I just want to learn everything about everywhere club...

My plan is to design a course for myself to guide my study of the world for a couple of years. Then to go on a big trip afterwords. Can anyone recommend websites which are good for researching cinema, literature, food, and music by country or by world region?

I am also looking for other people who might be interested in starting up a facebook page or similar in order to discuss the readings, etc from the different regions.

After a silly amount of deliberation I divided the world up into 28 sections - loosely based on proximity, culture, and population. I wanted to avoid an overly western focus. My idea was to study in a route that could be theoretically traveled - mimicking the original spread of humanity. I figure this makes sense since cultures blur on the borders so something you read about Ethiopia may also teach you about Somalia. I limited the population per section because I figure more people are more likely to produce more books, movies, and music - and again I didn't want to be influenced by places that I have heard more about simply because they have been more represented in Western media. I used the UN divisions as a guide.

Here is how I divided up the world - would be interested to hear your proclamations of the sense or nonsense of my system. I am listing only countries with at least a million people - smaller nations are included by proximity or culture but I don't really want to type all 200 some nations here.

1- North East Africa (Ethiopia, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Somalia, Rwanda, Burundi, Eritrea, Djibouti)
2 - South East Africa (Mozambique, Madagascar, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Zambia)
3 - Southern Africa (South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Botswana, Swaziland)
4 - Middle Africa (DRC, Cameroon, Chad, CAR, Congo, Gabon, Angola)
5 - Coastal West Africa (Ghana, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Guinea, Benin, Sierra Leone, Togo, Liberia, Guinea-Bissau, Gambia)
6 - Desert West Africa (Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Mauritania)
7 - North Africa (Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Sudan, South Sudan, Tunisia, Libya)
8 - Peninsular Western Asia (Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Israel, Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon, Oman, UAE, Kuwait)
9 - North Western Asia (Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia, Iran)
10 - South Central Asia (Pakistan, Afghanistan)
11 - Central Asia (Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Mongolia)
12 - India
13 - Southern Asia (Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Maldives)
14 - China
15 - North east Asia (Japan, Republic of Korea, North Korea)
16 - South Eastern Asia (Thailand, Burma, Malaysia, Cambodia, Loas)
17 - Island South East Asia (Vietnam, Phillipines, Malaysia, Singapore)
18 - Indonesia
19 - Oceania (Australia, Papau New Guinea, New Zealand, East Timor, Melanesia, Polynesia, Micronesia, etc.)
20 - Southern Europe - (Italy, Spain, Serbia, Portugal, Greece, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Albania, Slovenia, Macedonia)
21 - Western Europe - (Germany, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Switzerland)
22 - Eastern Europe - (Ukraine, Poland, Romania, Czech Republic, Hungary, Belarus, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Moldova)
23 - Northern Europe - (Great Britian, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Ireland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia)
24 - Russia
25 - North America - (Native American[I am from the U.S. so don't feel I need to study the dominant culture here], Canada, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama)
26 - Caribbean - (Cuba, DR, Haiti, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago)
27 - Brazil
28 - South America (Columbia, Argentina, Peru, Venezuela, Chile, Ecuador, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay)

So what do you think? Are you interested or do you have recommendations for useful websites?

No one interested?

interested - but this is a lifetime plan, not a two-year one!

I prefer the learn on the job approach and start learning about each region as I travel to it. I have a similar breakdown of countries by region but have 26 regions instead. Ultimately, my goal is to travel to at least a country in each region. Now, if you do manage to spend time in each region you will be more well traveled than anyone on this board.

halfnine wrote:I prefer the learn on the job approach and start learning about each region as I travel to it. I have a similar breakdown of countries by region but have 26 regions instead. Ultimately, my goal is to travel to at least a country in each region. Now, if you do manage to spend time in each region you will be more well traveled than anyone on this board.

And your regions are.....?

Yes - I would also be interested to see how you divided up your regions.

The world is so interconnected that I had a hard time deciding which countries to put in each section.

Lately I am thinking I will expand it to 36 regions and spend 3 years on it.

I realize I'm just going to get a little taste of each region - but with this little sample I can decide which places are the most intriguing to me for my future travels.

So far I have traveled to 36 countries - I traveled overland a lot so there are huge areas I have no experience with. Lately I took a permanent job - so will be spending more time armchair traveling.

I have always enjoyed books, music, movies, and food from other cultures. In a recent assignment for a class I observed a group of people and then wrote a record of observations followed by an ethnographic analysis. I realized the process of writing about my experience helped me to realize things that I hadn't divined in casual observation.

Through talking with other club members about our experiences I hope to learn a little more than if I simply read books, watched movies, ate food, and listened to music by myself. Of course I do not really expect to learn it all!

Yes - I would also be interested to see how you divided up your regions.

