Week Nine

I think two assignments that relate to each other are my week five blog and my top artifact for module 7-10. I chose these two together because they both dealt with personal reflection and looking into how my personal culture has shaped me as a person. I think of myself as a private person and certainly as an introvert. Both assignments (reflecting on personal statements for week five blog and socially engaged versus disengaged emotions) made me think about how both my parents taught me to be independent and to work hard and depend on myself. While I had a great family life and a very supportive one, I think relying on myself always made me develop personally and with myself more rather than with others. To me this is why I had interdependent statements about my age, race, sexuality etc. rather than being a “daughter, friend, mother” etc.

            To connect this course to another I thought about the second item I had to archive. This was comparing my country to another country on 6 factors. This was a very interesting assignment for me because my major is Asian Studies, so I’ve taken many courses on Asian culture. I think I enjoyed the opportunity to connect what I’ve learned in those courses to things that I’ve learned in this course. I have learned that most of modern Asian culture and the ideals upheld in Asian culture are rooted in Confucianism, which pushes for family unity and reverence. This principle tends to push Asian cultures like China and South Korea into becoming nations more focused on the collective than the individual.

Week Eight

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This blog centered around different cultures showing facial emotions and how that varies. For this blog I chose an image of my favorite YouTube creators, Ethan and Hila Klein. Ethan is American and tends to have a very expressive face that matches his emotion. I am used to seeing how Americans express their emotions on the entirety of their faces, and I tend to look at someones mouth expression like the article suggested. Hila on the other hand is from Israel, and she tends to have a more blank expression when she’s speaking. I do not know much about the culture in Israel, but from what I’ve seen and stories I’ve heard their culture tends to be more closed off and non expressive.

I do think my example displays that I am much better at reading facial cues and expressions from those from my own culture. Although I know that Hila is happy, upset, sad or angry it isn’t until she is laughing or expressing her anger through words that I can usually tell how she feels. I can always tell how Ethan is feeling because he shows his emotions through his facial expressions.

Week Seven

I strongly believe that fairy tales “reflect a shared cultural value” and can influence children and that their portrayal can shape their views. I, like most people my age, grew up watching Disney movies and have found that many of my views about myself have been subconsciously or consciously shaped by these films. I think making a character gay or having a female lead not have a love interest can help children to see that not only do these characters feel the way they do, but are seen as heroes. I think that alone can help children gain a better sense of themselves and others they meet.

When I was a kid I loved the movie Mulan (1998) and in it Mulan is portrayed as a young woman that disguises herself as a boy to save her country. She does fall in love and end up saving China as a woman, but seeing someone so confidently change their gender to make a change really changed me as a kid. I have constantly felt trapped in my own female body and found such freedom in Mulan’s ability to shape-shift into Ping and confidently learn from those around her. While I do believe the character of Mulan is not trans and certainly there is not historical evidence for this, I think seeing someone change themselves from a girl to a boy was monumental for my younger self. Seeing Mulan as a hero as a boy and as a girl is something that has impacted many children.

Week Five

Week Four

For this week I had to review my exam grade and reflect on it. I did not do well on this test and I think I could’ve done a lot different to get a better grade! I think first of all my notes need to be more thorough. I tend to just copy the highlights from the powerpoints and re read those before the test starts. I think it would be better to look up the terms in the text as well to get further context and background on the powerpoint information. I also definitely need to use the review sheet next time! I did not utilize that and I believe it would’ve made all the difference in knowing what direction the test was going to be in. I’m glad I gave myself time to take the test instead of waiting until the last possible hour so that I wasn’t stressed and will do that with the remaining tests.

Week One

“The culture I bring to the table” I chose this image because while studying so many cultures I find that everyone has very unique and specific qualities that they can offer. As a white person, I am constantly reminded that my “culture” isn’t very impressive. I thought this was a funny way of bringing that into the light!

I am very excited to take this course again! I took this course last semester, but due to failing mental health I could not complete the course like I wanted to. I have always found psychology fascinating and was disappointed when I was unable to complete this class. I am an Asian studies major so I find the connection between cultures extremely compelling. I want to use this course to help myself see the way I view other cultures, especially Asian cultures, through the perspective of a white American. I want to become a better example of someone that embraces people that are different than me and how we can learn from each other worldwide.

I have decided to take a different approach this semester for completing this course. I am not going to wait for my work to be due to complete it. I also made sure I could handle all my courses this semester and eliminated the ones that I couldn’t handle. I want to make sure I learn something new this semester about how culture changes the way we think and how it truly impacts our decisions. To do that I need to give myself space to learn and reflect.