Brazil

Brazil

Brazil is located west of the Atlantic Ocean. It has the largest population area in South America;  it has an area around  8,514,877 km² which is the fifth biggest country in the world. The Equator passes though large parts of the Amazon River and their land is  full of tropical forests and areas suitable for agriculture. Brazil was discovered by the Portuguese navigator Pedro Alvarez in 1500, fifty years later the Portuguese killed the indigenous people then they took slaves from Africa to work there.  In 1822 they declared independence from Portugal. It is divided into 22 states with Portuguese still the official language of the country. The capital is Brasilia, and the government uses a federal system.

Today Brazil is rich in immigrants from many countries, in addition to the local people. The population of Brazil in 2009 was 192,272,890, mostly from different countries like Italy 14.8 %, Spain 7.81%, Germany 5.9%, Japans 0.7% Poland 0.7%. There are also Brazilian Arabs from Lebanon 4%, Syria and Palestine 2 %. There are indigenous natives in the country as well as a lot of African descent with the Europeans in the south.

Aside from the race and its demographic area, Brazil is a mixture of races and ethnicities, resulting in rich diversity. Portuguese are the original people of Brazil. Later on, people from Europe, Africa, and India came to settle in Brazil. Many original Portuguese settlers married native women, which created a new race, called 'mestizos'. Unlike many other Latin American countries where there is a distinct population, Brazilians have intermarried to the point that it sometimes seems that almost everyone has a combination of European, African and Portuguese roots or ancestry. Despite the mixing of ethnicities, there is a class system in Brazil. There is social discrimination on the basis of skin color, where people with darker color are from the low class system. Also Brazilians are people who tend to have big families, because they think that family is the foundation of the social structure. If we look at religion in Brazil, we see that 70% of the country is Catholic, although by law, there is freedom of religious belief and expression. Also there are other religions like Protestantism and a few with no religion.

In the meanwhile with all the diversity in Brazil their main language is Portuguese. Portuguese is spoken by 99% of the country. There is no difference in the dialect between the surrounding regions inside the country but there are simple variations of accents. The people of the country learn another language by options; with this in mind it seems extremely good that in this way the people won’t lose their language or it won’t vanish for a long time till colonization happens or most probably the people will fight back as they did in the past. There are many known programs in Brazil for foreigners who are willing to study Portuguese; one of the wide known and distinguished programs is “Dialogo” which is a program that helps people abroad to go to Brazil and learn their language as taught in their land.(Wikipedia 2012.     8. Jan)

As usual Brazil always impresses the world with a variety of things. Brazil has a lot of traditions but one thing they are widely known for soccer. Soccer is a traditional sport in Brazil. It is played all around the country from all living classes. They always make a big impression in the soccer industry from well known legends like Pele and Zico to players who made the soccer industry a better place, for instance, Ronaldinho who is a Brazilian especially well known for his soccer freestyles and techniques which has made a big impact in the soccer world. In fact he is one of the greatest players to raise the soccer to the next level. With this in mind he also uses samba in his techniques which is one of the famous Brazilian dances. Samba is greatly known all around due to the complex body movements and dynamics. At the same time samba is one of the music genres.( Brazilian Football,2012)

           

Brazil has a variety of foods for all regions around the country.  The southern part has their main dishes of Churasco, Barreado; a strong influence is Guchos. While in the northern region the main dishes are Tacaca, Barreado. The desert is shared all over the countries with Bejinho and Cocada and many others. The Brazilians are noted for their exotic fruits! One of my favorite fruits is the taco berry which is a red looking oval fruit and is covered with soft needles as a shell and is cut thoroughly for the white stuff inside to be eaten. They also have papaya and passion fruits and lots of others which are not so common but are delicious.(Marian blazes,2012)

          

The Brazilian attire differs from one domain to the other. True traditional Brazilian attire can be seen in the countryside, where men’s clothes include shirts, jeans and dresses made from inexpensive cotton.  In the southern region of Brazil, there is a mixture of German, Russian and Italian immigrants; while in Rio de Janeiro, immigrants from England, Portugal and Africa are predominant. The Bahia region of Brazil is influenced by African culture; hence their traditional clothing is Bordado Richelieu, which is a doily-like embroidered fabric. Rio de Janeiro is popular for its magnificent beaches. Hence, people in this region mainly wear beach style shirts, Bermudas and sunglasses.(Jirage Reshma, 2012)

After all Brazil is the place to visit from its Portuguese roots, the mixture of the ethnicities, people’s diverse background and traditions not to forget about the food and the exotic fruits. Where else have so many common traditions that are also distinguished around the world.

