Presentations - Day 2

Today was the second day my classmates got to present their research presentations. I had the opportunity to learn about more Caribbean countries and what my classmates' papers were about. Below are what I learned/notes and my review on how I thought my classmates presented their presentation!

• Puerto Rico
• Puerto Rico has been influenced by many cultures due to the fact that they have never been an independent country
• Spanish, African, and American influence
• Spanish and natives: indigenous people of the island were Taino Indians. Soon after, the spanish enslaved the natives which led them to dying off of harsh treatment, diseases, and over-working
• African impact: slave trade was one of the biggest slave trades in recorded history. Friar Bartolome de Las Casas was responsible for replacing Indian workforce with the African slaves
• Slavery ended in 1873
• America greatly influenced Puerto Rico when the US military invaded in 1898
• Americas motivation for taking over was because they needed land
• US military control ended in 1900
• The foraker act put Puerto Rico under the American monetary system and tariff arrangement
• Puerto Rico is under the Bill of Rights, use US dollars, and has US citizenship
• I thought this particular Caribbean country was very cool to learn about! I was surprised to hear that Puerto Rico is greatly influenced by America- adopting our country's trade rules and currency! The presentation was very well organized and well presented!

• Jamaica
• We tend to focus more on theappealing parts of Jamaica rather than the economy, equality, and violence
• Opposing views: the land is now what makes the nation, the people are the nation
• 1970-1980 Jamaica faced recession
• Jamaica is ranked the 2nd distributor of oil
• High inflation on unemployment
• The country still faces problems relating to discrimination and racism
• Women are still treated differently in society, and there are still wage gaps
• The island is taken over by masculinity including sexual abuse
• Loved the topic of this presentation! It was refreshing to hear a presentation that was not about tourism! The presenter gave nice facts about Jamaica's society regarding the island's economy, equality, and violence but I would have really liked to hear his/her's opinion on gender equality and the island's conflicts with discrimination and racism. The presenter presented well. He/she could have looked at the audience more instead of the board and computer.

• St. Martin/Maarten
• Both the French and Dutch sides are economically diverese due to their ties to seperate countries
• The Dutch side of the island specializes in happy hour, extravigant casinos, and long stretchesof shop lined boardwalks
• The French side specializes in food, while the Dutch specializes in mostly in luxury
• Tourism plays a great factor in St. Martin/Maarten's economy (73% of economy goes towards tourism)
• The island has carnival every year which is known to be the biggest party in the world 
• St. Maarten holds the anual Heineken Regina which is a 4 day boat race that brings sailors from all over the globe
• St. Martin has more than 300 restaurants in an area which is smaller than the land that disney world owns
• St Maarten currently operates under the king of the Netherlands
• St. Martin was given COM status in February 2007, which gave the island a much bigger representation in the French parliament
• Due to the division of the island, the country is a hub for cultural economic and political diversity. 
• I want to start off by saying the presenter really knew how to present. He was loud enough for all of us to hear, his points were very easy flowing, and he seemed like he showed genuine interest in his research topic. He gave many great facts about the Dutch and French sides of the island, and even took the time to compare the two. On the other hand, this presenter also had many uhms and likes. Took a couple pauses to think about what he was going to say, but he ultimately redeemed himself! Much of the information he shared was from his head and not from the slides, which is good!

• Aruba and Bonaire
• Tourism is the base of Aruba and Bonaire's economy
• The island is known for its adventurous activities- including kite-surfing and windsurfing
• It offers numerous species such as sea turtles, flamingos, birds, and fish
• Creates a mixture of cultures and heritage, giving the island a benefit of diversity
• Heavy industry of oil refinery, shipbuilding, and vacation homes have attracted people from all over the world
• The presentation was intriguing and fun! If I remember correctly, this presentation included a video of the island, and it was just nice to see what it is like in the island and hear the island's music. Presenter did very well presenting, but could have looked at the audience a little more.

• The Bahamas
• The first inhabitants of the Bahamas were Lycayans
• Ancestors from came from South America
• Christopher Columbus first arrived to the Bahamas in October of 1492
• Lacked of modern weaponry
• Blackbeard operated in the Bahamas, his real name being Edward Teach 
• Blackbeard was killed by Captain Maynard and his head was decapitated and put in front of a ship to show as a warning for other pirates
• Anne Bonny and Mary Reed were the first female pirates
• Mary died from a fever and Anne claimed to be impregnated by Calico Jack 
• Calico Jack, also known as John Jack Rackham, is most remembered for his jolly roger flag and sailing with Mary Reed and his lover Anne Bonny
• The Bahamas used to be save haven for pirates, and is now a vacation place for the rich and famous
• The Bahamas has been shaped by Christopher Columbus, pirates, and now tourism.
• It was very interesting to learn about some of the pirates mentioned in this presentation! I admit, I took this course cause I thought it would have a little more to do with the islands culture and pirates, and finally the time has come! The history was nice, and it was nice to learn about the stories of Calico Jack and Anne Bonny! The presenter, again, presented very well- eye contact, projection, speech.

Presentations - Day 1

Today was the first day my classmates got to present their research presentations. I was able to learn about various Caribbean countries and what the focal point of their papers were about from their presentations, and below are facts I remember from them! (I missed the first three presentations of day 1, so I have only provided facts and no opinions!)

