{"id":4691,"date":"2013-09-08T00:38:56","date_gmt":"2013-09-08T00:38:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.humanists.org\/blog\/?p=4691"},"modified":"2013-12-02T18:55:12","modified_gmt":"2013-12-02T18:55:12","slug":"dr-roberta-ahlquist-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.humanists.org\/blog\/dr-roberta-ahlquist-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Dr. Roberta Ahlquist"},"content":{"rendered":"

Close Encounters, ‘Take II’ –The Middle East from a Post-colonial Lens<\/b><\/h3>\n

Dr. Roberta Ahlquist<\/b><\/h4>\n

September 8, 2013<\/h4>\n
\"Roberta<\/a>
Roberta Ahlquist<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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This \u00a0presentation is a broad-brush overview of two months of travel in 2012 to Pakistan, Egypt, Jordan and the UAE, visiting and speaking in schools, seeing archeological sites, talking with ordinary people on the streets, attending a three-day wedding in Pakistan, meeting Egyptians in Tahrir Square in Cairo,\u00a0Egypt,\u00a0and visiting Petra in Jordan, among other places.<\/p>\n

This presentation is given through the lens of a social justice academic who teaches at San Jose State\u00a0University in the College of Education. \u00a0Some of her questions were:\u00a0What role has ‘Empire’ played in the lives of people in these countries? What kinds of changes\u00a0have occurred? What kinds\u00a0of curriculum exist for k-12 students, and for university students? \u00a0\u00a0Is it Western or Middle Eastern; Anglocentric, Eurocentric, Egyptian, or?<\/p>\n

Professor Ahlquist’s research includes post-colonial studies, indigenous\u00a0education, and unlearning racism and\u00a0other forms of bias. She teaches multicultural foundations courses to prospective high school teachers.<\/p>\n

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Program Addendum<\/span><\/h4>\n

Alistair J. Sinclair is a philosopher residing in Glasgow, Scotland.\u00a0 The source for this \u201cAddendum\u201d is his article \u201cHenry Ford: The Visionary Humanist\u201d <\/b>published in Volume 20 (2) of \u201cEssays in the Philosophy of Humanism\u201d, a peer-reviewed journal published\u00a0 by the American Humanist Association.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a shock when the mind awakens to the fact that not all of humanity is human \u2014 that whole groups of people do not regard others with humane feelings.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u2014 Henry Ford (1922)<\/p>\n

Dr. Sinclair argues that Henry Ford was a humanist who changed the world for the better. He had a humanist vision of society in which the standard of living of everyone would gradually improve and poverty would be gradually reduced. The humane capitalism which Ford popularized led to more efficient ways of lowering costs in large scale organizations. It also insured that there was a trickle-down effect that benefitted workers and improved industrial relations.<\/p>\n

On January 5, 1914 Ford announced that his company would almost double the wages of its car workers and introduced the eight hour day and the five day work week (Previously the norm had been a twelve hour day and a six day week), He also introduced vacations for his hourly paid workers.<\/p>\n

Ford was adamant that work should be found for disabled people instead of excluding them from employment because they are disabled. It would be quite outside the spirit of what we are trying to do, to take on men because they were crippled, pay them a lower wage and be content with a lower output.<\/p>\n

This \u201cAddendum\u201d is a half-page presentation of a 20 page philosophic article, complete with notes and references.\u00a0 I commend the article to your attention. <\/i><\/p>\n

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