack of criticism provided the Soviets with even more propaganda.
African Americans were quick to respond: they argued that apart‐
heid contributed to the rise of communism in South America, and
that American intervention could subdue or eliminate communist
tendencies amongst the non‐white races. Still, America walked the
middle ground, ignoring South Africa’s perversions of democracy in
order to maintain a profitable and strategic relationship. The irony is
clear: America allowed the degradation of democracy to proliferate
through its African ally while at the same time presenting it to the
world as only viable vessel for freedom. With this understanding,
Soviet propaganda transforms into factual statements.
The tragic events of Sharpeville set apartheid on a globalstage, and forced America to make a public statement concerning
South Africa’s treatment of Africans. Yet even in the wake of this
massacre, Eisenhower reaffirmed his lackadaisical attitude towards
apartheid and assured South Africa that America would continue to
support white rule. This illustrates two things: that America needed
colonial power in South Africa to continue unabated, and that the
U.N. was/is entirely ineffectual in promoting its own mission state‐
ment. African Americans convened in several congresses to pressureWashington and the U.N. to condemn racial discrimination in South
Africa. Nothing occurred. Again, the threat of communism took prec‐
edence over the freedom, welfare, and now lives of black Africans.
The U.N. was complicit with this course, showing that American con‐
cern far outweighed peace and human rights in South Africa.
Despite these mixed messages from Washington, and despite
Sharpeville putting apartheid and white supremacy on a global
stage, many African Americans still viewed Africa as a dark continent
in need of uplifting. The fact that the black press continued to per‐
petuate this viewpoint during the Defiance Campaign stands as a tes‐
tament to the persuasive power of American propaganda. Thankful‐
ly, the Mau Mau and Nkrumah stood poised to challenge the status
quo, forcing America’s reconceptualization of Africa, its native peo‐
ple, and her colonial interlopers.
The British, in an apparent conquest to colonize the entireglobe, went to Kenya and did what they do best: plant flags in foreign
soil and pillage what is ripe and fruitful. As to be expected, the native
inhabitants, united under the Mau Mau movement, fought back, jus‐
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tifiably invoking violence in place of the (mostly ineffectual) civil
disobedience displayed by the Defiance Campaign. Like apartheid,
African Americans framed the Mau Mau movement as an anti‐
colonial fight against white supremacy. Unlike apartheid, it adopted
a militant comportment, and chose blood as its fuel.
Unsurprisingly, America was hesitant to challenge colonial
powers at a time when support against communism was valued
more than upholding democratic principles, and chose to remain in‐
different to or supportive of Britain’s actions in Kenya. Essentially,
ending white rule was deemed harmful to the fight against those
commies. Furthermore, the notion that native Africans had only just
come down from the trees permeated the government’s psyche, af‐
firming their belief that a colonial‐ruled Africa was far better than anative‐ruled Africa. African Americans had a different perspective,
viewing the Mau Mau’s struggle for land and freedom as an anti‐
colonial endeavor, and perhaps for some, a violent parallel to their
own struggle for equality. Since many African Americans saw com‐
munism as supporting racial equality, they argued that colonial rule
and white supremacy in Africa necessitated the adoption of com‐
munist ideals. America, not wanting to make waves in their democ‐
racy‐for‐all kiddie pool, chose to walk the middle ground (just asthey did with South Africa). Again, African American outcry went vir‐
tually unnoticed by Washington.
The violence of the Mau Mau movement stands as the most
glaring point of contention; after all, the violence affected more na‐
tive Africans than it did white invaders. The civil disobedience exhib‐
ited by the Defiance Campaign hindered their cause when Malan
painted their opposition as evidence that South Africa needed even
more race‐based legislation. The Mau Mau movement had a similar
response from America; it reaffirmed stereotypical beliefs that na‐
tive Africans were barbaric heathens. Of course, America was quick
to forget their own violent struggle for land and freedom from a co‐
lonial power. Still, statistics show that the Mau Mau directed most of
their violence towards complicit natives rather than colonial settlers.
This, perhaps, is one reason why African Americans would not open‐
ly support the Mau Mau’s militant tactics; after all, black America’sguiding imperative to end the colonization of Africa and white su‐
premacy the world over could never be measured with piles of black
corpses.
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The Mau Mau movement precipitated new ideas concerning
Africa and its native people. Older notions that painted Africa as an
uncivilized continent began to deteriorate as Mau Mau frustration
boiled over. However, Eurocentric preconceptions of Africa would
not fully wither until the Gold Coast wrestled freedom from Britain,
and Kwame Nkrumah took his seat as the proverbial leader of an in‐
dependent Ghana.
Ghana’s independence inspired many African Americans to
refocus their mental pictures of Africa and its native people. Ghana’s
history of slavery linked many African Americans to its shores, and
many could trace the component lines of the black diaspora to the
Gold Coast. This, coupled with the political thrust Ghana received
when it achieved independence, provided African Americans with anew view of Africa, and perhaps for the first time, showed them tan‐
gible evidence of a united black nation.
Nkrumah emphatically embraced Garveyism, going so far as
to start his own Black Star Line and to adopt the symbol as the cen‐
terpiece for the Ghanaian flag. The ideals embodied in Garveyism
stood forefront in Nkrumah’s vision for Africa, and were important
factors that led many African American to immigrate into Ghana, in‐
cluding George Padmore and W.E.B. Du Bois. In particular, Nkru‐mah’s visit to America (after becoming president) moved many Afri‐
can Americans to reinterpret their notions of Africa, and convinced
others to heed the call to help build the foundation of a unified Afri‐
ca. However, America stood looming in the shadows like a jealous
ex‐boyfriend, ready to sabotage any chance Ghana had for achieving
its vision as if it were a date at the Olive Garden.
The expatriates that came to reside in Ghana during Nkru‐
mah’s rule were unified in nearly every aspect, save for their politi‐
cal ideologies. Most had come as temporary workers, helping to
build up Ghana’s woefully deficient infrastructure, but a few promi‐
nent African American figures did appear, including Julian Mayfield,
Maya Angelou, William Hunton Jr., Preston King and Bill Sutherland.
Most of them had similar stories: troubles in America led them to be
unemployed, blacklisted, or frustrated. Ghana provided them with an
opportunity to work outside the confines of American Southern rac‐ism and white supremacy, and gave them hope for the future of Afri‐
ca. However, the political diversity of these outspoken expatriates
drew the eye of America. The expatriates found themselves in the
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perfect position to criticize America’s internal civil rights struggle,
potentially providing more propaganda to the Soviets. And if we
know one thing about America it is this: they love to hate com‐
munism.
Communism, communism, communism. Boy, America really
hated communism. It makes America look like a one‐trick pony, run‐
ning around the world giving gold stars to countries that embrace
democracy, and conspiring to topple those that did not. Of course,
that is assuming America really did make a concerted effort to raise
opposition to Nkrumah and his idea of nationalism. That is also as‐
suming Nkrumah’s downfall was a result of American meddling, and
not his own paranoia and/or abuse of power. Campbell’s chapter
strongly alludes to a C.I.A. plot to foster dissent, eventually leading tothe coup d’état, but makes no definitive conclusions. Either way,
Ghana never fully achieved the ideals of Garveyism.
The notion that Ghana provided a haven for American expat‐
riates, and therefore a breeding ground for communist propaganda,
likely contributed to America’s exuberance when Operation Cold
Chop succeeded. Perhaps Nkrumah would have never led Ghana into
an age of a United Africa, but in this political game of chess, Ghana
looks the pawn, simply changing hands from Britain to America, andnever given a genuine chance to succeed.
Still, Ghana’s independence became a source of pride for
many Africans and African Americans. Furthermore, Ghana led the
charge of African independence, seeing more than a dozen countries
gain independence only three years after Nkrumah came into power.
Africa certainly appeared to be on the right track. However, Ghana’s
relative ease into independence stands in contrast to the Congo,
where freedom from colonial rule cast the country into tumult.
Meriwether is blunt about the Congo’s history: King Leopold
and the Belgian government enslaved, slaughtered and suppressed
the native people. The horrors of the Congo are tied directly to colo‐
nial rule, providing concrete evidence that colonization only benefits
the colonizer. Even after achieving independence in 1960, colonial
powers still meddled in Congo affairs, afraid that Lumumba would
fall into Soviet hands. The conflict that arose from independence wasa consequence of colonial rule as well; after generations of suppres‐
sion, subpar education for natives, and wholesale enslavement, the
ill‐equipped Congolese grasped the reins of government and
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promptly made of mess of things. African Americans seemed to be
the only ones recognize this fundamental problem.
From America’s point of view, it is the same story: do not let
the fires of communism burn in Africa. To achieve this, America at‐
tempted to keep peace in the Congo via the U.N. What followed
comes as no surprise: more problems. This brings up a strange con‐
tradiction I am currently struggling with: many Americans wish
Washington would mind its business when dealing with foreign af‐
fairs, that we should pull support, either financially or militarily from
those countries we see as potential threats, or from countries we
deem to be “backwards” or in violation of our mores. Others believe
America should be more involved, that our military might has the
ability to keep peace, and that Washington has the bankroll neces‐sary to buy allies and quell disorder (or something to that effect).
Meriwether casts Washington in both lights: as do‐nothings and as
involved meddlers, and in both situations, America looks bad. Any
course America could have taken in either situation would have end‐
ed poorly, and non‐action can certainly carry the same moral weight
as action. I suppose I am just trying to ascertain any semblance of
reason for America acting as it did, or if it was in any way justifiable.
In any event, the mid‐20th century marked many changes forboth Africa and African Americans. Not only had the continent
changed with the rise of independent black‐ruled nations, but Amer‐
ican sentiments towards the continent shifted more towards a posi‐
tion of hope and pride. Nelson Mandela and the defiance campaign,
Nkrumah and Ghana, the Mau Mau in Kenya, and Lumumba in the
Congo all challenged American misinformation concerning Africa,
and corroded the cage that colonization held them in. The success or
failure that any of these movements found was moot: Africa was
changing, and neither America nor their cold war newspeak could
change that.
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For Black America & Africa, Spring 2013
he African diaspora persists throughout
modern society, serving as a perpetual re‐
minder of how the autocratic European ide‐
alism dominant during the Atlantic slave
trade shaped and molded the modern insti‐
tutions that influence black identity and cul‐ture. In particular, the comprehensive
transformation of an African indentured
servant to a European commodity—
including the processes of capture, en‐
slavement and shipment across the Atlan‐
tic—serves not only as a microscope for viewing the enigmatic moral
fabric that insulates the Western world, but also as the fundamental
infrastructure from which the African diaspora is shaped and trans‐ferred through generations.
Stephanie Smallwood, in her book Saltwater Slavery: A Middle
Passage from Africa to American Diaspora explores the logistics and
systematization that buffeted the commodification of people living
on the African continent. The callous and calculated manner in which
European factors stripped enslaved Africans of their cultural, social
and physical identities contributed greatly to a profound sense of
isolation and displacement—emotions which have since calcified
into the constituent pillars of the African diaspora. It was this trans‐
formation—from prisoner to product—that exacerbated and has‐
tened the endemic practices of enslavement and warfare, two innate
African divisions that ultimately drove Atlantic trade.
Michael Gomez makes a similar argument in his article Talk-
ing Half African: Middle Passage, Seasoning, and Language, where he
writes, “. . . the very process of enslavement directly informed therestructuring of the slave’s identity” (Gomez 1998, 154). This re‐
structuring—caused not only by the process of enslavement but also
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36
by the European commodification of the enslaved—marked what
would ultimately become the base of the African Diaspora, and (to
some) still serves as the mechanism by which they disconnect from,
or reject, the Eurocentric identity so prevalent in the Western world.
Like most other commodities, the trade in human beings
takes root in the simple economics of supply and demand, and finds
corruption with the impending allure of greed and gold. As Small‐
wood writes, “. . . for African merchants with insufficient access to
gold, ships like the San Francisco represented an expansion of oppor‐
tunity—a fresh avenue to wealth and power” (Smallwood 2007, 18).
Even in today’s economic climate, where corruption seemingly
knows no bounds, it is hard to imagine that this “fresh avenue” that
led many African merchants toward prosperity was constructed andpaid for with the social, cultural and physical deaths of thousands of
captured Africans. Slaves were treated like disobedient animals:
stripped naked, shackled, and forced to abandon their land, people
and customs. They were branded, both physically and emotionally,
and had their features and physical qualities meticulously recorded
in factory manifestos and shipping logs—distinctions reserved for
cattle or crates of tobacco. Upon reaching the Atlantic coast slaves
were held in prisons, mixed and intermingled with other enslavedpeople from across the continent, further diluting their sense of
community or shared heritage. Every part of their journey was
marked with some kind of death; social death, which worked to as‐
phyxiate the African’s intrinsic cultural fires, took precedence over
physical death, where fleeting moments of pain could end a lifetime
of servitude and suffering. To the African it was the death of their old
identity and the birth of a new one. It was the initiation of a social,
cultural and economic metamorphosis—one that would immutably
thrust them into the margins humanity. As Smallwood succinctly ex‐
plains, “[t]he Atlantic market for slaves changed what it meant to be
a socially, politically, or economically marginalized person” (Small‐
wood 2007, 30).
This experience of commodification had two very unique
consequences: it weakened and dehumanized the enslaved African,
easing their transition from person to product, and it forced an oth‐erwise segregated population of Africans to share in an experience
that, in spite of (or perhaps because of ) the atrocities, inspired a
sense of solidarity. Smallwood elaborates, “[the] Atlantic commodifi‐
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37
cation meant not only exclusion from that which was recognizable as
community, but also immersion in a collective whose most distin‐
guishing feature was its unnatural constitution: it brought strangers
together in anomalous intimacy” (Smallwood 2007, 101). It is in this
warped method of forging unity and intimacy where we begin see
the glinting particles of the African diaspora settle.
The commodification of African people was driven by the
demand of both physical and intellectual labor in South and North
America. European trade facilitated the transfer of African slaves to
the New World, a process that could last for months and could lead
to the deaths of many captives. For the African, the horrid and humil‐
iating conditions aboard the cargo ships often eclipsed those seen on
land, where such obstacles as obtaining food, water, and physicalspace were, at the very least, easier to tackle. The death and dirt and
rape experienced by those who survived the voyage—those who
reached the New World and were sold at market—only strength‐
ened the solidarity within their community. In fact, the emotional
devastation was strong enough to send out a generational reverbera‐
tion, affecting the offspring of their offspring, the kin of their kin, and
the multitudes of African descendants the world over. Gomez inter‐
jects with similar insight, writing, “[t]he means by which they weretransported was of such violence, the anguish they suffered of such
depth, that their memory was veritably seared into the conscious‐
ness of both the African and her African‐born progeny” (Gomez
1998, 164).
This generational bleed‐through is evidenced in the writings
of Stuart Hall, whose own struggle with isolation and identity shed
light on the far‐reaching consequences of the Atlantic slave trade.
Although Hall had no direct relationship with Africa, his writings and
ideas about identity focus and reflect how the years of colonialism
brought on by the Atlantic slave trade affected his conceptual under‐
standing of the diaspora, and how it influenced his intellectual pur‐
suits. In Hall’s interview with Kuan‐Hsing Chen, appropriately titled
The Formation of a Diasporic Intellectual , he writes, “[g]radually, I
came to recognize I was a black West Indian, just like everybody else,
I could relate to that, I could write from and out of that position”(Chen 1996, 489). This recognition served as the base for his intel‐
lectual development while living and studying in England, and com‐
pelled him to view the African diaspora as a composite of cultural
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duties, eventually leading to his involvement in various like‐minded
organizations.
Hall further expands on this concept in his article Cultural
Identity and Diaspora, where he writes “. . . our cultural identities re‐
flect the common historical experiences and shared cultural codes
which provide us, as 'one people', with stable, unchanging and con‐
tinuous frames of reference and meaning, beneath the shifting divi‐
sions and vicissitudes of our actual history” (Hall 1994, 393). Here,
his writing clearly illustrates how black identity is fashioned from
the African diaspora and its irrefutable cultural impact, a conse‐
quence of their “common historical experiences”.
The African diaspora envelopes, motivates, and edifies people
from every corner of this planet. Luminaries such as President Bar‐rack Obama and Maya Angelou, both of whom reconnect with an Af‐
rica lost to slavery, stand as a testament to the objective existence of
a group whose connective tissue is wrought in iron shackles and
branded by the immoral enterprise of European capitalism. The
practice of slavery is, in itself, a seemingly timeless part of world his‐
tory, but the methods employed during the transatlantic slave trade
were so visceral and affective that the resulting diaspora was, in
both its worldly breadth and cultural profundity, unparalleled. Itsability to change and alter the consciousness of the individual cas‐
cades into the political and economic realms, affecting laws, local
economies, neighborhoods, and, more importantly, the dominant
perceptions of race and identity. To say that slavery had an impact
on the African diaspora would be a disservice to the documentation
presented by Smallwood and Gomez—slavery is the reason for the
diaspora, the sole progenitor, the only god it knows.
Furthermore, the addendums of slavery—that is, the capture
of warring tribesmen and women, the deadpan commodification of
human beings, and the excremental (among other) horrors of the
transatlantic voyage—firmly grasp the African diaspora and thrust it
into the modern age, assailing Eurocentric preconceptions and chal‐
lenging historiographical authority. It gives the diaspora the ether
needed to live and thrive, the metaphysical fuel to rocket it into the
stratosphere of human consciousness, and it red‐lines humanity’scapacity for compassion and understanding. It shapes and molds the
identities of everyone it touches, regardless of whether or not they
recognize it. It defibrillates the intendment of the dead and enlight‐
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39
ens the living, allowing the world to glimpse truths that would oth‐
erwise remain embalmed in the archives of European history. It
serves as a rough‐hewn integument for the African diaspora, collect‐
ing and unifying people into one worldly body; and like all epidermal
canvases it grows calloused and strong with time, like a living,
breathing scar raised on the shoulders of Atlas. It is unwavering, un‐
relenting, and perhaps for some, it is the incontrovertible definition
of life itself.
References
Chen, Kuan‐Hsing. 1996. "The Formation of a Diasporic Intellectual."In Stuart Hall: Critical Dialogues in Cultural Studies, by Kuan‐Hsing
Chen and David Morley, 484‐503. London: Routledge.
Gomez, Michael E. 1998. Exchanging Our Country Marks. Chapel Hill:
University of North Carolina Press.
Hall, Stuart. 1994. "Cultural Identity and Diaspora." In Colonial Dis-
course and Post-Colonial Theory: A Reader , by Patrick Williams, 392‐
401. London: Havester Wheatsheaf.
Smallwood, Stephanie. 2007. Saltwater Slavery: A Middle Passage from Africa to American Diaspora. Cambridge: Harvard University
Press.
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For Black America & Africa, Spring 2013
frica for the Africans” wrote Marcus Garvey
in a poem of the same name, invoking an
African nationalist pathos at a time when
colonial rule dominated the continent.
Though Garvey never visited Africa, his
gospel carried across the Atlantic as a prel‐ude to the anti‐colonialist movements that
would redefine Africa’s role in world affairs.
With Garveyism as its driving doctrine, Afri‐
ca saw the rise of nationalism and its evolu‐
tion into a struggle for independence in the
early to mid‐20th century, when America’s pro‐colonial Cold War
stratagems dominated world politics. Such stratagems defined these
nationalist movements as anti‐democratic and pro‐communist, fur‐ther delineating America’s need to suppress black independence
movements as an artifice for world peace. As a result, anti‐colonial
movements, including South Africa’s Defiance Campaign, Kenya’s
Mau Mau uprising, Lumumba’s rise to power in the Congo, and Gha‐
na’s procurement of complete independence, were stifled by Wash‐
ington’s Cold War agenda.
Though the inception of mass Black Nationalism and African
suffrage movements point to Garvey’s unified Africa doctrine, it was
Kwame Nkrumah’s ascension to political power in 1957 that truly
catalyzed the transduction of colonial disunity throughout the Afri‐
can continent, extending its nationalist objective to Kenya, the Congo
and South Africa. Nkrumah’s elucidation of Garveyism found its
footing at the Fifth Pan‐African Congress in 1945, where he evange‐
lized a non‐violent Gandhist program that “. . . centered round the
demand for constitutional change, providing for universal suffrage”(Northrup 2008, 101). In the following years, this pacifist articula‐
tion of African nationalism assailed the Gold Coast’s political arena,
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annexed Britain’s colonial hold on the region, and heralded Nkrumah
and his Convention People’s Party (CPP) as auspicious leaders of an
independent Africa. Although Nkrumah’s commitment to Garveyism
waned as his newly independent Ghana grew more authoritarian,
the abrogation of its colonial interlopers reignited strong African
American solidarity, roused prospects of a United Africa, and exem‐
plified how nonviolent political agitation can erect routes to inde‐
pendence.
While Nkrumah led Ghana into the proverbial spectrum of
world politics, America’s anti‐communist agenda provoked move‐
ments to asphyxiate anti‐colonial rebellion throughout Africa. Ghana
soon found itself embroiled in war over political theory; the freedom
it provided to American expatriates, some of whom extolled the ide‐als of communism, roused alleged C.I.A subversion tactics, eventually
leading to Operation Cold Chop, the coup d’état that fell Nkrumah’s
reign as Ghana’s president for life. As James H. Meriwether writes in
“Proudly We Can Be Africans”, “Ghana, the most important symbol of
an ascendant Third World for African Americans, pushed black
Americans away from the Cold War‐influenced anticommunist rhet‐
oric and mindset of the early 1950’s” (Meriwether 2002, 165). The
purging of blind pro‐American support by disenfranchised expatri‐ates had the potential to cultivate Soviet propaganda, and threatened
Washington’s campaign for freedom and democracy. The coup not
only ousted Nkrumah and the CPP, but also adjoined Ghana’s politics
with America’s Cold War agenda.
Anti‐America propaganda stemmed from the country’s inter‐
nal civil rights struggle, when black America’s plight for racial equal‐
ity aligned more harmoniously with the communist model, and pro‐
vided the Soviet Union with ample propaganda. James Campbell
writes, “. . . the course and progress of the American civil rights
movement was inextricably bound up with the global propaganda
war waged between the United States and the Soviet Union. What‐
ever their private feelings about racial equality, American policy
makers understood that Jim Crow undermined the U.S. internation‐
ally” (Campbell 2006, 348). The appeal of communism to black
America, and to newly independent African nations, exasperatedAmerica’s involvement in African politics, reaffirming Washington’s
pro‐colonial attitude. Allowing allied European nations to continue
their colonial rule provided a buffer zone against an invasive Soviet
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43
mindshare. As Meriwether points out, “[t]he seeming safety of back‐
ing colonial powers who were Cold War allies continued to override
considerations of truly supporting African independence” (Meri‐
wether 2002, 169). Furthermore, the acquisition of strategic miner‐
als took precedence over burgeoning African Nationalism. Rich ura‐
nium deposits in South Africa and the Congo fueled America’s Cold
War tactics, and suppressed any conspicuous African nationalist
movements.
One such movement, South Africa’s Defiance Campaign—a
nonviolent offensive against apartheid—faltered after colliding with
America’s Cold War objective. Echoing Nkrumah’s Fifth Pan‐African
Congress, the Defiance Campaign adopted Garvey’s ambition of “Af‐
rica for the African’s” and Gandhi’s passive approach to protest.America’s involvement was minimal: Washington officials preferred
colonial‐rule to native‐rule, and South Africa’s abundance of urani‐
um was a far more vital component than eradicating apartheid in the
fight against communism. Furthermore, the Defiance Campaign’s
tenet of racial equality and Black Nationalism posited communist
bias, at least within Cold War dogma, and Washington viewed con‐
tinued colonial dominance as a blockade against a Soviet acquisition
of nuclear materials. Meriwether writes, “. . . [Washington] officialsmaintained much more interest in securing South Africa’s support
for the struggle against communism and in expanding markets for
trade. At this point, and for a long time to come, strategic considera‐
tions trumped any concerns about racial polity” (Meriwether 2002,
97).
Black America’s response to the Defiance Campaign was
largely undivided; the fight against apartheid paralleled their own
struggle for civil rights. The violent tragedy of the Sharpesville mas‐
sacre in 1960, when South African police shot and killed 69 peaceful
protesters, rallied African American support and raised petitions to
the UN. Washington responded, noting, “. . . that criticism voiced in
the UN had the effect of aligning colored nations of the world against
white South Africa while providing a useful subject for Soviet propa‐
ganda against the West. Allying with South Africa linked the United
States to South Africa’s racial policies, damaging American efforts towin the hearts and minds of Third World peoples” (Meriwether
2002, 100). However, Washington’s disinterest in suppressing
apartheid continued unabated, and American criticism against the
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44
South African government remained muted. In the Cold War world,
colonial‐rule held more strategic importance than the rise of African
independence.
Washington’s response to Kenya’s Mau Mau movement elicit‐
ed a similar apathetical attitude. Among the affronts of white‐rule,
Britain’s colonial presence bore the theft of fertile lands, the margin‐
alization of Kenya’s native population, and sparked the violent Mau
Mau movement between 1952 and 1960. Naked aggression over‐
shadowed this decidedly anticolonial uprising and divided African
American opinion, most of whom subscribed to a more pacifist ap‐
proach to independence. As Meriwether explains, “[a]s black Ameri‐
cans grappled with different approaches to gaining rights and free‐
dom, most at this time did not accept, let alone embrace, violence”(Meriwether 2002, 125). Washington’s official stance swayed in fa‐
vor of Britain, an important Cold War ally, and painted the Mau Mau
Uprising as trivial barbarism.
The misrepresentation and/or ignorance of African culture,
an American and European tradition on decline during the 20th cen‐
tury, framed the Mau Mau uprising as detrimental to the West’s Cold
War front. America, not willing to jeopardize a long standing rela‐
tionship with Britain, nor lose Kenya to the Soviets, remained stag‐nant. Meriwether agrees, stating, “American officials in the early
1950s had little desire to end white minority rule, for they saw de‐
colonization as being at odds with their overarching objective of con‐
taining communism” (Meriwether 2002, 128). America’s reluctance
to criticize or dissuade British colonization drew the ire of African
Americans, some of whom saw Mau Mau violence as an eleventh‐
hour melee to reclaim native lands. Petitions and conferences went
virtually unnoticed by Washington.
America’s active involvement in the Congolese nationalist
movement stands in stark contrast to their languid attitude towards
the Mau Mau uprising and South Africa’s Defiance Campaign. When
Ghana’s precedent of sovereignty dominoed across the continent,
taking with it Garvey’s message of a unified Africa, the Congolese re‐
sponded, reclaimed their land from Belgian’s colonial tenure and
elected Patrice Lumumba as prime minister. Despite his public dis‐missal of communism, the turmoil that followed the Congo’s inde‐
pendence prompted American officials to question Lumumba’s
commitment to the Cold War platform. Like South Africa, the Congo
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held strategic caches of uranium, and Washington officials presented
Lumumba’s (perceived) slide towards communism as a threat to
American interests. Embassy officials declared that Lumumba had,
“maneuvered himself into a position of opposition to West, re‐
sistance to United Nations and increasing dependence on Soviet Un‐
ion,” and “to plan on basis that Lumumba government threatens our
vital interests in Congo and Africa generally” (Meriwether 2002,
217). The Belgian government and American CIA assisted the Con‐
golese with imprisoning and executing Lumumba in 1961.
As demonstrated by America’s strict adherence to a Cold War
strategy, as well as Washington’s complete dismissal of the Atlantic
Charter—a pact dedicated to the decolonization of Africa—most na‐
tionalist movements in Africa were portrayed as detrimental toWestern objectives. America’s conceited view of world politics not
only suppressed these movements, but also undermined the very
fabric of democracy purported by its Cold War bravado. America’s
tenets of justice, equality, and freedom were systematically denied to
native Africans as a means to armor itself against Soviet contamina‐
tion. As well, the line between colonizer and colonized became an
important barricade against communist penetration, and Washing‐
ton’s refusal to assist, or even acknowledge, nationalist movementsillustrates that any interest in Africa was purely strategic. Formal
relationships with Africa were relegated to colonial powers, most of
whom had no interest in seeing nationalism blossom. As a result,
Garvey’s message of “Africa for the Africans” stumbled, and Nkru‐
mah’s vision of a “United States of Africa” fell victim to an oppressive
American regime.
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46
Works Cited
Campbell, J. T. (2006). Middle Passages: African American Journeys to
AFrica, 1787-2005. London: The Penguin Press.
Meriwether, J. H. (2002). Proudly We Can Be Africans. Chapel Hill and
London: The University of North Carolina Press.
Northrup, D. (2008). Crosscurrents in the Black Atlantic. Boston: Bed‐
ford/St. Martin's.
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For Black America & Africa, Spring 2013
he first half of this chapter explores severalof the more prominent African Americans
who emigrated to Ghana. The second half
takes a look at the reasons behind the mili‐
tary coup in 1966.
The gold coast gained independence
from Britain in 1957, becoming The Repub‐
lic of Ghana. Many African Americans were
moved by this, primarily due to the historyof the Gold Coast. Kwame Nkrumah was
also viewed as a sort of honorary American,
since he spent near a decade studying at Lincoln University and the
University of Pennsylvania.
While studying in America Kwame was inspired by the works of
Du Bois and Garvey. He would later adopt Garvey’s black star as
Ghana’s national flag, and even create another Black Star Line, whichstill exists today.
Ghana’s political stature shot through the roof when it gained in‐
dependence. The black star symbolism that Kwame adopted had
materialized into something tangible. Finally, there was an inde‐
pendent black nation in Africa, one that held seats at the United Na‐
tions, and one that was seen as a beacon of hope for many African
Americans, most of whom were fighting for civil rights in the States.
However, Ghana’s infrastructure and economy was underdeveloped,and Kwame invited African Americans to come and help out. By
1964 more than three hundred African Americans had immigrated
into Ghana.
A very diverse group came to Ghana, including laborers as well as
artists, writers, actors and teachers, most of whom taught at Univer‐
sity of Ghana. Politically, they were diverse as well, with com‐
munists mixing with socialists, but most supported Kwame, at least
initially. This chapter explores some of the more prominent Ameri‐can figures who settled in Ghana during Kwame’s time as president.
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spent money they did not have, and did not let Maya work. After
moving to Cairo, Maya left him and took a job in Liberia. En route
her son broke his neck in Ghana and Maya decided it would be
best to stay in Ghana and look after her son.
So the idealism Garvey contained within the Black Star, primarily
that of a unified black nation in Africa, never really came to fruition.
Kwame’s leadership rapidly became more authoritarian: he banned
opposition parties, declared himself president for life, and held at
least a thousand political opponents in prison. America was collabo‐
rating with Kwame’s opponents, and there is strong evidence sug‐
gesting that the C.I.A. had informants within the expatriate commu‐
nity, actively working to bring down Kwame.Now, at the time America was putting a spin on the civil rights
movement and the fight for racial equality—essentially claiming
America was on the path of progress and openness. The expatriates
living in Africa posed a threat to this, as they were in an ideal posi‐
tion to slow that spin, and perhaps provide the Soviet Union with
more anti‐American propaganda. The result was an effort on behalf
of the American government to discredit the expats living abroad,
calling them anti‐Americans and delusionists. Campbell points outthe irony in this: 100 years prior to this moment black people were
struggling to claim their American identity amidst movements to
send them back to African, and now, after going to Africa, they were
struggling against claims that they should be more American.
Two events really define the expatriate’s feelings during this
time. The first event coincided with the March on Washington, when
the Politicals organized a march outside the US embassy in a show of
solidarity. The event escalated and ended in a confrontation be‐
tween the Politicals and embassy soldiers. The second event was the
arrival of Malcolm X, who was visiting a number of African countries,
hoping one would introduce a resolution to bring the United States
before the United Nations for is abuse of African Americans. His visit
inspired many of the expatriates, most of whom saw him as the per‐
fect leader for a global black revolutionary movement. However,
Ghana was already starting to fall apart by this time, and any hopethat it would be able to lead this movement were deflated.
The coup d’état (blow of state), dubbed Operation Cold Chop,
happened on the 21st of February, 1966, exactly one year after Mal‐
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colm X was murdered. Going against all recommendations, Kwame
boarded a flight for Hanoi, hoping to broker peace between North
Vietnam and the United States. He heard about the coup as soon as
he landed and quickly returned to Africa, but was unable to reenter
Ghana. The National Liberation Council quickly erased all traces of
Kwame’s leadership, and also affirmed their intentions to bring Gha‐
na in line with American politics, further pushing the idea that Amer‐
ica was intimately involved with the coup.
Most of the expatriates had already left Ghana by the time the
National Liberation Council came rolling in, and those that did re‐
main quickly fled. The only one to remain was Robert E. Lee.
POSSIBLE QUESTIONS Did the presence of the Politicals, or any of the expatriates dis‐
cussed in this chapter, benefit Nkrumah’s Ghana?
Why did so few people immigrate to Ghana when it first became
independent? Ghana seemed to embody the ideals of Garveyism,
which was very popular.
Did Ghana really embody the ideals of Garveyism during Nkru‐
mah’s presidency?
INTRODUCTION
Assigned two article from Northrup’s book that deal with the
ideas, practice and implementation of emigration in Britain and
America. Although they are short articles they do contain quite a
bit of insight into how emigration was being handled, how it was
received, and ultimately, the end goal of it all.
All of the articles are primary sources.
Article 1:3 An Account of the First Black Emigration from Britain to
Sierra Leone
Ottabah Cugoano
Cugoano was a slave in West Africa, the West Indies, and Britain,
where he was later freed.
Essentially, this article is a snapshot of how emigration to Sierra
Leone (around 1787) was being handled in Britain. At the time, the dominant discourse was that emigration was a
noble and honorable gesture—one that was extended to poor
black people.
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Of course, and especially with government, things aren’t always
as they seem. The whole process was fucked. He criticizes Brit‐
ain for not working with the Native Africans around Sierra Leone,
and mentions that the plan for getting blacks in Britain to Sierra
Leone was not well thought out. He mentions that ships were of‐
ten delayed, resulting in the deaths of many blacks aboard due to
cold or illness or just to the general bad conditions of the ship.
We’ve already read descriptions like this in Saltwater Slavery.
So slavery was still occurring in Britain at the time Cugoano
wrote this. The few black people that had become free were hes‐
itant about returning to Africa. He posits that many more black
people would have been receptive to emigration had the fear of
being enslaved again been erased. He claims that prejudiceagainst black people among European and British traders was so
strong that even British ex‐slaves who traveled to Sierra Leone
were not free from their terror. Furthermore, slavery in other
parts of the world, including the newly formed USA, was still go‐
ing strong, and the market for trading in slaves and in the com‐
modification of human beings was as strong as ever. So for some,
returning to Africa meant that they could be captured and sold
into slavery yet again. He ends the article by showing the contradictory nature of the
British government—on the one hand they support creating a
free colony in Africa for black people, and on the other hand they
support their forts and vessels that keep slavery alive. There’s
no consistency to Britain’s moral fiber.
Article 1:7 Annual Report
American Colonization Society’s
So at the start of this article it is mentioned that the supporters of
the American Colonization Society—a group that helped freed
black people get to Africa—consisted of people who were, “genu‐
inely concerned with the welfare of black people” and also
southern slave owners, who really just wanted to get rid of freed
black people, fearing they would rebel and revolt, similar to the
events that took place in Africa. So, despite their ill intentions,we now see slave owners acting as charitable benefactors to the
people they once owned, while still owning others.
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This is like a newsletter to such supporters, explaining how
things are going with emigration and detailing their future plans.
At the beginning they mention how broke they are, but still con‐
tinue to send people over to Liberia. And they’re doing this—and
it just reads this way in the report—because they genuinely care
about the people who wish to return to Africa.
The report details some of their accomplishments, including their
purchase of more land in Liberia, the shuttering of slave markets
in New Cesters and Gallinas, and the positive effects they’ve had
on Liberia’s economy and welfare. In fact, the only negative
point they make concerns ACS’s accumulation of debt—to the
tune of 6,000 dollars, which was spent on a military operation to
end the slave trade at New Cesters. They’re saying that every‐thing is great, we just need more money.
So we see that the ACS was not only concerned with getting black
people to Africa, but were actively engaged in ending slavery.
They go on and list even more accomplishments. And this is
where some problems begin to crop up. They claim that their ef‐
forts have “brought under the canopy of Liberian law more than
80,000 hitherto wild and untutored savages . . .” What they have
done is brought America to Africa—they’ve colonized Liberiawith their Eurocentric arts and humanities, laws and ideas of jus‐
tice, and with their language and religion. In particular, religion
is important for the ACS, as they describe Africa as, “a land
shrouded in the deepest heathenish darkness”.
They also show their hand towards the end of the report—that
they wish to affect all of Africa in the same manner as Liberia.
They wish to transform it into something else—something more
understandable and relatable to white people. This is, at least in
my opinion, tantamount to the cultural death that African’s expe‐
rienced during the enslavement process—as we read about in
Saltwater slavery.
So in the end we have a group of people who, for the most part
have noble intentions, and who are actively working to erase Af‐
rica off the map and replace it with quasi black America.
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POSSIBLE QUESTIONS
Would emigration have been more popular or acceptable under
different conditions? And if so, under what conditions? Emigra‐
tion, in both Britain and America, got off to a rocky start. Sierra
Leone enjoyed more success than Liberia, but those who re‐
turned to Africa were faced with challenges they were not pre‐
pared for—a different climate, a native population that was not
very accepting of them, and one that most viewed as “wild and
untutored savages”—from Northrup introduction. Perhaps if
black Americans had helmed the emigration initiative there
would have been better results, or more people would have
gone?
Was emigration good for either Africa or America/Britain? Why does religion seem to be so integral to the changing scenery
in Africa, and to American colonization efforts in particular? Was
Christianity good for Africa?
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For Contemporary Urban Issues, Fall 2013 It appears that industrialized nations with
access to health care have always led the
averages of wealth vs. lifespan. Interesting‐
ly, there appears to be some correlation be‐
tween colonized countries and the impedi‐
ment of growing wealth/health. Perhaps
more interesting, countries plagued with
colonial interlopers saw dramatic move‐
ment towards prosperity and health when
given, or upon gaining independence. In re‐
gards to the graph, Africa still lingers towards the origin point, but
continues to push upwards towards the industrialized leaders.
At only 4 minutes, this video presents statistics that practical‐
ly demand our minds to conjure cursory answers; and we can draw
all manner of conclusions from a simple graph. Wealthy countriescan afford to implement social programs that protect its citizens
from disease and poverty, while countries that lack capital and infra‐
structure continue to languish in the margins of insolvency. Im‐
proved health care is derived from advances in science and technol‐
ogy, two academic fields that, perhaps, arise and gain momentum in
countries that have already stabilized their economic and social
growth. We can think in terms of education; that a wealthy populace
is an educated populace, and an educated populace is an enlightenedpopulace. Regardless of the reasoning we apply, such statists only
explain what is happening, not why .
Framing the discussion of equity as a “gap” rather than a “disparity”
plays as an argument in semantics; after all, large gaps in equity (as
defined by Blackwell) create disparities in health, education, accessto employment, and so on. Her assertion that a “language of dispari‐
ties” colors the issue of equity in superfluous tones of race, and that
a language of equity circumvents such issues, is almost immediately
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debunked by the statistics she provides. The equity gap, the “exodus
of fresh food”, and the zip codes deficient in opportunity are all given
racial identities. The base argument here is that some have and
some have‐not. This is the gap, the disparity, the discrepancy, the
inequality that exists throughout all human societies. The language
we use to describe the gap is equity is not always consistent, but the
intent is.
Closing the equity gap is one way to sustain a prosperous fu‐
ture, though I assume we should first understand why the gap exists
to begin with. Why do people self‐segregate based on wealth or suc‐
cess? Why does a zip code define the parameters in which we live?
Why do supermarkets fail or flee from communities rife with inequi‐
ty? Why does opportunity commute away from these pockets of dis‐parity? These “whys” of inequity are better examined by Dr. Camara
Jones, who makes a convincing argument that racism is largely re‐
sponsible for such gaps.
The availability of fresh produce and healthy food can likely
be attributed to the income gap. Food that is inherently healthy is
often more expensive and less energy‐dense than the common fast
food/junk food. If we couple that with a lack of supermarkets and
fresh produce, obesity takes root, further skewing health and life‐expectancy statistics.
So we have a poor zip code, one linked to crime, sub‐par edu‐
cation, health problems, and all around inequity. As a result, or per‐
haps as a contributing factor, opportunity dries up. This made me
question whether opportunity is something given, something
earned, or something created. Simply being born in America can be
considered a given opportunity. Inheriting wealth is a given oppor‐
tunity. But employment, at least in my opinion, is something we cre‐
ate or earn. Higher education is an opportunity we earn (though
more and more it seems as if it is being given away with no fore‐
thought). I wasn’t given a job based on my zip code, but on past per‐
formance, reliability, and hard work. I earned my job, and I continue
to earn it every day. The idea that our zip code is a “proxy for oppor‐
tunity” becomes less relevant when we consider how the internet
and social media play into creating and finding opportunity. You cansit on your couch and search the globe for employment. If we were
to factor in race, as Dr. Jones did, we’d have a better understanding
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of how a zip code can set internalized expectations, and how oppor‐
tunity is affected by that.
Like the Hans Rosling video, we are given the “what” and not
the “why”. We can extrapolate the data and see the sinewy threads of
connective tissue, but we first have to understand why the equity
gap exists before we can address solutions.
Dr. Jones’ presentation was refreshing in its honesty, and entirely
on‐point. We finally get the “why” of inequity. She weaves a compel‐
ling analogy, describing the effects of white privilege, and conclud‐
ing, emphatically, that racism, particularly institutionalized racism,
is responsible for the gap in equity. I agree that addressing institu‐tionalized racism can reverberate through culture and affect both
personally mediated and internalized racism, just as the inception of
institutionalized racism led to their creation.
To squash inequity we first have to address how the media,
how the government, and how corporations perpetuate or remain
willfully ignorant of institutionalized racism. We have to look at
crime, culture, poverty, and education—the flower box (or zip
code)—and admit that it is a response to historical injustice, andhow that historical injustice malforms a person’s, or a people’s, self‐
perception and/or expectations (the internalized racism).
In this light, Angela Blackwell’s discussion is illuminated. It is
an issue of race. And if we want to close the equity gap we have to
be honest and admit, as Dr. Jones did, that institutionalized racism
affects not only the minority group, but the society as a whole.
There were several points in this article that surprised/shocked me,
despite the increasingly conspicuous evidence that it should not:
Party politics aside, the increase in the income‐growth gap caused
under the Reagan administration shows how skewed American poli‐
tics is towards the wealthy/powerful. Even when it became appar‐
ent that cost‐cutting welfare programs was increasing poverty, the
Democratic opposition remained impotent, choosing to focus moreon their own job security than on actual policy. Furthermore, the
programs that were affected by these cuts were squarely aimed at
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younger generations; generations less likely to vote, and who leaned
blue.
Intention speaks volumes, and it is impossible to decipher
whether or not Reagan’s attempt to cut waste and corruption in the
welfare system was done in good faith or in service of further delin‐
eating class warfare and/or discrimination of the “have‐nots”. What
is evident, however, is that once it became clear that these programs
exacerbated poverty, favored the wealthy, and shifted power away
from poorer Americans, the government backtracked only slightly.
As the article mentioned, it is difficult to reinstate funding once it has
been cut.
The factors that led to the recession were a consequence of
global capitalism. Manufacturing jobs, which typically paid highwages to less‐educated people, slunk off to cheaper Asian markets,
where profits margins were given room to grow. That, coupled with
a policy that practically endorsed widening the inequity gap, gave all
the money and power to the 1% of Americans whose lassitude to‐
wards social inequality served as a foundation to further increase
their own wealth and influence. Their disdain for poor people, their
characterization of the poor as system‐gaming thieves, served as in‐
trinsic propaganda—as ammunition to simultaneously bolster theirown position and to strip the poor of their own. They started a war,
not over land or oil, but over the perceptions of poverty.
Some of the cuts in federal spending just didn’t make sense. As stat‐
ed in the article, 70% of all cuts were made to “entitlement” pro‐
grams. As an example, the Reagan administration made cuts to job
training and place programs at the same time manufacturing jobs
were fleeing the country. Where is the logic in that?
As simple as this may sound, a lot of the correlations presented in
this video make sense. Higher income and better education lead to
longer, less‐stressful, and healthier lives. Racial discrimination in‐
creases stress, leads to disease, and shortens life expectancy. The
environments we live and development in serve as the mold for our
future endeavors, and set an almost tangible limit on level of educa‐tion, income, and stress (amount of cortisol). The social determi‐
nants for health and life expectancy seem inextricably bound to in‐
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come, race, and social class. Biologically speaking, the neighbor‐
hoods we live in, the food we eat, the pressure we feel from subser‐
vience, and the challenge we face in providing for ourselves and fam‐
ily, are all dominant factors that either increase or decrease the
wear‐and‐tear on our cells, organs, and, ultimately, our health.
When the Bough Breaks
The life‐course perspective, combined with institutionalized
racism, appears to be the culprit for the high infant mortality rates
among African Americans of all income levels. Some of this infor‐
mation was touched on in the previous video; higher levels of corti‐
sol, via stress from racial discrimination, leads to all sorts of detri‐
mental biological effects, including decreased blood flow to the pla‐
centa. This stress (from institutionalized racism) is cumulative andindependent of social status.
Particularly disturbing was Harvard’s study of racism, show‐
ing that black males with no criminal record were less likely to be
given a job than a white male with a felony. This should serve as a
wake‐up call to the 70% of white Americans who think racism and
discrimination are things of the past. It is engrained in the culture,
proliferated by the media and corporate conglomerates, and then
passed off as extinct dogma within an alleged progressive society.Becoming American
There are several interesting points within this video:
Culture and community factor in greatly when comparing rel‐
ative health amongst poorer demographics. Culture acts as a protec‐
tive integument for recently immigrated Mexicans, but slowly
sloughs off as they become more and more Americanized. This
seems to point back to Dr. Camara Jones’ speech on personally medi‐
ated and internalized racism. As immigrants integrate into Ameri‐
can culture their internal perceptions of race begin to contort and
deform into the qualities ascribed by institutionalized and personal‐
ly‐mediated racism. This, in turn, creates increased levels of stress
and mental illness (depression and anxiety), which leads to an over‐
all decrease in health. That sense of community and culture degrades
as more time is spent in America, and that protective integument
slowly disintegrates. This leads to social isolation—or the Americanstandard of living.
Furthermore, living and surviving in America is qualitatively
different than in Mexico, and puts more pressure on parents to pro‐
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vide adequate housing and food for their children. These children,
then, develop a greater risk for mental health problems as the cul‐
tural metamorphosis takes place.
Some of these entitlement quandaries were discussed in the Poverty
and Power chapter. The woman who feared that acquiring a job
would lead to a loss of health coverage is part of a system designed
to punish the poor. Essentially, government policy teaches us that
remaining unemployed and poor is a better alternative to working
some minimum wage job with no benefits. If government sponsored
health coverage covered such industrious people those fears would
begin to evaporate. Instead, the system, which was sold as a solutionto poverty, ultimately feeds into and widens the gap in inequity.
You touch on a lot of topics that really stuck out to me. To see that
70% of budget cuts were aimed at the poor (excluding the elderly,
who voted and supported Reaganomics), is definitive proof that class
warfare was a driving force behind Republican policy. To punish the
poor, and to design a system whereby staying unemployed is a bet‐
ter alternative to working, is counterproductive and illogical.
You’re also right about sharing the blame. The ineffectualness of the
Democratic Party speaks volumes about the true intentions of most
politicians—mainly, to keep their job, their social status, and all the
benefits that come with that.
And yes, the poverty level was nearly the same when Reagan
exited office as when he came in, but that says more about the gov‐ernment backtracking on a lot of policy changes then it does to
Reagan’s political and social ideologies. Cutting entitlement pro‐
grams was sold as a solution to poverty and government corruption,
and when it backfired people scrambled to fix it.
In regards to the Poverty and Power chapter:
First, judging Reagan based on one aspect of his policy is inconsider‐ate to his presidency as a whole. Second, the poorest of poor Ameri‐
cans—those who were most affected by Reagan’s budget cuts—were
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not only stripped of their social safety nets, but also of their ability to
“ally” and force meaningful change. The budget cuts, 70% of which
were aimed at the poor, shifted money and power to the wealthy
1%. Those living in poverty saw the writing on the wall—getting a
job and working to survive was more of a struggle than staying un‐
employed and collecting assistance. The system punished those who
actually tried by taking away their safety nets, their assistance, and
by partially denying the poor the social services needed to achieve
equity (at least where health is concerned). Thankfully, when it be‐
came apparent that these cuts were detrimental to the poor, and ac‐
tually worsened poverty, some effort was made to reverse policy.
Unemployment declined by the end of Reagan’s second term, but the
shift in wealth had already taken place. Those who were poor werestigmatized, and those who were rich were idolized.
The United States’ military base was indeed a casual factor in the de‐
clining health of the native Marshallese. The cultural erosion, West‐
ernized diets, and substandard urbanization of nearby islands are all
a direct response to a superfluous U.S. presence—a strategic (and
potentially obsolescent) base of operations whose existence seemsmore rooted in Cold War disposition than actual defense. As dis‐
cussed in earlier videos, culture can shield people from the adverse
effects of poverty, but when that culture is abraded in favor of inte‐
gration, the protective qualities dissipate, and health declines.
Emigrating has its benefits: better living conditions, better
education, employment opportunities, and a system of health care
that is equipped to deal with the effects of poverty. The trade‐offcomes in the form of stress, one of many initiators for tuberculosis
and other poverty‐related health issues. Aside from the physi‐
cal/natural differences associated with emigration, the choices the
Marshallese faced when moving to Arkansas were anything but fair.
Colonialism in the form of military occupation is not something the
Marshallese invited or needed, and the extensive, unethical nuclear
testing done on or around the islands is at best duplicitous. Having
to flee your home nation because policy allows a nocuous U.S. to con‐tinue on its path of cultural erosion is not fair or just.
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There are several reasons why the environment we reside in im‐
pacts health. Environmental quality, including air and water, is often
times worse in poorer areas. Individual choices, such as quality of
food, health care providers, and availability or access to a connectedcommunity are limited by the environments in which they live. As
the video clearly describes, a cycle exists whereby poorer neighbor‐
hoods stay poor. Business vanishes, tax revenue falls, school quality
declines, and people move out. Furthermore, the “poverty tax”
makes sustaining a healthy life (quantitatively) harder by overcharg‐
ing people for basic necessities, such as food, cars, and access to
money. That such a “tax” exists is specious and counterproductive.
Violence is prevalent in poorer areas, and children who mature in anenvironment saturated with violence are more likely to develop
stress‐related health and mental problems. Stress as a trigger for
health complications develops not only from violence, but from all
other facets of the environment, including the quality of food, quality
of air/water, and access to affordable, safe housing. The Seattle pro‐
ject described in the video seems to be an excellent way to combat
all issues that relate to health and environment, and it is unfortunate
that more funding is not available to communities that need over‐hauled.
There are two very different stories in this video; capitalism, free
markets and globalization push companies towards higher profit
margins, often at the expense of the “receding” middle class, and the
loss of income has a dramatic effect on stress, depression, and death.Both of these stories support the idea that inequity is one factor that
determines a person’s overall well‐being. In one instance (closing
Electrolux) depression rose, stress levels increased, and death rates
doubled. Additionally, unemployment zaps individual empower‐
ment and autonomy. The title, “Not Just a Paycheck” refers to how
gainful employment can empower a person to live better, eat better,
and decrease health risks associated with living in poverty (mainly
stress and depression). The bigger the paycheck, the more empow‐ered a person is, or can be.
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The comparison between Sweden and the US was rather po‐
etic sophistry; universal health care and unionization are heavily
panned here, socialized education is only tolerable through high
school, and any increase in funding for the poor is immediately la‐
beled as a handout. Moreover, socialism appears to be the new en‐
emy to freedom, and increased taxes are only for the rich. Some of
these sentiments may not make sense, but they are virally propagat‐
ed through the media until popular opinion is saturated with misin‐
formation and/or propaganda. People are convinced that socialized
health care, free access to higher education, and better social safety
nets are, at their core, wrong. The individualistic nature of living in
America cements these opinions, and day‐to‐day life becomes a race
to be a “have” while shrugging off the “have‐nots”, often times at theexpense of the individual.