RESOURCES:

·         Blazes,  Marian. "Brazilian Food - Traditional Brazilian Food and Recipes." South American Food - Recipes, Cooking Techniques, Menus, Ingredients - South American Cuisine. Marian Blazes , n.d. Web. 8 Jan. 2012. <http://southamericanfood.about.com/od/exploresouthamericanfood/tp/BrazilianMenu.htm>.

·         "Brazil - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Jan. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazil>.

·         "Brazilian Football." Brazilian Football. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Jan. 2012. <http://www.brazilian-football.com/>.

·         Jirage, Reshma. "Traditional Brazilian Clothing." Buzzle Web Portal: Intelligent Life on the Web. Reshma Jirage, n.d. Web. 8 Jan. 2012.<http://www.buzzle.com/articles/traditional-brazilian-clothing.html>

Done by: Ahmed Omar, Khalid , Saeed

Sharjah airport 1937, Dubai airport today

The video we watched in class was filmed in 1937, and was called Air Outpost. This video showed the Sharjah airport in the past and some excerpts of UAE civilization. A lot of people in the film were Arabs and only a few Indian and Iranian traders, and this reflects to us that most of the UAE population were Arabs. The people in the past used to travel by two kinds of animals: camel and donkey or by foot. The occupation in the past was mainly fishing and searching for pearls in the seas, but the film mentioned it was gun running and African slaving. The airport in the film was supervised by the British and the airplane was for the Imperial Airways. The airplane was coming from England and wanted to go to Australia, and it stopped in Sharjah for safety check up or for fuel pumping. Mechanics worked during the night servicing the airplane and also calculating the speed of the wind in order to get the plane ready for departure on the next day.

The second video shows us people dancing in the airport in Dubai. The people in the video are from different kinds of nationalities and cultures, but they get along together and we can see that they are happy. This video also shows us how the UAE has developed from the past to the present, and how it welcomes people from the whole world.

Definitions

1. Affluence = wealth.

Abu Dhabi is an example of an affluent society.

The opposite of affluence is poverty.

2. Ethnicity.

Your ethnicity is determined by factors such as race, religion, language.

3. Ability= skill.

He has the ability to get very high grades.

4. Diversity = the quality of being different.

This course is about cultural diversity, which means people of different cultures living and working together.

5. Assimilation = absorption

Cultural assimilation is the process whereby a minority group gradually adapts to the customs and attitudes of the prevailing culture and customs.

6. Demographics = composition of a population.

The demographics of the UAE are discussed in our first post. You can analyse demographics according to race, religion, age, wealth, etc.

7. Religion = a set of beliefs.

Religious people try to live according to the teachings of their religion.

8. Race = a group of people with similarities, particularly physical appearance.

You can a similar nationality but a different race.

9. Multiculturalism = many different cultures.

A multicultural society is one where people of different cultural backgrounds live and work together.

10. Personality = individual character.

She has a very nice personality: kind, patient, tolerant and loving.

11. Prejudice = bias.

Apartheid in S. Africa was based on racial prejudice against black people.

12. Acculturation = the mixing of different cultures.

If a foreigner here in the UAE says he does something like an Emirati, then that would be an example of acculturation.

13. Bias = prejudice.

Bias is a negative opinion of a person or group based on race, colour, culture or whatever.

14. Discrimination = treating people differently.

Apartheid meant discrimination in favour of whites and against blacks.

15. Fringe = edge, margin.

A fringe group is a small minority, usually expressing an extreme opinion.

16. Population = the number of people.

A census is a count of the number of people in a country.

17.Stereotyping = making assumptions or generalisations about a person or group of people.

Americans are rich, while Mexicans are poor.

18. Gender = sex.

There are two genders, male and female.

19. Resistance = opposition.

There have been many signs of political resistance to established governments in the Arab spring of this year.

20. Advantage = a favoured position.

If you are an expatriate, being able to speak the local language is a big advantage.

21. Racism = hatred of another person or group of different race, often based on colour.

The apartheid system in S. Africa was an example of racism.

22.Ethics = morality, i.e. what is right or wrong.

