The Iñapari Language of Peru

• Select a region of the world.
• Scroll through and select an endangered language.

• Briefly research & summarize the people and culture of this language
• Evaluate & describe evidence (e.g., historical, cultural, aesthetic) that you feel would support efforts to save the language. Give link(s) to the evidence you find.
• Upload an image that reflects the language and culture.

The people of the Iñapari Language: There are only about 1,500 people left in the Iñapari village of Peru.

Symbol for "Mother Earth"

1. What is (are) the cultural origin(s) of the symbol?

The Mother Earth symbol was founded about what can be assumed as 3,000 years ago in the southern Alps near Milan, Italy. It was found as rock carvings. It also had origins in Pompeii and had been drawn on a wall. The symbol was found in Nepal.

2. Describe the knowledge portrayed by the symbol.

The structure of the symbol is guessed to be a mythological interpretation of labyrinth in Knossos which was supposedly used to house the Minotaur monster (half human/half bull).

3. Is the symbol emotive, ambiguous or vague?

I think that it could be argued that this symbol is ambiguous. Not only can it be used to show the labyrinth, it could be taken as the earth and the ground and a natural design.

4. What are the problems of knowledge you identify for the symbol?

One of the problems of knowledge with this symbol is that it looks similar to a labyrinth. This could also be a problem because it may be interpreted differently then it is meant to be taken.

Claims in Articles

1.) Sadhbh Walshe, “Why California's three strikes law is out of order" The Guardian, 30 January 2012. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/jan/25/california-three-strikes-law

Claim: "California's three strikes law, which allows for such anomalies to occur, ought to be revised, if not repealed."

A counter claim to this would be along the lines of justifying the three strikes law in California and being in defense of the state rather than Jeremy Stewart. "Jeremy Stewart committed a crime that he knew was wrong to do in the state of California and he had three chances". If this were a direct quote from someone on the states law board, it would be easy to say this is a counter claim. It has strength in providing factual evidence and not using a fallacy of pity like the article and its author itself. In the article, the author wrote of stealing for his daughter and drug addiction. This most likely doesn't make up for the crimes he committed in the eyes of the state.

Word Count (not including the article link and question): 146

Appeal to Pity - This is an example showing a supposedly young boy that lost both of his parents and has to take care of his siblings with no help or money.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WafrXhJ22QY

In my own words, I think that appeal to pity is a fallacy that relates to personal beliefs more than others. It's going to be hard for someone who understands the topic they talk about in this commercial to not feel for the main character.

1.) How did you react to your results?  Were you surprised?  Angry or hurt? Pleased?  Discuss what you felt and why you think you felt what you did.

         When I saw that I slightly preferred white people it was a little shocking. Personally I really didn't think that I was biased towards any skin tone. Being partially Armenian it was weird to me that I would slightly prefer people with lighter skin. I understand it's probably because I've been raised in a place with mostly white people, but I have periodically had friends that were darker skinned than I am. I was pretty upset because I really don't think that I prefer any race to another and seeing it in black and white scared me a little.
For the second experiment on religion I found it weird that I disliked Islam the most. I wasn't as surprised because it's the religion I know least about.

2.) Do you believe that your test results say something about you that you should pay attention to?  Why or why not?

        I don't think I have anything to worry about with the test results. I've lived my entire life being an equal person and just because the test I took told me otherwise shouldn't make me have to pay attention to anything regarding this. I know that I am not a racist person and slightly preferring white people probably isn't anything to get worried about. I'm not too sure that I have a problem that I need to pay attention to regarding religion because I've lived my life without minding other people's preferences.

3.) Do you think that these tests are valid?  When you first saw your results, did you question or accept the tests' validity?
        I honestly don't think that the tests are very valid. I mean I believe there is some truth to what the tests had resulted because everyone got different results. I am still questioning the results of the test because I really don't think I have preferences over different races in society or at least I've never noticed that I have. I'm not too sure how I feel about the accuracy about the religion test. I think my score was so low with Islam was because I really don't know that much about the religion as I do Christianity and Judaism even though I have no preference.

4.) Give examples of the cultural messages that many support attitudes linking a dominant group in your nation or culture with "good" or "superior" attributes and a subordinate group with "bad" or "inferior" ones. Are these attitudes generalizations that can be called stereotypes?  How can generalizations be distinguished from stereotypes?
        It seemed like most of the results were linked with extremely mild white supremacy. I think people stereotype when they go into different ideas of superior people being the white people because there is a majority in the United States which also has to do with inferior people. Usually people will generalize things that become stereotypes later on that are racist and discriminating. With the religion aspect I think that this activity showed that people in the USA are more prone to thinking that Christians are the "good" and "superior" people while the Islams (especially in today's culture) are bad.

5.) If some of our consciously held beliefs, attitudes, and values are undermined by what Gladwell,another writer we'll be reading soon....http://www.gladwell.com/blink/index.html, calls rapid cognition (others call this intuitive thinking or even gut feelings), what do you suggest we can do to combat jumping to (false) conclusions?
       We could probably do things like spend more time with each other. Although it seems like segregation is over there still is some and I think if we grew up around more people with different skins colors we wouldn't be so prejudice. I also think that you need to stop teaching about the hate that different people have and focus more on the facts that everyone is human.

Why TOK?

TOK is designed to help us answer questions more intuitively and with a deeper understanding. It will help us answer questions with more of an idea of how to go about answering it. TOK is a tool to also help us thinking more about why things happen.

Addition: TOK will help us become better people with different characteristics like knowledgeable and risk takers. This will shape us as what the IB thinks are role model citizens.

1.) inferential learning mechanisms - the way someone learns how to live in society (babies for example)

2.) In the first 3 years of life, babies seem to undergo a huge transformation according to the article "What every baby knows". Right when they are born they are able to respond and recreate facial expression. As they grow older they recognized what those facial expressions can be tied with, different emotions for example which they then react themselves to.

3.) "Babies are like scientists, continually overthrowing theories that no longer fir the evidence". I think this quote has a lot to do with how we used to perceive babies. We used to think they weren't intellectually capable to understand most of the things that they do. Now after research they have "overthrown the theories" and proved that they are far more intellectual than anyone had previously guessed.