In this video we again see how social and economic circumstances
influence health. The Pima Native American tribe—one of many
groups victimized by colonization—was economically marginalized
by policies that favored rich white men, particularly where water
was concerned. This lack of water corroded their ability to maintainboth social and economic viability, degraded their culture, and
forced them into a system of “bad sugar” food commodity programs.
In turn, poverty, stress and obesity increased, and blood sugar began
to reflect their cultural degradation in the form of type 2 diabetes.
Again, the issue of empowerment is raised; when access to fresh,
healthy food is removed and replaced with substandard commodi‐
ties, when a culture built on a foundation of cultivation and tradi‐tional healthy eating is dissolved by unfair policy, when water is un‐
fairly distributed to the wealthy/powerful, a person’s empowerment
and autonomy over health and well‐being is severely handicapped.
Individual responsibility (when it comes to health) is not entirely
abrogated by a lack of empowerment, but a person’s choices when it
comes to eating healthy and exercising are limited by the social and
economic environment in which they live.
Thankfully, the video does end on a note of hope, not only forthe return of water to the reservation, but for the future of the tribe.
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The inculturation that occurred within the Pima tribe was the most
disheartening aspect of this video, and shows that it only takes a
couple generations of living under the thumb of “bad sugar” to trans‐
form a culture, cultivate disease (diabetes), and disempower a tribe.The food commodities provided by the government were/are sub‐
standard and counterproductive to the expanding health crisis expe‐
rienced by all displaced people.
You draw an interesting parallel between the Marshallese and Pri‐
ma: mainly that colonization and bad policy are the primary reasons
for bad health and disease (TB and diabetes). The US essentiallytakes over peoples’ land, forces them to adapt to a foreign culture,
irradiates them with poverty and disease, and then sweeps them un‐
der the rug as a statistic. The collateral damage manifests itself not
only physically, but psychologically in the form of stress, depression,
and loss of identity and empowerment. To fix such a problem, which
should fall on the shoulders of the US, is a problem in itself.
You’re right; the environment in which we live affects our health.
But it’s not just the environment quality that determines our health,
but also the access to fresh/healthy food, levels of violence, and ac‐
cess to quality health care. Moreover, poorer neighborhoods tend to
stay poor, as decreased taxes results in decreased funding for
schools, more crime, and a whole host of other factors that deter‐
mine why “place matters”.
The difference between Sweden (and most other European coun‐
tries) and America is, as you accurately describe, the pressure and
responsibility of individuality. If someone falls in the gutter we as‐
sume they did something wrong. If someone is a multi‐millionaire
we assume they are individually responsible. We incorrectly per‐
ceive the social ladder as a tool we climb or fall on our own, and of‐
ten neglect the factors that either prevent people from falling too far,
or those that encourage people to climb farther. An individualistic
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society is often a “for me and me alone” deal, leaving equity to lan‐
guish in the same category as charity.
The history of American housing is couched in terms of “serving thegreater good of society”, while subliminally forging a greater divide
between our notions of class and welfare. Like most American histo‐
ry, affordable housing is planted in shallow soil, corrupt in its con‐
ception, implementation, and consequence. How does a society con‐
trol its population; how can a government benefit from the subservi‐
ence and composed‐naiveté of its people without appearing too ma‐
licious? Fight the poor and reward the rich, that’s how. Let money
determine policy, and let poverty become stigmatized, fossilizedwithin the strata of indifference and alienation. After all, a society
that fuels its engines with money, rather than social liberali‐
ty/altruism, can better compete in the race towards globalization
and mock manifest‐destiny.
The first federal housing program was devised to benefit
businesses. Factory owners had more say in federal policy than the
working man. At first this makes sense: business owners drive the
economy, and having a stable, sedated work forced is both beneficialand necessary for economic growth. The lie crumbles as history agi‐
tates into the present, where the war against the impoverished
transcends any affordable housing debate, and goes straight to chas‐
tisement and neglect. How many millions or billions of dollars can
we cut from welfare programs? How many substandard housing
projects can we force people into? How far can we push people be‐
fore the glinting patina of hope fades into despondency? The equitygap was, and is still, fabricated by many iniquitous federal policies,
and disingenuous housing programs only work to widen it.
I look at the history of this country; I look at congress, the
senate, the house, the president, the lobbyists, the democrats, the
republicans, and the devoted base of proselytized voters and think,
“the spirit/energy/force/emotion/whatever that drives this country
forward is entirely foreign to me”. It is possible for a war on poverty
to be both overt and covert? Can it be both subliminal and con‐scious? Can the poor actually internalize the anti‐poor propaganda
and hate other impoverished people? Can we delude ourselves into
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seeing a façade of wealth, of thinking “poorness” is only a temporary
detour while en route to high society? Policy, politics, and class di‐
vide us. What, exactly, unites us? Some spurious notion of ethno‐
centricity; some waning sense of nationalism when a hurricane de‐
stroys a neighborhood, or when a lunatic opens fire in public? That
which divides us is written in law, and that which unites us echoes in
fleeting emotional reaction. Furthermore, the individualistic nature
of the American Dream asphyxiates any notion of shared responsi‐
bility, and our social principles/mores reflect that. It’s your fault for
being poor, and for having a job that pays minimum wage in an
economy that was tanked and exploited by the wealthy.
The complexity of poverty, as well as the gap in equity, come
from the chain reactions of federal programs and policies that ad‐dress (or at least attempt to address) the factors related to being im‐
poverished. A federal housing program, promoted as a benefit to so‐
ciety, has a series of consequences that eventually influence the evo‐
lution of cities, neighborhoods, and individual lives. We have al‐
ready seen why “place matters” and why one’s zip code can be used
a metric for health, and such places evolve under the strict guidance
of federal and state policy. There is a design to
city/town/neighborhood infrastructure, and that design facilitates adivide in wealth, class, and race.
It’s amazing how the natural progression of society breeds reliance
on others. Will Allen and his family did everything for themselves:
hunted all manner of animal, fished for eels and turtles, slaughteredand butchered pigs, and grew vegetables and crops that fed and sup‐
ported their family. It worked back then; it kept them fed and
healthy, and even though Will cultivated lima beans and animosity
for picking lima beans, his early life provided the blueprints for what
would eventually become his adult ambition. Compare the inde‐
pendence and autonomy offered in his early years to his struggling
market in a contemporary urban environment. He witnessed the
transformation of rural, agricultural areas into an overly‐reliantsuburban arcadia, replete with luxury, devoid of character. He
watched as policy killed off farmers, as grocery stores abandoned
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local producers, and as fresh, healthy food fled from impoverished
black communities. He saw the effects this had on friends, communi‐
ties, and neighborhoods. His struggle to maintain a greenhouse
sanctuary in the face of these dramatic changes caused him to ques‐
tion his life choices, and his good food revolution was nearly a sput‐
tering defeat.
Society changed so fiercely since Will Allen’s childhood that
new generations living in these impoverished areas no longer have a
concrete connection to the self‐determination and self‐reliance that
the Allen family developed. Lack of space and soil has also made
growing healthy food even harder for the poor, and an overabun‐
dance of cheap junk food and fast food has contributed to a culture
of bad health. A good food revolution is just what this countryneeds, and I look forward to reading and discussing more about Will
Allen and his plans to make that happen.
“The Good Food Revolution” ties together several important
contemporary urban issues into one book, and with its main focus on
healthy living for impoverished people, should be read by future
classes. It shows that it is not always easy to maintain health, and
that disparities exist which prevent some from being able to choose
a healthy lifestyle. This is a book with a solution. The solution maynot work for everyone, or may be challenging at times, but the theo‐
retical payoff eclipses the grief and difficulty. Building a better na‐
tion starts in neighborhoods and with individual willing to act for
change, and Will Allen, honestly and equitably, is leading the charge.
The first part of this documentary reinforces the facts and themeswe have already explored in this class: that health and income are
tied together; that obesity and poverty are tied together; that the
food we eat is fundamentally different from past generations; and
the effects of eating this food has contributed to rising levels of heart
disease, diabetes and premature death. I’d love to say that I’m sur‐
prised by this documentary, or that it is eye‐opening or unexpected,
but I can’t. As it plainly shows, America is overweight, and percent‐
ages are up in all levels of income. All it takes to see this reality is tolook at myself, my family, and the people around me. Like many
people, I struggle with weight, bad eating, and habits that promote
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an unhealthy lifestyle. Unless corrected, this will undoubtedly con‐
tribute to health complications now or in the near future.
If anything, this documentary is honest in its assessments.
Obesity is neither a product of genetics or environment; it is a prod‐
uct of both. Obesity has a dramatic effect on live and heart function,
and a simple diet combined with exercise can reverse most negative
effects. Although used for shock value just as much as for education,
the comparison between healthy and unhealthy hearts serves as a
palpable and vivid truth to obesity’s effect on our organs. Even more
vivid: gaining 5% more body weight over the course of a couple
months has powerful and tragic consequences on liver and heart
function. All it takes to increase your chances of heart disease, high
blood pressure or diabetes is a few fast food meals every week.Each case study presented in the second part of this docu‐
mentary illustrates just how different weight‐gain and weight‐loss is
for people. In some cases it is a struggle between what is genetic and
what is environmental; in other cases it is a constant battle against
the factors that trigger over‐eating and bad‐eating (work life, stress,
tragedy, etc.). Work places, such as my own, typically contain soda
machines, and vending machines that dispense candy or other un‐
healthy foods. Healthy alternatives exist, but their availability isdramatically less than the average fast‐food joint or food truck. It
seems much easier and cheaper (and tastier) to drive to the nearest
McDonalds for lunch than it is to hunt out a healthy salad, or a bowl
of vegetables.
In respect to obesity, the way people rationalize their despair
or hope seems fundamental to their success when attempting to live
a healthy lifestyle. Some take control of their diet, while others ig‐
nore or refuse to change their unhealthy habits until it is too late (or
nearly too late). Some even rely on relatively risky surgeries to force
the weight off. In all, the biological changes that occur when a per‐
son becomes overweight/obese essentially stack the deck against
them. It’s amazing that a person who was once overweight will have
to work much harder to maintain a healthy weight than someone
who has always been trim.
What really stands out is this: American living has evolved topromote a sedentary, calorie‐dense, and all‐around unhealthy life‐
style, and the effects are both emotionally and physically traumatic.
Some of the women in this documentary seem to be so emotionally
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affected by their physical health that stress (one of the main factors
that promote obesity) takes control of their eating habits. The mar‐
keting of bad‐food, including soda and other sugary drinks, domi‐
nates the consumer’s mind‐share, and provides a cheap, easy, and
biologically destructive way to obtain nutrient‐deficient calories.
When I’m stressed out I will constantly snack on cookies, or crack‐
ers, or candies. I’ll sit around all day just snacking, willingly oblivi‐
ous to the amount of calories I’m eating, or the effects that it will
have on my health.
Still, this video does demonstrate that with knowledge and
determination people can change their eating habits, their health,
and their lives. Don’t fall for diet fads or products that claim to melt
away the pounds. Just eat right, be active, and enjoy life. The twowomen at the end embody this message, and their amiable attitude
towards exercise and dieting should be an inspiration to anyone who
struggles with losing weight.
This documentary makes several salient points concerning
obesity in children, and outlines a lot of issues that can lead children
to become obese. Perhaps the most important factor is parental re‐
sponsibility. If a parent can limit the amount of time their child
spends in front of the television/computer, can education themabout food, can limit their intake of cheap/fast food, can pack their
school lunches, and can encourage healthy physical exercise, then
the problem of childhood obesity can be attacked at the root. Of
course, parents must constantly combat the unhealthy standard set
by overly‐advertised foods and substandard school lunch programs,
but such a fight is essential for setting a life‐long habit of eating and
living healthy. Removing or limiting advertising of bad food won’t
necessarily stop parents from providing bad food to their children.
Young children aren’t driving themselves to McDonalds or scrawling
out shopping lists full of sugary foods. Young children aren’t buying
themselves televisions and computers. The dramatic irony at play
here is this: obese parents complain that their overweight children
do not get enough exercise and refuse to eat healthy.
With this responsibility comes reform. Parents, as well as
children, need to be educated about deceptive advertising, the con‐sequences of unhealthy eating, and the benefits of physical exercise.
With this understanding the country can then tackle the capitalist
disinformation, the state/federal policies that inhibit healthy choices
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in social institutions, and counteract the cumulative effects of living
and eating unhealthy. In starts in the home; children who are raised
healthy will likely continue living healthy, will likely pass that habit
on to their children, and will contribute to a healthier, happier coun‐
try.
Your point about school lunches being unhealthy and putting al‐
ready disadvantaged children at greater risk is important, and par‐
ents who rely on the school to feed their children need to under‐
stand this. If it comes as a surprise to you, it will likely come as a
surprise to parents. We all know that pizza is not a vegetable, and
that prepackaged fried foods are unhealthy, but how many truly un‐derstand that fruit juice or vitamin water contains just as much sug‐
ar as a soda? Parents have the ability to pressure schools into chang‐
ing policies, and if united they can tackle such issues on a state‐wide
or federal level. Parents also need to become educated about the de‐
ceptive practices of corporate America, as such understanding will
hopefully drive them to make better choices when shopping for food.
The importance of “Medical Apartheid” comes from its illumination
of topics in American history that are often swept under the rug. It is
important to know that the history of American medicine is, much
like the country, plagued with racism and inequality. It is important
to understand that certain aspects of contemporary medicine still
exhibit the inequity embodied by abhorrent medical practices of ear‐
ly America. There is a clear lineage of racism in this country, and aswe’ve seen in other venues, the institutionalization of bigotry has
had profound effects on access to and quality of health care.
The idea that there are doctors who either dismiss this evi‐
dence as hearsay, or are ignorant to it, is not at all surprising. I think
it is fair to question all sources of information—to overly scrutinize
circumstantial evidence as a means to test its validity—but denying
that racism existed in early American medicine seems woefully na‐
ïve. After all, if racism infected every other facet of American society,why not hospitals? There will always be those who deny the horrors
of history, and often times there denial is a confession of racism.
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There are many compelling stories contained within this
book. The idea that eugenics was widely accepted by not only the
populace and doctors, but by historically important black figures
(e.g. W.E.B. DuBois) is compelling for several reasons. Anytime a so‐
ciety’s ethical code allows horrible things to happen, or justifies hor‐
rible actions as a means to an end, there exits this transparency of
racial pride and superiority. Eugenics, as practiced in the early 19th
century, was just an accepted and classified form of genocide, and as
a country we were able to justify this behavior based on compound‐
ing historical racism. This is particularly compelling because it is not
happening in secrecy. This is not an undocumented injection of plu‐
tonium, or a case of nonconsensual sterilization; it is a branch of
medicine that the world viewed as progressive and beneficial. It iscompelling to know that the guiding moral code of a country can be
so flagrantly malicious.
There are other stories in this book that both shock and
amaze me. From previous readings, classes, and discussions I was
aware that the history of this country has its fair share of blemishes,
but the cases contained within “Medical Apartheid” go beyond what I
thought was possible. The complicity of the country and the scien‐
tific community makes me question contemporary mores, and justhow they will be viewed a hundred years from now.
There are various reasons why prisoners are desirable sub‐
jects for medical studies, and different areas of research favor some
reasons over others. As a more general reason, researchers are able
to conduct follow‐up appointments without fear of the subject ab‐
sconding, as prisoners are more likely to continue participating for
monetary/status gain (and, obviously, that they can’t leave). More
specifically, prison populations have a higher occurrence of HIV and
hepatitis C, making prisoners an easy and plentiful source of partici‐
pants for research in AIDS or hepatitis vaccines. There is also the
social stigmatization of prisoners, leading to the fact that researchers
were/are able to easily justify moral turpitude because prisoners are
often viewed as a lower caste in American society.
The issue of whether or not prisoners should be allowed to
participate in medical research is certain: of course they should. Theproblem here is not that prisoners are used in medical research, but
the frequency and type of research that is conducted. I think that we
can all agree that exposing prisoners to potentially deadly viruses,
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radioactive isotopes, or carcinogenic substances is ethically wrong.
There are other avenues of research that can address these issues,
and prisoners (or any person) should never be knowingly exposed
to harmful or deadly tests. A set of standards should exist that pro‐
hibits this behavior.
When it comes to pharmaceutical research, human testing is a
necessary evil. Dr. Klingman, however, went beyond what was re‐
quired, and eclipsed the scope of not only his field of expertise, but of
the moral codes established throughout history. The racial feature
of his experiments is particularly troubling, and his refusal to admit
that he knowingly caused harm to primarily black inmates exposes
his internal racist pretext. The obfuscation caused by overly‐complex
consent forms and legalese, the destruction of documents, the mis‐representation of research statistics (such as the percentage of black
participants), and the frequency of prisoners who participated in
multiple studies (hence clouding the research data) all show that Dr.
Klingman, and others like him, put the objectives of the pharmaceu‐
tical and cosmetic companies far above his responsibilities as a doc‐
tor, or as a rational, empathetic human being.
The research conducted at the University of Pennsylvania fur‐
ther this notion, as their justification for their tests being “ethical”relies on a largely ignorant prison population understanding the
risks associated with medical testing. Often times, the rewards of
participating were emphasized while the risks were obscured, usual‐
ly by consent forms designed to confuse. The utilitarian argument
fails as well, when a majority of these experiments fail to materialize
any significant data or treatment.
I think it is fair to compare the medical abuse of Nazi doctors
to the medical abuse of American doctors. In both cases we see med‐
ical professionals performing dangerous and harmful experiments
on an imprisoned population in the name of a greater, more power‐
ful entity. Whether that entity is the state or a corporation is irrele‐
vant. The quantity, breadth and severity of the experiments may dif‐
fer, but the underlying argument is the same.
Genetically modified organisms and food have been around for quite
some time, and I’ve been aware of them for several years now. The
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controversy surrounding them has prompted most of my family to
move towards a more organic diet—one that is more expensive, but
also more healthy. However, this movie really depicted Monsanto as
a willfully corrupt and malicious corporation to an extent that I had
not known about. Like many others, I assumed that genetically mod‐
ified food was produced as a means to make food cheaper and more
plentiful, and had little knowledge about the backwards patent sys‐
tem, or really that one could patent a gene or living organism. The
extent to which Monsanto has infiltrated the government is anger‐
ing, and their litigious approach to family farming is shameful. I
suppose, then, that it comes as no surprise that government subsi‐
dies benefit the large corporations whom seek to control the world’s
food, and whom financially benefit from world hunger and starva‐tion. It’s strange that corporate welfare is not attacked to the same
degree as social welfare, especially when presented with such in‐
formation. We’re giving money to transnational corporations whom
have no accountability. They could be poisoning us all with GE
crops. Even buying organic is suspect, as cross‐contamination is a
real threat.
The “terminator” technology discussed in the film is truly dis‐
turbing, and seems like it came straight out of some dystopian sci‐ence fiction novel. It’s like one‐time‐use DRM for food. I don’t even
understand how anyone could agree to grow such a crop, or why an‐
yone would want to. I understand the (supposed) reason behind its
creation, but in practice it seems insane. The only thing missing is a
Monsanto‐branded chemical that needs to be sprayed on the crop
every half‐hour, lest the crops explode. In a world where the exist‐
ence of genetically engineered food is justified as serving humanity,
this terminator technology takes ten steps backwards, so far back
that it actually begins to threaten humanity. That we allow this to
happen, and that our government allows this to happen, is depress‐
ing.
Food Inc. continues this narrative of multinational corpora‐
tions controlling the food and health of public. The actual produc‐
tion food is surprising, particularly when so few
farms/slaughterhouses are producing the majority of our meat. Thatcorn is integrated into a nearly all products, and is being fed to ani‐
mals that have no business eating corn is also surprising. However, I
keep getting stuck on this idea that the people who we are supposed
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to trust to make sure our food is safe to eat are the same people who
have an interest in companies like Monsanto and Perdue growing
larger and larger. The fact that the food industry is protected by the
government, even when food products are harming or killing people,
is intensely disturbing. People being fined or jailed or sued for criti‐
cizing the meat industry? I just don’t understand how or why people
go along with this behavior. Is it greed? It is the pursuit of power? I
feel guilty if I step on a spider in my kitchen; so how do these people
live with themselves?
This is a very enlightening documentary. There seems to be a lot of
misconceptions out there about the value of eating a plant‐based di‐et, particularly when it comes to eliminating meat for your diet. This
movie demonstrates, quite plainly, that “going vegan” can have pro‐
found effects on your health, and that eating dairy and meat is not
necessary to maintain health. The misconceptions about vegan di‐
ets, as the movie shows, comes from doctors and scientists who
serve the interests of diary/meat producers, and not the interests of
the public. Children are taught this propaganda and mature thinking
that meat and dairy are a necessary component of a regulated diet.We are a product of a system designed to sell products that promote
cancer and heart disease. Discovering these machinations of society
make me glad I enrolled in this class. The idea that plants are more
healthy than meat is not new, and I think we’d all agree that such in‐
formation is widely believed, but knowing that dairy and meat can
actually facilitate cancer growth and heart disease is revelatory. In
society’s current state, when we’re arguing about rising health carepremiums and how best to manage the healthcare industry, and
when the poorest people in our country suffer the greatest from
obesity and heart disease, the plant‐based diet seems like a logical
and tremendously beneficial answer to an ever expanding problem.
Now, if we could only get plants to all corners of this country . . .
Personally, I did not infer that, “that by eating a plant‐based diet onecan avoid cancer”. It can lower your chances of getting cancer. At
best, there is a negative correlation between eating a plant‐based, or
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vegan, diet and the formation of cancerous cells. The mechanisms
that cause cancer are not well defined, and knowing what exactly
causes a cell to become cancerous, as I understand it, is incredibly
complex. More work needs to be done before we can concretely
conclude that diary and meat are significant sources of cancer.
There is plenty of evidence out there that veganism can have a
partial negative effect on health (like vitamin deficiency), or that it
can cause malnutrition if not done properly. However, this movie is
not about veganism, it’s about how the common American diet is
making us unhealthy. A plant‐based diet is an alternative that “can”
have a significant impact on one’s health and quality of life. The
narrator provides evidence of this.
You’re right; there are other metrics that need to be accountedfor when comparing the health of two very different cul‐
tures/countries.
As an opinion: It is a sales pitch, but not for a political party. It’s a
sales pitch for health. Rolling conventional veganism into ve‐
ganarachism, or some other political belief is a slippery slope. I am
not a vegan, nor am I partisan, and I took no political message from
this documentary.
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For Contemporary Urban Issues, Fall 2013
he American dream is defunct; what once
served as an icon of self‐determination is
now a paper‐thin façade, easily crumpled
by weight of reality. Such a realization is
bolstered by the “Unnatural Causes” doc‐
umentary and various readings through‐out these first few weeks of class, where
the continued proliferation of inequity is
shown to be both multiform and sobering,
its effects encumbering individuality, im‐
portant cultural linchpins, and, ultimately,
health. The cycle of poverty—the presumptuous social barricades
that prevent economic ascension—ensures that those affected stay
affected, and, more notably, has the ability to intrinsically alter racialand ethnological reflection. Additionally, the determinants of pov‐
erty inhabit numerous forms, including lopsided federal policy, his‐
torical injustice via colonialism, and systemic, institutionalized rac‐
ism, all of which work to perpetuate its existence and personify the
impoverished as morally accountable parasites.
Inequity Partisan government policy is a primary contributor to ine‐
quality in America; and its astigmatic legislature typically favors the
affluent. Douglas Imig, in his book “Poverty and Power: The Political
Representation of Poor Americans”, examines the asymmetrical dis‐
tribution of government resources during the Reagan administra‐
tion, and draws a convincing parallel between an increase in poverty
and discriminatory budget cuts. Reagan’s budget, which was billed
as a necessary measure to reduce wasteful spending and rampant
corruption, targeted welfare systems designed to mitigate poverty inyounger, progressive populations (food stamps, meal‐programs,
etc.), while preserving welfare system designed for older, conserva‐
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tive populations (SSI, Medicare, etc.). As an accompaniment to budg‐
etary cuts, Reagan issued tax breaks to the wealthy, producing, “one
of the quickest and most regressive redistributions of wealth in U.S.
history” (Imig 1996). Additionally, Reagan’s economic policy stigma‐
tized impoverished Americans, and conflated the ideas of welfare
and social‐responsibility into a universally panned perception of in‐
dolence. Ultimately, this convergence became the dominant impres‐
sion of the impoverished, and further delineated the innocuous indi‐
vidualistic nature of American society.
Colonialism is another contributor to poverty and inequity.
The “Unnatural Causes” documentary examined two populations
that fell under American colonial rule: the Marshallese and the Pima
Native American tribe. Both cases expose how living under thethumb of U.S. rule can yield expanded poverty and cultural destruc‐
tion, and how careless policies—ones designed to counteract the ef‐
fects of poverty—only further its presence. Moreover, in both cases
the health effects of poverty are clear: respectively, rates of tubercu‐
losis and type II diabetes are much higher in the Marshallese and
Pima tribe members, and emigration or integration into American
culture only presents added health risks (California Newsreel with
Vital Pictures, Inc. 2008). In essence, the artifice of colonialismworks to both strip native peoples of their cultural heritage, effec‐
tively constructing diverse, interconnected diasporas, and to coax
the impoverished into an adverse dependence on American subsidy,
be it commodities or employment.
Poverty is cyclical, and its revolutions can be outlined both empiri‐cally and logically. A series of events cascade across an impoverished
neighborhood; business’ flee poorer areas to satiate their capitalist
appetite, reducing employment opportunity; taxes, both property
and income, suffer in poorer areas, reducing the quality and availa‐
bility of essential social services (health care, police, schools, etc.); as
sufficient education wanes, and as cultural and societal perspectives
of poverty become internalized, people are less likely to either see or
take the steps necessary to scale the economic ladder; violence andcrime become intertwined with impoverished areas, leading to loss
of business and premature death; depression and anxiety, two dom‐
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inant determinants of overall health, metamorphose into physical
symptoms and decrease life expectancy. Furthermore, poverty is
generational, and passed down from parents to children as if it were
genetic. In her article, “Caught in the Cycle of Poverty”, Anna Gorman
explains, “Children who are born into poverty and spend years that
way are more likely to be teenage parents and remain poor as
adults” (Gorman 2012). That such a cycle exists is a direct conse‐
quence of an aggressive capitalist market, poor policy‐making, and a
society that favors spurious notions of individualism over economic
realities.
