Posts

On March 23rd, 2022, I joined the Office of International Affairs at Gateway theater for their international film series. OSU’s Office of International Affairs hosts these international film screenings as a way for students to become familiar with media and elements of various cultures from all around the world. This sort of event relates to international affairs in that it helps expose students to various cultures through an easily consumable medium. Films only take about two hours of someone’s time, and can say a lot about the culture from which the film was produced. Being exposed to and becoming familiar with different cultures from around the world is essential for fostering positive international relationships. Easily consumable media like films, music, and art, in my opinion, are great vessels for this. The specific film I watched was an anime film from Japan. Even though it was a fantasy-like film, there were elements of Japanese culture present throughout the film. One regret I have is that this is the only time I have attended the international film series. Every fourth Sunday of the month, the Office of International Affairs hosts this event, but I have only attended one. This event as a whole does not closely intersect with my coursework. I am a History (with a concentration in East Asia) and Korean major, so the only films that intersect with my coursework are those that center East Asia. For example, this film was set in Japan, and though it was set in what looked to be present-day, there were historical elements that I could recognize from what I have seen in my courses. One example of this is that the Jujutsu high school is within what appears to be a buddhist temple. Before public schooling became common and standardized, Buddhist temples were known to be used as educational facilities.

On March 8th, 2022 I attended a panel hosted by the OSU Peace Corps campus recruiter and a representative from City Year Columbus. During this panel, students who have gone through one or both programs shared their experiences. City Year is an organization that spans across the United States aiming to help children in complete their education in high risk areas. The Peace Corps is an international organization that works with communities overseas seeking to promote world peace and friendship with three goals in mind. These goals are to help people in requesting countries to meet their need for trained men and women, to promote better understanding of Americans to those they serve, and to help promote a better understanding of the communities they serve to Americans.

I would say the Peace Corps portion of the panel relates to international affairs more than the City Year portion, because the former participates in international work. The attempt to foster better understanding and build friendships is a part of international diplomacy.

Personally, I have held reservations about the Peace Corps in the past. I acknowledge the Peace Corps has changed over the years and is attempting to shift away from its neocolonialist roots, but I still have worries. Community economic development is one of the areas that people can serve in, and my worry is that the Peace Corps will ‘develop’ these economies on a capitalist model, dependent on countries like the US to function, rather than having a self-sufficient economy. There is much I still have to learn about the Peace Corps, but I generally am wary of neocolonialism and the white savior complex, a modern day version of the “White Man’s Burden.” That being said, I acknowledge the Peace Corps has recently done commendable work, and I hope they strive to genuinely help people without ulterior motives.

This event did not intersect with my coursework as a Korean and History major, because my specialty is in East Asia. Though I learned people can serve in East Asia, none of the panelists served there. It was interesting to hear more about how the Peace Corps functions in the present day, and how the pandemic has affected their activities.

On January 21st, the center for historical research hosted a lecture by Professor Michael Berry of UCLA. Professor Berry spoke about the Wuhan Diary by Fang Fang, the nature of its creation, about the author, and reactions from Chinese citizens to the book. It started when Fang Fang started posting about the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan on the Chinese social media platform Weibo, the first post being published January 23rd of 2020. For sixty days, Fang Fang went back and forth between social media platforms to avoid censorship, getting information from friends of hers who were doctors about what was happening in the hospitals. Because of this work, Fang Fang was subjected to a great deal of harassment from people who were sensitive to criticisms of the Chinese government’s handling of the virus. Her critics overlook the fact that she is adamant about praising the government when it does well, and critiquing it when it falls short, her work was not entirely critical and was not written to purposely diss the government.

This lecture ties in with international affairs quite a bit. When the coronavirus was spreading globally and was traced back to Wuhan, tensions between China and other countries grew. In the United States, the president at the time of the virus outbreak spread a lot of hateful and racist rhetoric about China, sparking an uptick in hate crimes against Asian Americans and more blatant Sinophobia. International relations at this time were strained because of the ignorance of some governments, but others worked together to try to contain the virus.

