Authors

Elsa Yehdego

Faculty Advisor

Talia Carroll

Faculty Advisor

Ather Zia

Document Type

Presentation

Publication Date

4-2020

Abstract

Societies across the globe use calendars to track the passing of time, holidays, and special occasions, however, little is known about how some countries’ use of calendars shifted or stayed the same, over time. According to the Oxford dictionary, a calendar is defined as, “a system according to which the beginning and length of successive civil years.” However, the definition of calendars varies from source to source. The primary purpose of this research is to analyze and diagnose, the lack of knowledge on colonization and its correlation to calendars in periphery countries. According to the Oxford dictionary the word colonize stands for “To settle (a country) with colonists; to plant or establish a colony in.” I categorize periphery countries in the context of the World Systems Theory developed by Immanuel Wallerstein. It divides countries into a three-level capitalist hierarchy: core, periphery, and semi-periphery. Core countries are dominant, capitalist countries that exploit peripheral countries for labor and raw materials. This historical research seeks to uncover how periphery and semi-periphery countries, Egypt, Ethiopia, Guatemala, and Thailand have maintained or shifted their use of calendars with particular attention to the influence of colonization. By analyzing secondary data on how these countries have used their calendars throughout time, I illustrate the ways in which colonization has directly and indirectly influenced or continues to influence the maintenance or change of culture, religion, economics, and language through adaptation of calendars.

Comments

This presentation is a finalist for the Undergraduate Social Sciences, Education, Business Research Excellence Award.

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