Ethical behaviour is honest behaviour.

23. Productivity = the ability to produce something.

The company's productivity rates are rising.

24. Behaviour = the manner of acting/conduct.

The students' behaviour is very good.

25. Belief = confidence, opinion..

I have great belief in her.

Tibetans believe in re-incarnation.

26. Majority = most.

The vast majority of Arabs are Muslim.

27. Income = salary.

All employees have a monthly income.

28. Adverse = bad, harmful.

We didn't go on a picnic because of the adverse weather conditions.

29. Values = beliefs.

I value honesty very highly.

30. Traditions = customs.

They are handed down from generation to generation.

31. Generation = group of people born at about the same time.

In some societies people talk about a generation gap; each generation has its own ideals & standards.

32. Sensitivity = empathy, awareness of someone else's feelings.

She's very sensitive. She cares about how other people feel.

33. Slang = slightly improper language.

Have a shufti at my blog.

34. Ethnocentrism = seeing everything from the viewpoint of your own culture.

An ethnocentric viewpoint is narrow and limited.

35. Stratification = rigid division of society.

The Indian caste system is an example of social stratification.

36. Socio-cultural = relating to society & culture.

Language, ethnicity, religion are all socio-cultural factors.

37. Resident = someone living in a particular place.

Khalid, Aziz and Hedley are all Abu Dhabi residents.

38. Poverty = being poor.

The opposite of poverty is affluence or wealth.

39. Nationality = the country you belong to.

You can have different race or ethnicity but the same nationality.

40. Minority = less than half.

Christians are a minority of the UAE's population.

41. Class = group.

You can have upper class, middle class, lower class.

42. Globalization = worldwide connectivity.

Global brands or logos today are recognised worldwide; we all know the logos of Nike, McDonald, Mercedes etc.

43. Virtual = not real, imaginary.

Computer games create a virtual world which is not real.

44. Barriers = obstacle.

To make progress you have to climb over or go round or go through barriers.

Multiculturalsim

1.      1. What types of culture diversity are present in the movie?

a)      a)  Tibetan youngster’s Tibetan language, Buddhist religion.

b)      b)  German lady who set up a blind school: Christian culture.

c)       c)  Erik and his father: American

2.       2.What are some of the challenges people in the movie encounter?

a)      a)  The challenge of communicating in different language.

b)     b)   The challenge of climbing Everest blind.

3.       3.What are some examples of stereotyping, prejudice, bias and/or discrimination in the video?

a)      a)  Discrimination against Tashi, the street kid.

4.       4.What challenges do people face as a result of personality rather than culture?

a)      a)  The mother looking at her child as an incomplete kid because he became blind

b)      b)  Blind children climbing a high mountain is also a personal challenge.

5.       5.What benefits are there for the people in the movie as a result of their differing culture?

a)       a)  Blind children climbing a high mountain is also a personal challenge.

b)       b)  Learn to respect other cultures, understand other cultures traditions.

c)     c) To learn other cultures languages, and their personality

Cultural Diversity

Cultural diversity in my own idea or explanation can be related to the migration of

people from one country to another, and how the native people of the home country 

face the differences of other peoples way of life. This diversity can be in many

forms, for example: tradition, education, social standing, religion, personality and

beliefs. We face diversity from so many types of people who have different

nationalities in our everyday life ( workers, teachers, garbage men , etc). 

word count: 81

UAE

Introduction to Diversity

UAE Demographics:

Ethnic Groups Percentage 2,ooo

Arab 48.1%

12.2% UAE Arab

9.4% Bedouin

6.2% Egyptian Arab

4.1% Omani Arab

4% Saudi Arab

South Asian 35.7%

Iranian 5%

Filipino 3.4%

White European 2.4%

Others 5.4%


Religions Percentage 2000

Muslim 62% (80% Sunni)

Hindi 21%

Christian 9%

Buddhist 4%

Others 4%


Source: http://www.worldstatesmen.org/United_Arab_Emirates.html

Reflection:

(a) These figures are from the year 2000; it will probably have changed through the years and become higher today.
(b) The percentage figure for Indians, certainly has increased through the years and they are much higher today because of all the new construction projects in Dubai, they need more labor workers to finish quickly.
(c) The percentage figure for white Europeans, is certainly higher than 2.4% because nowadays new schools, universities, colleges have been built and they require English teachers to teach English courses.