Reflect upon what you learned form the culture project presentations--both your own and those of your fellow learners.
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Reflect upon what you learned form the culture project presentations--both your own and those of your fellow learners.
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I found the cultural presentations to be both enlightening and engaging. They covered interesting topics from history to pop culture and food. I found the presentation on Pakistan's militarization the most interesting not only because of its connection to the religious conflicts in Pakistan (topic of my presentation) but also because of the connections that could be made to the political science courses I took (I was on track to a political science major at one point). Specifically, I found it interesting to see how the historical events help interpret current events in Pakistan, like the recent tragedy in Peshawar. I also very much enjoyed the presentations on Korean drama and Korean film. Not only was the topic interesting, but Korean drama and film are very popular in Nepal (DVD stores have three sections: English, Bollywood and Korean) but I knew very little about them.
I believe that I was able to learn a lot of Pakistani culture and language from research for my presentation. Though I find myself reading about great physicists and their discoveries from time to time, I had never heard of Abdus Salam, despite his large contributions to modern physics and proximity to my home country. By researching into the treatment of the Ahmadi in Pakistan it became clear to me why I might have not heard of him before since his own country has all but shunned his memory. Further, the research and discussions with friends about these topics helped illuminate just how far reaching the significance of religion, theology and the identity derived from one's community was. Because of the great importance laid on religion in Pakistan I also came across many words used quite commonly in Urdu that do not exist or do not come often into conversation in English or any of the other languages I know. These words exist in Urdu because of the important nuances in meaning regarding specific aspects of Islam that do not exist in Hinduism, Buddhism or Christianity.
It is really helpful for me to acquire different aspects of culture and social topics in the way of presentation. The most attracting one for me is the militarization in Pakistan. Before this presentation, I just know this happened in Pakistan, but I did not deeply know details of tragedy. One sentence in the presentation really shocked me, “these students need to be killed before becoming a soldier.” Nations did insane things under panic. These extreme constitutions attacked on the Army Public School, and it cause more than a hundred students were brutally massacred.
In addition, after listening Mengdong and Yuki’s presentation, I start to concentrate on the social culture when watching Korean and drama. Experiencing diverse way to understand one thing is amazing, and it practice my introspection.
The presentations in our class were very cool and interesting. My favorite presentation was the militarization in Pakistan. This has led to the decision that teachers should bring guns to school just for the purpose of protecting students. Pakistan is very geographically close, and I basically believe we are the same people. Therefore, I am very interested in learning about things that have to do with Pakistani culture and such.
My presentation was fun to work on because I really like watching Bollywood movies and I knew it was an integral part of Indian culture. Therefore, going through movies I liked and researching the history of Bollywood was very fun for me. The song and dances were some of my favorite songs in Bollywood movies, so I enjoyed putting those in there. I did learn how important these movies are to the people of India though.
I felt that the most interesting topic is by melody. The whole project is very comprehensive and the topic she picks is interesting. Also, I felt like the information she gave is really accurate and fun. I enjoyed the episode she gave to us. Also, the structure of the whole project is about right. I watched korean drama on a daily basis almost so I understand how interesting it is.
For my presentation. I found that it was difficult for people who did not watch the film to get a general understanding of what I am talking about. However, I think I tried my best.
The component of cultural presentation in this class has allowed me to deeply explore Korean culture as well as other cultures, which is a great way to boost my knowledge. Two of the most interesting ones are the Bollywood in India and Militarization in Pakistan. I was surprised to see how dancing has rooted in Indian culture and the viewers not only can stand alone to watch whole chunks of dancing segment in the movie, but also are thrilled to see them. This can hardly seen in Korean’s movie or even American’s. The militarization in Pakistan has led the shocking decision that teachers have to bring guns to school just for the purpose of protecting students. Pakistan also faces dilemmas in that military has to stand up for its people but also in a way gained so much power so that they can easily abuse its power to meddle with the constitution. Furthermore, I cannot imagine the topic of making teachers bring guns to school has also been discussed in the U.S.
For my presentation, I had a difficulty in deciding which aspects of Korean drama I wanted to focus on, since there are so many aspects Korean drama has touched upon. Eventually, I recognized it is useful to focus on only one drama “My Love from the Star” and to talk about some of the culture aspects within it. I found this is a better way to illustrate and relate all aspects together in one drama. While finding resources for Korean drama, I was surprised to see the influence this drama has on Americans as well. The fact that ABC is remaking the drama is evidently another crescendo for the spread of Korean drama. Additionally, I learned that when culture is well-reserved and a cultural product is so well-made, whether it is Korean Drama or Japanese animation, they can become very profitable and boost the nations’ economic growth.
I feel that the presentations in our class went very well. The most interesting presentations for me personally were the Korean ones because I thought that they picked very interesting topics. The most fascinating one for me was the Korean Dramas presentation, which I thought was very well done and also outlined a very interesting topic. The way that Korean Drama has becomes so globalized is impressive, given that the Dramas themselves hold so much of Korean culture within them. They are basically exporting a part of their culture to the whole world and making money from it.
When it comes to my presentation, I found that researching was personally challenging because of all of the difficult things I had to read and see. I was exposed to many pictures that evoked horrible emotions and images which was extremely difficult for me to look through. Understanding the Pakistani struggle with the Taliban and all of the horrible violence and history also helped me have a background in comprehending all of the decisions made by their government as well as helped me see how many Pakistanis live on a day to day basis (in terms of their experiences). I think that I made a good decision in deciding to choose this as my Cultural project because it enabled me to look beyond all of the nice and beautiful things I would like to experience from the culture, and focus on some of the struggles that the Pakistani people as a whole must face and experience.