Author Archives: Pyeongan Hong

Take aways from the class

The first takeaway is that I learned various methods of historical thinking. Relating historical event to current events, I was able to analyze how the root of a current event can trace back to complex historical events. Using method of analyzing current news and relating back to our class materials helped me think through the materials once more. Also, research project helped me think on a historical question that relates to the current issue, allowing me to read numerous primary sources. I think I learned a little more to think as a historian.

The second takeaway is that I learned how to use Wikipedia. Before the class, all I knew about Wikipedia is it is easy to access general information on a subject. I doubted that the information present on Wikipedia might be wrong. Learning about Wikipedia and actually writing as a Wikipedian was a new experience for me. This class allowed me to learn that creating a page in Wikipedia takes a lot of work. Although Wikipedia cannot be used as a scholarly work, it is great to learn a neutral point of view of a subject. It’s a great takeaway.

The last takeaway is that I was able to do presentations more comfortably. Previously, presentations were one of the things I hated the most. However, throughout the presentations in this class, I figured that presentations are not as difficult as it sounds. The class helped me to stay comfortable which encouraged me. Presentations became easier than before. Three components that I mentioned earlier are my major takeaway.

IS Symposium

I went to one presentation and a poster. First one was Sydney Irias’s. She talked about how economic, age and educational factors affect one’s adoption culture. She found that having higher educational degrees and income leads to a positive impact in adopting in Honduras. As a person who lived in Honduras for three years, I figured she would talk about religious factor in Honduras. In fact, she did. Honduras, also countries in Latin America, is known for their Catholicity. Looking at the virtues of Catholics, the adoption rate for Catholics was higher than the non-Catholics, since more access was granted for Catholics.

Also I went to Nancy Grazon’s presentation. In her presentation, the main topic was immigrants. She mentioned how the children who have immigrated have hope and desire for their better future, mostly told by their parents. I found it very interesting since it resonated with my Spanish class. In my Spanish class, we watched a movie called “Almost a Woman”. It talked about a child called Esmeralda, an immigrant from Puerto Rico. She had high hopes for her future due to her mother. Her mother had high hopes for the future for Esmeralda since she had more opportunities. It surely had negative impacts on her, putting too much pressure and stress, but positive impacts led her to a success, being able to graduate from a public arts school. The student mentioned negative impacts and positive impacts of the parents’ influence and they were reasonable.

IS symposium was great, providing people with new and interesting ideas.

Class Notes April 19th

iMovie Workshop

The class was on the appropriate usage of iMovie for the final project for the class. Since it was a workshop, there was no historical analysis or readings assigned for the day. Questions on iMovie were asked such as how to find non-copyright music and how to backup the file. Sharing the iMovie in other forms such as .mp4 or .avi takes a long time, so a student must finish their work before the last moment. Transitions must be simple, no spinning around, and the photo must last at least 4 seconds.

Students may use other forms such as Windows Movie Maker or Final Cut but iMovie can be the easiest way to approach this project so it was recommended. I have used Windows Movie Maker beforehand and it was really tough to edit the video. This workshop hopefully helped people like me who do not know how to use iMovie at all. Audacity is a great tool to record one’s voice and edit.

Key terms:

No key terms.

For more information:

College of Wooster iMovie Workshop

http://educationaltechnology.woooster.edu/imovie-workshop

  • there are free music site links on the website.

Audacity Official Website

http://audacityteam.org/

Brazil Culture: Soccer and Politics

Brazil, with the record of winning five World Cup trophies, is known for their playing style in football. Usually referred to as a ‘Samba soccer’, Brazilian soccer was based on fantastic individual skills. That was what fascinated people and made Brazilian soccer ‘great’. In a report by ESPN Brazil, he expected that Brazil “could be sending the least Brazilian team of all time to the 2018 World Cup…” Manager Tite was newly elected as a manager for Brazilian squad in 2016. Although at the beginning of his call-ups for the national team, he picked eight players from the Brazilian league. ESPN expects that only two players from Brazilian League will go to Russia to play on the World Cup. When the Brazilian soccer shined the most, none of the ‘foreign’ players were on the team. Everyone from the national team was in Brazilian League and they were able to win two consecutive World Cups in 1958 and 1962.

Getty Images

When did Brazil start to ‘lose’ their own style of soccer? It was after the success of Brazilian soccer until the seventies. Up until 1970 World Cup, Brazil had won three World Cups out of four. However, the government at the time, under military control, did not like ‘samba soccer’. Individual skills were ignored under Captain Claudio Coutinho and instead, teamwork and physical attributes were praised. He defined dribble as “our specialty as ‘a waste of time and proof of our weakness” (122). Brazilian specialty and power were degraded by the military government to an extent of a waste of time and weakness.

 

Former President of Brazil

After Brazil won the World Cup in 1970, General Emilio Medici’s government declared a national holiday, rewarding each player with the equivalent amount of 18,500 U.S. dollars, tax-free. Medici declared “I identify this victory, achieved in the fraternity of sport, with the ascension of faith in our struggle for national development.” (122). Opinion Poll in 1970 stated that “90 percent of Brazil’s lower classes identified soccer with the nation.” (122) However, after the victory in 1970, Claudio Coutinho who was the manager of the national team was given a mission to modernize the Brazilian playing style. Instead of individual skills, teamwork and discipline were emphasized as Medici’s government made efforts to modernize the Brazilian economy.

After the ‘modernization’, Brazil started to lose their specialty. We see players like Neymar and fascinate because he plays Brazilian style of soccer. His dribbling skills and self-centeredness remind people of ‘samba soccer’ that people missed. Brazilian league, once considered one of the greatest, still produces great players but they no longer stay in the league like the past. What military government did in the past was not a modernization. Instead, it was ignorance of culture and style.