Yet another factor that influences the cycle of poverty hides
within the principal fabric of American culture. Institutionalized rac‐
ism, as defined by Vernellia R. Randall, “involves polices, practices,and procedures of institutions that have a disproportionately nega‐
tive effect on racial minorities’ access to and quality of goods, ser‐
vices, and opportunities” (Randall 2008). Racism, be it overt or cov‐
ert, has the ability to affect a person’s perception of self‐worth and
ability. Institutionalized racism, which manages to be both clandes‐
tine and conspicuous, contributes to the cycle of poverty by overtax‐
ing or depriving minorities of their basic human needs/rights, in‐
cluding: access to healthy food, adequate education, fair and equaljob opportunity, safe and clean environments, and access to ac‐
ceptable health care. As Randall explains, “Institutionalized and sys‐
temic racism establishes separate and independent barriers to ac‐
cess and quality of health care” (Randall 2008).
The status of “impoverished” is often refracted through an
Americanized lens of individualism and self‐determination, views
that potentially skew the societal impact of poverty, and shift re‐
sponsibility away from those in power. That idea that a person’s
economic status is tied to individual choice, or that opportunity can
be manifested via individual action, smacks of pseudo‐American
dream naiveté. As Claire Andre and Manuel Velasquez poignantly
surmise, “Americans…still have a Lockean political culture, empha‐
sizing individual freedom and the pursuit of individual affluence (the
American dream) in a society with the most un‐Lockean economy
and government” (Andre and Velasquez 1992). This senseless dis‐parity between perceived economic freedom and reality (i.e. the cy‐
cle of poverty) has led to the stigmatization of poorer people, and
has contributed to anti‐poverty policy‐making, class‐based denigra‐
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tion, and, ultimately, the contrivances that power the cycle of pov‐
erty.
Poverty and health are inextricably bound together; the cycle ofpoverty—pushed forward and perpetuated by forced inculturation,
institutionalized racism, and discriminatory government policy—not
only leads to stress and depression (two important determinants for
health), but can strip away the protective cultural integuments that
shield immigrants from poverty‐related diseases. Such diseases
manifest physical symptoms that can affect life span, quality of life,
and overall health. Furthermore, the environmental conditions of
impoverished areas lead to increased health risks, and that “workingenvironments of poorer people often hold more environmental risks
for illness and disability; [while] other environmental factors, such
as lack of access to clean water, disproportionately affect poor fami‐
lies” (Murray 2006). Environmental quality, coupled with stress, de‐
pression, poor nutrition, and lack of adequate health care, ensures
that “zip code matters”, and that people affected by poverty live a
shorter, and qualitatively worse life than the wealthy. Perhaps
worse, a widening income gap, a fabricated “war on poverty”, and amirage masquerading as the American dream, all indicate that the
indictment of the impoverished, and by proxy their health, will re‐
main in jeopardy.
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Andre, Claire, and Manuel Velasquez. Creating the Good Society.
1992. http://www.scu.edu/ethics/publications/iie/v5n1/ (ac‐
cessed September 21, 2013).
Unnatural Causes. Performed by California Newsreel with Vital Pic‐tures, Inc. 2008.
Gorman, Anna. "Caught in the Cycle of Poverty." Los Angeles Times.
May 24, 2012. http://articles.latimes.com/2012/may/24/local/
la‐me‐natalie‐20120524 (accessed 09 21, 2013).
Imig, Douglas R. Poverty and Power: The Political Representation of
Poor Americans. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1996.
Murray, Sally. Poverty and Health. March 28, 2006.
http://www.cmaj.ca/content/174/7/923.short (accessed 09 21,2013).
Randall, Vernellia R. What is Institutionalized Racism. July 03, 2008.
http://academic.udayton.edu/race/2008electionandracism/race
andracism/racism02.htm (accessed 09 21, 2013).
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For Contemporary Urban Issues, Fall 2013
nequity, in any form, is the manifestation of institution‐
alized discrimination. The medical institution, in partic‐
ular, has long since been a contributor to the overt and
covert racism and discriminatory practices respiring
through the tenuous veins of American society. In her
meticulously crafted book, “Medical Apartheid: The DarkHistory of Medical Experimentations on Black Ameri‐
cans from Colonial Times to the Present”, Harriet Wash‐
ington exposes the popular conceit of an ethical Ameri‐
can medical history as erroneous, and derives that the
inequity and immoral behavior of the medical estab‐
lishment is, and continues to be, produced by a deeply imbedded and
historical racial bias. Like America, the history of medical research is
built upon this bias, and continues to influence how society func‐tions, evolves, and how gaps in health and healthcare—Washington’s
so‐called “apartheid”—form across racial lines.
To describe and compare the condition of the medical field at any
point in America’s history to apartheid is sensationalist. It is also
apt. Washington walks readers through a clandestine American his‐tory that is both egregious and wonted, and asphyxiates any emo‐
tional response in the name of disclosure. Each chapter tells of an
individual slighted or victimized by a medical system built from the
ashes of slavery, fueled by an ethnological and racial divide, where
men and women could be affixed a value based on a simple equation:
white is greater than black. The experiments and utter depravity of
American doctors seemingly knew no bounds: forced sterilization,
genocide masquerading as eugenics, injections of radioactive sub‐stances, exposure to syphilis, and a blatantly intrusive and racist
prison‐experiment‐culture reveal how historical bigotry shaped not
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only the moral code of the medical establishment, but also the insti‐
tutionalized racism that persists in society today.
But is “apartheid” an accurate or fair term to apply to con‐
temporary medicine? Have these malicious mainstays in medical re‐
search been eradicated by the evolution of civil rights, or have they
continued with a muted tonality, blanketed by a society whose fa‐
çade of progressiveness is undermined by a foundation and continu‐
ation of historical injustice? The “dark history” of medicine that
Washington describes is blatantly racist, its conceit founded on the
belief that black people are culturally and biologically divergent, and
the disparities that exist in today’s society are repressed offspring
from it. These racial disparities in the medical field manifest in vari‐
ous ways, and one metric used to expose them is the access to andquality of healthcare. As Brian Smedley describes in his book, “Une‐
qual Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health
Care”, African American and other minorities are, “. . . less likely than
whites to have health insurance, have more difficulty getting
healthcare, and have fewer choice in where to receive care” (Smed‐
ley, Stith and Nelson 2003). Moreover, the quality of and access to
healthcare are significantly lower than whites, and blacks are “les
likely to receive even routine medical procedures” (Smedley et al.,2003). The socioeconomic differences that are typically used to ex‐
plain away these disparities are punctured by America’s “dark histo‐
ry”, where discrimination and economic differences are a direct con‐
sequence of a compounding biography of partiality and bias in a na‐
tion that politicked and inculcated its way into a system of institu‐
tionalized racism.
Samuel Zuvekas and Gregg Taliaferro reach a similar conclu‐
sion in there article, “Pathways to Access”, and not only echo the sen‐
timents of inequity in healthcare for minorities, but also that such
disparity, “. . . appear[s] to be growing over the past couple of dec‐
ades” (Zuvekas and Taliaferro 2003). The factors that Zuvekas and
Taliaferro determined feed inequity, including income, education,
insurance, and health care delivery, have been systematically cor‐
rupted by America’s engagement to medical apartheid, and the dis‐
parity exhibited in today’s healthcare system reflect an open‐endednarrative of racial discrimination. It is hard to control for racism or
cultural differences when conducting scientific research, and as
Zuvekas and Taliaferro concluded, “Much of the disparities among
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blacks . . . remain unexplained even after differences in a large num‐
ber of characteristics are controlled for” (Zuvekas and Taliaferro
2003).
The construct and existence of “race” as an innate characteristic that
defines a group of people is entirely social and philosophical, and
science has shown that biologically and genetically humans do not
differ. However, “Medical Apartheid” illustrates a clear and promi‐
nent historical separation of race in American medicine, one that has
fought its way into the intimations of current medical research, de‐
spite a growing sense of equality. The acknowledgement of race as a
determinant for behavior, intelligence, or importance has had severeimpact on how patients are treated and/or viewed in the medical
field. As Robert S. Schwartz describes in his article, “Racial Profiling
in Medical Research”, “. . . racial designation in the context of medical
management not only defies everything we have learned from biolo‐
gy, genetics, and history but also opens the door to inequities in
medical care” (Schwartz, 2001). Furthermore, and despite the se‐
verity of an immoral and depraved “medical apartheid” eroding, the
construct of race, though inconsequential in terms of biology andhealthcare, has continued to direct the course of medical research.
Schwartz explains:
Such research mistakenly assumes an inherent biologic dif‐
ference between black‐skinned and white‐skinned people. It
falls into error by attributing a complex physiological or clini‐
cal phenomenon to arbitrary aspects of external appearance.It is implausible that the few genes that account for such out‐
ward characteristics could be meaningfully linked to multi‐
genic diseases such as diabetes mellitus or to the intricacies
of the therapeutic effect of a drug . . . (Schwartz, 2001).
Accordingly, as a factor of health, race is capricious. Howev‐
er, history has demonstrated that race will continue to be socially
and culturally significant; and as genetic research tackles complexproblems that affect one group more than another, the concept of
race will continue to influence how medical research is conducted
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and conveyed. Mark Kohn, in his article “This Racist Undercurrent in
the Tide of Genetic Research”, undertakes the complicated issue of
race in current medical research, stating that, “. . . racial science is
pushing for rehabilitation on a range of fronts” (Kohn 2006). Fronts,
such as medicine specifically designed for black people, are quietly
and subliminally justified through America’s history as a subjugator,
and Kohn, who ultimately concludes that race is relevant in disease‐
research, perpetuates the myth that race is a prevailing factor in
health. Race, as a social, not a biological construct, affects all facets of
life, and appropriating medical research based on race seems coun‐
terproductive to the goal of eliminating race as a de facto determi‐
nant for health. More importantly, the social stigmas associated with
race seem to be the prevailing cause of poor health in minoritygroups, not race itself. The phenotypical differences, as Schwartz
concluded, are superficial.
The causes for health and healthcare disparities in America are nu‐
merous and abstruse, but one reason is obvious: mistrust in a system
that has demonstrated profound racial bias. “Medical Apartheid”
exposes numerous medical initiatives, including the Tuskegee Syphi‐lis Study, as being conceived from a racist agenda. Often, the meth‐
ods employed to obtain participants were specifically designed to be
confusing and onerous, relying on overly complex legalese and scien‐
tific parlance to dupe undereducated minorities into cooperating.
The admission of such practices has had a penetrating effect on peo‐
ple’s trust in the healthcare system. Giselle Corbie‐Smith discusses
in her article, “Attitudes and Beliefs of African Americans TowardParticipation in Medical Research”, that, “For many blacks, the
Tuskegee study became a symbol of their mistreatment by the medi‐
cal establishment, a metaphor for deceit, conspiracy, malpractice,
and neglect, if not outright racial genocide” (Corbie‐Smith, et al.
1999). This mistrust in healthcare has ultimately led to the inequity
found in today’s American society, and “can be justified by a long his‐
tory of exploitation in the name of research that dates back to slav‐
ery and continues to the present day” (Corbie‐Smith, et al. 1999).L. Ebony Boulware reaches a similar conclusion in her article,
“Race and Trust in the Healthcare system”, where she concludes that,
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“African Americans have been shown to have a greater awareness of
the documented history of racial discrimination in the health care
system . . . and this greater awareness of historical discrimination
has been associated with less trust of clinical and research institu‐
tions” (Boulware, et al. 2003). For some black Americans, the
healthcare system represents a country’s sordid history of racial
prejudice and intolerance, and it can be reasoned that, for some,
simply avoiding healthcare is preferable to involvement in a system
that covertly conspires against them.
Harriet Washington writes that her book, “documents a peculiar
type of injustice in health: the troubled history of medical experi‐mentation with African Americans—and the resulting behavioral
fallout that causes researchers and African Americans to view each
other through jaundiced eyes.” (Washington 2006). History, it seems,
has pitted two groups against each other, separated by the conceit of
race, and widened by a past littered with medical experiments that
only served to justify or further a racist agenda. The implicit laws
that govern medical research and researchers have long been cor‐
rupted, so much so that their existence in today’s society is cloudedby a malaise of unapologetic sentiment and outright denial. The in‐
equity that people experience is directly tied to such corruption, and
gaps in health and healthcare are, despite latent, innately racial. In
the same breath, history can be both depressing and enlightening,
and Washington’s comprehensive look at American medical experi‐
mentation certainly embodies both. Her use of the term “apart‐
heid” is absolutely sensationalist, but damned if it is not accurate.
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Boulware, L. Ebony, Lisa A Cooper, Lloyd E. Ratner, Thomas A.
LaVeist, and Neil R. Powe. "Race and Trust in the Health Care
System." Public Health Reports 118, no. 4 (July‐August 2003):
358‐365.Corbie‐Smith, Giselle, Stephen B. Thomas, Mark V. Williams, and
Sandra Moody‐Avyers. "Attitudes and Beliefs of African Ameri‐
cans Toward Participation in Medical Research." Journal of In-
ternal Medicine 14, no. 9 (September 1999): 537‐546.
Kohn, Mark. The Racist Undercurrent in the Tide of Genetic Research.
January 16, 2006. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2006
/jan/17/race.science (accessed November 5, 2013).
Schwartz, Robert S. "Racial Profiling in Medical Research." The NewEngland Journal of Medicine 334, no. 18 (May 2001).
Smedley, Brian D., Adrienne Y. Stith, and Alan R. Nelson. Unequal
Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health
Care. Washington, D.C.: The National Academies Press, 2003.
Washington, Harriet A. Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of
Meidcal Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times
to the Present. New York: Anchor Books, 2006.
Zuvekas, Samuel H., and Gregg S. Taliaferro. "Pathways to Access:Health Insurance, The Health Care Delivery System, and Racial
Ethnic Disparities, 1996‐1999." Health Affairs, March 2003: 139‐
153.
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For Contemporary Urban Issues, Fall 2013
Health disparities are often most conspicu‐ous in urban, impoverished environments,where access to quality food is restrictedand education about health‐living is sub‐dued. According to Case Western ReserveUniversity’s NEO CANDO System, as of2000, over a quarter (26.3%) of individuals,and nearly a third (32.3%) of families withchildren living in Cleveland, Ohio had in‐comes below the poverty level (Case West‐
ern Reserve University, 2012). This translates to a wide gap in equityfor residents living in Cleveland’s most impoverished areas, and con‐tributes to the country’s growing health crisis. This “Call to Action”proposes the creation of a health‐focused newsletter aimed at rais‐
ing awareness about, and informing people of the dangers of livingand eating unhealthy and the benefits derived from choosing fresh,healthy food. Other goals of this newsletter include: exposing read‐ers to external content, including documentaries and scientific arti‐cles, that detail the historical and cultural reasons for America’s de‐clining health, pointing readers to informative, health‐centric web‐sites, and encouraging urban residents to start small gardens, eitherindoors or outdoors, to help mitigate the effects of the typical urban
American diet. Arming people with knowledge is, perhaps, the mosteffective means of infiltrating and dismantling the current system offood production in America, and this “Call to Action” aims to equippeople with the insight and ability to begin making better, healthierchoices, not only for them, but for the overall well‐being of the coun‐try.
Health, as a component of equity, is often skewed in urban environ‐ments, where access to quality health care and fresh food is limited.This inequity often affects the impoverished, who typically cannot
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afford more preferable resources, and many of whom rely on gov‐ernment subsidies and “entitlement programs” designed to pack re‐cipients full of processed, dense caloric foods and corn‐based sugars.This results in a growing health disparity, and emphasizes a need forchange, not only in the food sold and eaten, but in the policies thatguide life in urban environments. According to the Centers for Dis‐ease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) SMART Project, over half of theresidents living in the Cleveland metropolitan area and surroundingcities are either overweight or obese, and, based in BMI, only 33.7%of residents achieved a normal weight (Centers for Disease Controland Prevention, 2013). Furthermore, 8.8% of residents have beenformally diagnosed with diabetes, 4.9% have been diagnosed with
coronary heart disease, 25.6% of residents have reported that theydid not participate in physical activities, and nearly 15% of Cleve‐land’s people lack adequate access to healthcare (Centers for DiseaseControl and Prevention, 2013).
These statistics present a sobering reality: the gaps in healthequity are very much prevalent in Cleveland. Most of these statisticscan be attributed to unhealthy eating, a byproduct of having a sur‐plus of fast‐food restaurants, little‐to‐no access to fresh produce and
other healthy products, and easy access to cheap calorie‐densefoods. Moreover, there is a lack of adequate education surroundingthe topic of healthy eating, and for many, identifying which foods aregood versus which foods are bad is problematic. There is little over‐sight on how food is advertised, and often foods that are branded“healthy”, if consumed on a regular basis, turn out to be detrimentalto a person’s overall health. Buzzwords and other “healthy” phrase‐ology often embellish popular food brands, and there is little govern‐ing policy on how slogans such as, “Heart Healthy”, or “Light” areused in packaging or advertising. Perhaps more troubling, children’snetworks and shows are saturated with commercials for junk foodand products that purport to be “healthy”, even when contrary evi‐dence shows that children are more susceptible to advertising thanadults. A study conducted at the Centre for Behavioral Research inCancer Control found evidence suggesting, “that until 8 years of age
most children are cognitively incapable of appreciating the commer‐cial purpose of television advertising and are particularly vulnerableto is persuasive techniques” (Patterson, Donovan, Ewing, Roberts, &Carter, 2011). This makes it difficult for children to choose what
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foods to eat in order to maintain health, and to understand that eat‐ing mass‐marketed, popular foods can have a lasting negative impacton health.
Access to healthy food is severely limited, particularly in theeastern section of Cleveland city and surrounding suburbs, where alarge population of Cleveland’s impoverished people live. Accordingto Google’s map data, there are only two Giant Eagle Grocery storeswithin a 10 mile radius east of downtown Cleveland, and only oneWhole Foods store, located in a wealthy area of Cleveland Heights(Google Maps, 2013). This presents a problem for people who cannotafford to travel a long distance for food, or whom do not have themeans to travel. The prevalence of corner stores, or convenience
stores, where junk food, cigarettes, and alcohol are sold, is exponen‐tially higher than the number of grocery stores, where fresh fruits,vegetables, and other healthy foods are stocked and sold. It is mucheasier for a resident is these areas to walk a block or two and obtaincheap, unhealthy food than it is for them to travel upwards of 10miles to purchase healthier alternatives.
Children have it even worse. Their access to healthy food islimited by what parents bring home, by what is available in the sur‐
rounding area, and by what is served to them in school. According tothe National Education Association, the quality and safety standardsof school food is lower than those of fast food restaurants, and,“school cafeterias are not being inspected as rigorously required bythe Child Nutrition Act” (Buffenbarger, 2013). Children who rely onschool as a source of nutrition are eating food that is qualitativelyworse for them than the fast food they eat outside of school. Again,this contributes to the health disparity seen in the Cleveland area,and further aggravates the prevalence of childhood obesity. Childrenwho rely on fast food and other unhealthy foods as their sole sourceof nutrition and energy are setting themselves up for an adult lifeplagued with avoidable, health‐related diseases.
Therefore, having knowledge about what kind of food ishealthy, as well as having access to fresh, healthy food is important ifurban residents in Cleveland are to close the gaps in equity.
Knowledge is, perhaps, the progenitor of healthy‐living, and an in‐formed population is better equipped to demand change from thecurrent system of food production and supply. With knowledge, anindividual or group can begin to transform the social and cultural
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landscapes of their homes and neighborhoods, and usher in a health‐ier climate all can benefit from. Empowerment is derived fromknowledge, and with that, access to healthier food will increase, andgaps in equity will begin shuttering.
It is apparent that government policy concerning the production anddistribution of food is skewed towards corporate interests, and thatthe health of the nation is damaged as a result. This indicates thatthe individual must take charge of their health, become educatedabout the food they eat, and learn how to live a healthy life. Infor‐mation concerning healthy food is freely available through various
sources, but acquiring or seeing such information is often hiddenfrom popular news outlets and websites. Various documentaries ex‐ist that explain and document how food is changing the overallhealth of the country, and the impact it has on individual lives, butsuch films do not receive the same attention or marketing that Hol‐lywood affords its blockbusters. The mindshare of “health” is smalland inconspicuous.
Unhealthy living and eating, particularly in America, can be
frightening, the consequences capable of destroying lives and fami‐lies. A mother, struggling with obesity and diabetes, needs multipleexpensive surgeries to replace worn joints; a father, life‐long smok‐er, bourbon‐connoisseur, and a man who had not met an animal hewould not eat, dies from cancer at 56; a sister, who struggles dailywith food and body image, turns to bulimia; and a brother, hefty andseemingly careless, is diagnosed with heart disease at age 29. Such
stories are found in American families; they are not unique or rare,and the dilemmas they face are largely avoidable. The informationneeded to steer around these health‐related pitfalls is often shroud‐ed behind a thick veneer of American obtuseness, out‐shined by theloud prattling of advertising and entertainment, or tucked awaywithin the folds of the country’s higher‐education system.
In America, education is costly. This limits the number andtype of people that receive an education post‐high school, and in
many ways, creates its own gaps in equity. However, being able toafford, either monetarily or time‐wise, a college education shouldnot be a determining factor in receiving instructions on how to live
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and eat healthy. Taking a 13 to 15 week health course at a communi‐ty or state college can cost hundreds, if not thousands of dollars, andcan be rigorous for people not familiar or prepared to face a collegecurriculum. Personally, the information received in college is valua‐ble, and paying a premium for that information is an accepted prac‐tice in America, but affixing a price tag on what is, ostensibly, indi‐vidual health is what initially creates gaps in equity. If one collegeclass has the ability to awaken and diversify a person’s perspectiveon life, health, history, etc., as it has for me time and time again, thenthe information contained within that class should be freely availa‐ble and distributable. Life in America often seems like a malaise ofexcess and unquestioned allegiance to corporate conglomerates, and
waking someone from the clutches of this should not be limited tothose who can afford it.The intent of this “call to action” is to create and distribute a
4‐page newsletter focusing on current and historical topics of healthand well‐being, either through e‐mail or traditional mail, to one EastCleveland neighborhood. Particular emphasis will be put on healthyeating, including what foods to buy at a grocery or corner store, whatfoods can be grown indoors and outdoors, instructions for garden‐
ing, popular myths and facts about healthy food, and meal ideas foryoung children. Each issue will have one or two informative articlesabout health and food, linking recipients to scholarly articles, videos,and documentaries that are freely available on the Internet. In gen‐eral, the newsletter will serve as a launching pad, raising awarenessabout important health‐related issues, and pointing readers to thewealth of knowledge that is often hidden within the pages of the In‐ternet.
This call to action will strive to achieve the following goalsand SMART objectives:
To increase awareness and deliver information about healthyeating and living.
To create and distribute a physical newsletter
to on small neighborhood in East Cleveland.
Specific? Yes, one newsletter.
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Measurable? Yes, one small neighborhood.
Achievable?Yes, a neighborhood with < 50homes/apartment units
Time‐bound? Yes, by spring 2014
To create and distribute an electronic news‐
letter those whom sign up via social network‐ing sites.
Specific? Yes, one newsletter.
Measurable? Yes.
Achievable?Yes. Newsletter will mirror physical newslet‐ter.
Time‐bound? Yes, by spring 2014
To include indoor and outdoor gardening tips
for adults and children.
Specific? Yes, several gardening tips.
Measurable? Yes.
Achievable? Yes.
Time‐bound? Yes, by spring 2014.
To include meal ideas and relatively inexpen‐sive healthy recipes for adults and children.
Specific? Yes, one or two recipes.
Measurable? Yes.
Achievable? Yes. There are many healthy recipes.
Time‐bound? Yes, by spring 2014.
To include links to external articles, docu‐mentaries, and other material related to
healthy eating.
Specific? Yes, several links.
Measurable? Yes.
Achievable? Yes.
Time‐bound? Yes, by spring 2014
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Implementing this “Call to Action” is fairly straightforward. The crea‐tion of the physical newsletter will require a person with someknowledge of Microsoft Word and/or the LaTeX document creation
system, as well as someone who is familiar with graphical design andtypesetting. Writing and research can be performed in my sparetime, with the formatting to be done by a volunteer or, if need be,cobbled together myself. Paper can be bought in bulk reams directlyfrom paper suppliers or via online paper outlets. Printing of bothnewsletter and the postage labels can be done on a home laser print‐er, or by utilizing the services of a copy center (e.g. CopyMax). Thefolding, or finishing, of the newsletter will be performed gratis by
DUKE Printing, my employer, and will meet USPS standards. Mailingwill be through the USPS, using first class mail postage, which is taxdeductible.
The electronic newsletter will require a person withknowledge of HTML and some graphical design experience. Mailinglists will be acquired through conventional means: soliciting sign‐ups via popular social media networks, such as Facebook, Twitter,Tumblr, Google+, and LinkedIn, or by free postings on Cleveland‐
related websites. Prior to spring 2014, accounts will be made oneach of the aforementioned social networking sites; their primaryfocus to spread a message of healthy living/eating and to solicit in‐terested parties for email addresses. The address will be kept in con‐fidentiality and destroyed/discarded if unsubscribed.
The electronic newsletter has the ability to reach a far greaterdemographic of people at no additional cost, making it a more attrac‐
tive long term monthly prospect. It also has the benefit of directlylinking to additional resources, making it easier for subscribers toaccess information. Moreover, the costs incurred from writ‐ing/designing an electronic newsletter are negligible, while a physi‐cal newsletter requires paper, ink, and postage. The budget to theright outlines the basic cost of producing one newsletter for ≥50 re‐cipients. Subsequent newsletters, if produced, would be significantlycheaper, as one cartridge of generic black toner can last 2000+ pages
(2000 one‐sided 8.5x11 sheets equals 500 double‐sided 11x17sheets), and one ream of paper can produce 500 newsletters. Thisbudget assumes the cheapest route, with all of the production work
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done on a volunteer basis(or by myself). Additional‐ly, and with permission,physical newsletters canbe distributed at commu‐nity centers, churches,and other places wherepeople gather, cuttingdown on the cost of post‐age, and reaching a great‐er selection of people withlittle‐to‐no added cost.
While the electron‐ic newsletter sounds bet‐ter in principle, the physi‐cal newsletter benefits byreaching those who arenot constantly connectedto the Internet. Thoughthis “Call to Action” has
realistic, short‐term, at‐tainable goals, a long‐termproject would necessitate the use of both physical and electronicnewsletters. Furthermore, the information contained within thisnewsletter would be culled from reputable scholarly sources, em‐phasizing science over fad, and contain up‐to‐date, relevant infor‐mation concerning nutrition and health. Related videos, documen‐taries, and other external sources would all point to secure, non‐partisan, credible websites. Information would be as non‐biased aspossible, and apply to the greatest number of people.
