Olympic Games 2014
please follow the activity assignment and the grading rubric.
Special Activity: Tying it Together
Due Date: Fri December 6 2013 9PM
Word Count: 500
Points: 5
Reading Prerequisite: All course readings
Overview: Although this course is an Introduction to Cultural Geography, throughout the semester we have worked to understand how culture is always connected to political, economic and social processes. Another theme tying the course together is that of sports; starting with the film Invictus and the power of sport to bring a nation together, we have also seen throughout the semester how cultural identities play an important role in sports. This was evident in discussions of sexuality in the film Training Rules and ongoing discussions of gender, race and class throughout the semester’s lectures. In the coming months, we will have other opportunities to observe and analyze how culture, politics and the economy work together to shape conversations about two major sporting events; the 2014 Winter Olympics is Sochi, Russia and the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, Brazil. For example, amidst the excitement of Olympic competition is a backdrop of repressive homophobic legislation recently enacted by Russian President Vladimir Putin and protests by Brazilian citizens against the Brazilian government for failure to provide social services. The upcoming 2014 Winter Olympics and 2016 Summer Olympics offer perfect examples to analyze how cultural, political and economic processes are interconnected.
Assignment: For this assignment, you will chose either the 2014 Winter Olympics or the 2016 Summer Olympics and locate and read three (online) newspaper articles from reputable international sources that are less than 6 months old that specifically cover issues related to the Olympics you chose for this assignment. In a 500 word short paper, answer the following questions. You will submit your paper on Angel in the folder corresponding to this activity:
- Briefly summarize each newspaper article in 1 paragraph. Why did you choose these three particular articles? What are the common themes or topics within the newspaper articles that you found interesting or relevant to this assignment?
Name a cultural process, political process and economic process that you identified from your articles. How are they each connected to one another?
Article Summary
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Article Summary
The newspaper dated 13th August 2013, shows a lot of activities taking place all over the world as Brazil prepares to host Olympic Games on 2014 during summer. Many opportunities have opened up in terms of infrastructure development to meet the needs of increasing number of foreigners, business investment increased rapidly to an estimated $65 billion just to facilitate growth in transport, hotel industry, airport expansion, safety, and sanitation. In addition, augmented demand, more foreign companies have intensified their competitive strategies to win projects that are on offer. Therefore, it is an advantage to the host country over foreign investors due to high import and tax barriers, which has augmented the corruption rate. The article also reveals that by injecting billions of dollars in the Brazilian economy it would create approximately 120,000 jobs annually through to 2016 CITATION Luh13 \l 1033 (Luhn, 2013).
The article dated 13th September 2013, reveals that Brazil is to spend billions of dollars in preparation of the world cup 2014 opening ceremony, while many people living in the same country under high poverty were being ignored. According to the article, Pope Francis a catholic priest was concerned no peace exists in a society that excludes its members. It was because Brazil concentrated on building prestigious projects but forgot improvement of its economy and social infrastructure. This according to the priest could generate violence among the poor. CITATION Sao13 \l 1033 (Paulo, 2013). This may also lead to the increase in corruption to augment sources of income and access to the masses.
This article dated 6th October 2013 shows that as the Olympics approaches a lot of constructio...