I definitely found this lecture interesting. Previously I had heard about the Wuhan Diary, but I didn’t know much about its contents or its author. Unfortunately I do not know much about contemporary China, so I am unable to truly make judgement calls about the situation, but from the lecture it feels like Fang Fang was trying to document what was happening without bias. While listening to the lecture, I never had the feeling that she was writing this with an ulterior motive, she praised the government when they did well and critiqued them when they didn’t do well. I do want to learn more about contemporary China to be able to develop more well informed opinions.

This sort of intersects with my history major, because my focus is on East Asia. So, I have taken plenty of classes about East Asian history, but the time period covered has usually ended in the 1950s. Therefore I don’t know enough about present day China’s government, social media, or general society, to feel confident in this time period.

On November 18th, 2021, a lecture was given by Professor Christopher Bae from the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, hosted by the East Asian Studies Center. This lecture was about his work as a paleoanthropologist focusing on East Asia. He discussed how every day more and more is coming out in this field for when exactly modern humans began to populate East Asia. He also discussed how they are finding what could be other hominids existing in the same region tens of thousands of years ago. This relates to International Affairs because his work revolves around the Korean Peninsula, Japan, and China. He must work with all of these areas in order to conduct his research. In one particular case, there have been skulls found in North Korea that from multiple tests date back to 50-40 thousand years ago. In order for South Korea to get their hands on something resembling the skulls, international affairs became concerned. Starting in the 1980s, casts of the skulls had been made and were given to Chinese paleoanthropologists, who then made casts of the casts and gave them to South Korean paleoanthropologists. This in itself shows how even in science, international affairs can become involved. Because, once an important scientific discovery is made, everyone in that field will want to know about it.

Out of every program I attended this semester, this was the one I was most excited for. At the time of the lecture, my biology class had been going over evolution, so the timing worked out perfectly. I am a History and Korean major, so this was right up my alley. Although pre-history is not what I am studying, I think it is incredibly important to learn about it and for research to be done in this field in order for what I study to have a solid foundation. In all honestly, this lecture made me rethink if I should stick with history or change to anthropology, but I decided I like reading about paleoanthropology rather than having to do the science myself. I think I will start reading more about East Asian paleoanthropology as more comes out because of how fascinating this lecture was.

On October 1st 2021 I attended a lecture hosted by the Institute of Korean Studies about how various media was going back and forth between North and South Korea between the 1950s and 1960s. This program relates to International Affairs because the division of the Korean Peninsula along the 38th parallel was decided by outside powers, each side being occupied or influenced by a different country. This means interactions between the two Koreas are an international affair because their ‘allies’ or ‘occupants’ are immediately involved. I found this event incredibly interesting because I did not know that the border between North and South Korea used to be relatively open, making the transfer of media back and forth much easier than it would be today. It was also interesting to learn about how the North supported the protests during the April Revolution of 1960 in which South Koreans were protesting authoritarian rule in the South. The way the North felt towards the South seemed like someone concerned for his fellow comrade. These days, relations appear to be vastly different but because of censorship it is difficult to know exactly how things are in the North. One other thing that was interesting to learn about was that as time passed, North Koreans learned that they didn’t need to rely on real South Korean stories, and were just able to fabricate their own, but before that they cited direct South Korean sources and newspapers. Even though they didn’t need to use real South Korean sources, I feel that they should have because fabricating sources makes their own works less credible.

This program intersects with one of my majors directly as I am a Korean major. I am incredibly interested in North-South relations and this is a great foundation because it looked at media transfers during the early years of division. I am hoping there will be more events that discuss relations between North and South Korea from 1948 to present.

On September 28th, 2021 a panel was hosted by fourth year student Megan Kenner with two former IA students sharing their second year projects. These second year projects relate to International Affairs because each project had to do with global issues. One of the panelists interned for someone at the Ohio Statehouse, specifically on human trafficking. Even though they focused on human trafficking within Columbus, this is an issue that can be observed everywhere. The work completed during this internship may be applied to global human trafficking issues. The second panelist was an intern for the Benjamin Franklin library in Mexico City where every week they had current event meet ups with Mexican students and grad students in English. This relates to international affairs because Mexico is a country that borders the United States, and projects like this help maintain amicable relations between the two nations.