The initial creation of the newsletter template will take some time,considering the complexities involved in drafting an applicable11x17 signature. Several layers of graphical design will need to be
completed before the text can be inserted. The content of the news‐letter should take no more than 2 weeks to complete. Therefore, apractical timeline for a full‐time student and full‐time worker is
(For both physical and electronic newsletters)(Prices rounded to nearest quarter dollar)
Writing/Design/ResearchDone myself ---
Paper1 ream of 11x17 stock
$16.50
Printing/Ink Black ink for laser printer
$34.00
Finishing/Folding11x17 folded to 5.5x8.5
---
Postage Labels1 box of 300 $9.75
Postage 50 letters at $0.66 per item
$33.00
Coding/DesignDone myself or volunteer
---
Social Media SolicitationDone myself
---
$93.25
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spring of 2014. Listed below are viable milestones and rough datesas to when they should be completed:
Begin social media blitz. Collect e‐mail address for elec‐tronic newsletter. Gauge interest and begin research intohealthy topics.
Complete first draft of physical newsletter template.Graphic elements should be set in stone at this point.
Complete first draft of electronic newsletter template.HTML code and graphic design should be near completeand in working order.
First draft of newsletter content complete. Will include
rough drafts of all content included in final newsletter,including links to extraneous content, tips for gardening,healthy recipes, informative content, and myths/factsabout healthy food and eating.
Final drafts of both templates and content complete.
Printing, finishing and mailing of physical newslettercomplete. Delivery of electronic newsletter complete.
Two and a half months should be enough time to create twotemplates and gather enough information/content for one 4‐pagenewsletter. Early March of 2014 was chosen as a favorable launchingdate for several reasons: (1) winter is ending and people are moreconscious about their physical condition/appearance, many ofwhom wish to “get in shape” for the summer season; (2) as winterends, spring begins, and the ground is once again fertile and ripe for
planting gardens; and (3) aside from Easter, there are no popularholidays to distract people from maintaining a healthy diet. If suc‐cessful, subsequent newsletters can be delivered more rapidly, atone or more every two months.
The primary metric used to evaluate performance will be individualfeedback. The newsletter will solicit people to leave feedback on so‐cial networking sites, or to write a response/suggestion to the edi‐tor. Other metrics can be used, including the number of people thatinitially sign up for the electronic newsletter, the amount that sub‐
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scribe after the delivery of the newsletter, the amount that unsub‐scribe after receiving the electronic newsletter, and Internet trafficdata for the extraneous websites/links. For example, page views on aYouTube documentary can be determined and tracked before andafter the newsletter is delivered. Small upticks in average weeklypage views could illuminate the efficiency of the newsletter, or, atthe very least, establish a wavering positive correlation.
In general, it is hard to evaluate the performance of a news‐letter without direct feedback from its recipients. Other than directlyinterviewing people, or conducting a survey after the newsletter isdelivered, measuring performance is restricted to voluntary com‐ments from readers/subscribers. This “Call to Action” is designed
solely to increase awareness and spread information; its hope isthat, armed with this knowledge, individuals will make better choic‐es when it comes to food and health, and be prepared to tackledlarger, nation‐wide issues. By itself, the newsletter is not a measura‐ble metric for overall health and healthy eating; it is tool that can beemployed to focus and shift people’s perception of food and its effecton health. If successful, the newsletter would not change the healthof Cleveland residents, it would empower them to strive for change.
To increase awareness and to education people about foodand healthy eating. To empower them to make better choicesin their homes and neighborhoods when it comes to livinghealthy.
By creating and distributing an informative newsletter to oneneighborhood in Cleveland. Also, by creating and distributingan electronic newsletter to those who subscribe through var‐ious social networking sites.
The newsletter is targeted at impoverished residents, includ‐ing families and children, living in an urban area. In a moregeneral sense, the newsletter is designed to apply to anyone.
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Buffenbarger, A. (2013). Quality of School Lunches Questioned . Re‐trieved from National Education Association:http://www.nea.org/home/37485.htm
Case Western Reserve University. (2012). Center on Urban Povertyand Community Development . Retrieved from NEO CANDO Sys‐tem: http://neocando.case.edu
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2013, May 9). SMART:
BRFSS City and County Data. Retrieved December 4, 2013, fromhttp://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/BRFSS‐SMART/index.asp
Google Maps. (2013). Cleveland Area. Retrieved from Google:https://maps.google.com/
Patterson, L., Donovan, R., Ewing, M., Roberts, C., & Carter, O. (2011).Children's Understanding of the Selling Versus Persuasive JunkFood Advertising: Implications for Regulation. Social Science and
Medicine, 962‐968.
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For Megacities of Asia, Fall 2013
rbanization affects nearly every facet of amegacity, from the lack of infrastructure
and unfettered growth of urban settle‐
ments, to governance and methods of taxa‐
tion. Continuing and growing urbanization
presents a challenge to sustainability, and
Kötter does a commendable job outlining
not only why such hurdles exist, but howto overcome them.
Providing health care for a growing popu‐
lation presents its own problems, but
maintaining that health care via systematic infrastructure (like sew‐
age treatment, garbage removal, and proper systems to prevent
man‐made natural disasters) is a growing concern for those 1.5 bil‐
lion people living in slums. Couple that with unrestricted urban
growth, poor‐to‐no planning, a high consumption of natural re‐sources leading to all manner of ecological pollution, and an absence
of reliable transportation to and from rural areas (practically forcing
people to adopt city dwelling), the act of sustaining a developing
megacity looks more and more like an uphill battle.
Economic factors, such as housing costs, the ability to reform
outdated or inefficient infrastructure, and improper/unchecked tax‐
ation methods also challenge the sustainability of developing meg‐
acities. Have enough money to sustain growth and fight poverty pre‐sents a problem for megacities deficient in proper governance.
Hopefully, Kötter’s cursory outline for addressing these issues will
put developing megacities on the right track towards sustaining ur‐
ban growth.
The economic benefits associated with Imperialistic rule
brought several Asian countries into the modern era. British and
French occupation in India contributed to improved public servicesand some commercial stability. Railroads and trade routes were
built, buildings were erected, and a modicum of French culture was
injected into the fledgling Indian culture. Opium served as an im‐
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portant trade good, being harvested in India and shipped off to Chi‐
na, where it penetrated and soured the upper class. As a result, Chi‐
na went to war, and equipped with new Imperial modernity, at‐
tempted to fight back its colonial intruders. This development
threads deep into the 20th century, sparking war and uprising.
The modernization of India by Britain and France served as
the precipice for its eventual independence. Indian nationalism
pushed the country over the edge and paved the way for an inde‐
pendent economic future, as well as the extinction of systemic Brit‐
ish oversight. Similar nationalist movement occurred throughout
Asia and Africa in the early‐to‐mid 20th century. These movements,
perhaps, would not have been possible without the modernizing ef‐
fects of Imperialism.It’s unfortunate that it took the Olympics coming to Beijing to
motivate China to bolster and brace their weak anti‐pollution infra‐
structure, but some of the policies put in place before the torch was
lit, while entirely foreign and unimaginable here in the US, have
managed to combat pollution in dramatic ways. One such method
involves the production and use of automobiles; not only have these
laws cracked down on harmful emissions produced by cars and fac‐
tories (in some cases they literally closed or moved factories out ofBeijing), China has gone so far as to implement a ban on automobile
use. The “license plate system” was devised as a measure to cut smog
for the 2008 Olympics, but has since then been implemented as a
full‐time measure to combat pollution. Using license plate numbers
as a control, this law effectively bans vehicles from driving on certain
days of the week. It has reportedly reduced the amount of pollution
in Beijing by 10% (Hays 2012).
Other measures put in place before the 2008 Olympics help in
the fight against pollution; coal mines were closed, power plants
were modified, factories were closed or relocated, inefficient taxis
were replaced with cleaner models, and pollution monitoring sta‐
tions were built to help in struggle for clean air (Hays 2012). The
modest change in air quality around Beijing is a good start, but China
still has a long way to go before its environmental footprint is trivial,
and its megacities are no longer significant contributors to globalpollution.
Of the ten solutions listed in the article, only two strike me as
achievable possibilities: finding and using alternate sources of drink‐
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ing water (such as rainwater), and the use of deep aquifers. Alt‐
hough Bangladesh is a relatively small country (148,393 km2), the
amount of money needed to install purifiers, filtration devices, con‐
temporary sewage and waste disposal systems, or effective water
treatment plants would likely be too high. However, provided that
an international effort was made to either dilute or remove arsenic
from Bangladesh’s ground water, other remediations could prove
successful. Still, the most cost effect strategies for obtaining clean,
arsenic‐free water for consumption would be to utilize alternate
wells and rainwater, or extract water from deep aquifers. Further‐
more, the ostracization of arsenic‐contaminated Bangladeshi, cou‐
pled with excessive poverty, leads me to believe that the use of al‐
ternate sources of drinking water is a viable remedy—one that eventhe impoverished, or shunned can take advantage of.
As stated in the article, there are several aspects of growth in
Asia that can, and likely will, affect environmental resources. The
unchecked growth of population, combined with urban sprawl, has
had a striking influence on important natural resources, including
water, air, land and biodiversity. Perhaps the most important: the
release of CO2 into the atmosphere via industry and an increasing
preference for automobiles is projected to have a profound effect onglobal warming. Over the next few decades, developing Asian coun‐
tries will continue to increase their need for energy, and as such will
likely rely on cheap, infectious means to produce it. Rising global
temperatures will cause an upward shift in sea level, will destroy cit‐
ies, ruin lands, and place further strain on biodiversity. Couple this
with the Western world who is also projected to increase energy
demand and consumption, and a global catastrophe becomes more
likely. Furthermore, the polluting of land and water in Asian coun‐
tries will only hasten social and biological constriction, perhaps af‐
fecting the health of people and their ability to remain industrious
and competitive in a global economy. Certainly, overly polluted wa‐
ter can destroy important reefs and oxygen‐producing animals, and
deplete oceans of their globally‐important biodiversity.
At first glance the SRA sounds like an exceptionally well
thought‐out plan to redevelop Dharvai and provide new opportuni‐ties for its residents. Legal, registered residents will receive a free
(though incredibly small) living space in a 7‐storey building, have
greater access to healthcare and education, and will have access to
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better/more modern tools that will (hopefully) allow industry in
Dharvai to grow and prosper. The project itself will be divided
amongst qualified contractors, and planning includes roads, green
areas, and basic infrastructure that should alleviate many problems
current residents face. However, the SRA does not address the many
illegal/unregistered inhabitants, and the temporary relocation of
Dharvai residents could have a dramatic impact on their ability to
survive while the project is being completed.
Perhaps it’s a bit idealistic. Dharvia’s redevelopment would
ultimately result in better living conditions for its residents, but an
important question still remains: how can people who currently sur‐
vive on 1 dollar or less a day afford to live there. The rent may be
free, but the utilities are not. Simply bulldozing over a neighborhoodand rebuilding it does not address the real issue.
, something needs to be done. If the SRA can improve living
conditions for its residents, and also provide them with new em‐
ployment opportunities, then perhaps the utilitarian goal has been
met. The greater issue of poverty can be tackled another day.
When it comes to urban development, it seems like Japan is in
a tug‐o‐war between the economic space and life space. Tokyo was
able to become a world‐class city as Japan favored the economicspace in the early‐to‐mid nineteenth century. Capital was received
by the state and sent directly to projects that favored growth and
expansion in the economic market. Consequentially, the life space
was left to the private markets and suffered. People organized and
fought for their rights, winning precious battles for sunlight and af‐
fordable housing in Tokyo. In the 1980’s there was a shift away from
the economic space, leaning forward into the life space, where peo‐
ple could flourish. Of course, in the 90’s Japan swung back towards
the economic space, and lifted or removed certain restrictions that
forced Tokyo to continue serving its urban inhabitants. They built
higher and higher buildings, removed social structures (bath hous‐
es) in a bid to coerce stubborn citizens out of their now‐valuable
dwellings, and tweaked their state policies to allow more freedom
and control to individual cities.
The urban growth that occurred in Tokyo was tailored forcorporate, not individual, interests. Money was funneled into pro‐
jects that purported to grow the nation’s economy, a culturally im‐
portant pillar of Japanese life. This, in turn, left the life space to rely
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on private funds. Infrastructure was deficient in many places in To‐
kyo. It is reasonably prudent, then, to suspect that developing cities
in other Asian areas would ultimately sacrifice more life space if they
were to follow in Tokyo’s footsteps. We’ve already seen a great deal
of sacrifice from Chinese and Indian cities, an any further neglect of
the life space would ultimately lead to an even higher demand for
political and economic change. There is likely a balance between the
economic and life spaces, one that equally favors urban growth while
at the same time preserving cultural linchpins and safeguarding all
classes of inhabitants.
There are various modes of transportation, each which fits a
particular culture and/or city. In all likelihood, a megacity that uti‐
lizes all or many of these modes of transportation will be the mostsuccessful in moving people around and easing congestion and/or
pollution. Furthermore, there are a lot of crazy, genius ideas out
there (hyperloop?), and as technology continues to advance, new
and exciting modes of transportation will pop up.
These are cheap, environmentally friends, but require a lot of human
power. There are several cities in the United States that use rick‐shaws as a novel mode of transportation, but, ultimately, it proves
impractical due to the large distances Americans travel in a day. The
Asian cities that use rickshaws generally lack the infrastructure, such
as subways or railways, to move large quantities of people. Cities
that are equipped with such infrastructure would likely not benefit
from this.
Subways, like motorways, will eventually reach a limit. For Asian
cities that have no underground transportation, subways would like‐
ly alleviate a substantial amount of congestion on the roadways.
However, it requires a lot of investment and time to build a network
of underground tubes, and in many American cities—where people
own one or more personal vehicles—a subway would likely be a
waste of money. With new technology, including faster, safer trams,subways could serve as a compliment to all other forms of transpor‐
tation.
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This is perhaps the most interesting of all the modes of transporta‐
tion. Maglev trains have the ability to transport large quantities of
people very quickly across large distances. Asian cities may benefit
from this, provided people are commuting from far enough away to
make it effective. In America, a Maglev Train would be more useful
in cross‐country traveling, if anything. Building one in Cleveland
would be interesting, but ultimately useless, as commuters travel to
Cleveland from every direction but North. Where would the train
go? Would it travel around the outer circumference of the city? Who
would benefit from it? However, in Asian cities that are densely
populated, having fast and reliable transportation to a megacity from
a rural area could alleviate overcrowding, and afford some peoplenew job opportunities.
By far the most popular choice for Americans, the car poses several
problems for megacities. Even as technology advances, and as oil‐
burning cars are becoming more efficient and less damaging to the
environment, the personal automobile is a detriment for megacities.
They create congestion, pollution, accidents, and other hazards.They take up a lot of space and require areas to park. Buses make
more sense. In America, the car is a necessity. Most people do not
live near where they work, and many do not wish to. CSU and my
work are 40 miles apart, and there is no bus line, tram line, subway,
maglev train, or rickshaw that would take me to both in the same
day in the time required. Nor will there ever be, as the network of
crisscrossing tubes, or armies of buses would be so extensive and
vast it would be economically infeasible. The only other option is by
car, or (at least in the summertime):
Bicycles are useful, weather permitting, and can find a home in any
Asian megacity or American town. Already, in many Asian and Eu‐
ropean cities, the bicycle is the dominant and preferred mode of
transportation. They are cheap, virtually pollution‐free, easily ma‐neuverable, and do not take up a lot of space. I’m reminded of Am‐
sterdam, where you can find multi‐level parking garages specifically
built to house bicycles, and roadways specifically designed for bicy‐
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cle use. Provided the city is designed for large quantities of bikers,
the bicycle is an attractive mode of transportation for any city.
As mentioned in the article, there are many types of gender
inequality, and almost no country exhibits gender parity. One of the
more pressing issued associated with gender inequality in Asian
countries is the gap in health. Generally, girls are more malnour‐
ished than boys, and women receive less healthcare than men. This,
ultimately, has contributed to countless numbers of premature fe‐
male deaths, and has led to a population ratio that favors men. The
sex‐based abortions that take place in Southern Asia provide evi‐
dence that gender inequality can manifest as life‐and‐death deci‐
sions.There are other concerns. Women receive less education and
their function or importance to society is diminished. This has a cas‐
cading effect not only on women, but on men and children as well.
Mothers who are malnourished give birth to children who, from the
moment they are conceived, are at a disadvantage in health and life.
The article makes the claim that empowered women are less likely
to neglect their children and families, and are more likely to live a
healthier life. In general, gender inequalities seem to affect healthmore than anything.
I was surprised to see that gender inequality in Tehran was
not so different than European countries. Women in Tehran struggle
to compete in a society that is dominated by men, and aside from
their dress, are very similar to the women in America and other
Western countries, were women had to fight for equality. The inte‐
gration of religious and civil law is unique, but as several of the
women discussed, the religious idolatry and regulation is on the de‐
cline. There are still issues that prevent women from achieving
equality (such as social and cultural roles, and restrictions on dress
and travel), but on a whole, I was stunned that Tehran, in both eco‐
nomic and social venues, is very similar to Western cities. Perhaps
as religious influence wanes, the “red‐lines” and censorship will fol‐
low, and Tehran will be able to evolve in a direction that values
women just as much as men.
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For Megacities of Asia, Fall 2013
ver the past 30 years Asian countries have
seen phenomenal economic growth, par‐
ticularly in China, India, and more recently,
Indonesia. There are various reasons why
economic growth in Asia has outpaced the
rest of the world, including: the lasting ef‐
fects of colonialism/imperialism, the shift
from monopoly capitalism to transnational
corporate capitalism (TCC), demand from
industrialized nations, physical location,
populations dynamics, and effective socio‐
political components (Clark 2003). However, important economic
factors—including economic reforms that led to decollectivizationand a transition to TCC, policies that suppress inflation and promote
macroeconomic stability, and an open‐door policy that advocates
foreign investment—appear to be the most influential to Asia’s eco‐
nomic boon, and contribute to the amelioration of all other elements.
The Asian market has grown considerably due to the low in‐
flation and the relative stability of exchange rates, primarily caused
by highly‐resistant Asian macroeconomics. According to Douglas A.
Galbi (2013) in his article “Economic Growth in East Asia”, EastAsian countries—where economic growth has outpaced that of the
Western world—have stabilized their inflation at around 6% a year,
have kept relatively small government deficits, and have seen rela‐
tively stable exchange rates. There are various reasons why these
Asian markets are committed to keeping inflation in‐check, includ‐
ing: the effects of colonial fiscal conservatism on post‐colonial eco‐
nomic policies, historical tradition, and, as is the case in Indonesia
and China, an aversion grown from, “tramatic [sic] inflationary spi‐
rals that accompanied economic and political crises” (Galbi 2013).
Furthermore, the stability of real exchange rates in East Asia has
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seen a move from, “long‐term fixed rate regimes, to fixed‐but‐
adjustable regimes with occasional steep devaluations, to managed
floats” (Galbi 2013). The strength of exchange rates have a positive
effect on export industries, and generally work to keep inflation low,
further promoting economic growth and expansion (Galbi 2013).
Another important factor in Asian growth, particularly in re‐
spect to China, involves economic reforms targeted at the expansion
of worker productivity, profit incentives for private businesses, and
decollectivization. Prior to these economic reforms, a significant
percentage of China’s population worked in collective, state‐
controlled agriculture. Zuliu Hu (1997), in his article “Why is China
Growing so Fast”, explains that the decollectivization efforts and
economic reforms of 1978, including the expansion of propertyrights and the decline in state‐owned ventures, resulted in a, “rapid
growth of village enterprises [and] has drawn tens of millions of
people from traditional agriculture to higher‐value‐added manufac‐
turing”. In the years following the 1978 reforms, private ownership
of production increased from 2 to 10%, resulting in an abundance of
non‐agricultural jobs (including jobs satiating Western consumer
demand), a move from monopoly capitalism to transnational corpo‐
rate capitalism, and ultimately offered a level of economic flexibilityand competition that China, or any East Asian country, had never
seen (Hu and Khan 1997).
China’s open door policy, beginning as part of the 1978 eco‐
nomic reform, is also largely responsible for economic growth not
only in China, but in neighboring Asian countries. In respect to ex‐
ports, the Asian market prior to 1978 languished due to a “strong
aversion to trade and foreign investment” (Wei 1995). The suite of
economic reforms in 1978 resulted in many changes to the way Chi‐
na, and by proxy its many neighboring countries/cities (including
Vietnam and then British controlled Hong Kong), viewed and con‐
ducted international business. In his book, “Economic Interdepend‐
ence in the Asian‐Pacific Region”, C.H. Kwan (1994) states that, “Chi‐
na is a now a model to follow for socialist countries in the region,
helping to accelerate the reverse domino phenomenon”. This new
open door policy, coupled with attractive incentives aimed at the de‐velopment of private businesses, resulted in an annual rate of trade
expansion that was, “more than three times higher than that of total
world trade” (Wei 1995). Moreover, from 1978 until the present,
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such open door policies (along with cheap, competitive labor) have
ushered in a new era of transnational corporate entities, which only
further the expansion of the Asian economy.
In reality, it is an amalgamation of factors that has led to the
Asian economic boon. Many sociopolitical factors end up influencing
economic policy, and vice‐versa. Population dynamics are easily in‐
fluenced by changes to social and political policy (i.e. China’s eco‐
nomic reforms attracted many immigrants/emigrants), and the
physical aspects of many Asian countries (i.e. not being landlocked)
have contributed to their desirability as trade and export capitols.
There is no single reason for the rise of the Asian economy; rather it
was combination of many interconnected components, all designed
to facilitate a social, political and economic transformation thatwould fundamentally change the world.
Clark, David. Urban World/Global City. 2nd. New York: Routledge,
2003.
Galbi, Douglas A. Economic Growth in East Asia. 2013.
http://www.galbithink.org/topics/ea/ea.htm (accessed Sep‐
tember 28, 2013).Hu, Zuliu, and Mohsin S. Khan. "Why Is China Growing So Fast." In-
ternational Monetary Fund. June 1997.
https://www.imf.org/EXTERNAL/PUBS/FT/ISSUES8/INDEX.H
TM (accessed September 29, 2013).
Kwan, C.H. Economic Interdependence in the Asia-Pacific Region. New
York: Routledge, 1994.
Wei, Shang‐Jin. "The Open Door Policy and China's Rapid Growth:Evidence from City‐Level Data." Growth Theories in Light of of
East Asian Experience , 1995: 73‐104.
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For Megacities of Asia, Fall 2013
he state of Maharashtra, situated in the
Western part of India, harbors one of
Asia’s largest megacities, Mumbai. Of the
twelve million people living in Mumbai, it
is estimated that nearly half are living in
squalor, occupying various illegal and in‐
formal slums, sustaining and deriving sub‐
sistence from unregulated, illegitimate
employment (Rapid Intelligence 2012).
Like many Asian megacities where a clear,
inequitable divide in income and produc‐
tion exists, the formulation of Mumbai’s slums, of which Dharavi is
the largest, is derived from political policies and economic reformsthat favor the wealthy, unchecked and unplanned urban growth, and
an overwhelmingly large influx of migrant workers, most of whom
leave rural, agricultural jobs in hopes of obtaining prosperity in
Mumbai’s vast industrial sector. Such aspects have (and continue to)
contribute to the growing problem of poverty in and around Mum‐
bai, and have lasting consequences for not only the impoverished
living in the slums, but for the environment, the country, and the
world.One of the main factors contributing to poverty in Mumbai re‐
lates to unplanned urban growth. A series of social and budgetary
reforms in the late 20th century spurred the economic disparities ex‐
hibited in Mumbai today and enticed millions of rural farmers to
abandon their lands in search of better employment opportunities in
the urban landscape. The formation of Mumbai’s informal slums,
where a majority of these migrant workers live, was a consequence
of such unregulated immigration, and served as a clear divider be‐
tween the opulence of higher caste members and the squalor of im‐
poverished transients (Berrebi 2011‐2013). Furthermore, the eco‐
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nomic reforms concentrated investment and development in finan‐
cial and computer‐related sectors, nearly ignoring the expansive
(and often informal) manufacturing sector in slums adjacent to
Mumbai’s affluent city center, where nearly 50% of India’s GDP is
derived (Berrebi 2011‐2013).
As with other Asian megacities, the adoption of transnational
corporate capitalism (TCC) is tangentially responsible for a portion
of the economic disparities seen in contemporary Mumbai (Clark
2003). The recent shift from monopoly capitalism to TCC—a re‐
sponse to a demanding Western market—has stimulated urban
growth by making urban living more attractive to and profitable for
rural inhabitants. This shift, combined with an economic policy that
favors Mumbai’s urban sectors, has created (and continues to create)a large movement of migrants into the city and surrounding slums.
Population growth is therefore chaotic, and urban growth responds
with unregulated expansion.
Attempts to address the growing poverty problem have been
marred by corruption and fallacious intent. As Neelima Risbud
(2003) describes in her article, “The Case of Mumbai, India”, the Ma‐
harashtra Slums Area (Improvement, Clearance and Redevelop‐
ment) Act of 1971 shifted redevelopment resources to private slumowners, who quickly misappropriated funds while carelessly evict‐
ing illegal tenants. Slums located on private lands were ineligible for
national assistance, and those located on state or government‐
owned lands were only marginally improved. In particular, the
manufacturing sector remained grievously deficient due to a lack of
governmental investment, while the financial sector received large
boosts via state and government policy (Risbud 2003). Ultimately,
this ensured that Mumbai’s slums remained among the worst and
largest of Asia, and effectively marginalized not only an entire eco‐
nomic sector, but a population of industrious migrant workers.
The issue of unplanned urban growth and the formation of
slums have indelible effects on both the environment and the people
of Mumbai. As Madhura Swaminathan explains in her article, “As‐
pects of Urban poverty in Bombay”, “People living in the slums and
homeless are often the worst victims of industrial pollution [and] arethe worst affected by the insufficiency and poor quality of water …
and in general, by unhealthy living and working environments”
(Swaminathan 1995). As in other Asian megacities, urban growth in
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Mumbai has led to air and water pollution in its slums, and has made
day‐to‐day life for the impoverished difficult. In Dharavi, access to
quality health care, clean water, and sanitation services is severely
restricted, causing disease, violence, and the, “disintegration of
communities and the social fabric” (Berrebi 2011‐2013). Further‐
more, the caste system ensures that Mumbai’s population remains
divided, and creates near‐impassable economic and social barrier for
the impoverished to cross.
