Question Number 5:
Teotihuacan was an extremely advanced city established around 2,000 years ago near current-day Mexico city. The city was believed to house at a minimum 100,000 people and had a variety of economic and social backgrounds, as it had six or more different ranks within society. The remnants of the city display the importance of the sun and the skies to the city’s founders. The main street of Teotihuacan is “The Street of the Dead,” which is oriented a bit east of true north. The street runs from the pyramid of the moon to pass the pyramid of the sun, as well as the city’s palace. It was believed that the underworld, heaven, and earth were all interconnected and rotated frequently. This belief is seen in the city by a couple of examples. Firstly, the pyramid of the sun was viewed as a portal to the underworld. Secondly, human sacrifices were a frequent occurrence. The individual was slaughtered in order to allow the sun to rise again. The majority of the city is locked into the same pattern as well, forming a grid of streets and houses. The lengths to which the founders wished to uphold this pattern is demonstrated by the alteration of the Rio San Juan river. Teotihuacan was seemingly abandoned during the 7th century until it was later found by the Aztecs, who gave the city its name, meaning “the palace of gods” or “the place where the gods were created.”
In modern times, many people congregate at Teotihuacan on the day of the spring equinox to bring the ancient practices of the Aztecs back to life, as the sun was essential to Aztec religious practice. The sun is directly over the pyramid of the sun at noon, resulting in people opening their palms towards the sun in celebration. This yearly ritual was surely affected by the outbreak of COVID-19, as this year’s spring equinox was on March 19th. This celebration is sure to attract many people from all over the world. Mexico currently has around 850 reports of confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 16 deaths, but events such as the celebration of the spring equinox at Teotihuacan will only bring those numbers up if people do not follow quarantine regulations.
Question Number 4:
Bushmeat essentially is any wild animal hunted in the bush. In Africa, this includes animals such as bats, elephants, rodents, antelopes, monkeys, and more concerningly, great apes. The hunting of bushmeat has always been a traditional practice within Africa, the difference now is that the practice has expanded substantially, as Africans now obtain anywhere from 30-85% of their protein from bushmeat. It is estimated that around five million tons of bushmeat is gathered yearly within the congo basin. This expansion has happened because of a variety of reasons. First of all, bushmeat is now seen as a commodity. Many upper class Africans buy and eat highly priced bushmeat, sold to them by poorer hunters who engage in the trade for money. The hunting and consuming of bushmeat used to be a practice strictly found within smaller, rural communities within the continent. However, Africa’s civil wars have caused many people to leave cities and seek refuge in these smaller communities, which expanded the trade. Yet another cause for the expansion of the bushmeat trade is the logging industry, which exposes animals within their natural habitat, leaving them with nowhere to go.
There are some negative consequences that result from the bushmeat trade, one of which is the contraction of diseases. Since great apes are humanity’s closest living relative, and our DNA is extremely similar, diseases and viruses can easily spread from one species to the other. Some of the biggest epidemics and pandemics of our time have resulted from this, including Ebola and HIV. This is extremely timely to today’s global crisis, COVID-19, as it is believed that the virus resulted from bats in a Chinese food market. The bushmeat trade can help the spread of such ailments due to the close contact humans encounter with wildlife. Although one’s first thought may be as to how these diseases and viruses affect the human population, they are also devastating to great apes as well as other wildlife species, so much so that approximately a third of the population of great apes has been wiped out since 1990. A cold can even kill a great ape. The expansion of the bushmeat trade is threatening the survival of African wildlife species, and will only continue to do so.
The bushmeat trade can also produce racism and be viewed ethnocentrically. Americans may be quick to label the hunting and consumption of African bushmeat as gross or inhumane, however we hunt deer, turkey, rabbits, squirrels, and other game, which is seen as acceptable by most. It is no different in Africa. In each case, individuals are hunting the animals that surround them within their environment. The only problem is that in some cases, African hunters kill endangered animals, although supposedly great apes only portion one percent of all bushmeat trade. This is no excuse for racism. A modern day example of this is the racism that many Chinese individuals are currently experiencing because of the coronavirus, which many people, including President Trump, refer to as “the Chinavirus,” due to its origins. People can not be blamed for what is culturally acceptable within their societies, despite the fact that many people use differences as an excuse for racism.
Question Number 3:
One of my favorite times of the year is the fall. My favorite season brings weather that allows one to be comfortable both in shorts and a t-shirt, and hoodies and jeans. That weather is also accompanied by two more of my favorite things, cross country and Thanksgiving. Ever since I was a child, I have had some of my fondest memories during Thanksgiving, despite the food comas and family bickering. Everything about the holiday, the family gathering, the candy making my family repeats every year the day after, and of course, the feast itself. One of the foods that always captivates me and my saliva glands is the mashed potatoes and gravy.
As I did some research, I learned that potatoes originated in South America, likely in the area around the southern end of Peru and the northeast of Bolivia. Potatoes were grown domestically between three to seven thousand years ago, but it is estimated that the vegetables existed as long as 13,000 years ago. The first consumers of the potato, most likely the Incas, ate the potato as Chuñu, which is mashed and dehydrated potatoes that are able to be preserved. Another way the Incas consumed potatoes was mashed and dipped in a mix of clay and water, which could have been an origin of today’s gravy. This was done because previous generations of potatoes possessed a toxin to ward off predators, and the clay took some of the edge off of the toxin. Potatoes began to become a global crop after the Spanish brought them back to Spain. Despite providing every essential nutrient except calcium and vitamins A and D, potatoes had a very negative reception around the world. Many people thought that potatoes looked ugly and inedible, and were unsafe to eat, practical only for animal feed. This changed in many societies once the upper class encouraged the crop to be eaten. For example, in France, once Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette gave the plant their seal of approval by putting it in their buttonhole and wearing one in their hair respectively, potatoes gained popularity within France. This pattern was repeated elsewhere around the world. Eventually, potatoes played a key role in many countries. In Ireland and England, potatoes fed their populations during famine and food shortages. An influx of Irish immigrants, coupled with the potato’s reputation worldwide, led to the vegetable becoming popular in the United States.
Today, the crop is no less popular. Countries grow millions of tons of potatoes annually: China, the world’s biggest producer, grows 99.21 million tons a year, and the U.S. grows slightly over 20 million. It is bizarre to think that the potatoes and gravy on my plate during Thanksgiving that now uphold the image of being an American classic have gone on such a long and twisting journey to arrive at the point they exist today.
Citations for question number 3: