Chua and Zimbabwe

Read and comment on one of these articles about Zimbabwe.  Please incorporate Chua's ideas.  You may also refer to other readings from the semester.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/08/opinion/08kristof.html

http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/10/zimbabwe-and-the-causes-of-african-poverty/

Chua and the Arab Spring

We have been blessed to grow up in a democracy that, at least on paper, ensures equal rights for all.  We believe in this form of government so much that we want to share it with the world and believe it will benefit men and women everywhere.  However, Chua claims that implementing a democracy will not immediately solve a country's problems.

Read one of the following articles or choose another article from the NY Times--Discuss it and incorporate ideas or claims from Chua.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/31/world/middleeast/31egypt.html

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/25/us-tunisia-election-idUSTRE79L28820111025

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/iraq/elections/index.html

Political Judgment in Context

Conclusion: Cosmopolitan Paths to Poverty Relief

Think about what you need to know to understand this section.  Your answer might include some of the following:

What does this section do to support Kuper’s argument/alternatives

What major claims? – What does this mean?

What evidence?  What does this evidence do?

What lists? – What do these lists do?

What words/ideas do you need to know?  

No Royal Road to Poverty Relief - p. 81-83

Think about what you need to know to understand this section.  Your answer might include some of the following:

What does this section do to support Kuper’s argument/alternatives

What major claims? – What does this mean?

What evidence?  What does this evidence do?

What lists? – What do these lists do?

What words/ideas do you need to know?  

What Can Political Philosophy Contribute? - p. 78-81

Think about what you need to know to understand this section.  Your answer might include some of the following:

What does this section do to support Kuper’s argument/alternatives

What major claims? – What does this mean?

What evidence?  What does this evidence do?

What lists? – What do these lists do?

What words/ideas do you need to know?  

Why Charity is Never Enough p. 74-77

Think about what you need to know to understand this section.  Your answer might include some of the following:

What does this section do to support Kuper’s argument/alternatives

What major claims? – What does this mean?

What evidence?  What does this evidence do?

What lists? – What do these lists do?

What words/ideas do you need to know?  

The Singer Solution to World Poverty - p. 72-74

Think about what you need to know to understand this section.  Your answer might include some of the following:

What does this section do to support Kuper’s argument/alternatives

What major claims? – What does this mean?

What evidence?  What does this evidence do?

What lists? – What do these lists do?

What words/ideas do you need to know?  

Post your research questions for Invisible Children

What strategies do the filmmakers use to effectively move the audience to respond to the argument?
Post your research questions here. 

Africa: What do you know and how do you know it?

What do you know about Africa, and how do you know it?

When you read about Africa, do you expect to hear about “tragic hellholes full of starving children with flies in their eyes” (Kristof 44)?

And when you hear about problems in Africa, do you respond with what Kristof describes as a “collective shrug” and say, “Too bad, but isn’t that what Africa is always like? People slaughtering each other? . . . we have our own problems?” (41).

In “How to Write About Africa,” Kenyan Binyavanga Waianana summarizes the many ways Western writers discuss Africa, her people, and the struggles faced by many nations represented on the continent. 

How accurate are her observations?  Have your views of Africa been influenced by the kind of writing she describes?

Will the kind of writing/campaigns advocated by Kristof help readers/viewers to see Africa in new ways?  Or is Kristof part of the problem?  

As usual, respond to the blog by commenting on this prompt or on the comments of other students.  

Everybody has a right to _______________________

The United States Constitution guarantees certain rights--the right to free speech, the right of free association, the right to worship in the way you want, etc.  

These are different than the "inalienable rights" discussed in the Declaration of Independence, the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  

As discussed in class, we don't all define those rights in the same way and that leaves us with the question, do human beings have any inalienable rights?  

In the Social Justice video (http://animoto.com/play/qV2S8JWtG21GIhkcVamWow), students name things like food, education, and dancing as inalienable rights.  What do you think?  What do people have a right to? 

How does the piece by O'Neil complicate those ideas?  

What do people have a right to?  How does guaranteeing those rights infringe on the other rights?  

What other limitations might there be?