To state my position, I'm gonna pull a half/half argument or Devil's Advocate on whether Jane Addams was religiously motivated or not in her creation of the Hull House and other social improvement programs for inner-city Chicago. I think its difficult to draw the line of where religious morals or motivations stop and such other "good-will" inspirations begin as I believe the two are very intertwined for her particular situation.
Jane Addams was raised in a religious household - Quaker, to be more specific. Besides the fact that Quakers are awesome, it cannot be denied that there many traces of religious undertones in her work could be attributed to Christian morals, voluntary or not. The majority of the world's main-stream religions (that I am personally aware of anyways) have general doctrines of doing well onto/not harming others, helping those in need, and overall attitudes of generosity and kindness. After being raised in such an environment (coming from personal experience), I would think it to be part of one's human nature to apply such attitudes and beliefs outside of a strictly religious context.
Likewise, not all service work for others has to be religiously-based. There exist innumerable organizations throughout our world today with the intention of benefiting others in need of help without any religious attachment. There is such a basic human instinct of getting satisfaction and even joy out of helping others - take the Golden Rule for example. An extended possibility (perhaps even a stretched tangent) of her motivation I believed came out of her liberal arts education. Women in the time era receiving extended education was not exactly common or even well-approved of. I can only imagine the mental determination it must have taken to go through such a process. This determination for success in education, along with the content she received out of it, is easily applied to other goals she might have had in life. Her motivation for social work and improvement could have been simply a drive for a larger goal in her life.
Religiously-based or not, I believe the motivations driving public benefit projects and programs are insignificant as to override the projected goal and larger picture they are aiming to achieve.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
The 19th Ward of Chicago
Beginning with the maps comparing ethnic and wage composition of several parts of the 19th ward, I was able to find trace few commonalities and patterns. At first glance, all of the maps appear to be a piece of 20th century artwork or something of the sort, being nothing more than a bunch of colored squares thrown together like a quilt. So, to break it down:
In a few of the districts, I was surprised to see less unity of individuals living around one another based on weekly wages. I was slightly taken aback by houses making some +$10 differences in income right next to one another as I had almost expected more distinct economic segregation within the neighborhoods as you can find in large cities throughout the United States today. However, when looking at the ethic composition of the community, there was a much more noticable trend for members of the same nationality to live amongst each other; this was especially noticable with the Italians, Russians, and Polish. This trend can be attributed to obvious reasons such as commonality of language, traditional customs, religion, and general comfort. When comparing weekly wages to the ethnic groups that earned them, I was likewise a little surprised to find such variability. I saw members of the same block and nationality still with +$10 differences in earnings. This amount of variability being independent of nationality, living location, etc. gave me the general impression that anything is fair game when it comes to earning money.
A particularily interesting find was the abundance of English-speaking brothel districts. Brothels were obviously located in the same neighborhoods, and English speaking ones appeared to be the most prevalent. I came up with a potentially stretched explanation: migrant workers were willing to work for considerably cheaper wages than native Americans doing the same jobs and as a result, middle/lower-class laborers could have encountered more difficulties in finding work. Perhaps these English-speaking women had to resort to working in brothels to make up the slack for family earnings...? A number of possibilities could serve as proper explanations.
After scanning through the pictures of the Hull House neighboorhoods, it was evident that designated public space seemed to be less than abundant. There seemed to be a general lack of grass/trees/anything that had once previously lived throughout the community that would normally be assigned as play space for children or a public park. Still, as seen in the photographs, people make do, especially children, when it comes to making room for social activity.
In a few of the districts, I was surprised to see less unity of individuals living around one another based on weekly wages. I was slightly taken aback by houses making some +$10 differences in income right next to one another as I had almost expected more distinct economic segregation within the neighborhoods as you can find in large cities throughout the United States today. However, when looking at the ethic composition of the community, there was a much more noticable trend for members of the same nationality to live amongst each other; this was especially noticable with the Italians, Russians, and Polish. This trend can be attributed to obvious reasons such as commonality of language, traditional customs, religion, and general comfort. When comparing weekly wages to the ethnic groups that earned them, I was likewise a little surprised to find such variability. I saw members of the same block and nationality still with +$10 differences in earnings. This amount of variability being independent of nationality, living location, etc. gave me the general impression that anything is fair game when it comes to earning money.