Work cited:

“Brazil Could Send ‘Least Brazilian’ Team of All Time to ’18 World Cup.” ESPN, ESPN Internet Ventures, 21 Mar. 2018, www.espn.com/soccer/club/brazil/205/blog/post/3427421/brazil-could-send-least-brazilian-team-of-all-time-to-world-cup-in-russia.

Shirts, Matthew. “Playing Soccer in Brazil: Socrates, Corinthians, and Democracy.” The Wilson Quarterly (1976-) 13, no. 2 (1989): 119-23. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40257497

The Hour of the Star: Discussion Question

How does the author tell us about different socioeconomic class in the novel and why?

Response: Macabéa is a typical teenager who dreams to be a Marlyn Monroe or eats hot dogs and drinks Coca-Cola. As a typical college student, I would say she would be eating lots of pizza as well. However, the situation is not that easy for her. She is 19 years old and works as a typist and living with four other girls. Her job does not look secure. She lived with her aunt, who was not loving. Her appearance is described as sickly, very thin and gloomy. As apparent in the above, she is living in poverty. The author provided a detailed description of Macabéa’s socioeconomic class, as a lower class. In contrast, the narrator, Rodrigo is well-raised, confident and really excited to tell the story. The story that narrator tells do not match with his background. By using two completely opposite character to discuss poverty, the author wanted to make a claim that the government and people must think on the side of the poor not the side of the rich.

Wikipedia Project: Politics and Sports

Politics and Sports provides a great overview of how politics can interact with sports. It talks about how politics influecne soccer and visa versa. However, it does not contain any information on how Brazilian government interacted with sports. Their most famous sport, which is soccer, had been used as a mean of politics in Brazil. I (Phong20) am planning to expand the article by adding a new section on Country.

As mentioned above, I (Phong20) am planning to improve this article by adding a new section on Country. It will include section on Brazil. Brazil had political involvement in soccer and the article does not mention about that. For example, 1970 World Cup, Brazilian government used the team’s success to promote their propaganda. Adding a section will result adding some external sources and primary sources.

Research Project: Soccer and Politics in Brazil

Pyeongan Hong

Soccer and Politics in Brazil

As known widely, soccer is not simply a sport. It has more meaning to the world. It affects politics, economics, and society. It unites people and it unites countries. Historically, soccer has been the most famous sport in Brazil, being its culture and to an extent, life. First started in 17th century, soccer has been the most important pastime in the country. As a result, players who participate in international competitions were put in a huge stress in order to succeed. Politicians were highly involved in Brazilian soccer. They used it as a mean of controlling their politics and society. Although soccer should remain as a sport, government in Brazil used soccer to manipulate society. For example, in 1970 World Cup, Brazilian squad won the world cup. However, at that time, Brazil was going under domestic political insecurity, ruled under military leader Emílio Médici. Government sacked the manager of the team because manager refused to use certain player in game. Still considered the greatest team in the World Cup, Brazil won the world cup easily. After the win, the Brazilian government awarded the squad and used their success to promote a campaign.

As shown above, the government’s interest in soccer as a mean of social and political control was prevalent. Soccer was heavily embedded in people’s cultures and lives. However, it was not the same in the beginning. The government only focused on economic benefits through soccer such as taxes and more expenditures. Starting 20th century, interest in soccer became larger both by the people and the government. This paper will focus on how in soccer was treated in terms of politics up to 20th century and starting 20th century how it was a turning point for both the government and the people.

Soccer did not affect the politics and the people negatively. It was a method to united people in the country and stop the violence. It caused revolutions socially, politically and economically. Although it may not be the only cause, soccer was the one of the causes that saved Brazil from its crisis. To dig deep into the argument, multiple articles will be discussed. Articles are based on how Brazil was able to escape from its crisis due to soccer. The winning of World Cups in 1970 and 1982 happened when the country was going through the hardest time. Unlike other sports, winning the World Cup brought changes in politics and society. Drawing comparison with other country, South Korea went to semi finals in 2002 World Cup. It drastically changed Korea in terms of society, politics and economics. It united people and changed the power in the government, ultimately leading to democracy.

Brazil is mostly known for its incredible players in soccer field. Their huge success in the World Cups led to a political change in their country. However, soccer was also used as a mean of social and political control. The significance of soccer in Brazil cannot be underestimated since it was a fuel for the unition and change. It awakened people and society, getting rid of military dictatorship in Brazil. Soccer is not only a pastime for Brazil, but also it is their culture, politics and life.

Sources:

Skidmore, Thomas E. The Politics of Military Rule in Brazil, 1964-1985. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993.

Shirts, Matthew. “Playing Soccer in Brazil: Socrates, Corinthians, and Democracy.” The Wilson Quarterly (1976-) 13, no. 2 (1989): 119-23. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40257497.

“Brazil Travel Guide – History of Soccer.” Brazil Travel. http://www.braziltravelinformation.com/brazil_sports_soccer_history.htm.

American Anthropological Association. “Brazilian Football as a Means of Reflecting Upon Brazilian Society.” The Huffington Post. June 17, 2014. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/american-anthropological-association/brazilian-football-as-a-m_b_5498879.html.

Young, James. “How Soccer Culture Made Its Way Into Brazils Political Crisis.” Remezcla. 2016. http://remezcla.com/features/sports/soccer-brazil-political-crisis/.

Humphrey, John, and Alan Tomlinson. “Reflections on Brazilian Football: A Review and Critique of Janet Lever’s “Soccer Madness”.” Bulletin of Latin American Research 5, no. 1 (1986): 101-08. doi:10.2307/3338786.

FELLAY, SARAH. “Saved by the Goalkeeper: Soccer and Elections.” Harvard International Review 36, no. 1 (2014): 32-35. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43649245.