It appears that without an overhaul of state and government
policies, and without closer attention paid to urban growth, Mum‐
bai’s impoverished population will continue to grow. As projects
that aim to rehabilitate Mumbai’s slums come to a head, India’s larg‐
est and most prosperous city may be teetering on the brink of in‐creased poverty and environmental loss. As with many developing
Asian cities, Mumbai needs to approach the issue of rampant poverty
with a clear focus on manufacturing, infrastructure, and social re‐
form. With a clear and even‐handed response, the often ignored sec‐
tors of Mumbai may very well become essential cornerstones to a
regulated and planned growing megacity.
Berrebi, Dario. Causes of Poverty in India: Traditions of Discrimination
and Exclusion. 2011‐2013. http://www.poverties.org/causes‐of‐
poverty‐in‐india.html (accessed October 27, 2013).
Clark, David. Urban World/Global City. 2nd. New York: Routledge,
2003.
Rapid Intelligence. Statistics on India. 2012.
http://www.nationmaster.com/country/in‐india (accessed Oc‐tober 28, 2013).
Risbud, Neelima. The Case of Mumbai, India. Report, London:
Earthscan, 2003.
Swaminathan, Madhura. Aspects of Urban Poverty in Bombay. Report,
London: Sage, 1995.
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For Megacities of Asia, Fall 2013
outhern Asia is home to many of theworld’s largest megacities, including Jakar‐
ta, the economic and cultural capital of In‐donesia, and Hong Kong, one of China’s
largest financial capitals. These two dense‐
ly populated regions of Asia share many
common features that not only delineate
megacities, but also define an increasinglyindustrialized, expanding, and globally rel‐
evant stratum of Asian metropoles. Forexample, both Hong Kong and Jakarta are
positioned along Pacific coastlines, making them attractive centers of
commerce and trade, and both inhabit Asian countries that are moti‐vated to provide anchorage for transnational corporate capitalism.
However, for all they share in common, Jakarta and Hong Kong pos‐
sess intrinsic idiosyncrasies that cater to a similar, but ultimatelydistinct, culture, economy, and sociopolitical climate.
In terms of raw population numbers, Jakarta and Hong Kong havemanaged near parity. According to the Hong Kong Special Adminis‐
trative Region Government report, “Hong Kong: Fact Sheet” (2013),the population of all districts within the region in 2012 reached 7.15
million, and achieved an annual growth rate of 1.2%, a year‐to‐year
increase of 0.5%. Furthermore, the population density stood at
6,620 persons per square kilometer on Hong Kong Island, and
56,200 persons per square kilometer in the Kowloon territory, mak‐
ing Hong Kong one of the most densely populated regions not only inChina, but in the world (Hong Kong Special Administrative RegionGovernment 2013). In contrast, the population of Jakarta, according
to the national census conducted in 2000, increased to 8.361 million,
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and achieved an annual rate of growth of 0.12%, a paltry figure
when compared with Hong Kong’s 1.2% and with Indonesia’s na‐
tional rate of 1.37% (Suryadinata, Nuridya and Anata 2003). Moreo‐
ver, the population density of Jakarta was nearly twice that of Hong
Kong Island, resting at 12,649 persons per square kilometer, but on‐
ly one‐fifth that of Kowloon (Suryadinata 2013).
Jakarta’s low annual rate of growth is attributed to many eco‐nomic and social issues, including low fertility, and in fact achieved a
net negative migration in the 5 year period prior to the 2000 nation‐al census (Suryadinata 2013). In comparison, Hong Kong’s annual
growth rate has increased steadily year‐to‐year, as have the crude
birth rates and total fertility rates (HKSARG 2013). The disparaties
in population growth are likely related to the divergent economicand sociopolitical vistas displayed in each city, and are symptomatic
of local, regional and world government policy.
The unique economic structure of Hong Kong, including its self‐
governing rule of law and constitution structured towards economicfreedom, is primarily responsible for many patterns of growth. Chi‐
na’s suite of economic reforms in 1978, including the critical shift toan open‐door policy, opened many Chinese territories to a demand‐
ing world market, and shifted its stagnant economic structure to the
more viral and globally relevant transnational corporate capitalism.
Hong Kong benefited from this restructuring before and after being
returned to China in 1997, quickly becoming one of the largest cen‐ters for business and trade. According to the Heritage Foundation’s
2013 Index of Economic Freedom, Hong Kong economic freedomscore of 89.3 ranks the highest in the world, and can be attributed to,
“Hong Kong’s competitive regulatory regime, coupled with an effi‐
cient and transparent legal framework” (The Heritage Foundation
2013). When married with China’s open‐door policy, Hong Kong’s
free‐market economy has attracted millions of immigrants, and has
cemented its place as a leader in the world economy.Jakarta, by contrast, is a young upstart, and is considered part
of Southeast Asia’s largest economy (The Heritage Foundation2013). Like China and Hong Kong, Jakarta has recently adopted a
market economy, inviting the footprint of transnational corporate
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due to its rapid industrialization and growth, but has also experi‐
enced problems in social and class‐based segregation. In her article,
“The Contemporary Urban Setting of Jakarta”, Putra Rizkiya (2011)
contends that, “[the] Segregation problem is worse in the city’s effort
to pursue the status of ‘global city’, [and] the development for elite
area and poor‐middle class area is very unequal”. Essentially, Jakar‐
ta has positioned its political policy behind the elite in a bid to fur‐ther increase economic development, leaving the poor and middle
class to languish in slums and areas deficient in basic infrastructure(Rizkiya 2011). Such segregation is not uncommon in any city, but is
particularly troubling in Jakarta, where the gaps in equity are con‐
spicuous and salient.
In general, the introduction of transnational corporate capi‐talism has changed politics in both Hong Kong and Jakarta, and has
molded the social landscape in its inequitable image. The policiesthat enable these megacities to become vital contenders in a global
market cascade downward to the individual, influencing social dy‐namics and hierarchy. Political policy also has a tremendous effect
on environmental issues, such as water pollution, air pollution, and
the desiccation of crucial resources, which ultimately influences and
guides the social and political culture.
Rapid industrialization and poor policy‐making can lead to an abuse
of, or neglect of, the environment, and, cumulatively, can lead to cli‐
mate change. Hong Kong has several funds and organizations, suchas the Environment and Conservation Fund (EFC), the Environmen‐
tal Campaign Committee (ECC), and the Environmental ProtectionDepartment (EPD), to help mitigate climate change, pollution, and to
reduce its overall environmental footprint (HKSARG 2013). Legisla‐
tion and policy are primary contributors to environmental protec‐
tion, and are responsible for the framework needed to sustain clean
air and water, to reduce noise, collect and treat sewage, and to man‐
age solid waste. Still, despite a history of environmental considera‐tion, air pollution in Hong Kong remains relatively high, and is often
attributed to the burning of fossil fuels. As explained on Hong Kong’sEDP website (2013), “Motor vehicles, especially diesel vehicles, are
the main sources of [pollution] at the street level in Hong Kong”.
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Measures to combat air pollution include: stricter vehicle emissions
standards, programs that incentivize a switch to liquefied petroleum
gas vehicles, and tax rebates for people who purchase “green” vehi‐
cles (Environmental Protection Department 2013). Furthermore,
the industrial sector and power plants contribute an appreciable
amount of air pollution in and around Hong Kong. The EPD and oth‐
er government bodies work closely with heavy polluters, opening anevened dialogue in an effort to pave a clean and environmentally‐
friendly future (EPD 2013).Jakarta has significantly less legislation concerning the envi‐
ronment and climate change, and is particularly susceptible to envi‐
ronmental shock, including flooding, air and water pollution, the
outbreak of disease, and the depletion of surrounding lands and re‐sources. Past flooding events have been attributed to environmental
neglect and a lack of concise government oversight, and have had atremendous impact on all facets of life. According to the “Jakarta
City Report”, prepared by Indra M. Surbakti (2010), natural disastersthat occurred due to climate change not only destroy private and
public infrastructure, but have also, “disrupted the fabric of social
and economic conditions”. In recent years, flood disasters have in‐
creased and air pollution continues to be a problem, particularly forthe impoverished, prompting the government to create programsaimed at reducing gas emissions, managing air quality, limiting vehi‐
cles use, and creating green areas for development (Surbakti, et al.2010). Still, water scarcity, rising sea levels, heat stress, and disease
are just a few of the environmental issues that Jakarta continues to
face, and unless a more comprehensive policy is created, such prob‐
lems will only intensify.
There are numerous problems and obstacles that a developing meg‐
acity must face: urban sprawl, environmental issues, economic
growth, and the frequently arduous dilemma of transportation. As
in any territory, transportation serves as the connective tissue bind‐ing a population to the city’s economy and culture, and can provide
new opportunities for rural immigrants or marginalized citizens.Often, the task of planning and developing reliable and safe trans‐
portation is daunting and marred by extreme costs and corruption.
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Hong Kong, however, has implemented a mass transit system that
not only serves its residents, but also turns a profit for the city. In his
article, “The Unique Genius of Hong Kong’s Public Transportation
System”, Neil Padukone (2013) explains that, “The Mass Transit
Railway (MTR) Corporation, which manages the subway and bus
systems on Hong Kong Island and, since 2006, in the northern part
of Kowloon, is considered the gold standard for transit managementworldwide”. This is primarily due to Hong Kong’s understanding of
population demographics, including population density, and the val‐ue in providing citizens and customers with affordable and reliable
modes of transportation (Padukone 2013). Additionally, buses,
railways, and subways not only clear congested roadways, but also
work towards eliminating excessive air pollution caused by theburning of fossil fuels, the main contributor to global warming.
As a developing city, Jakarta is still in the planning and im‐plementation stages when it comes to providing adequate transpor‐
tation to its inhabitants. According to the Jakarta Local Governmentreport (2012), “Jakarta Urban Transport Problems and their Envi‐
ronmental Impacts”, motorized vehicle usage has consistently grown
over the past 5 years, and that, “Uncontrolled private vehicles using
will case saturated traffic congesting in Jakarta at 2014”. Congestioncaused by vehicles results in less travel, less income, and less goodsand service produced in Jakarta, potentially bottlenecking economic
growth. A government master‐plan has been developed to counter‐act this problem, and includes the construction of: subways, mono‐
rails, busways, and waterways (Jakarta Local Government 2012).
These developments, coupled with a more restrictive policy towards
private vehicle usage, will hopefully improve Jakarta’s transporta‐
tion woes while simultaneously combating environmental issues,
planting them on near‐level ground with other Asian megacities.
Perhaps the most important and influential aspect of any Asian meg‐
acity is its urban planning policies. Urban planning can impact near‐ly every feature discussed in this report, and can direct the growth of
a city, its economy, and its culture. Even more important, favorableurban planning can impact the health and well‐being of a megacity’s
population, provide efficient and organized communities, and can
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help close gaps in equity. Hong Kong has had a long history of urban
planning, and since the 1970’s has committed resources into devel‐
oping organizations, such as the Urban Renewal Authority and the
Town Planning Board (TPB), that focus on land use, building man‐
agement, and overall urban renewal (HKSARG 2013). Studies con‐
ducted in 2007 by the TPB helped to refocus Hong Kong’s urban
planning strategy into, “three broad directions of providing qualityliving environment, enhancing economic competitiveness and
strengthening links with the Mainland” (HKSARG 2013). This con‐centric approach to urban planning has laid the foundation for Hong
Kong’s rise to a dominant Asian megacity, and has provided the
framework for an industrious and balanced population.
Again, as Jakarta is a newly developing megacity, their urbanplanning strategies still rest in the stages of implementation. The
lack of urban planning in Jakarta, combined with policies tailored forthe wealthy, has contributed to the large income gap present in sev‐
eral parts of the city. According to Ronna Nirmala (2012) in her arti‐cle, “Jakarta to Plan City Through 2025”, the long‐term urban devel‐
opment plan is aimed, “to put Jakarta on equal footing with other
large cities in the region, [and] would account for different scenarios
involving low, medium or high growth rates”. Part of this proposalinvolves the aforementioned master‐plan concerning public trans‐portation, which will hopefully be completed by 2025. However, Ja‐
karta is still a far ways off from obtaining parity with other Asianmegacities, and as Nirmala describes, “The capital [Jakarta] is argua‐
bly the worst planned mega‐city in the region, particularly when it
comes to public infrastructure” (Nirmala 2012).
Although Hong Kong and Jakarta share many similar features, they
are very much unique in their structure. In many ways, Jakarta is
going through growing pains similar to what other Asian megacities
went through decades ago, and is struggling to keep its population
and infrastructure growth in pace with its economic growth; and inmany ways Hong Kong can be viewed as a model megacity for aspir‐
ing Asian territories, setting standards in transportation, environ‐ment protection, and urban planning. Such diversity reveals the
complexity and shear difficulty in planning, developing, and main‐
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taining a megacity, and stands as not only a testament to human in‐
genuity, but to the future of human civilization. As these megacities
continue to grow, their relevance and influence on the global econ‐
omy and culture will intensify. Currently, Asia has the largest num‐
ber of megacities in the world, and with proper policy and planning,
that number will only continue to grow.
Environmental Protection Department. Hong Kong's Environment.
August 26, 2013. http://www.epd.gov.hk/epd/english/ envi‐
ronmentinhk/air/air_maincontent.html (accessed November 25,2013).
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government. "Hong Kong:The Facts." GovHK. July 2013. http://www.gov.hk/en/
about/abouthk/factsheets/docs/population.pdf (accessed No‐
vember 21, 2013).
Jakarta Local Government. "Jakarta Urban Transport Prlbems and
Their Environmental Impacts." University of Indonesia. 2012.
http://www.ui.ac.id/download/apru‐awi/jakarta‐local‐goverment.pdf (accessed November 24, 2013).
Nirmala, Ronna. Jakarta to Plan City Through 2025. March 16, 2012.http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/archive/jakarta‐to‐plan‐city‐
through‐2025/ (accessed November 22, 2013).
Padukone, Neil. The Unique Genius of Hong Kong's Public Transporta-
tion System. September 10, 2013. http://www.theatlantic.com
/china/archive/2013/09/the‐unique‐genius‐of‐hong‐kongs‐public‐transportation‐system/279528/ (accessed November 25,
2013).Pui‐tak, Lee. Hong Kong Reintegrating with China: Political, Cultural
and Social Dimensions. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press,
2001.
Rizkiya, Putra. Contemporary Urban Setting in Jakarta and Indonesia.
Project Work for Master of Urban Agglomerations Course,
Frankfurt: University of Applied Sciences, 2011.Surbakti, Indra M., Izhar C. Idroes, Hendricus A. Simarmata, and
Tommy Firman. Jakarta City Report: Information Related to Cli-mate Change in Jakara City. City Report, Kakorn Pathom: Work‐
shops of Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment, 2010.
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Suryadinata, Leo, Arifin Nuridya, and Kris Anata. Indonesia's Popula-
tion: Ethnicity and Religion in a Changing Political Landscape.
Singapore: Institue of Southeast Asian Studies, 2003.
The Heritage Foundation. Hong Kong Economy: Popuation, Facts,
GDP, Buisness, Trade, Inflation. 2013. http://www.heritage.org
/index/country/hongkong (accessed 11 24, 2013).
—. Indonesia Economy: Population, GDP, Inflation, Business, Trade,
FDI, Corruption. 2013. http://www.heritage.org/index/country
/indonesia (accessed 11 24, 2013).
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For Megacities of Asia, Fall 2013
More and more people are living in urban
environments. The number of megacities
(cities with more than 10 million people)
is ever increasing. Projected 59 by 2015.
Most urbanization is taking place in de‐
veloping countries, specifically in Asiaand Africa. Furthermore, most growth is
taking place in poor quarters of cities.
This presents many challenges for urban
growth. Urbanization and megacities present environmental, eco‐
nomic, and social problems. Land consumption, air pollution, water
scarcity, poverty, social segregation, and vulnerability are all prob‐
lems that urban environments and megacities must deal with. Rapid
urbanization is often unplanned in developing countries, whichmakes these areas unsafe. The accelerated and uncontrolled growth
has contributed to the ecological transformation of the cities and
their immediate surroundings.
The Effects and Impacts of Urbanization and Megacities:
Density: megacities are very dense. This means that they serve
as important centers of political and economic decisions, have a sur‐
plus of cheap labor, and have a concentration of capital stock thatmakes them attractive for investments. Megacities generate a lot of
income and their local economies influence rural surroundings, and,
increasingly, global markets.
Settlement, Infrastructure, and Land Tenure: In areas that are
not properly structured for urban growth, infrastructure suffers. In
Asia, migrants build informal, and often illegal, settlements/housing
quarters. They are labeled as “squatters”. Such settlements arise
from the “land tenure system”.Socio‐economic Disparities: This is essentially the “haves” and
the “have‐nots”. In impoverished are often pushed out of informal
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settlements with deficient public facilities and infrastructure to
make way for strong economic purposes and land use. Roughly, a
quarter of the population of the developing countries (1.3 billion
people) live in absolute poverty. The growing socio‐economic dis‐
parity within megacities and the lack of social cohesion is a serious
explosive charge.
Risks and Vulnerabilities: Man‐made and natural disasters are
one risk of megacities. Since megacities have such high populations
they consume natural resources at a high rate, which results in an
ecological strain on the environment, and contributes of air, water
and soil pollution. Traffic congestion also plays into air pollution.
Water table lowering, rising sea levels, earthquakes, storms and
land‐slides are other forms of risks associated with megacities.Governance: often, in these developing areas of the world, the
governance that guides urban growth and expansion is woefully de‐
ficient.
Sustainable Development: A regional settlement structure has to
be designed which set up on the elements of density, mixing of dif‐
ferent land uses, polycentrality and capacity of public mass transport
systems and public facilities. The priority should be to slow down
urban growth and strengthen the living and economic conditions ofrural lands.
Strategies of Urban Development: In respects to sustainability,
the integration and coordination of urban and rural areas with the
central city should be a main principle. Informal settlements should
be registered and made legal. Social improvements should also be
made is urban development is to be sustained.
Providing health care for a growing population presents its own
problems, but maintaining that health care via systematic infrastruc‐
ture (like sewage treatment, garbage removal, and proper systems to
prevent man‐made natural disasters) is a growing concern for those
1.5 billion people living in slums. Couple that with unrestricted ur‐
ban growth, poor‐to‐no planning, a high consumption of natural re‐
sources leading to all manner of ecological pollution, and an absence
of reliable transportation to and from rural areas (practically forcing
people to adopt city dwelling), the act of sustaining a developingmegacity looks more and more like an uphill battle.
Economic factors, such as housing costs, the ability to reform
outdated or inefficient infrastructure, and improper/unchecked tax‐
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ation methods also challenge the sustainability of developing meg‐
acities. Have enough money to sustain growth and fight poverty pre‐
sents a problem for megacities deficient in proper governance.
Hopefully, Kötter’s cursory outline for addressing these issues will
put developing megacities on the right track towards sustaining ur‐
ban growth.
The economic benefits associated with Imperialistic rule brought
several Asian countries into the modern era. British and French oc‐
cupation in India contributed to improved public services and some
commercial stability. Railroads and trade routes were built, build‐
ings were erected, and a modicum of French culture was injected in‐to the fledgling Indian culture. Opium served as an important trade
good, being harvested in India and shipped off to China, where it
penetrated and soured the upper class. As a result, China went to
war, and equipped with new Imperial modernity, attempted to fight
back its colonial intruders. This development threads deep into the
20th century, sparking war and uprising.
The modernization of India by Britain and France served as
the precipice for its eventual independence. Indian nationalismpushed the country over the edge and paved the way for an inde‐
pendent economic future, as well as the extinction of systemic Brit‐
ish oversight. Similar nationalist movement occurred throughout
Asia and Africa in the early‐to‐mid 20th century. These movements,
perhaps, would not have been possible without the modernizing ef‐
fects of Imperialism.
The world population is expanding and megacities are becoming
more common. More and more people are living in urban environ‐
ments. The most rapid growth has occurred in the last 50 years, par‐
ticularly in Asia, India and Latin America. The 21st century will be an
“Urban Century”. Asia is where almost half of the urban population
of the world lives, and soon it will have the majority of the world’s
urban population. Urbanization generally takes place with corre‐sponding acceleration of economic growth. Urbanization is promot‐
ed by:
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Economies of Scale in production and manufacturing. As
economies of scale in production begin to take hold larger
size plants become necessary, thus contributing to the need
for larger settlements of people.
The existence of informal externalities
Technology development, particularly in building and trans‐
portation technology.
Substitution of capital for land as made possible by techno‐
logical developments. As technology develops and capital is
substituted for land, taller buildings become possible, intensi‐
fying population density further.
The historical pattern of urbanization suggests that countries
tend to urbanize very slowly until they attain urbanization levelsaround 25 to 30 percent. The pace of economic growth and overall
development then quickens, with rapid structural shifts occurring in
the economy, away from agriculture to industry and services.
Urbanization presents many challenges for megacities, particu‐
larly in providing adequate infrastructure and sanitation services.
Access to clean water and proper health services are also problems
present in urban Asian environments.
Urbanization has been relatively well addressed in Asian citiesand has led to an increase in living standards and quality of life of its
residents. However, there are still problems, including:
Vast increase in urban population in these countries
Low per capita income
Constrained fiscal circumstances of governments, leading to
low expenditure on urban infrastructure
The existence of weak local governments in must urban are‐
as.
If time, review the rest of the article.
Cities are economic and social systems of space. They are a
product of deep‐seated and persistent processes, which enable and
encourage people to amass in large numbers in small areas. The ur‐
ban world is distinctive in socio‐economic as well as spatial terms.Patterns of demand converge as consumerism absorbs ever more of
the world’s population. Irrespective of continent or country, many
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urban residents live their lives in broadly similar ways, with com‐
mon concerns over home, children, school and world. Although
towns and cities have existed for over eight millennia, the wholesale
transition to urban location and urban living is very recent in origin.
Many highly successful urban civilizations existed in the past, but
their impacts where both limited and localized. Major and rapid
changes began in Britain in the late 18th century in response to in‐
dustrial capitalism. They the beginning of the 20th century about
15% of the world’s population was living in urban environments.
Compare that with about 6 billion people today living in urban envi‐
ronments.
The adoption of a world perspective on cities and urban soci‐
ety is a recent development, which was foreshadowed nearly 100years ago, in the formative work of Adna Ferin Weber (1899) on the
Growth of Cities in the Nineteenth Century . The urban world Weber
analyzed consisted of 50 countries in which there was significant ur‐
ban development. Within urbanized countries, statistics on employ‐
ment patterns, family structures and demography pointed to the ex‐
istence of pronounced urban‐rural contrasts. Cities were places with
particular socio‐economic characteristics that sustained and perpet‐
uated distinctive patters of social and economic behavior.The world economy is capitalist in formation in that it is
based upon principles of private rather than state ownership of the
means of production and seeks to generate profits through the ma‐
nipulation of land, labor, finance and entrepreneurship. The world
economy is distinguished by the ways in which it is organized and
operates. Structure and function are key defining features, rather
than the worldwide scale of supply and demand, and of production
and consumption. The world economy is dominated by powerful
transnational corporations (TNC’s) and is regulated through global
institutions. TNC’s are large, complex companies that make and sell
many products in many countries around the world. They dominate
and control production and consumption in key economic sectors.
They also have disproportionate influence over supplies of raw ma‐
terials and manufacturing capacity, and determine/direct patters of
spending through advertising and promotional activities. TNC’s aresupported by banking and investment houses that manage and ma‐
nipulate global finance, and a range of organizations that provide
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producer services in the form of management consultancy and legal,
personnel and marketing advice on an international basis.
The world economy is organized around and through cities.
Implicit in the global approach is the view that cities much increas‐
ingly be seen as interactive and interrelated elements within an ur‐
ban hierarchy that underpins and makes possible processes of capi‐
talist accumulation and reproduction. The accumulation of wealth
through manufacturing, exchange, and consumption is the primary
cause of urban growth and urbanization. It leads to a concentration
of population in towns and cities throughout the core and in the pe‐
riphery, so that urban development in both is an interdependent
outcome of the operation of global capitalism.
Spatial and temporal variations in levels of urban develop‐ment are consequences of the ways in which capitalism has evolved
and of its changing relations with areas of supply and demand across
the world. Overseas resources and markets are secured and manipu‐
lated by colonization, colonialism, and imperialism. Explanations of
urban development lie in the social and economic characteristics of
successive forms of capitalism.
The emergence of global society is made possible by advances
in transport and communications that overcome barriers of inacces‐sibility and distance and facilitate easy and cheap worldwide move‐
ments of ideas and people. Global society is reflected in the long‐
distance and instantaneous circulation of information and imagery
by broadcasting, telecommunications, videos, and the Internet. The
global society is reinforced by the international traffic of tourists,
business travelers, migrants and workers.
A strong case can be made that global society is increasingly ur‐
ban in character. Cities are points of production and reproduction of
urban ways of life and culture. As major and dense concentrations of
population drawn from many different backgrounds, they are places
in which a diverse array of beliefs, styles, values and attitudes origi‐
nate, ferment, and flourish. Society is becoming urbanized in the
sense that increasing numbers of people are being exposed to, and
are absorbing the social values that arise of, and are most closely as‐
sociated with life in cities.Globalism is a contested concept, the existence and meaning of a
global economy and society being widely discussed and questioned
by analysts. Globalists point to 3 major areas of debate:
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1. The central issue surrounds the extent of economic and social
fusion. Globalists argue that most places are locked into
worldwide economic and social networks, which transcend
national and regional boundaries. They point to the unlim‐
ited reach of air travel, the mass media, and the Internet as
evidence of interconnection and interdependency. The coun‐
ter argument is that many countries and parts of countries
have poor transportation and communications and so can en‐
gage readily to only a limited extent with places outside the
local area. They are characterized by traditional subsistence
or semi‐subsistence rural economies and societies that func‐
tion interdependently of national and global relations.
2. A second area of contention surrounds the extent and mean‐ing of global economic influences, even in areas that are well
connected. It is closely related to TNC’s and their
role/importance in the world economy. Globalists cite the
proliferation of such companies and the spread of their prod‐
ucts/brands as evidence of global economic power and domi‐
nation.
