Louisa's blog

While reading The Four Voyages and a few of the other posts on the blog I began to think about how important a role Christopher Columbus really plays in the lives of American children. While I know a false understanding is never a good thing I just don’t know if I think that the story of Christopher Columbus really impacts American children in a large way. In a way, because Christopher Columbus has become such a character through the multitude of books, songs, games, movies, etc., children do not view him as much a historical figure but as this story. When I think back to what I thought about him when I was younger I can only remember silly songs and nothing that really had any meaning to it. In a sense I feel that because Christopher Columbus plays such a large role in the classroom that children don’t take a great deal of interest and never really value him as a great explorer. I am not saying that children are not learning a somewhat false and exaggerated history of the founding of America but I don’t believe that it truly affects their understanding of Native Americans or the founding of America. 

Reading The Four Voyages I had many different reactions and thoughts about how we perceive Christopher Columbus today and what his voyage and “discovery” was really concerning. The letter Columbus wrote to Luis de Sant Angel in 1493 shows a few of the issues in Columbus’s discovery as well as his understanding of what he discovered. What I noticed right away when reading The Four Voyages was Columbus’s arrogance. This was again immediately present when reading the letter he wrote announcing his discovery.  He seems to be giving praise to the King and Queen of Spain but really he is just boasting about his own successes. He writes, “AsI know you will be rejoiced at the glorious success that our Lord has given me in my voyage, I write this to tell you how in thirty-three days I sailed to the Indies with the fleet that the illustrious King and Queen, our Sovereigns, gave me, where I discovered a great many islands, inhabited by numberless people; and of all I have taken possession for their Highnesses by proclamation and display of the Royal Standard without opposition”. Another aspect of the letter that really stood out to me was his positioning of the native people. He somewhat sways back and forth between respecting the natives and viewing them as far beneath him. This correlates to The Four Voyages as well as how he is seen in today’s culture. He consistently describes them as “hopelessly timid”. These descriptions lend themselves to feelings of superiority. He describes them and looks at them as a people who he has to take care of. He explains how even though they were excited to receive small bad items from Spain he did not want them to; he wanted to give them the wonderful great things he had. He writes, “Whether it be anything of great or small value, with any trifle of whatever kind, they are satisfied. I forbade worthless things being given to them, such as bits of broken bowls, pieces of glass, and old straps, although they were as much pleased to get them as if they were the finest jewels in the world.” Columbus is at the same time both degrading the natives while praising himself. This is exactly the kind of man I gathered Columbus was after reading The Four Voyages. I think it is because of these qualities and the fact that his superiority could be seen as kindness that Columbus is seen in so many different ways today. There are aspects of his adventure and his recording of his discovery that can be praised and acknowledged but there are so many other aspects of his journey that just cannot be avoided. 

When searching the Internet for interesting articles and videos relating to Ibn Battuta one of the first things I came across was the Ibn Battuta animated series. I always find historically based children's shows to be a positive influence even if the message becomes slightly muddles in the translation. My initial thought was that the series was made for American viewers because it is made in English. After more research I came across the series Facebook page. I was very interested to see that almost all of the 200 fans had very foreign/Muslim names. Clearly this show was watched and enjoyed by people of Muslim descent. This definitely changes the purpose and impact of the series. This is a TV show that is made for people to understand their own culture and history rather then for outsiders to learn about another culture. This made me think about who is reading Ibn Battuta's story and what impact this TV show had on Muslim youth and their interest in reading his original narrative. Could this show if directly marketed towards American children help influence and change their view of the Muslim world? Maybe this would help ignite interest in history of the Muslim world among youth? I think that the use of animation is a very successful way at gaining interest from children on a topic they may otherwise ignore. 
 

