Reflect upon what you learned from the culture project presentations--both your own and those of your fellow learners.
You need to be a member of The SDLAP Ning to add comments!
This reply was deleted.
Reflect upon what you learned from the culture project presentations--both your own and those of your fellow learners.
You need to be a member of The SDLAP Ning to add comments!
Replies
While putting together my culture project I learned a lot about the IDF and its effects on Israeli culture. It is interesting how big of an effect it has on the rest of society and now that I know about it, it makes me wonder how I did not even consider how big of an effect it could be before this. Because there is a draft into the army it effects higher education, social life, personal relations, and national pride. I came into the project already knowing a lot about the army since I have friends who have been in it and have even left college in the US to go to Israel to be a part of it.
My classmate's presentations were very interesting. Borris had already talked about video gaming but I learned a lot more specifics during his final presentation. Some of the statistics he shared blew my mind and I have been thinking a lot about the concept of the "love capsules", the video gaming chair for two people so people can bring their girlfriends to the video game cafes to watch them play. It makes me very upset from a women's equality point of view. Mallory's presentation on the Swedish education system was also very interesting. It made me reflect on the american education system and which one is more productive.
I learned a lot about the Indian culture while researching for my cultural project. While I grew up watching Bollywood movies and have personally seen the changes happening not just in the wardrobe of the actors and actresses but the setting of the movie, plot and even the content of songs have changed over time. To me these changes had always indicated progress in India and Indian culture but what I found out was the Indian culture hasn’t really changed like the movies indicate. Globalization and the need for a greater market has forced the film industries to change the way they make movies in order to cater to a greater western market.
Through my classmates’ cultural presentations I learned about gender equality in Sweden. Being a WGSS (Women Gender and Sexuality Studies) student I am really passionate about issues concerning women such as gender equality. Knowing about Sweden’s amazing policy that enforces gender equality in the workforce gives me hope that we can potentially achieve that in the United States. I also learned more about Indian culture through Shiksha’s presentation on arranged marriages and how they have evolved over time. Through Rachel’s presentation I learned about IDF and how Israel drafts women into the army (the only nation in the world currently doing that).
I learned so much from my own cultural presentation. I really felt like I learned the culture of the IDF by studying it. I learned how most people support it and feel so proud to fight for their country, yet there are some people who are still not interested or who have moral opposition to it. I also was really proud of myself and how well I learned the Hebrew. It was a big undertaking, but I felt that it really completed my semester of learning. It helped me to tie together the culture that I was learning directly with the language.
I also enjoyed my classmate's cultural presentations and hearing how different/similar things were from mine. Shiksha's presentation on arranged marriage was fascinating and while ours were similar because we were both talking about things that our cultures mandate, it was shocking to me because neither the US nor Israel would ever do something like that. I also liked hearing Angela's presentation about literacy and education in Pakistan. Some of her statistics blew my mind, and it amazes me that there are places in the world where just being born a woman sets you back so far.
I did my culture project presentation on arranged marriages. It was interesting to do research on this because of the amount of things that I could either relate to, or had heard my friends speak of in the past. I learned the extreme to which arranged marriages are still practiced today. I grew up knowing that arranged marriages were still practiced, but I didnt know to what extent it was still practiced. I didnt understand just how prominent it still is in the Indian culture. It also helped me reflect on the amount of pressure placed on me by extended family members to find a boy to marry soon because I am already in my early 20s.
I thought Molly's presentation on the women of Sweden was extremely fascinating. I had absolutely no idea that Sweden was a huge advocate for women equality. I absolutely loved the idea of a set 300 or so days of child leave that one can use whenever they want, no matter the age of the child, that can be separated between man and wife as desired. I think that Sweden is on the right track towards gender equality and the rest of the world should look at it as an example. I also loved the idea of a new pronoun being introduced in their language that is not gender specific! That's great!