2 - South East Africa (Mozambique, Madagascar, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Zambia)

don't have...countries moved to East Africa or Southern Africa

5 - Coastal West Africa (Ghana, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Guinea, Benin, Sierra Leone, Togo, Liberia, Guinea-Bissau, Gambia)
6 - Desert West Africa (Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Mauritania)

combined...although I am beginning to see it better as split into two

9 - North Western Asia (Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia, Iran)

don't have... countries moved to Eastern Europe, Middle East, etc

10 - South Central Asia (Pakistan, Afghanistan)

Pakistan included in the Southern Asia and Afghanistan with the rest of Central Asia

12 - India
13 - Southern Asia (Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Maldives)

combined

14 - China
15 - North east Asia (Japan, Republic of Korea, North Korea)

combined

17 - Island South East Asia (Vietnam, Phillipines, Malaysia, Singapore)
18 - Indonesia

combined

19 - Oceania (Australia, Papau New Guinea, New Zealand, East Timor, Melanesia, Polynesia, Micronesia, etc.) ...............

split in Australiasia and Pacific Islands

20 - Southern Europe - (Italy, Spain, Serbia, Portugal, Greece, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Albania, Slovenia, Macedonia)

either in Western or Eastern Europe

24 - Russia

included with the countries of Eastern Europe

25 - North America - (Native American[I am from the U.S. so don't feel I need to study the dominant culture here], Canada, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama)

split into North America and Central America

27 - Brazil
28 - South America (Columbia, Argentina, Peru, Venezuela, Chile, Ecuador, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay)

separated crudely into three regions by the south, northwest and northeast

Apart from that, we are largely the same although a few countries here and there end up in other regions. And, as you can see, I didn't put any one country as its own region. In addition to ultimately spending time in each region I would also like to spend time in the 10 most populous countries (which are most of the ones you've isolated individually) as well as in the 10 largest countries which rounds its all out a bit

That's an interesting goal! It sounds like yours are sensibly divided based upon geography.

For my project I wanted to focus also on population. I figure if there are more people in a place there will be more stories there. Whether or not their stories get out in the form of movies, books, music, etc is uncertain of course. I wanted to avoid a western focus - so I used population as a way to remain unbiased. Dividing countries by population has sure given me an appreciated to how uncrowded we are where I live! I have a whole new respect for India for managing to maintain any semblance of peace with the amount of people per square mile they have in that whole region. Hopefully the people in my club won't get bored of Asia! There are 13 sections there! That's over a year! Oh well, I can always change it later or we can jump to Europe for a month if people want to mix it up. I think that studying one region for a year would certainly result in a deeper knowledge of that place however.

I found a cool book by NG called Book of People's of the World and have revised my sections - also dividing it into a 3 year project

1. Northerly East Africa - Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Southern Sudan
2. Southerly East Africa - Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, Madagascar
3. Central Africa - Gabon, Angola, CAR, DRC, Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, Zambia
4. Gulf of Guinea Countries (Armpit) - Camaroon, Nigeria
5. West Africa - Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin
6. Sahelian Africa - Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Chad, Sudan
7. North Africa - Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt
8. Arabian Peninsula - Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, UAE, Kuwait, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Palestine
9. Eurasian Bridge - Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Iran
10. Central Asia - Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan
11. Southern 'Stans - Afghanistan, Pakistan
12. Southern India
13. Northern India
14. Parts of former British India - Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan
15. Western China
16. Eastern China
17. East Asia - N.Korea, S.Korea, Japan
18. Southeast Asia - Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos
19. South China Sea Countries - Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore
20. Indonesia
21. Oceania - Australia, Melanesia, Polynesia, Micronesia, Antarctica
22. Western Europe - Portugal, Spain, France
23. Southern Europe - Italy, Greece, Macedonia, Albania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia
24. Central Europe - Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, Slovenia
25. Germany and Neighbors - Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland
26. Northern Europe - Ireland, Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland
27. Eastern Europe - Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Romania
28. Russia
29. Northern American - USA - Native Americans, Canada
30. Mesoamerica - Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama
31. Caribbean - Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Lesser Antilles, Puerto Rico, Columbia, Venezuela
32. Brazil
33. South America - Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay

Any suggestions on my revisions?

I would also like to learn as I go - but if I learn before I go then I will have a greater understanding of the culture when I arrive which will mean a deeper and more meaningful experience than if I arrived without any knowledge of the place.

Sometimes surprised are nice though and no matter what you're bound to learn when you travel!

Thanks for posting halfnine - your regions are more in line with how I split the world up in my head! Generally speaking I don't mind swimming upstream and having everyone think I'm a nutter- but every so often it's nice to see someone else is similar! Not saying you're a nutter though! You guys on this thread are, however, the only people I know who even think of dividing the world and contemplating "conquering" it in some fashion.

Hahahaha - yes - some people play video games - I spend hours dividing up the world for conquering - you're right I don't know many people that would do that! I do feel like a bit of a nutter to be honest. The truth is I have a paper to write for school and need to clean the house so must find a distraction or I'll end up doing something sensible!!!

Anyway I just noticed I forgot Southern Africa!

It should be #3 - Southern Africa = Namibia, South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique

Thanks for posting halfnine - your regions are more in line with how I split the world up in my head!

Yeah, its somewhat difficult to split up the world into a logical pattern. Especially the countries I haven't been to. But, since I am certainly not going to visit every country out there had to start somewhere. Generally, but not always, I tend to dismiss historical significance in segregating them since most people in most countries are more concerned with maybe the last 50 years and their future.

I've tried to tackle the more difficult regions to cross by local transport in my youth, I set aside a few regions to work in while traveling the surrounding regions (so far Japan, Australia, UK and eventually hopefully the Middle East, Singapore, etc), other regions where its pretty easy to take the kid(s) on a more extended trip (typical RTW of Europe, SE Asia, etc), and finally a few regions that could be traveled fairly comfortably even when I am old (pretty much any of the Caribbean, Pacific, etc). Once I've hit every region I'll be comfortable saying I am well traveled. But, then again it may never happen as I am not so hell bent on travel these days. More importantly, our family will just take advantage of our opportunities as they present themselves.

Sounds like quite a plan!

I've rounded up 7 members for the club so far. I'm hoping to start in January so just thought I would check again to see if any Bootsnaller's are interested.

Did this club get started?