Looking at the primary documents in Gjerde, p. 275290, compare how the Essay

Looking at the primary documents in Gjerde, p. 275290, compare how the authors define and describe certain ethnic groups. Then, looking at John Higham and Hane - Essay Example Between the chauvinistic purposes for which the concept of national character was used, and the irrationality with which it was supported, it fell during the 1930's into a disrepute from which it has by no means fully recovered. The Skepticism of John Higman, the conflicting nature of the images of the American as an individualistic democrat or as a conformist democrat would have seemed simply to illustrate further the already demonstrated flimsiness and fallacious quality of all generalizations about national character (Gjerde, 1998). According to Haney-Lopez, the inhabitants of one country may, as a group, evince a given trait in higher degree than the inhabitants of some other country amounts almost to a denial that the culture of one people can be different from the culture of another people. To escape the pitfalls of racism in this way is to fly from one error into the embrace of another, and students of culture -- primarily anthropologists, rather than historians -perceived that rejection of the idea that a group could be distinctive, along with the idea that the distinction was eternal and immutable in the genes, involved the ancient logical fallacy of throwing out the baby along with the bath. Accor dingly, the study of national character came under the special sponsorship of cultural anthropology, and in the 'forties a number of outstanding workers in this field tackled the problem of national character, including the American character, with a methodological precision and objectivity that had never been applied to the subject before. Every person, in addition to having their own personal identity, has a good judgment of who they are in relation to the larger community-the nation. Each nation, province, island, state, neighborhood and individual is its own unique union of history, culture, language and tradition (Gjerde, 1998). Children are raised to correlate with nation in lieu of unity and government. Communities and culture give people their identity. It is not some secret that human have migrated since their emergence as species. Their original differentiation into ethnic groups appears to have been a result of isolated development of separate groups of people who journeyed from a central point of origin. However, this isolation is not complete, for migrations resulted in complicated patterns of blood relationship through widely separated groups. Sadly nowadays, there are about a thousand people who migrate to other countries. Their reasons might be personal. They might be either interested or they just want to experience new cultures in other places. Or simply because they got tired of the place they situated and want to experience something new. Migration in a sense means the breaking up and scattering of a people. While this may be advantageous to many people who have good reasons for migrating, it also affects the traditions of the place they're leaving . (Gjerde, 1998) Sources say that the rate of migration has increased. Although, there were some minor differences between them by size of vicinity. It is recognized that most males would likely go to a medium-size and extra large

Mid-term history exam Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Mid-term history exam - Essay Example He questioned Pope’s authority also, by saying that, â€Å"pope †¦cannot remit any penalties other than those which he has imposed either by his own authority or by that of the Canons (Luther, 5). With these words and similar arguments in his theses, Luther was questioning the concept of merit â€Å"held by Catholic Church† and was protesting against â€Å" those preachers of indulgences†¦ who say that by the pope’s indulgences a man is free from every penalty, and saved† (Luther, 21). Though probably Martin Luther had no idea as to what he had started, his criticism and revolt against the indulgences were sharp and focused. Historians have observed that though Martin Luther had expected â€Å"his theses to provoke scholarly debate, †¦(he) could not have anticipated the dramatic public response† (McNeese, 5). The Roman Catholic Church was in those days, literally â€Å"selling indulgences†, which were â€Å"traditionally gran ted to someone when he or she confessed a sin† (McNeese, 4). It was when the sinner was performing a penance â€Å"to receive forgiveness†, that the Church had to issue an indulgence (McNeese, 4). This is explained as â€Å"an act of piety, to help provide complete forgiveness and to prove that the sinner was, indeed, sorry for having done wrong† (McNeese, 4). But â€Å"by the Middle Ages, the doctrine of indulgences allowed people to pay money (to the church) rather than a pious act† (McNeese, 4). Martin Luther was primarily revolting against this sale of indulgences. Secondly, by the 15th century, Pope Sixtus IV claimed to have the power to release the souls of the dead from the penance they were experiencing in Purgatory† (McNeese, 4). This prompted people to â€Å"buy an indulgence to help expedite a deceased loved one’s release from Purgatory† (McNeese, 4). It was against this â€Å"profiteering† of the church from the indul gences that Martin Luther mainly published his 95 Theses. When it was published, the church wanted him to â€Å"confess his wrong† doing, he did not yield to that, and the pope excommunicated him (McNeese, 5). Soon after these developments, Luther developed his own theology and it stood for â€Å"salvation through faith in God rather than through ceremonies and good works† (McNeese, 6). He negated priesthood also (McNeese, 6). Luther also criticized the Popes who were indulging in â€Å"extravagance and luxury† (McNeese, 4). Luther believed religion to be a personal thing for each and every individual when he said, â€Å"every truly repentant Christian has a right to full remission of penalty and guilt, even without letters of pardon† (Luther, 36). Gradually, the 95 theses of Martin Luther became the spark that initiated the fire of protestant reformation (McNeese, 6). At a culmination point of this religious movement, Lutheranism became the official reli gion for some German states and Sweden (McNeese, 7). Calvin developed Luther’s ideas and spread them to Switzerland, France, Scotland and England (McNeese, 7). England, embraced Protestantism, wholeheartedly. Later in England, a counter-reformation was led by Catholic Church, which was only partially successful (McNeese, 9). But Luther regretted his preaching, when reformation turned into a peasants’ revolution in Germany (McNeese, 7). More bloodshed and hostilities followed throughout the reformation and the