I read the essay “Ibn Battuta on Women’s travel in the Dar al-Islam” by Marina A Tolmacheva. The essay was very interesting but I also felt that while comparing Muslim women’s travel in Ancient times with current travel of Muslim women it did not really look at the opportunities for travel for women in Ancient times compared to men of those same times. I struggled throughout the reading when the author framed the essay as if women were given such opportunities to travel thinking about the kind of travel the Ibn Battuta and men at the time were exposed to.  Tolmacheva frames the piece in many ways to prove that Muslim women used to have such freedom to travel. She writes, “Ibn Battuta provides evidence of widespread physical mobility among women of the realm of Islam”. From what I read I would not consider the opportunities women had to travel as “widespread physical mobility”. She also goes on to explain the different circumstances in which the women are able to travel and their autonomy in deciding whether or not to move from their hometown.  She explains, “Yet so many women did not choose to travel that a second pattern, very different from the one sketched above, must be noted. This pattern also challenges the stereotype of the passive shut-in, because staying at home resulted from considered rejection of the option of travel.” From my point of view this was an example of where Muslim women seemed to have the most power but it seemingly contradicts her point of view because it is concerning the decision to not be forced to travel rather than the decision to travel freely. I feel that what is missing most from her argument is the ability for men to explore. Women did not have this opportunity for exploration and discovery. Understandably, this was something that women from most civilizations did not have the ability to do, but I still believe that her essay is slightly misleading.  Another area where I feel that Muslim women’s travel is used improperly as evidence of freedom is the right to travel for religious reasons. Tolmacheva frames the discussion with, “The third pattern, that of women's travel by choice rather than necessity, highlights journeys sanctioned by religion and approved socially”. From my point of view this is still travel that is very much controlled by man and does not show women’s right to travelling. I found Tolmacheva’s essay very interesting but wish that there were another angle looked at as well. Especially because of her use of Ibn Battuta’s writing it would have been nice to see more of a comparison between his travels and the travels of the women he described. I may be too modern in my thinking because it is quite a leap to compare not only men and women’s writes in Ancient times but especially within the Muslim world.

Reading Herodotus’s An Account of Egypt and thinking about the current situation an Egypt made me think about my own opportunities to visit Egypt. Herodotus goes into great detail about they fascinating and differentiating characteristics of Egypt. Reading his description of Egypt reminded me of the fascination people always have about the country. It is a once I the lifetime experience to travel to Egypt and see the great Pyramids and the Nile river. With the current situation it makes me wonder when I will have an opportunity to go to Egypt and see it in all its splendors. With Egypt becoming a Muslim country on the near horizon this will only make traveling as a tourist to this great country much more difficult. A few years ago my family took a trip to Egypt and unfortunately I had a job and could not go. Before I looked at this as a missed opportunity but one that I could hopefully make up for in the next few years. But where does the current situation leave the excitements and achievements of the great ancient Egyptians? How will this change the worlds perception of Egypt and its history ?

Herodotus ‘s exploration and discussion of Egypt in The Histories covered many different topics and areas of Egyptian life. I was most struck by the opening description of the quest to understand antiquity.  The story was that the Egyptian King Psammetichus wanted to know for a fact that Egypt was the most ancient civilization and therefore devised a plan based around language in order to figure out the truth. He had two children brought up by a herdsman. The herdsman was told not to have a word spoken in front of the children and to just supply them with what they needed to survive. The King wanted to see what word the children would speak without any guidance from another human and what language that word would be from. The children’s first word was “becos”, the Phrygian word for bread. In the King’s mind this meant that in fact the oldest nation was Phrygia not Egypt.  This story has some levels of enchantment to it but sounds like the kind of folk tales that are told rather than historical facts. I found it very interesting that Herodotus did not say much to debate the idea that this proves that either Egypt or Phrygia are older.
In addition to the method seeming far from a historical way to determine antiquity I found it very interesting that language was a focus. Languages have gone through so many various changes and evolutions throughout our world’s history. It emphasizes what importance these separate languages and forms of communications had for early civilizations the same way they do today. Language helps for each country to form its own history and presence. It is one of the attributes that makes a place unique. It is clear through this story that the proliferation of one’s language shows a form of power and history. The Phrygians are thought to be the oldest civilization because their language has come through these children.  I see this as a clear sign of the power that is derived from the idea that “your language” is known by many and desired. This is how English is seen in many ways and I think contributes to many of Americans limits with understanding other world cultures. We do not feel that it is vital to learn other languages the way many others feel about speaking English. I see through Herodotus description of the Egyptians understanding of Antiquity and power and its relation to language very relatable in many ways to how language and power is viewed in today’s world. 

Throughout reading “The Odyssey” I could not help but focus on the relationships Ulysses had with many various women while his wife, Penelope, waited faithfully at home for his return. Her commitment to her husband not only shows a faithfulness but a sense of true love. Penelope could have easily believed that Ulysses had died and began her life with a new man but instead she waited day after day, and actually pushed suitors away for her husbands return. Ulysses on the other hand, knowing that his wife is back at home with their child, has many intimate relationship along his journey. This imbalance between the characters sexual behavior makes me curious to think about how the tale of “The Odyssey” would change if Ulysses character was a woman.

Would she be unfaithful to her husband and indulge along the way as Ulysses did? Would she be able to overcome the obstacles more easily and return home sooner because of her will against temptation? Would her husband move on to another woman assuming that she had died? These questions are just a few of the many questions that would be interesting to think about in a reframing of the classic tale of “The Odyssey”.