Lingering Comments

I think that the discussion went well.  I was fortunate to have good group members who were willing to collaborate and dive deeper in the text.  However, I feel as if conducting a discussion with only 7 people is often times hard because there is a less of a variety of answers and opinions. 

As for the actual discussion, I thoroughly enjoyed discussing the effect King Leopold would have specifically had on the Congo if he had physically been in the Congo.  We discussed the effect he would have on the people of Congo as well as on his techniques of manipulation.

Response to Reading Assignment #1

Although I enjoyed reading the Introduction and Prologue of the book, the first chapter was somewhat monotonous.  In the Introduction and Prologue, it was particularly interesting for me to read about the history of the Congo and its relationship to European powers, including King Leopold.  Also, I liked reading about King Affonso I because the book highlights that "everything we know about this part of Africa...comes to us from [King Affonso I]" (12).  He was one of the few "African voices" that existed during that time, and it was interesting for me to learn about an African who could represet the supressed African sentiments.  Finally, it was fascinating to read about the different perceptions the Europeans had of Africa, as "they saw the continent as a faceless, blank, empty, a place on the map waiting to be explore" (18).  However, the first chapter was not very intriguing.  The information in the first chapter was specfically regarding John Rowlands, later Stanley, and did not take us into the direct role of King Leopold's imperialistic ways as the Introduction and Prologue have led us to expect. 

Two Discussion Questions:
1: What made the slaves of the Congo the most valuable items of trade for the Portuguese instead of the other vast array of resources in this region?

2: King Alfonso I is an excellent example of an African in the Congo elliciting sentiments to stop the imperialstic takeover.  Despite his efforts, why was there a lack of wider response to prevent slave-trade from the Congo?

Final Class Thoughts

It was interesting to learn about the term known as the "White Man's Burden".  I did not know there was a term like this that existed and never knew that there is a mindset that "there is a duty for a 'white' man to do something".  I would like to learn about this further and understand the context in which it is used.  Also, it is interesting to me if this term is still used today.  I also was not aware of the difference between New and Old Imperialism and I enjoyed understanding the difference. 

Current Events Presentation - September 2, 2010

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/01/world/01military.html?_r=1&ref=politics&pagewanted=print
What's being discussed in this article? This article is an informative editorial that discusses President Obama's recent declaration of an end to "Operation Iraqi Freedom". It talks about President Obama's opinion regarding his decision and puts in perspective the effects the change will have on the United States as well as Iraq. Although this article gives some opinions regarding President Obama's decision, it is more of an article that focuses on discussing what exactly this new declaration entails.  This article puts a historic perspective to the Iraq War, and while it credits the patriotism of the U.S. forces, it shows the Obama's Adminstration's intent to transfer the security responsibilites to its newly government. 

When did the event happen? (Is this breaking news or something that's been analyzed and discussed for a while?) This event happened on August 31 and is considered to be breaking news. 

What questions do you have that would help make this article make more sense to you? This article was very straight forward and easy to understand. However, I feel that I would understand this article a little better if it included exactly how it will benefit the United States in general.

What more do you need to learn about to be able to report on this event?
I would like to know President Obama's exact plans for the 50,000 troops still left if Iraq.