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Summer Blog Posts

Here are both of my Summer blog posts:

1:
In Norway, I have visited a cultural history museum in Oslo, and viewed some of the Viking artefacts that they had. They reminded me of Things Fall Apart, specifically the traditional and cultural aspect of the book and Igbo people. Like the Igbo, the Vikings had their own religious faith, featuring famous gods such as Odin and Thor, their own cultural traditions associated with that faith. Furthermore, similarly to the Igbo, the Vikings ended up converting to Christianity. It makes me think that surely there must have been people similar to Okonkwo in views, who would have objected to the Christianisation of Norway. With Norway, Christianisation mainly started under the rule of St. Olav (ruled from 995-1000), with him destroying pagan temples and killing pagans who resisted. The process of Christianisation was continued by following monarchs. I believe that the concept of a radically changing culture and religion, with divisions in society, can relate to what Achebe expressed in Things Fall Apart, and seeing the thousand-year-old swords, ships, and jewellery, was almost like looking at a photograph; of a long-since radically changed culture. It really makes you realise how dynamic human culture is, constantly shifting and changing as time goes on, and that the story of both the Igbo and the pagan Vikings are not isolated incidents, but snapshots of some of the constantly changing human cultures. Japan is another example of radical cultural change, with what is known as the Meiji Restoration, when Japan shifted away from its hundreds-of-years long isolation status with little industry, to an industrial power with a colonial empire in the span of half a century. Things Fall Apart I think, shows an insight into how people can act and react in times of great change and strife, and allows us, people who were born around 100 years after Nigeria was colonised, to empathise with the traditional Igbo, despite any differences we may have with traditional Igbo society.

2:

               At the World Scholar’s Cup, a sort of academic tournament/ ‘experience’, which I attended the Global Round in July with Abel and Monica, I believe that there are several skills commonly used in language and literature that apply to it. For example, being able to quickly deconstruct a question is great for the essay section, as there is only a limited amount of time to plan and write the essay. Furthermore, for me personally, the planning skills I used for Paper 1 and 2 I was able to apply successfully, I think, to the essay portion as well. There is a literature section as one of the six topics students have to research for WSC. The analysis skills we constantly used and trained throughout the first year of IB can be quite useful for understanding the works given. The FOAs, I feel, gave us good practice to be able to handle the debate portions of WSC, as we gained practice in public speaking, and built up our confidence, which is very important in a debate. I believe that overall Language and Literature was a good influence on our performance in the World Scholar’s Cup, and I am certainly glad we ended up doing well. Since this is a blog, I guess I could talk a bit about the World Scholar’s Cup experience. It was fun and enjoyable to go to Athens, see the sights, and meet new and interesting people. Seeing the old buildings and statues was interesting, especially considering that people thousands of years ago built such fantastical artwork and architecture, some of which even stands today. I am looking forward to the November (Final) Round of World Scholar’s Cup and the interesting and enlightening experiences I may have there.

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