3. The third debate is grounded in history and concerns the
novelty of global perspectives. A case can be made that globalrelationships are not new and were well established by the
end of the 19th century, thus calling into question the present
preoccupation with all things global. Proponents of this de‐
bate point to the influence of the imperial powers at the time,
and the free and widespread movement of capital, profits,
and labor around the world.
The urban world is a heterogeneous place. Important and highly
significant differences exist within and between regions and coun‐
tries in the size and proportions of their populations that line in ur‐
ban places. Generalizations concerning the urban world depend on
their validity upon data that relate each of the world’s sovereign
states. Particular problems surround the reliability and frequency of
census in many of the world’s poorest nations where, paradoxically,the scale and problems are most severe. They are especially acute in
highly populated countries of the developing world, such as China
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and India. International urban statistics are surrounded by many dif‐
ficulties of availability and reliability and must be regarded as crude
estimates rather than precise measures. Detailed information on the
urban world is formed of population estimates is assembled and
published on a regular basis in the United Nations in its annual De‐
mographic Yearbook and in its biennial World Urbanization Pro‐
spects, which are available online. These publications incorporate
data for each of the world’s sovereign states that are principally
based upon national censuses.
The geography of the contemporary urban world is charac‐
terized by pronounced variations in the number and proportion of
people who live in urban places. Some parts of the world have huge
number of urban people, in others there are very few. China, by far,has the greatest number of urban dwellers. One in five of the world’s
urban people lives in China and the total population of Chinese
towns and cities, at 460 million, is similar to the urban population of
Africa and South America combined. Chinese cities are both numer‐
ous and large, there being 28 with populations in excess of two mil‐
lion and 46 with between one and two million. The urban popula‐
tion of India is 280 million, which is almost exactly the same as the
urban population of the whole of Africa. The urban populations ofChina and India are so high that they completely overshadow and
suppress the more subtle variations which exist elsewhere and
which may be highly significant at the regional scale.
The distribution of the world’s urban population is not re‐
flected in the balance of research activity in urban geography. Most
research has been undertaken on the towns and cities of the USA
and Europe, although the majority of the urban population lives out‐
side these areas. Until recently, China was closed to foreign academ‐
ics. It was not until the borders were opened in 1978 that urban
fieldwork was possible. There is in contrast a rich and long‐
established tradition of urban geography study in India, based upon
the Census of India, which traces its origins to the work of R.L. Singh
at the University of Delhi. Some of the highest levels of urban devel‐
opment in proportionate terms are found in South America, the most
urban continent. The population is more urban than rural in all butone of the major South American countries (Guyana), and over 80%
of the population of Venezuela, Uruguay, Chile, and Argentina are
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town and city dwellers. The proportion of the population that is
similarly high in Europe, Australia, and parts of Western Asia.
Unlike the Americas, where levels of urban development are
uniformly high, there are however, countries in Europe and Western
Asia that are predominantly rural (Albania, Moldova and Yemen).
Levels of urban development are low throughout most of Southern
Africa, Eastern, South‐central and South‐Eastern Asia. Only a small
percentage of their populations live in urban places and these re‐
gions include many of the world’s most rural areas. The situation
here is different because it contains the world’s most highly populat‐
ed countries, although the distribution of population within these
countries, and in the region as a whole, is predominantly rural.
With some 28% of India’s 1.1 billion people thought to be liv‐ing in urban places, the level of urbanization is broadly similar to
that in China and Pakistan. Fewer than 25% of the population of Af‐
ghanistan, Cambodia, Laos, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand is urban.
The number and proportion of the population that live in towns and
cities are products of a country’s history, culture, and resources and
are only weakly linked to its level of contemporary economic devel‐
opment. The correlation between gross national product (GNP) per
head of population and the percentage of urban is 0.59. Countrieswith high GNP’s per head tend to have high levels of urban develop‐
ment amount countries with low GNP’s per capita (huh?).
The urban population is distributed among settlements of
widely different size. Urban places range from towns and cities with
several thousands of people to those with tens of millions. Most
would agree that settlements with populations over 100,000 are
probably cities, but the status of places with around 20,000 is more
questionable, especially when they have important local government
and commercial functions. Most of the world’s urban populations
live in small to medium‐sized urban places. According to UN esti‐
mates, some 25% of the world’s populations live in cities with fewer
than 500,000 inhabitants. The primary function of smaller urban
settlements is to act as points of linkage between towns and country,
where agricultural surpluses are exchanged for urban goods and
services.A notable feature of the contemporary urban pattern is the
degree to which the urban population lives in giant cities. In 2000,
the UN recognized 320 cities with over a million people, who togeth‐
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er housed one fifth of the world’s total population (Tokyo, Sao Paulo,
Mexico, New York, etc.). Not only is the urban population concen‐
trated in a small number of countries, but within many of these
countries there is a disproportionate concentration in a small num‐
ber of cities. The concentration of the urban populations of countries
into large cities occurs in all parts of the world. It is a pattern that is
independent of region, length of urban history, and level of economic
or urban development. Metropolitan dominance is most pro‐
nounced in Sought America and the Caribbean. Despite their enor‐
mous size, the world’s major cities at present are viable and stable
places that represent a significant social and economic achievement.
They contribute disproportionately to national economic growth
and social transformation by providing economies of scale and prox‐imity that allow industry and commerce to flourish.
There are some strong indications that global economic fac‐
tors account for the way in which the population in a country is dis‐
tributed among cities of different size. Implicit in the concept of the
urban hierarchy is the assumption that population is spread across a
range of cities of different sizes, which interact and interdepend as a
functioning urban system. In many countries there is a regular
graduation of cities according to size. Generally, the second largestcity was half the size of the first, and the third city a third size of the
first, and so on, so that the size of any center could be predicted by
simply its rank and size of the largest place. So widespread is this
relationship between cities that it became known as the “rank‐size
rule”. The USA, UK, Japan, China and Brazil are examples of coun‐
tries which the distribution of cities is approximately rank‐sized.
The situation in some countries is, however, different in that
the population is unevenly distributed among urban places. The ex‐
treme is reached where there is one excessively large primate center
that dominates all others. Primate cities are not necessarily large in
international terms, but they are by definition, very much bigger
than any other place in the country. They are most common and
most pronounced among the poorest and most sparsely populated
states in the developing world. Primacy is especially prevalent in
Central America and Africa. Such dominance of the primate city issome countries that it houses a disproportionate share of the na‐
tional as well as the urban population.
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Primacy has important spatial consequences. It means that,
in many cases, most the national population is concentrated in one
small part of the country and the remainder is profoundly rural.
Many primate cities are costal ports, so that the population is pe‐
ripherally rather than centrally located within the boundaries of the
nation state. Research into city size distributions supports two broad
generalizations: Rank size patters are most common among mature,
well‐integrated and balanced economies, while primate distributions
are a feature of embryonic urban systems and so are more common
in the developing world. The degree of primacy decreases over time:
as the economy matures, so the population becomes more evenly
spread across all the cities. One city may remain dominant, but not
excessively. Such findings suggest that city size distributions mayrelate in some way to the degree to which a country’s cities are inte‐
grated within the global urban network.
There are 4 reasons why primacy may exist in developing coun‐
tries:
1. The first is associated with colonialism and arises because
empires tend to be controlled through key cities, which, as fo‐
ci of imperial interchange, operate at a different and higher
level than local indigenous cities. Primacy is thus a functionof colonial control, an explanation that appears adequately to
explain the existence of dominant cities in Asia.
2. Primate cities are seen as major outlets for products generat‐
ed in dependent export economies. They are the point of
linkage between interior producing regions and external
overseas markets.
3. Primacy may be created from within by the collapse or de‐
cline of the rural economy. Local industry and trade are often
destroyed by export dependence, and this undermines the
economic base of provincial centers. In this case, the largest
city grows at the expense of the smallest.
4. Primacy by be a social capitalist production. Such change typ‐
ically transforms class and labor relations and, in particular,
leads to a reduction in the amount of labor that is required in
agriculture. Those no longer needed in farming tend to con‐centrate in, and so inflate the size of, major cities, where there
are possibilities of jobs in service activities, or opportunities
for income generation within the informal sector.
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Primacy points to the existence of a two‐tier urban system in
many of the countries of the world. People either live in one of the
myriad small villages or in the primate city. There are few settle‐
ments of intermediate size. Differences in size are inevitably reflect‐
ed in an imbalance of importance and role. Primate cities typically
dominate their countries in economic and political terms. They are
the centers in which national elites and other major decision makers
and opinion leaders are concentrated.
Cities with rank‐size patterns tend to be well integrated within
wider networks, those in countries with primate distributions, with
the exception of the primate city itself, are predominately inward‐
looking and have strongest connections with the indigenous econo‐
my. These differences suggest that the global urban system is pres‐ently fragmented and incomplete. Rather than a coherent whole, the
contemporary urban world consists of a set of loosely‐knit subsys‐
tems.
The world is an urban place because towns and cities offer sub‐
stantial benefits over other forms of settlement. The advantages that
people derive from clustering together are greater than when they
scatter and disperse. Theories of urban formation seek to identify
the forces that permit and encourage large numbers of people toconcentrate in comparatively small areas. Two broadly contrasting
viewpoints are prevalent:
1. Economic Benefits: Underlying economic interpretation of
urban formations is a set of relationships best explained by
economic theories views as two interdependent sectors: the
Basic Sector and the Non‐Basic Sector, described below: Basic
Sector – Consists of all those activities and employment that
produce goods and services that are sold outside the city and
provide the finance to enable basic requirements to be im‐
ported into the city (corn, seed merchants, agricultural advi‐
sory services, and farm machinery manufacturers, which are
urban based and which serve a non‐urban market). Non‐Basic
Sector – Consists of all those activities that provide goods and
services for the city itself (municipal government, street
cleaning services, police, fire and ambulance services, cornerstores, etc.). The two sectors are mutually interdependent.
Any change in the size of one sector will be associated with a
change in the size of the other. It is important to emphasize
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that cities exist because of, and at the expense of, their sur‐
rounding environments.
2. Social Bonds: The fact that urban centers are present in a
wide range of economies and cultures throughout the world
suggests that origins of urban living are a product of human
relationships and lie in the interpersonal ties that encourage
people to congregate in space. Social explanations of urban
formation stress the gregarious nature of human behavior.
They point to the complementary properties of links such as
male and female, mother and child, sender and receiver,
speaker and listener, and giver and takers, and argue that
such bonds introduce strong centripetal tendencies among
human populations. These arguments are most closely asso‐ciated with the work of Adams (1966) on the emergence of
cities in early Mesopotamia. The rise of cities was seen as
preeminently a social process, an expression more of changes
in people’s interactions with each other than with their envi‐
ronment. The novelty of the city consisted of a whole series
of new institutions and a vastly greater size complexity of so‐
cial unit, rather than basic innovations in subsistence.
For Lampard (1965), society evolved through a number of organ‐izational stages, each of which is associated with different settlement
forms. Emphasis was placed on “primordial” since this represents
the achievement of a level of social organization that is necessary to
support and sustain village life. Improvements in agriculture
productivity is an essential requirement, however, the development
of community structures to manage farming and ensure social stabil‐
ity is crucial to the viability of the settlement. The existence of cities,
the next stage represents the achievement of a higher level of social
sophistication and consensus. This is reflected in formal bureaucrat‐
ic, religions, military, and political systems.
Most cities across the world have strong international links and
interdependencies, but studies of city size distributions, and espe‐
cially primacy, point to many instances of weak connections with the
lower order center in the domestic hierarchy. The concept of the
global urban system has considerable attraction and appeal as anintellectual construct, but its substance is contested.
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It’s unfortunate that it took the Olympics coming to Beijing to moti‐
vate China to bolster and brace their weak anti‐pollution infrastruc‐
ture, but some of the policies put in place before the torch was lit,
while entirely foreign and unimaginable here in the US, have man‐aged to combat pollution in dramatic ways. One such method in‐
volves the production and use of automobiles; not only have these
laws cracked down on harmful emissions produced by cars and fac‐
tories (in some cases they literally closed or moved factories out of
Beijing), China has gone so far as to implement a ban on automobile
use. The “license plate system” was devised as a measure to cut smog
for the 2008 Olympics, but has since then been implemented as a
full‐time measure to combat pollution. Using license plate numbersas a control, this law effectively bans vehicles from driving on certain
days of the week. It has reportedly reduced the amount of pollution
in Beijing by 10% (Hays 2012).
Other measures put in place before the 2008 Olympics help in
the fight against pollution; coal mines were closed, power plants
were modified, factories were closed or relocated, inefficient taxis
were replaced with cleaner models, and pollution monitoring sta‐
tions were built to help in struggle for clean air (Hays 2012). Themodest change in air quality around Beijing is a good start, but China
still has a long way to go before its environmental footprint is trivial,
and its megacities are no longer significant contributors to global
pollution.
Air quality in China is horrible. The good news is that the bad airquality that Beijing and most of North China has experienced for
much of this year is having an impact on policy. The Ministry of En‐
vironmental Protection issued is most comprehensive and toughest
plant to reduce air pollution by 2017, setting stricter limits on the
levels of particulate matter. The plan targets Northern China, par‐
ticularly Beijing, Tianjin, and the Hebei province. Reducing pollution
will be accomplished by the following:
1. Restrictions of vehicle usage. This includes the license platesystem discussed in a previous article.
2. Increasing the number of vehicles powered by natural gas.
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3. Beijing will close many factories and ban certain industries
from opening factories in the city.
4. Replacing coal‐burning boilers in city centers with clean en‐
ergy systems.
5. Increasing the number of bicycles for rend.
6. Boost the output of natural gas power plants in order to re‐
duce pollution from coal fired plants.
The present pattern of global urban development is merely the most
recent product of processes of urban change that began over 8,000years ago. It represents an intermediate stage in the progression
from a wholly rural to what will possibly be a completely urban
world. The global urban pattern is changing in three different and
unconnected ways: through urban growth, urbanization, and the
spread of urbanism. Urban growth occurs when the population of
towns and cities rise. Urbanization refers to the increase in the
proportion of the population that lives in towns and cities. Urban-
ism is the name that is most commonly used to describe the social
and behavioral characteristics of urban living that are being extend‐
ed across society as a whole as people identify and attempt to identi‐
fy and account for recent patterns of urban growth and urbanization
as the global scale.
Urban growth and urbanization are separate and independ‐
ent trends. Urban Growth refers to the absolute increase in the size
of the urban population. It occurs both through natural increase,which is an excess of births over deaths, and through net in‐
migration. In most cities both factors operate together to reinforce
each other. Urbanization measures the switch from a spread‐out
pattern of human settlement to one in which the population is con‐
centrated in urban centers. It occurs with relative shift in the distri‐
bution of population from the countryside into towns and cities. Ur‐
banization is a change that has a beginning and an end, the former
being when the population is wholly rural, the latter occurring wheneveryone is recorded as living in an urban place.
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It is important to emphasize that, as the total population of a
country consists of both urban and rural dwellers, an increase in the
proportion urban is a function of both. It occurs when the urban
component increases in relative size, either through faster urban
growth or more rapid rural population decline. The measurement of
urbanization is not without difficulties, as it depends upon the divi‐
sion of a country into urban and rural. It is affected by changes in
definition and the classification of centers that are made from time
to time by national census authorities.
By far the most important characteristics of contemporary urban
change is the sheer scale of urban population growth. Urban growth
correlates strongly with overall population growth, so it is not sur‐
prising to find that greatest gains occur in highly populated coun‐tries where large numbers were added to the national population.
Urban populations are growing more rapidly throughout Africa and
Southern Asia. The rates are highest in parts of sub‐Saharan African
and Western Asia. Little or no growth is occurring in urban popula‐
tions throughout most of the developed world. The average annual
rate of urban growth in Europe is less that 0.11% annum between
1990 and 2000.
Generally, metropolitan centers are stagnant or are losing popu‐lations, while towns and small cities are gaining. The most signifi‐
cant trends in the fall in the population of major cities. Metropolitan
decline in developed countries is very much a feature of the last 30
years. Metropolitan decline is well established in the UK. All of the
largest 15 cities lost population during the 1970s and again during
the 1980s. Also, 13 of the largest 15 cities declined between 1991
and 2001. The UN estimates indicated that the number of cities with
over 8 million people increased from ten in 1970 to 24 in 2000. The
number and size of megacities are increasing most rapidly in devel‐
oping countries. In 1950, the only megacities, London and New
York, were both in the developed world, while 18 of the 24 megaci‐
ties in 2000 were in the developed world.
Urbanization is a cyclical process through which nations pass as
they evolve from agrarian to industrial societies. Substantial shifts
in the distribution of population can be expected in many countrieswith presently low levels of urbanization as the proportion of the
population that lives in towns and cities rises to ceiling levels.
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Urbanization is presently a developing world phenomenon. It
involves the large‐scale redistribution of people in many of the
world’s poorest nations that are least able to cope with its conse‐
quences. Urbanization is occurring at greatest speed in countries
that score low on the UN Human Development Index—there people
have the lowest level of life expectancy at birth, and the lowest levels
of education and per capita income. It is however, restricted to Afri‐
ca and Asia. Little or no urbanization is taking place in South Ameri‐
ca despite generally low levels of economic development, because
the wholesale switch of population from rural to urban has already
taken place.
In examining the overall association between urbanization and
development, the World Bank estimates that urbanization is increas‐ing three times faster in low‐and middle‐income countries than it is
in high‐income countries. Because the rate is greater, levels of urban
development in the developing world are catching up with, and will
soon approximate, those in the developed world. Little change is tak‐
ing place in the urban and rural balance in the developed world be‐
cause, in most countries, the cycle of urbanization has run its course.
Counter‐urbanization replaced urbanization as the dominant pro‐
cess of location change in the USA more than three decades ago. Be‐tween 1960 and 1970 the metropolitan areas in the USA grew five
times as fast as the rural areas. But during the 1970s the pattern
was inverted with the rural areas gaining population at one‐and‐a‐
half times the rate of that in the cities. The rate of counter‐
urbanization has recently slacked across much of the developed
world, including Great Britain, so it could be no more than a minor
blip in an otherwise continuing process of urbanization.
The expansion of the ring reflects environmental attractions of
ex‐urban locations and an increase in the number of people who can
afford to move out of the core. It is facilitated by major improve‐
ments, including the development of suburban rail networks and the
introduction of tram and bus services. Core decline and ring growth
are closely linked to rising levels of car ownership and use, which
enables large numbers of people to populate the commuter belt, es‐
pecially those areas which are well away from the major radialroute‐ways. A decline in the population of daily urban system, both
core and ring together, distinguishes the third and fourth stages of
urban development. In place of urban expansion, it is the rural areas
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beyond the daily commuting range of the core where growth takes
place. The net effect is that there is a shift, at the national scale, from
a state of more concentration or urbanization, to one of less concen‐
tration of counter‐urbanization.
Urban growth and urbanization at the global scale are very re‐
cent phenomena. Although towns and cities have existed since Neo‐
lithic times, a massive rise in the number and size of cities and a
wholesale shift of populating from rural to urban have occurred only
in the last 50 years. The world was very much a rural place in 1950,
with only slightly over one‐quarter of the population living in towns
and cities. The population was more urban than rural in North
America and parts of Europe, South America and Australia/Asia, alt‐
hough only in the UK and the Netherlands did more than 80% live inurban places.
Global urban development is a consequence of two linked pro‐
cesses:
Changes in the way in which wealth is accumulated
The evolution of the world system of nations.
The mechanism involved can be explained by the interdependen‐
cy theory of global urban development, which argues that urban de‐
velopment wherever it occurs, is one of spatial outcomes of capital‐ism. It has echoes in dependency theory, which explores and at‐
tempts to account for the links between development in core regions
and underdevelopment in the periphery. The interdependency theo‐
ry of global urban development can be criticized on four grounds:
Changes in capitalism do no imply a connection to urban de‐
velopment.
Urbanization in the developing world lagged so far behind
that in the developed world that it cannot be regarded as part
of the same process.
Interdependency theory undervalues the rich traditions of
urban development, supported by non‐capitalist economic
systems that existed in many developing countries.
The foundation of interdependency theory lies not in its
foundations in capitalism, per se, but in the links that it pro‐
poses between successive stages in the evolution of capital‐ism and urban development across the world.
Stages of Global Urban Development
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The foundations for urban development in the core, and in local‐
ized areas in the periphery, were established up to about 1780 un‐
der conditions of mercantilism. This was the economic system that
originated in the 15th century and involved the accumulation of
wealth through trade. Its main feature was the buying and selling of
products of labor. These were primarily agricultural and craft items.
Most trade followed established land or sea routes and took place
with suppliers in well‐defined source areas, so the Mediterranean,
the Baltic, the North Atlantic, the Indian Ocean, and central Asia
emerged as distinctive trade areas. Buying, selling and consumption,
however, were restricted to towns and cities, where sources of fi‐
nance trading opportunities and good communications were availa‐
ble. An important feature of mercantilism was the belief that the vol‐ume of trade was finite, so wealth could best be accumulated by cap‐
turing supplies and markets from rivals. This competition for terri‐
tory and its products was the prime driving force being exploration,
discovery and colonization in the 16th and 17th centuries. It was the
process that was endorsed by national governments and was led by
monarchism aristocrats and privately‐owned companies who spon‐
sored exploration and settlement in the hope that it would lead to
new trading opportunities and the creation of vast wealth.Mercantilism was responsible for establishing foundations for
urban development in colonial powers. IT made possible the intro‐
duction of highly profitable concentrations of wealth in cities. The
process of colonialism extended over many decades and therefore
led to the creation of urban patterns of varying complexity. In some
territories there were existing urban structures upon which colonial
influences were introduced, but mostly there was no prior urban set‐
tlement of significance and so the pattern that developed was wholly
colonial in character.
An important characteristic of the settlement pattern in the colo‐
ny is the linearity. Settlements are aligned along the coasts and are
also located along the routes of trade that connect the coastal points
of attachment to the staple producing interiors. Over time these be‐
come integrated within a functionally interdependent system of cit‐
ies.The spatial patterns of urban development that were established
under mercantilism and early colonialism were accentuated and
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compounded when capitalism and imperialism became the domi‐
nant economic and political systems in the late 18th century.
Capitalism is a form of economic organization in which wealth is
generated for investors through the production of saleable goods
and services. Its main feature is that the capitalist employs workers
directly rather than merely bargaining for the trading in the items
they produce. To be most successful, it requires large inputs of raw
materials and extensive markets, which are best ensured through
the possession of empire. Capitalism through mass production and
associated agglomeration generates urban growth and urbanization
because it concentrates productive activity and all the workers and
spending power that are associated with it. In addition the city con‐
tinues to serve as a center for the consumption of the profits of capi‐talism.
It is possible to trace the evolution of capitalism through distinct
industrial, monopoly and transnational corporate stages since it first
became the dominant economic system in the late 18th century Brit‐
ain. The individual stages are distinguished by both structure and
space relations. In initial phase was industrial capitalism in which
wealth was created by making rather than merely trading goods.
Monopoly capitalism replaced industrial capitalism and colonialismtowards the end of the 19th century. It involved the ruthless exploi‐
tation of peripheral areas and was distinguished by a vastly in‐
creased scale of economic activity and the domination of newly cre‐
ated international markets, within the state‐controlled empires, by a
small number of producers in each sector.
Monopoly capitalism emerged in response to the demand for
products that was generated by the rapidly growing population of
the industrial nations. This stimulated manufacturers to diversify
from making heavy, crude products into mass production of a wide
range of consumer foods and services. Monopoly capitalism in‐
volved the more ruthless exploitation of peripheral areas. The larger
scale of industrial activity required the international sourcing of raw
material and the international marketing of manufactured products,
so the success of the core regions becoming dependent on their abil‐
ity to dominate and control overseas territories.Monopoly capitalism produced further urban growth and urban‐
ization in an expanded core, although urban development in the pe‐
riphery remained limited.
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Urban growth and urbanization were reinforced and extended by
monopoly capitalism in the late 19th century. The urban develop‐
ment that resulted was largely restricted to core areas and the costs
of the empire, so that the world in 1950 was highly differentiated in
urban terms.
The world has recently become urban because of major changes in
the distribution of population in developing countries. Urbanization
became a global phenomenon in the last half‐century as a conse‐
quence of deep‐seated and far‐reaching changes in the structure and
spatial relations of capitalism. Two principal developments were
involved: The replacement of monopoly capitalism by TNC capitalism
The creating of patterns of production, trade and service pro‐
vision, which, rather than being restricted to the North Atlan‐
tic, or to political empires, are truly global in extent.
The organization of production and consumption under con‐
ditions of TNC capitalism within a new world system of nations is
producing urban development in the developing world for two main
reasons: The first is because investment in manufacturing and services
by global capitalists is concentrated in selected cities in the
periphery points to growth.
Because large numbers of workers are being displaced from
the land and flock into towns and cities, as traditional sub‐
sistence farming is replaced by globally oriented commercial
agriculture.Africa and Asia were almost wholly rural in 1950 and it is here
that subsequent transition to urban living is most market and is hav‐
ing the most profound consequences. Major urban development,
measurable at the national scale, began to affect parts of Africa and
the Middle East between 1950 and 1970. Urbanization began signif‐
icantly to affect the countries of Southern and Eastern Asia much lat‐
er, as most did not pass even the 20% urban mark until 1990.
Urban development became a worldwide phenomenon over thelast 30 years because of fundamental changes in the organization
and location of production and services as TNC capitalism succeeded
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monopoly capitalism. A new economic order has emerged, charac‐
terized by global manufacturing, and managed and controlled from
the core economies by TNC’s, which is based on a new international
division of labor in which management, development, and design
take place in the core economies and routine production of service
provision are located in the periphery. It is associated with global
organization of business, finance and services.
This new arrangement became possible because of and owes
much of its success to the situation of relative peace and political
stability at the global scale that has existed since the end of the Sec‐
ond World War. The key change is in the location of manufacturing.
Over the past half‐century, an increasing volume of goods and pro‐
duction have been arranged globally rather than within the narrowconfines of nation states or empires, as was the case under monopo‐
ly capitalism. Much manufacturing has shifted from the core to the
periphery where the availability of very cheap labor enables stand‐
ardized production to be undertaken at very low cost. The types of
production that have shifted to the periphery include:
Technology – more advanced products, such as pharmaceuti‐
cals, computers and scientific instruments.
