Murphy and Arenaʻs article was quite long and but I found it informative. I actually automatically thought of Hainan Island on the southern coast of China. I recently traveled to Hainan to surf in a competition there. I know....this may be so random but I believe this totally connects to the reading. As we know China is a communist country, which really got me thinking, many of there laws and their ideas/government are very similar to Americas...anyway, back to what I was thinking about; In Hainan I stayed in Wanning Town. It is a beautiful agricultural land with many indigenous people of that land. They have been cultivating this island and fishing in their seas for many generations, I learn that they understand and speak about four different dialects of the languages spoken in China, and let me tell you, there are many. The coastline of Wanning has been a fishing village for many year, many indigenous people and non-native people rely heavily on fish because they would trade their fish for crops from other villages. About two years ago this fishing village was made into a tourist destination where a bar, small condos, and a night club was build in order to boost the flow of tourist to the island. It was then called the next international surfing destination. The Chinese government came into Wanning, gave villagers some money to relocate, and proceeded to build a place where tourist will come to enjoy the wonders and the great weather that Hainan has to offer. This great fishing village is no more, disco lights now illuminate through this once ancient town. One fish market was owned by a little small old lady who everyone called Mama. Her fish market was torn down and she was barely compensated for her business, she now struggles to make ends meet in her new little shop. I thought this example related to the reading, the language of the people was never in question in being lost, but their cultural activities are slowly dwindling away.
Burkeʻs reading was very interesting to me as well, I enjoyed reading about the cooperations that tribes in Brazil have to assist in order to maintain or survive on their land. These ideas and discussions of Fair Globalization was somewhat difficult for me to understand in the beginning but as I continued to read, I thought about the aboriginal people who I stayed with while I was in Australia. The Bundjalung tribe of New South Wales had/have many struggles with corporations helped develop reservations for indigenous animals, insects, and plants, yet the profits of this reservation did not go back to the tribe. In Ballina many aboriginal communities are now managed and organized by elders of their tribe, and many families work together to have tribal meetings or functions. With elders at the front of the community, cultural and traditional activities are now priority and encouraged throughout the younger generations. I hope I was on the right track with connection with the reading. Sorry for this blog being so long but I had so many ideas running through my mind when I was reading each article.
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