I also really enjoyed Rachel's presentation about the IDF. It was interesting to hear the perspective of fellow soldiers serving - to hear how honored they felt to be serving their country. I also thought it interesting that if you come study in the United States, that is considered a service to your country, and the person therefore does not technically have to serve in the IDF. I do not know enough about this, and I am sure there is a logical reason, but it definitely spiked my interest!
I did not get the opportunity to watch the presentations of my peers, however I did learn a lot from my own presentation, specifically about my area of study this semester. I learned that Ukraine has never really had a chance of developing as an independent country without being under the control of a larger entity. Larger and more powerful governments would take advantage of Ukraine's deficit in natural resources and mandate the direction of the country in exchange for discounted rates in natural gas, etc. Ukraine's dominant corruption state in the government has prevented any beneficial progress for the developing country and the population. Education, the economy, job market, GDP, domestic manufacturing, etc., have all been declining not as a result of the lack of effort from the population but as a result of the lack of hope. Most people in Ukraine accept the fact that their destiny is not in their hands and that some rich Oligarch can lock them in jail if they ever dare to speak their mind freely. The Ukrainian people have endured struggles and pains, all while watching the government administration fill their bank accounts with budget funds and build up their family business empires with complete legislative leeway. Yet recently, when the president of Ukraine announced that he will not budge on any further negotiations with the European Union, regarding Ukraine's continued process of joining the union, the people stood up for their country. Ukrainians were not letting the man that they elected as the president of their country take away their last hope for a brighter future. Enough was enough and for the second time in a decade, the Ukrainian people stormed the central square of the capital in protest. There currently 500,000 people standing in the blistering cold, demanding the impeachment of the man who was planning to sell away the Ukrainian democracy and future to Russia. I have learned that to the Ukrainian people, there is nothing more valuable than the democracy that they fight for as that is the future of their country.
Since I am Jewish and have been to Israel twice I felt like I knew a lot of what was said during Rachel's presentation so that was nice to confirm everything I knew about Israeli culture around their mandatory serving in the IDF. I thought that the video she showed about women fighting in the IDF was very thought-provoking because I feel like we are less inclined in the United States to send our women into the front lines and give them the hardest or most dangerous jobs. I had not considered before, however, the idea that Israel uses their reserves in order to maintain allegiance to the army. It makes good sense if you are Israel (major war zone/territory disputes) to have army reserves always ready to fight if needed. That said, I also know think that Israel probably uses their reserves to keep their citizens loyal to the army/country/fight for their entire lives, and not just the time they spend in the country right after high school.
I thought Shiksha's presentation was also really great. To me the idea of an arranged marriage is so foreign because it isn't present in my culture and to me it would seem mean to force your child to marry someone they have never spent time with and may not even like. I appreciated her presentation though because it helped me put the situation in the context of a marriage being between the families and not between the husband and wife. This was really eye-opening for me and I think it helps to not so narrowly judge another culture's traditions without understanding the meaning/reasoning/importance behind them.
I thought the presentations were an interesting concept although I did miss a major portions of Sarah's. I know, at least in my case, researching education in Sweden was not difficult at all. There was a website that was sponsored by the government that had everything you wanted to know and more about Swedish education. All the information was very available and easy to understand, so I was thankful for that.
In the case of Boris' presentation I found it absolutely astounding. I have a lot of male friends and brothers who are constantly playing video games but I never knew people took it to the level of professional. I think the thing I found most interesting was that professional video gamers had to do physical training in addition to playing games. I wondered if this reflected some cultural values in the society or for what exact reason this was the case. Another thing I found hilarious was the love capsules, although I am not sure how many girl friends would want to sit and watch their boyfriend play video games for hours. Overall I thought it was an interesting presentation that shined light on a topic I would never have thought to look in to.
For Sarah's as I said before I was not there for much of it but the one thing I would have liked to know more about was that she spoke about on her slide she included vowels in Hebrew. She mentioned that many people didn't do that. So thats what I was most curious about for the presentation.
I think these cultural projects were a good way to explore a certain area of our target language a little deeper. I know I learned a lot through the experience and I hope my classmates did as well.