Large‐volume, medium‐technology consumers goods, such asmotor vehicles, tires, televisions, and refrigerators.
Mass‐produced, branded consumer goods such as cigarettes,
soft drinks, toilet paper and breakfast cereals.
Parallel changes have occurred in agriculture as supply of an in‐
creasing range of farm products have been organized on a global ba‐
sis. Exotic fruits, vegetables, flowers and poultry have joined the
19th century staples of tea, coffee, cocoa, sugar, pineapples, citrus
fruits and rubber. The volume of high‐value foods in global circula‐
tion has increased rapidly as consumers in core economies have ac‐
quired a taste for ethnic cuisine. The value of world trade in such
products accounted for 5% of global commodity exchange in 1990
and increased by 8% per annum throughout the 1980s.
Global production is principally undertaken by TNCs that have
interests, affiliates and facilities in many countries. Vodaphone is
reckoned to be the largest non‐financial TNC in terms of both foreignassets and the transnationality of its business as measured by an in‐
dex based upon foreign assets, sales and employment. The interna‐
tionalization of production is made possible by, and in turn gives rise
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to, a new pattern of international finance. A global system of supply
and circulation has emerged in recent years in place of the bilateral
funding arrangements, tied to trading blocs and dominated by gov‐
ernments that existed in the mid‐19th century.
The most important features of the global financial system are its
size and spread. The global financial system is mediated by a num‐
ber of institutions, including the International Monetary Fund and
the World Bank, which set multilateral aid for development. It is fa‐
cilitated by the development of multinational organizations, such as
the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, the Organization for
Economic Cooperation and the Development and the North Ameri‐
can Free Trade Agreement, which seek to promote and influence
trade. The system is dominated by a small number of powerful banksthat rank alongside TNCs as global institutions. 13 of the largest 15
banks are based in the core economies and 4 are Japanese. The ma‐
jor banks of Europe and North America, however, handle more for‐
eign business. It is made possible by the growth of the US dollar and
Eurodollars as international currencies and media of exchange.
Developments in production and finance are associated with, and
are in part dependent upon, the growth of international service
economy. Service activities that were once domestically bound havereorganized on a transnational basis so as to serve the needs of
businesses operating across the globe. The change of global opera‐
tion has been most marked in those service sectors in which the lev‐
el of international activity was historically limited (i.e., accountancy).
A similar pattern applies in advertising, banking and legal services.
Global business is further facilitated by means of the organization of
employee services, including hotel accommodation, car hire and per‐
sonal finance, on an international basis.
The emergence of a new political map of the world enabled, and
in turn was made possible by, the new economic order. The key fea‐
ture was the ending of imperialism by the UK, France, Belgium and
the Netherlands between 1950 and 1980; and Russia in the late
1980s. The former resulted in the creation of new nation states in
many parts of colonial Africa and Asia.
A vast extension of capitalism, at the expense of alternative eco‐nomic systems, accompanied the new political geography, further
facilitating the process of globalization. Imperialism effectively end‐
ed with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989. Communism is in
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retreat, although China, North Korea and Cuba maintain their cen‐
trally planned economies.
The new political pattern was created in conditions of relative
peace in the first half of the 20th century, with its two world wars
and numerous regional conflicts. Global stability since 1945 princi‐
pally arouse out of the balance of power between West and the
communist bloc under which major wars were restricted to Korea
and Vietnam. Sustainability was further facilitated by the creation of
supra‐national and international organizations by many of the mar‐
ket economies to undertake some of the traditional roles of the na‐
tion state. The effect was to rise overall levels of international confi‐
dence and so create improved conditions for restructuring of capital,
for purposes of wealth accumulation, on a global basis.The new economic order is principally responsible for the recent
rapid urbanization of the periphery, which in turn raised the level of
urbanization at the global scale beyond the 50% mark. Since the
mid‐20th century, and especially for the past 20 years, the global
economy has subsumed local and regional economies across the
world, so that most of the remaining peripheral countries and terri‐
tories have been drawn into the world economic system.
Urbanization is triggered by investment because economic ex‐changes between core and periphery are spatially focused and so
lead to a concentration of globally related economic activity in urban
places. The urban concentration of foreign investment‐led economic
activity is high across much of the periphery. Urbanization is also
taking place as an indirect consequence of the impact of TNC capital‐
ism upon the economies of developing countries.
The policies of post‐colonial governments stimulate urban
growth by further enhancing the attractiveness of towns and cities at
the expense of rural areas through:
Exaggerated bias of government expenditure on infrastruc‐
ture and services in favor or urban areas.
Higher wage rates and better employment protection that ex‐
ist in cities because urban workers are organized into trade
unions.
The effect of trade tariffs on the price of goods.Settlement patters across large parts of the developing world
have been transformed in recent years, as external investments have
created jobs in cities and as workers, displaced from the land be‐
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cause of the switch from subsistence to commercial agriculture, have
migrated into urban areas. Such changes are seen as consequences
of the progressive incorporation of their economies within the global
corporate capitalist economy.
Of the ten solutions listed in the article, only two strike me as
achievable possibilities: finding and using alternate sources of drink‐
ing water (such as rainwater), and the use of deep aquifers. Alt‐
hough Bangladesh is a relatively small country (148,393 km2), the
amount of money needed to install purifiers, filtration devices, con‐
temporary sewage and waste disposal systems, or effective watertreatment plants would likely be too high. However, provided that
an international effort was made to either dilute or remove arsenic
from Bangladesh’s ground water, other remediations could prove
successful. Still, the most cost effect strategies for obtaining clean,
arsenic‐free water for consumption would be to utilize alternate
wells and rainwater, or extract water from deep aquifers. Further‐
more, the ostracization of arsenic‐contaminated Bangladeshi, cou‐
pled with excessive poverty, leads me to believe that the use of al‐
ternate sources of drinking water is a viable remedy—one that even
the impoverished, or shunned can take advantage of.
There are many socio‐economic consequences associated with the
global shift in distribution of population to urban from rural places.Many countries are struggling to cope, and face major problems of
employment, housing and service provision. Also health. Some
think that developed nations have a humanitarian and moral re‐
sponsibility arising out of their historical exploitation of the develop‐
ing world, to intervene on a major scale and so should contribute as‐
sistance and aid to provide housing and basic infrastructure. Others
think that these problems should be left to national governments
and must be resolved domestically.
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For Calculus I
andCalculus II,
Fall 2013o begin with, we are going to go through alittle review of some basic trigonometry.This will be used as a base for all calculus,and is instrumental in all future mathe‐matics courses, physics courses, andsome chemistry courses. Basic trigono‐metric equations and identities are foundfarther into the study guide, and are moreuseful for calculus II then for anythingelse. Anyway, let’s kick this shit pile offwith some definitions that apply to allmath courses:
Unit Circle:
A circle whose center lies on the coordinates 0,0 andwhose radius is 1. Standard Position: an angle where the vertex is on the originand the initial side is on the X axis. Acute Angle: any angle between 0 and 900. Right Angle: any 900 angle. Obtuse Angle: any angle between 90 and 1800. Straight Angle:
any 1800
angle. Complementary Angles:
2 or more positive angles that add upto 900 (or a right angle). Supplementary Angles: 2 or more positive angles that add up to1800 (or a straight angle). Coterminal Angles: 2 angles that share the same terminal side.Add or subtract 3600 to find the coterminal angle. Radian: relationship between the circumference and the inside
degrees.
Theta: a fraction of 3600, otherwise known as the angle.
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Circumference:
2Degrees to Radians ∗ 180 °Radians to Degrees
∗ 180° Arc Length ∗ S is arc Length. R is radius. Answer must be in Radians.Linear Speed
S is arc length (in radians). R is rate (also written as V). T is time. Angular Speed
R is rate (also written as W). T is time. Theta is angle (in degrees).Pythagorean Theorem
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Sine of Theta is the Opposite Side over the Hypotenuse The Cosine of Theta is the Adjacent Side over the Hypotenuse
The Tangent of Theta is the Opposite Side over the Adjacent The Cotangent of Theta is the Adjacent Side over the Opposite. (Re‐ciprocal of Tangent)
The Secant of Theta is the Hypotenuse over Adjacent Side (Recipro‐cal of Cosine) The Cosecant of Theta is the Hypotenuse over the Opposite Side (Re‐ciprocal of Sine)
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Critical Point: the point at which the derivative of f(x)=0, or where f(x)does not exist.
Fermat’s Theorem on Local Extrema: If f(c) is a local min or max, then cis a critical point If restricted to an interval, the max or min can be an endpoint. It is okay if a function has no critical points, or if the critical points areendpoints. Rolle’s Theorem: Assume f(x) is continuous on [a,b], and differentiableon (a,b). If f(a)=f(b), then there exists a number “c” between a and bsuch that f’(c)=0 If f(x) is continuous on [a,b], then there exists at least one “c” between aand b such that If f’(x) > 0, then f(x) is increasing. If f’(x) <0, then f(x) is decreasing. First Derivative Test: Create a number line and place all critical points
on it. Test values around critical points to determine if they are posi‐tive or negative. If f’(x) changes from + to – at “c”, then f(c) is a local max. If f’(x) changes from – to + at “c”, then f(c) is a local min. If f’ is positive, f is increasing
If f’ is negative, f is decreasing.
F(x) is concave up if f’(x) is increasing, or if f’’(x) > 0 F(x) is concave down if f’(x) is decreasing, or if f’’(x) < 0 If f’’(c)=0, or if f’’(c) does not exist and the concavity of f(x) changes at“c”, then “c” is an inflection point. Second Derivative Test: Plug critical points into the second derivativeto determine concavity.
If f’’(c) > 0, then “c” is a local min and is concave up.
If f’’(c) < 0, then “c” is a local max and is concave down. If f’’(c) = 0 then the test is inconclusive and you must use thefirst derivative test to classify the critical point.
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If lim → then we can use this rule.
Is it a geometric series? If so you can use the following formula to deter‐mine convergence/divergence:lim→ 1 Where C = a(1) and r = the ratioIf || 1, then the series is convergent
If|
| 1, then the series is
divergent.
Examples: Convergent Geometric Series where || 1 115
1151 115 1151415
15 1625
1 15
162565
44 141 14 1434
25
2251 25 22535
Examples
: Divergent Geometric Series where || 1 52 109
42 11
Is it a p‐series? There are two types of p‐series, unbounded and infinitediscontinuity. For each we can easily determine if they are convergent ordivergent. Getting the value to which they converge is a bit more difficult,as it requires solving an integral. Let’s look at each of the two types of p‐series:
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Unbounded P-Series
1
Convergent if 1Divergent if 1
Infinite Discontinuity P-Series
1
Convergent
if 1Divergent if 1Examples: Determine whether the series is convergent or divergent. 1
lim→ 1
lim→ 12 lim→ 12 12 1
0 12
This is an unbounded p‐series where 1. Therefore, it converges. Fur‐thermore, it converges to ½. 1.
lim→ 1 lim 2 → lim→ 23 2
2√ 3 0 √This is an infinite discontinuity p‐series where 1. Therefore, it con‐verges. Furthermore, it converges to √
.
If the series is not a geometric or p‐series, then the first thing you shoulddo is the divergence test . This will tell you whether or not the series di‐verges. We do this by taking the limit as the general term approaches in‐finity. If the limit equals any number, this series diverges. If the limit tendsto “0”then the test in inconclusive and more work is needed. In general, wecan use the following formula: lim→ divergence/inconclusive
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Example: Divergent Series 4
3 2
, 4
3 2
lim→ 43 2 lim→ 43 2 lim→ 43 2 43 0 Since the limit as n approaches infinity for the general term is 4/3, it failsthe divergence test. We can therefore conclude that this series diverges.Example: Inconclusive 6
, 6 lim→ 6
lim→
6
lim→ 6
1 1 01 0 Since the limit as n approaches infinity for the general term tends to 0, itpasses the divergence test. Therefore, the test in inconclusive and morework is needed.Example: Divergent Series
√ 4 , √ 4 lim→ √ 4 lim→ 4 lim→ 4 lim→ 87 ∞
Since the limit as n approaches infinity for the general term is ∞, it fails thedivergence test. We can therefore conclude that this series diverges.
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This is yet another test to determine convergence/divergence, but onlyworks for alternating series. That is, it only works for series whose termsalternate in + and – signs. Here we introduce the concept of
absolute and
conditional convergence
. Understanding this concept is key to decipher‐ing alternating series. For absolute/conditional convergence we use thefollowing Theorem: if |a| converges,then a converges. if |a| diverges,but a convergesExample: Determine whether the series converges absolutely or condi‐tionally
1√
1√ 1 1√ 2 1√ 3 1√ 4 ⋯So, we can see from writing out the first few terms that this is an alternat‐
ing series. Now, let’s look at the absolute value of the series, which will tellus whether or not it converges absolutely or conditionally. 1√ 1√ 1 1√ 2 1√ 3 1√ 4 ⋯ √
When written in this form we can see that we have a divergent, unboundedp‐series, where p=1/2. Since p < 1, it diverges. Now, since an convergesand |a
| diverges, we can say that this seriesconverges
conditionally
.Example: Determine whether the series converges absolutely or condi‐tionally 11.1 11 11.1 11.1 11.1 ⋯
So, we see that this is an alternating series. Now, let’s look at the absolutevalue of the series. 11.1 11 11.1 11.1 11.1 ⋯ .
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When written in this form we can now see that we have a convergent geo‐metric series, where the |r| < 1. Now, since an and |a| both converge, wecan say that this series converges absolutely.Example
: Determine whether the series converges absolutely or condi‐tionally 1
11 12 13 14 ⋯
So, we see that this is an alternating series. Now, let’s look at the absolute
value of the series: 1 11 12 13 14 ⋯
When written in this form we can see that we have a divergent p‐series,were p = ¼. Since |a| diverges, but an converges, we can conclude thatthis series converges conditionally.
If you don’t have a p‐series, geometric series, alternating series, and if youdivergence test is inconclusive, the next step would be to use the compari-
son test . This can get a little confusing, so pay close attention to the termsand logic used. This can get a little confusing, so pay close attention to theterms and logic used. First, let’s start with the theorem:THEOREM: Assume that there exists M > 0 such that 0 a b for n M
If b ,then a also If a
,then b also
Essentially, what we’re going to do is compare one series with another that
is either larger or smaller. If the larger one converges, then so does thesmaller one. If the smaller one diverges, then so does the larger one. Let’sdo a few examples and hopefully clear things up. NOTE: to use the com‐parison test you must first check to see if the series only has positive
terms.
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Example: Determine if each of the following series is convergent or diver‐gent
2 1
Now, if we use the divergence test we will see that the limit of the generalterm tends to zero, indicating that the test is inconclusive. We could evalu‐ate this using the integral test, but let’s try the comparison test instead.First we need to find a series that is larger or smaller to compare it to.Why don’t we try the following:
2
2 1
Therefore, 2
2 1
We now have a series, an
, that we know how to evaluate, so let’s do that: 2 12 1 Now, we already know that this is a harmonic series, which is divergent .Therefore, since an diverges, bn diverges as well based on the comparisontest.Example
: Determine if each of the following series is convergent or diver‐gent 2 5
In this case the “+2” and the “+5” don’t really add anything to the seriesand so the series terms should behave pretty much like: 1
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Which will converge as a series. Therefore, we can guess that the originalseries will converge and we will need to find a larger series which alsoconverges. This means that we’ll either have to make the numerator largeror the denominator smaller. We can make the denominator smaller bydropping the “+5”. Doing this gives, 2 5 2 At this point, notice that we can’t drop the “+2” from the numerator sincethis would make the term smaller and that’s not what we want. However,this is actually the furthest that we need to go. Let’s take a look at the fol‐lowing series.
2 2 1 2 As shown, we can write the series as a sum of two series and both of theseseries are convergent by the p‐series test. Therefore, since each of theseseries are convergent we know that the sum, 2 Is also a convergent series. Recall that the sum of two convergent serieswill also be convergent. Now, since the terms of this series are larger thanthe terms of the original series we know that the original series must alsobe convergent by the Comparison Test.
Here is yet another comparison test that we can use if every other tech‐nique before has failed (or if you’re feeling particularly brave). Here is thebasic theorem:THEOREM: Limit Comparison TestSuppose that we have two series, an and bn that are both ≥ 0 for all “n”. De‐fine,
lim→ If “c” is positive (c > 0) and is finite (c < ∞), then either both series con‐verge or both series diverge.
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This is very similar to the comparison test. We pick a series that we knowthe convergence of (doesn’t matter if its smaller or larger) and then com‐pare it to the original via the limit test. If “c” is greater than zero, and if it’snot infinity, then both series converge/diverge. Let’s look at a couple ofexamples:Example: Determine if each of the following series is convergent or diver‐gent
√ 4
Now, we can already guess that this series is divergent, because we candrop the +4 in the denominator, giving us a series that we know the con‐vergence of, as seen below: √
So now all we need to do is compare the two in limit form: lim→ √ 4 lim→ √ 4 lim→ √ 4 lim→ 4
lim→ 4 11 0
Now, since c = 1 and c > 0 and c is finite, we can conclude that both seriesdiverge.Here is yet another test to determine convergence/divergence. This is alittle more straight‐forward. Let’s start off with the basic theorem andwork from there:
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Theorem I: The Ratio Test lim→
if , then a if ,then a if ,then the test is Now, what does all this mean? Essentially, we are using a ratio to deter‐mine convergence. The ratio is obtained by dividing the general term ofthe series, an into a new general term, an+1, where we substitute (n+1) infor any (n) in the general term. Let’s look at a few examples, which willhopefully clear things up. Example: Ratio Test
15
Now, we already know that this is a geomet‐ric series where || < 1, and therefore con‐verges, but let’s try the ratio test just tomake sure. First, we get our two terms usedto make up the ratio. 15 15 And now we set up our equation, which isbased on theorem 1. lim→ 1515 lim→ 55 Now, since p < 1, we can say that this seriesconverges absolutely. Easy, right? Let’s trysomething more difficult.
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Example: Ratio Test !
Now, this one is a bit more complicated be‐cause we have n! in the denominator. Let’swork through it step‐by‐step, staring withthe two terms used to make up the ratio: ! 1 1!
And now we set up our equation, which isbased on theorem 1: lim→ 1 1!! lim→ 1 1! ∗ ! lim→ 1 ∗ 1 1
Now, since p < 1 we can say that this seriesconverges absolutely. Remember that(n + 1)! = (n + 1)n!Example: Ratio Test
3
7
First, let’s get our two terms used to makeup the ratio. This one should be fairlystraight‐forward: 3 7 3 1 7
And now we set up our ratio equation,which is based on theorem 1:
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lim→ 3 1 73 7
lim→ 33 ∗ 7 8 3 ∗ 1 Now, since p = 3 and p > 1, we can say thatthis series diverges. Let’s do another.Example: Ratio Test
2! Again we have an n! in the denominator, solet’s work through this carefully. First, let’sstart with getting the two terms we’ll use tomake up the ratio:
2! 2 1! And now we can set up our ratio equation,which is based on theorem 1: lim→ 2 1!2
!
lim→ ! 1! ∗ 22 0 ∗ 2 Now, since p = 0 and p < 1, we can say thatthis series converges absolutely.
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The root test is very similar to the ratio test, and, again, is used to test forconvergence/divergence. Like before, let’s start with the basic theoremand then build upon it. Theorem II: The Root Test lim→ || if , then a
if ,then a if ,then the test is Now, the rules for determine convergence/divergence are exactly the sameas in the ratio test. We should be able to apply them easily. Let’s do a cou‐ple of examples:
Example: Use the Root Test to Determine Convergence or Divergence 79 10 By the look of it this series is a perfect candidate for the root test:
lim→ 79 10 lim→ 79 10 lim→ 79 10
Since L = 1/9 and is < 1, we can conclude that this series converges abso-
lutely.Example: Use the Root Test to Determine Convergence or Divergence
1 19
By the look of it this series is a perfect candidate for the root test:
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lim→ 1 19 lim→ 1 19 lim→ 11 19
Since L = 1, we can say that the root test is inconclusive
.The power series is one of the more involved and complicated chaptersthis semester (or at least for this test). There are several different topicswe have to tackle, including finding the interval of convergence, the radiusof convergence, and creating/finding power series from a given function.Let’s start with finding the interval and radius of convergence, as that issomewhat less complicated. We’ll look at a few examples:Example: Determine the interval of convergence of the power series cen‐tered at x = ‐2
24
Step
1
: Use ratio test lim→ 2 14 ∗ 4 2 lim→ 2 ∗ 4416 14 | 2| lim→ 4 4 | | ∗
Step 2: Get preliminary interval of convergence
According to the ratio test, this series will converge when:14 | 2| 1Therefore, we can set up the equation:1 14 2 14 2 4 This is our new interval of convergence. However, there is one more step.Step 3: Check endpoints.We can check the endpoints by plugging them into the original series andthen checking for convergence/divergence using whatever test we need.
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44
This is an alternating series. Remember, for an alternating series to beconvergent it needs to be decreasing and the limit must be 0. So we cansee that the series is definitely decreasing, but the limit needs checked:lim→ 44 lim→ 444 lim→ 14 0So, when x = ‐6, the series converges. Let’s check the other endpoint.
44 444 14 After simplifying, we see that we have a divergent p‐series, where p=1.Since p ≤ 1, this series diverges when x = 2Step 4: Interval of convergence
We now have ourinterval of convergence.
It will not include x=2., The radius of convergence is:right endpoint left endpoint2 2 62
Example
: Use the ratio test to determine the values of x for which thepower series below converges: 3
Step 1: Use ratio test lim→ 1 3 3 lim→ 1 ∗ 3 3 lim→ 1
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Step 2: Get preliminary interval of convergenceAccording to the ratio test, this series will converge when:3
1Therefore, we can set up the equation:1 3 1 This is our new interval of convergence. However, there is one more step.
Step 3: Check endpoints.We can check the endpoints by plugging them into the original series andthen checking for convergence/divergence using whatever test we need. 1
This is an alternating series. Remember, for an alternating series to beconvergent it needs to be decreasing and the limit must be 0. In this in‐
stance, the series is not decreasing and the limit does not equal 0.So, when x = ‐3, the series diverges. Let’s check the other endpoint. 1
After simplifying, we see that this is a divergent series.
Step 4
: Interval of convergenceWe now have our interval of convergence. It will not include either end‐point., The radius of convergence is:right endpoint left endpoint
2 3 3
2
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Example: Find the interval of convergence for the power series: 4!
! 3
Step 1: Use ratio test lim→ 4 1! 1! 34!! 3
lim→ 4 1
! 3
1! ∗!
4! 3 | 3| lim→ 1 1 ∗ 4 4!4! | 3| ∗ 0 ∗ ∞ 0Step 2: Get interval of convergenceSince p=0, this series converges everywhere, giving us the interval of con-
vergence:
∞,∞ Furthermore, it has a radius of ∞.In this section we will look at a few basic examples of parameterization.These should be fairly simple and to the point.
SEGMENT
Parameterizing a segment can be somewhat confusing, but if you followthese general formulas you should be okay. Most questions will come inthe form of: find the parameterization of the segment joining (a,b) and (c,d)over [0,1], where a,b,c, and d are real numbers. Parameterizing a segmentbasically means you adjust the coordinates of (a,b) so they fit into (c,d).We can do this by using the following formulas:
And generally, , Let’s look at a few examples, which will hopefully clear this up:
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Example: SegmentParameterize the segment joining (1,3) and (4,1) over [0,1]. 4 1 1 1 3 3 And therefore: ,
Example: SegmentParameterize the segment joining (1,1) and (2,3) over [0,1] 2 1 1 3 1 1 And therefore: ,
CIRCLES AND VARIATIONSParameterizing circles is easy, provided you know the following generalequations: , ,
Use Multiplication “r” to scale the size/radius of the circleUse Addition “+c” to adjust the position of the circle’s center.TANGENT SLOPEThe slope of the tangent at a given point, “a”, can be calculated by the fol‐lowing equation:
SPEED
Instantaneous Speed can be calculated using the following equation:
ARC LENGTHArc length over a given interval can be calculated using the following equa‐tion:
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SURFACE AREASurface over a given interval can be calculated using the following equa‐tion:
CYCLOID CURVEWhat is the surface area of the cycloid curve, c(t) = (t‐sin(t), 1‐cos(t)) over[0, 2π]? 2 1 c o s 1 cos sin 2 1 c o s 1 2 cos si
2 1 c o s 2 2 cos
2 1 c o s 21cos
: 1 cos 2 2
2 2 2 4 2
8 2
8 2 2
: sin 2
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Example: Cartesian to polar ConversionConvert (1,0) from rectangular (Cartesian) coordinates to polar coordi‐nates: 1 0 √ 1 1∅ tan 01 tan0 0Therefore, the polar coordinates for (1,0) are:
(1,0)
Example
: Cartesian to polar ConversionConvert (5, 0) to polar coordinates 5 0 √ 25 5∅ tan 05 tan0 0Therefore, the polar coordinates for (5,0) are:(5, 0)
Example
: Cartesian to Polar ConversionConvert 9, √ to polar coordinates 9 9√ 3 81 813 √ 81 27 √ 108
∅ tan
9√ 39 tan
1√ 3
6 Therefore, the polar coordinates for 9, √ are:√ ,
Example: Polar to Cartesian ConversionConvert (5,0) to rectangular coordinates 5 cos0 5 5 sin0 0Therefore, the rectangular coordinates for (5,0) are:
(5,0)
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Example: Polar to Cartesian ConversionConvert 9, into rectangular coordinates
9 cos 32 0 9 sin 32 9Therefore, the rectangular coordinates for 9, are:
(0, -9)
For a simple problem, we use the following equation: Where f(x) is the top function and g(x) is the bottom function, over the in‐terval [a,b].Or, for vertical curves,
Where g(y) is the right‐most curve and h(y) is the left‐most curve, over theinterval [c,d].This type of problem involves functions in respect to “y”, so you will needto switch variables. See example below.Example
: Determine the Area between the Curves , , 3 2 3 3 3
31 13 0
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There are two methods for volume of revolution problems, as seen below:For standard problems, with one function, and rotated about the x‐axis: ∶ For problems involving two functions, rotated about the x‐axis: :
For standard problems, with one function, rotated about the y‐axis:
: 2
cos2 2 1cos2 1 2 sin2 2 sin cos
12 12 cos2 12 12 cos2 1 1
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