• Cuba

• Saba

• The island has conservation foundations
• Saba is the smallest island in the Caribbean

• Trinidad and Tobago

• Petroleum takes over plantation

• Haiti 
• Natural disasters occur very often, specifically floods

• Saint Vincent and Grenadines

• Tourism and agriculture are the two main resources that supports St. Vincent and Grenadines economy
• People on the mainland make their money off of agriculture
• Tourism will help the countries economy because it is not as sensitive to harsh weather as crops are 
• Should tourism be enhanced to improve the islands economy. supporters say that due to bad weather restrictive trade rules, agriculture has declined significantly.
• Another strategy the country can do is to try to attract movie companies to come to St. Vincent and produce films 
• Tourism reached its peek in 2009
• The best strategy to improve the economy is to integrate agriculture with tourism somehow
• Overall, I thought the presentation was very good! The student's voice projected very well and she made eye contact with the teacher and audience throughout the whole presentation. Her presenting skills worked very well. One thing about the way this student presented though, she said "like" and "uhm" very frequently. I know that it is a common thing many of us say while presenting and even while talking in a casual conversation, but I remember the use of those words being a big part of her presentation.

• Guadeloupe

• In 300BCE Guadeloupe was discovered by the Arawak Indians, they were nomadic
• Body image was very important to the Arawak
• Arawaks defeated by the Caribs
• Men took pleasure in tearing out hair out one by one with knives because they did not like facial hair
• Women struggled with long hair because short hair was only for slaves
• Religion of the Arawak was Polythiesm, gods being called Zemi
• According to their folklore, the sun and moon came from a cave
• Music and dance has a big impact on today's society 
• The music type is called zouk
• Tourism is the main economic industry
• 95% of Guadeloupe are catholic
• I thought this presentation was very nice! I liked how Madison provided many pictures and rich history on the island of Guadeloupe, which I did not think about including in my presentation or paper! Much of the presentation had to do with the island's history, which I liked, but I did not completely understand the purpose of it or what her research question and claim. 

Review of My Classmates' and My Presentation

In viewing my classmate's proposal presentations, I really enjoyed seeing everyone's research topics and how they planned to organize their paper! It was nice to see a group of the Caribbean countries together and what each country "specialized" in. The presentations worked, the topics worked, but a handful of people's presentation skills did not work too well. Some classmates were too quiet, hid behind the computer screens, and there were one or two presentations that made very little sense. Although I enjoyed how each classmate discussed his/her topic, I was not very impressed that most of the topics had to do with the country's economy based on tourism. I felt like some countries/students could have been more creative when choosing their topic, because a lot of the presentations sounded very similar although they were based on different islands.

I, on the other hand, never got the opportunity to present my research proposal presentation to the class, but I did present my final research presentation. After the presentation, I definitely thought of a handful of things I could have mentioned during my presentation such as statistics of developed and developing countries, environmental facts on how pesticides alter our mosquitoes and water, and why ethics, logic, and equality were the reasons I believed developed countries should assist developing countries. I was disappointed in myself that I did not mention those factors that I wrote in my actual paper, because I was nervous about staying within the 5 minute presentation time, and by the time I did remember it no longer seemed relevant so I kept my mouth shut! I did not think I did terrible, because I projected and made eye contact with others, but I did not think I did fantastic either! Below are the slides of my final research presentation.

Waterborne Diseases in Martinique: Can Developing Countries Help?

Hello, hello!
UPDATE: I do not hate the topic of my paper!
As said on the previous blog post, I was not too thrilled that I had to settle with writing about Martinique's waterborne diseases, but I eventually came to terms with it and, hey, it was not that bad!

Linked below is my research proposal presentation.
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1BKqmWM8AIWysUIpaKRViXCt6IqeBGKIg8AjSAgoGGE0/edit?usp=sharing

In the presentation you will see I organized my research question/claim, three focal points, and conclusion. I believe for years the people of Martinique have been harmed by waterborne diseases, and although studies show that treatments can save the lives of those that have been harmed, I believe the most effective way of preventing diseases such as leptospirosis and dengue fever is having developed countries assist/improve the environment of developing countries.

My Research, Challenges, and Plans

3, 2, 1... LET THE RESEARCH BEGIN!
This week I began my research on Martinique, and so far it has not been a swift and easy Caribbean breeze!

At the beginning of the research, I was very excited to learn more about my Caribbean country! I love art and music, and was hoping that the beautiful island of Martinique specialized in fine arts, but unfortunately all the information I could find regarding the island had to do with waterborne diseases. I looked and looked for articles, books, and even studies about art in the Caribbean, but it was very rare that my island had anything to do with the things I found. After many deep sighs, I began to look into waterborne diseases and its effect on Martinique.

I'm not going to lie, it took me a while to warm up to the idea of writing about waterborne diseases. I tried my hardest to not think about writing about that topic, but alas it was time to tell Professor Harris what my topic was. Like, really? I have to research, present, AND write about how mosquitoes have affected Martinique's water? While some struggled because there was a lack of information on their topic, I struggled because there was too much! There was a plethora of case studies, articles, and books about waterborne diseases in Martinique- it was hard to gather them all! After reading through many case studies, I decided to focus on leptospirosis and dengue fever.

From here on, with all the articles and information I read on how leptospirosis and dengue fever have affected Martinique, I planned my research! Focal points being what waterborne diseases, leptopsirosis, and dengue fever are, how waterborne diseases have affected the people of Martinique, and how to prevent these zoonotic viruses from occurring on the island.