Foundresses Week

Lunch with the Sisters

This past week, Notre Dame de Namur University celebrated its Foundresses Week. Throughout this week, NDNU held different events to involve its students in this celebration. One of the events I attended this week was lunch with the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. At this event, I was able to meet Sister Rosanne Murphy. Meeting Sister Rosanne was something I found pretty exciting because last semester we read her book, Martyr of the Amazon. Sister Rosanne sat next to me and began to ask me about my life. Genuinely intrigued to learn more about her, I asked Sister Rosanne about her life as a Sister of Notre Dame. We continued to talk throughout the lunch without realizing how much time had gone by. We got up to grab lunch and Sister Rosanne began to joke about how she finally felt like she was at normal height because I was so tall. Towards the end of the lunch, the sisters performed a song in three different languages. It was so beautiful seeing all the Sisters perform a song which was able to bring the entire room together in unity.

Ways of the World: Chapter 16 Summary

Revolutions

• North America, Europe, Haiti, and Latin America revolutions influenced each other.
• grew out of enlightenment
• "popular sovereignty to govern people
• john locke- "social contract" should only be in order as long as it serves the people
• gave ammunition to groups without political rights
• extended political rights

North American Revolution

• aimed to preserve colonial liberties
• political power remained in the hands of existing elites
• "creating a new world order"
• USA “the hope and model of the human race”
• "right to revolution" inspired others throughout the world

French Revolution

• declaration of rights of man and citizen launched revolution
• driven by pronounced social conflicts
• middle class resented aristocratic privileges
• the Church was subjected to government authority
• the Terror (1793–1794) killed tens thousands of people

Haitian revolution

• most were slaves
• power shifted to slaves
• only successful slave result in world history
• led to great hope and great fear
• led to Napolean selling Louisianna territory
• increased slavery elsewhere

Spanish American Revolution

• creoles offended by monarchy
• torn by class and race
• relationship with North America reversed

Echoes of Revolution

• led to greater social equality and liberation from foreign rule
• enlarged voting rights
• abolitionist, nationalist, and feminist movements arose

Abolition of Slavery

• Enlightenment thinkers critical of slavery
• "slavery wasn’t necessary for economic progress"
• it took a major civil war to end slavery in US
• in southern United States, a period of political rights was followed by segregationist, racist reaction

Nationalism

• powerful

Feminism

• European Enlightenment thinkers sometimes challenged the idea that women were innately inferior
• more educational opportunities and less household drudgery for middle-class women
• women increasingly joined temperance movements, charities, abolitionist movements, missionary work, etc.
• the movement led to discussion of the role of women in modern society

Ways of the World: Chapter 15 Summary

Religion vs Science:

• tension between science vs religion 
• time of cultural reformation
• science = new worldview 

Protestant Reformation

• martin luther - 95 thesis 
• criticism of roman catholic church
• grounded on theological difference
• salvation = through faith rather than hard work

Scientific Revolution

• "modern" vs "ancient"
• altered ideas about the place of humankind within the cosmos
• challenged the teachings and authority of the Church
• challenged ancient social hierarchies and political systems
•  also used to legitimize racial and gender inequality
• Galileo; "earth was no center of universe"

Science and Enlightenment

• central theme of Enlightenment: the idea of progress