Total Pageviews

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Which road would i take?

I dont believe one road system is particularly better than another, because both were built based on different purposes which each met. I suppose the romans roads were more advanced being that they were paved and served a much larger scale of people.

Wish i had a twitter...

The incan roads were built to accomodate for verticle travel and rainfall runoff. The roman roads were paved to allow for improved horse and caravan movement whereas this was not a factor in the incan civilization.

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Griots vs. textbooks

Personally, I would prefer learning from textbooks rather than relying on storytelling when learning about history. Everyone knows stories told verbally always change. Even within an hour and a few high school kids one simple story can be dramatically altered from what it originally was. Now imagine if it were told thousands of times over hundreds of years. Certain aspects would obviously change. Also, stories told from a griot of a certain society could easily be slanted. Their kings may be told about as fair, powerful rulers but other societies may see them as ruthless tyrants. There are some benefits from storytelling and music based history. For one, it does make learning about it easier and more interesting. Also, it could be argued that the societies culture is more preserved through the art of music and dance. For me, I would like to stick to my boring textbooks and know the information I am getting is correct (hopefully). However, I respect the griots talent and dedication to their practice, so I do respect them and anyone who chooses to learn about history that way.