Rashid's Blog: A Place for Inquisitive Souls

Limits between territories are not the exclusivity of human beings, as most animals do have territorial behaviours. However, political frontiers are what makes us different. Political borders reflect the evolution of populations, identities, cultures and political forces over time. They are artificial lines socially and politically built that move along eras, ideologies and dominant powers. They are not just about keeping competitors away or making sure to have enough hunting and fishing resources to survive (which is what an animal territory is about). Political borders are also symbolic constructions people rely on to build their identity as a group (today we’d say, as a nation).

[Read the second part of this article: What are Borders 2/2]

Borders tell us about the way we divided our world. Understanding them is understanding history, economy, politics and geography at a very global scale.

Let’s begin with 5 simple statements about borders.

1. Borders move

By showing the territories from above, the cartographer takes an artificial “objective” point of view. He/she stops being just a “regular inhabitant” who lives in the world to become an observer, as well as a reporter. Just like the photographer or the painter, the map maker turns into a messenger bringing back data “from above” to the people “on the ground”. Its not meaningless, and its certainly never purely objective.

First maps were used more to conquest and distribute resources than for anything else. There is something very powerful about being the one to draw everybody’s land, to trace borders, to delimit people’s possessions. The one looking from above has more visibility. He gets the “big picture” of things. When human beings began to map their world, they start to act like “planet’s managers” and not just as passive creatures.

Humanity shifted then from the scale of immediacy (what you…

Does color impact how the body feels and mind perceives? According to numerous studies, this may very well be true. A variety of color experiments identify that a person’s physical experience can  be altered by the presence of color, making it a sort of energy.

Do you believe that color has an energizing affect? If yes, how do color choices affect our moods? And can they shape a community at large?

It is easy to underestimate the power of color and how it evokes emotional response. To avoid this, it is advisable to view how colors, used in big ways, can impact a great amount of people. For this purpose, today’s blog takes a look at the most colorful cities in the world. In doing so, we can’t help but feel full of life and energy.

Color does not need to be pretty to be energizing. In fact, there…

This is aguest post by NEHA SAIGAL

It is well-recognized globally that hunger and malnutrition are serious issues, but even after years of failed attempts by world leaders to try and solve this complex problem there has been little change. In 2009 for the first time in history the population considered to be malnourished exceeded one billion people signalling the serious issue of food insecurity we are faced with. In an effort to bring this serious issue to the forefront, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations marks 16 October every year as ‘World Food Day’.