Brianna Alexis Mora

Enlightenment thinkers increasingly thought of slavery as something that violated a human being’s natural rights. It was also unfavorable in the eyes of the religious values and economic values. These ideas "echoed" throughout countries following the Atlantic Revolutions. They reflected ideas of republicanism, greater social equality, and national liberation from foreign rule. Three major key ideas were: abolitionism, nationalism, and feminism. The Enlightenment emphasis on morals and human rights and its lack of economic progress drove the abolition movement most powerfully in Britain and resonated in other countries (echoed.) Nationalism was extremely important to civilizations. Feminism started widely in Europe and North America and with that being said, women found more opportunities in education and professions.

There were colonial initiatives which were specifically set for movements for independence. Also known as the Atlantic Revolutions, many ideas from the enlightenment were still in perspective during this time. North America wanted to preserve their traditional freedom of self-governance. Atlantic Revolutions included: North America, France, and Haiti in which these ideas bounced and "echoed." The 3 main ideas were equality, freedom/liberty, and popular sovereignty. Much of this era was very Eurocentric in which their was great assertion that Europe was the center of the world and superior then any other continent.

I learned that the Foundresses Week is designated in commemorating the women who founded NDNU over 175 years ago by holding weekly events which include Lacrosse games, masses, lunch/dinner dates with the sisters, and a commemoration of Sister Dorothy Stang who fought for environmental justice for laborers in Brazil. Foundresses Week is hosted by the Office of Spirituality whose mission statement is to honor the many religious traditions and spiritual paths in our community by providing diverse opportunities for tending the sacredness in ourselves, each other and the world, they work and learn collaboratively with community partners to bring about a more just society and positive social change. The university wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for these two Foundresses and the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. Today the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur continue this educational ministry, both formally and in less structured ways. The Sisters of Notre Dame work to support people living in poverty ...

I am very familiar with the founding of the Sisters of Notre Dame in my Media Production Lab class from last spring. I had wrote my article on the foundresses week and wrote about the background of how Notre Dame came to be thanks to its sisters.  Foundresses Week is hosted by the Office of Spirituality whose mission statement is to honor the many religious traditions and spiritual paths in our community by providing diverse opportunities for tending the sacredness in ourselves, each other and the world, they work and learn collaboratively with community partners to bring about a more just society and positive social change. I admire the work the sisters do it is just so heartwarming to see that there actually is good in our world especially in this day in age. These women really are martyrs in the world in many different locations. Our university wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for these two Foundresses and the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur.

This chapter spoke about science and religion. Christendom also known as the Christianity world was divided into Roman Catholics of Western and Central Europe. The Eastern Orthodox was from Eastern Europe and Russia. Science altered ideas about the place of humankind in the cosmos and challenged the teaching of the church. In ways, people believed that this challenged religion. This is still seen to this day. However, these two ideas actually help one another in ways that some people see blind towards. Strayer explains Christianity and how it spread through specific cultures. One of them being that it brought up protestant reformation. The Scientific Revolution (which originated because of Copernicus and his ideas on the solar system) took place in Europe because it birthed a new way of thinking and that consisted of research-based thinking. Many well-known scientists emerged throughout the revolution such as Galileo and Newton.

This part of the chapter was very descriptive on the slave trade. This is a very touchy and controversial topic in my opinion just because it has to deal with race. It seems that we always touch on this topic every once in a while throughout our educational careers. The slave trade stimulated much of the Americas and was an enormous extension of business and commerce throughout the world during this time. This practice is not new in fact in some parts of the world it is still being used to this day. The practice of slavery dates back many years ago and was a very widespread human practice. Of course, there are always two sides to slavery and that is the good and the bad.

The book spoke mostly about the different types of commerce each country was specializing in during this time. This period of time was specific to economic globalization and how it changed the world. I found this really interesting because this is still important to this day where the economy and business run the world and make it go round. Some of the major trade items were silver, spices, fur, and many other commodities. I think this period of time was when the world was starting to become very business-like as we now know it as today.