11/19/15
Per. 3
Sources:
Human Geography: People, Places, and Culture: Chapter 5 - Identity: Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Sexuality
The Big Heart - by Tony Perrottet
The Nuer rebels of South Sudan wanted control of the Bentiu oil well, which produces 90% of South Sudan's revenue, but the Dinkas had control over the oil well at the time, so the Dinkas sought shelter at a nearby Kali-Ballee mosque in order to avoid violence from the Nuer rebels. Then, the Neur rebels slaughtered 200 civilians in the mosque, leading to a large migration of 22,000 people trying to seek refuge at the UN peacekeeping base over the boarder of Sudan.
This video is a "rap" done by African-American kids in Ferguson, Missouri about how racism affects minorities, specifically African-Americans, in the United States.
How was the city of Huston able to move away from its cultural stereotype of an Angelo "cowboy city", and emerge with a new identity?
Houston is a largely diverse metropolitan area in Texas, known for its oil industry and redneck rodeos. But what most people may not know, is that Houston also contains the most equitable distribution of the nation's four major racial and ethnic groups: Asians, Hispanic people, and white and black people that are not Hispanic. Throughout the 60's, 70's and 80's, Houston was an overwhelming Angelo city, taking up of 63% of the human population. This was mostly due to big oil businesses hiring Angelo workers at a low price, but still a higher price than the alternative of working back home, which lead to an influx of Angelo population. However, the eight-decade long Texas oil boom fizzles, and the city lost over 100,000 jobs, most being low wage Angelo jobs. This lead to the decrease of Angelo population in Houston from 63%, to under 33%. Consequently, with all of the lost job opportunities for minorities, Houston became the most income-segregated of the ten largest metropolitan areas, with the greatest percent of rich people living among the rich, and the third greatest percent of poor people living among the poor. This lead to residential segregation and racism throughout many neighborhoods because most poor people in Houston were non-white minorities. All of these factors contributed to Houston's ethnic identity of a cowboy city that has massive amounts of oil, and as a cultural wasteland.
Houston has done a fair bit of structural modification with the addition of skyscrapers and endless concrete highways, but has also managed to develop its ethnic identity in the form of artistic expression. Over the past few decades, Houston has constructed a multitude of museums, galleries and 17 block theatre district, that claims to have the largest concentration of seats outside Broadway. These buildings as well as many others contribute to Houston's growing artistic identity. One of the more notable buildings is the Rothko Chapel; a masterpiece of religious art, with 14 rich-colored paintings mounted across the octagonal space. This silent sanctuary allows for people to contemplate life, as well as pray to their God with the addition of over two dozen religious texts hung over benches. Another example of artistic expression is known as Project Row Houses. This idea, originating with artist Rick Lowe, began by renovating a block of decrepit shotgun shacks into gallery spaces. By doing this, these abandoned spaces are given a practical use, and turned into social hubs. This as well as many other examples gives the people of Houston a sense of place and allows them to construct an identity, rather than conforming to the previous 'cowboy city' identity. Houston began to draw attention from outsiders who wanted to share their artistic expression with a community. This process was also made easier on migrant's into Houston due to the low rents, lots of wide open spaces, and cheap food. Due to the vast amount of ethnicities in Houston, most migrant's who come don't even need to speak English, by identifying with art, ethnically different communities can find their own voice. Although Houston still retains its former identity of a cowboy city to a certain degree, it is slowly developing a new identity constructed around artistic expression within a community.
This is a map of Northeastern USA. I decided to color this map because it contains New York, New York. New York is a large metropolitan area with the greatest number and diversity of immigrants of any city in the world. Around 65% of the city is composed of Hispanic ethnicity, including Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, and Dominicans. There is also the presence of other ethnic minority groups such as Asians, Pacific Islanders, and African Americans. This gives ethnic minority groups a chance to create their own identity and share it with the rest of New York.
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