A particularily interesting find was the abundance of English-speaking brothel districts. Brothels were obviously located in the same neighborhoods, and English speaking ones appeared to be the most prevalent. I came up with a potentially stretched explanation: migrant workers were willing to work for considerably cheaper wages than native Americans doing the same jobs and as a result, middle/lower-class laborers could have encountered more difficulties in finding work. Perhaps these English-speaking women had to resort to working in brothels to make up the slack for family earnings...? A number of possibilities could serve as proper explanations.
After scanning through the pictures of the Hull House neighboorhoods, it was evident that designated public space seemed to be less than abundant. There seemed to be a general lack of grass/trees/anything that had once previously lived throughout the community that would normally be assigned as play space for children or a public park. Still, as seen in the photographs, people make do, especially children, when it comes to making room for social activity.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Dreadlocks
During our review of the various Rastafari symbols, I found the concept of dreadlocks to be very interesting. Religious hair trend/style is certainly not restricted to Rastafari religion, so I decided to look up other religions with similar preferences towards hair.
Dreadlocks for Rastafari symbolize a combination of many meanings/representations of their religious beliefs and culture. Inspiration for dreadlocks as a hairstyle is primarily African-derived. As combs, scissors, razors, etc. are all Babylonian inventions, it is in rebellious response for the Rastafari to not use such tools and is even instructed in Hebrew religious texts that Rasta followers not cut/comb their hair or beards. Dreadlocks reflect the tangled mane of the Lion of Judah as a representation of the diversion from Babylon. Likewise, the process of growing dreadlocks is as natural a hairstyle as one can have, which follows their practice of a natural lifestyle. The longer one's dreadlocks are illustrates the length of time that person has been a Rasta. The donning of dreadlocks has extended culturally as a symbolic rejection of traditional European hairstyle. It can also be found in other religions including Hinduism.
As for other religions and cultures with restrictions on hair, the results are extensive. In Sikhism, kesh is a practice that requires Sikh followers to never cut their hair or beard as one of the 5 K's in outward expression of perfection of God's creation. Quakers grow beards after they have married, but will never grow a mustache as mustaches were popular among the German soldiers who persecuted their religion before they left for America. The Taliban from the Middle East view long hair as a sign of influence from the west, requiring members to have short hair or using forced haircuts as a method of punishment. Guidelines for hair style/length can be found in the New Testament of the Bible "Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him? But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering." Many Pentecostal sects have women maintain long hair as a sign of seperation between the sexes and outward expression of devotion to faith.
This is just a handful of examples of the presence of hair's importance in religion and culture. Hair serves as a form of expression and seperation of individuals as belonging to a specific group with corresponding beliefs, practices, and ideals.
Dreadlocks for Rastafari symbolize a combination of many meanings/representations of their religious beliefs and culture. Inspiration for dreadlocks as a hairstyle is primarily African-derived. As combs, scissors, razors, etc. are all Babylonian inventions, it is in rebellious response for the Rastafari to not use such tools and is even instructed in Hebrew religious texts that Rasta followers not cut/comb their hair or beards. Dreadlocks reflect the tangled mane of the Lion of Judah as a representation of the diversion from Babylon. Likewise, the process of growing dreadlocks is as natural a hairstyle as one can have, which follows their practice of a natural lifestyle. The longer one's dreadlocks are illustrates the length of time that person has been a Rasta. The donning of dreadlocks has extended culturally as a symbolic rejection of traditional European hairstyle. It can also be found in other religions including Hinduism.
As for other religions and cultures with restrictions on hair, the results are extensive. In Sikhism, kesh is a practice that requires Sikh followers to never cut their hair or beard as one of the 5 K's in outward expression of perfection of God's creation. Quakers grow beards after they have married, but will never grow a mustache as mustaches were popular among the German soldiers who persecuted their religion before they left for America. The Taliban from the Middle East view long hair as a sign of influence from the west, requiring members to have short hair or using forced haircuts as a method of punishment. Guidelines for hair style/length can be found in the New Testament of the Bible "Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him? But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering." Many Pentecostal sects have women maintain long hair as a sign of seperation between the sexes and outward expression of devotion to faith.
This is just a handful of examples of the presence of hair's importance in religion and culture. Hair serves as a form of expression and seperation of individuals as belonging to a specific group with corresponding beliefs, practices, and ideals.
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