GC Week 14 Memo

20 April 2025                           

What’s Happening Week 14?

This week we’re off to the sunny Caribbean, with the video, the text, and the news report. The Caribbean is a big area so choose your location for the video (there are three Episodes to choose from). You need to choose one, but you are welcome to watch all three if you wish (previews are available below).

Dessert this week is chocolate, a delightful treat that was a favorite of the ancient peoples of Meso- and Central America bordering the Caribbean (the south of Mexico, and modern-day Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, and Colombia). Archaeologists suggest that domesticated cacao, from which chocolate drinks and sweets are made, came from the upper Amazon region of northwest South America beginning about 5,300 years ago (Zarrillo et al Links to an external site.. 2018).

More specifically, in Global Cultures we’re going to have a look at the European Union “Chocolate War” that lasted decades. It’s the most recent “Thirty-Years’ War” in Europe. The EU “Chocolate War” is a classic case study in business and marketing—with international regulations. And here, in Global Cultures, the slides also introduce “scaling” as a research technique in the social sciences. Pay close attention to “scaling,” it’s a useful technique for comparing things.

Check in on Tuesday’s Live Chat at 7:00 p.m. if you have last-minute questions on your Term Paper (which is due this week), or on the Final Exam. If that time is not convenient, e-mail. . . .

Speaking of the Final Exam, be sure to submit an interesting question by the end of this week. And, if you have not already done so, please fill out the Student Evaluation questionnaire that our friendly IT folks sent to you via e-mail.

Please complete the Course Survey sent out by our IT folks.

Week 14 Overview

GC Wk14 OVERVIEW TO BEGIN MODULE 14.

Week 14 Wrap-UP

GC Wk14 WRAP-UP.

Questions? / Comments / Suggestions . . .

If you have any questions or comments right now, please do not hesitate to post them on the “Discussions”, or e-mail troufs@d.umn.edu, or ZOOM https://umn.zoom.us/my/troufs Links to an external site.. (E-mail is fastest, and most generally best as quite often URLs need be sent.)

Best Wishes,

Tim Roufs

<http://www.d.umn.edu/~troufs/>

<https://umn.zoom.us/my/troufs Links to an external site.>

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CHECK YOUR UNITS OF ANALYSIS

Units of analysis may include: –one person –the family –the community –a region –a “culture area” –a culture / “subculture” –a nation –the world –an item or action itself –a “cultural metaphor”