I gave this presentation as part of the GEM Capstone Seminar. It was interesting to look back at my experiences attending a Spanish immersion school as a child and moving through the United States education system with an eye to cultural biases in the ways in which we are taught to articulate our family histories …
American Ethnocentrism
This category encompasses my analysis of the ways in which American Ethnocentrism perpetuates cultural biases in the United States and global inequality, both in my studies and my interactions outside of the classroom.
Nada es Perfecto
One day, when walking through Old Havana, my friends and I came across the shop for Clandestina, Cuba’s first private fashion brand. The company references the clandestine operations that characterized the revolution’s resistance to the US-backed Batista dictatorship, but its existence marks the transformation of Cuba’s economy with allowances for more privately-owned businesses. There is …
“The Dark Ages” in Spain
Before taking SPAN 236: Cervantes with Professor Armstrong-Roche (my Global Coursework class for the region of Europe), my view of the Middle Ages was characterized by an understanding of the social repression of organized religion, the restrictions on the rights of women, and the lack of social mobility between the rich and the poor. Before …
Leaving my First Host Family in Taiwan
I hesitated to write about this topic, because I did not want it to be misconstrued or generalized to reflect poorly on Taiwanese culture, or otherwise be understood as anything other than the isolated incident that I perceived it to be. I didn’t encounter anyone in Taiwan who shared the views of my first host …
CLS and Language Study with the American State Department
I was very grateful for the opportunity to study in Taiwan, and the amazing experiences and relationships that I built there. However, I did experience some discomfort surrounding my affiliation with the American State Department through the Critical Language Scholarship program. We were often told that our conduct reflected back on our nation and its …
Reflection on the Movie Rafiki and Senior Year Revision
I watched the movie Rafiki and wrote this reflection as part of a Power of Language Week assignment for CGST205: Global Engagement Introductory Seminar. I returned to expand on my ideas in CGST305: Global Engagement Capstone Seminar, shown below. I had read Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s book The Thing Around Your Neck and so I thought …