I have been debating on what do do for my second year project, but this presentation helped me narrow it down a bit. As of now, I am thinking of either completing the Global Engagement Certificate Program or filling out an application for the Critical Language Scholarship to study abroad in South Korea. The intent form for the Global Engagement Certificate Program is due on October 15th, so I need to decide quickly. What is stopping me from applying for the Critical Language Scholarship is my fears that I am not ready to study abroad even though by the time comes for me to go I will have a year of language completed. I am vaccinated, but another concern I have is whether or not COVID-19 will be under enough control for me to study in South Korea safely.

The second idea for my project relates to my majors because I am an International Studies major with a concentration in East Asian Studies, as well as a Korean major with a History minor. The Global Engagement Certificate Program relates to my coursework because I’m pretty sure I can choose to attend some programs that relate to East Asian Studies.

On April 22nd, 2021 an event was held by the College of Arts and Sciences as a celebration of Earth Day. During this event, environmental history was the main topic of discussion and how we can learn from it. Environmental history helps scientists be better informed on future events or environmental threats that the world may face. This relates to International Affairs because the health of the planet is something that affects every single person on Earth. Knowing environmental history isn’t something that just pertains to scientists, but to everyone else as well. For example, I grew up near the Cuyahoga river, which because of pollution has caught on fire multiple times, but everyone remembers learning about the river fire in 1969. Because of this fire, awareness about the effects of pollution were a bit more widespread, but unfortunately it did catch on fire again just last year. This event doesn’t pertain too much to my majors, Korean and East Asian Studies, but it is still important to learn about the information presented. I also grew up in a home where learning about the environment and climate change were deemed necessary for being a good citizen. I am hoping the last four years in America haven’t hurt the environment, and people’s beliefs on the environment, beyond repair.

On April 28, 2021 a program was hosted by Dialogue, presented by the John Glenn College of Public Affairs. This program discussed climate change as a global issue and how it will take a global effort to save the planet because not much time is left. This program relates to International Affairs because climate change as a whole is an international issue. One area of the world releasing massive amounts of CO2 going unchecked affects the atmosphere for the entire world. It really will take the effort of the entire planet to slow the damage being done to the planet. One thing brought up during this program was overpopulation. It is right to say that overpopulation is an issue because of deforestation and the exhaustion of nonrenewable resources, but I think their focus was in the wrong area. The speakers had their focus on “underdeveloped” countries and how in their cultures it is normal to have many children. They spoke of this as if it was the problem, but I don’t think it is. I remember watching a Bill Nye video a while ago for a project relating to overpopulation and he said the problem really lies in the “first world” countries. This is because in “first world” countries like the US, people use resources at a much higher rate than in “underdeveloped” countries. I also thought the use of the term “underdeveloped” for countries that aren’t as industrialized isn’t quite right. If a country or a society do not desire or have the need for industrialization, that doesn’t mean they are “underdeveloped”.

On March 16th, 2021, an event was held by PPiNK, Freeom Speakers International, KSA and UNA. The speaker at the event was Yeongnam “Ken” Eom, a former North Korean soldier who escaped in 2010. He spoke about his experiences as a soldier in North Korea and what it was like to serve the country for a decade. He wants people to know that North Korean soldiers are not the stoic, emotionless killers that they are portrayed as by the media. When he served, Yeongnam was made a construction worker where the dangerous working conditions made injury and death common. This event relates to IA because there is a humanitarian crisis happening in North Korea and there needs to be international non-violent action. Yeongnam stressed that there needs to be more of a focus on the citizens of North Korea and their sufferings rather than just focusing on the North Korean government. There needs to be a global effort to donate to sources that aid North Korean refugees, their voices must be amplified, and the South Korean government needs to shift their focus onto the people of North Korea, according to the speaker. I found this presentation very interesting, as one of my majors is Korean. I want to learn as much as I can about the situation in North Korea. It is difficult to make any solid judgements without being able to directly observe the country on my own, so for now all I can do is make sure to read as much as I can about the conditions of the country and listen to voices of refugees. I am curious to see within my lifetime if there will be a reunification of the Koreas, as many like Yeongnam hope to see.

On March 14, 2021 a zoom meeting was held by Samantha Zimmerman that caught students up on current events happening around the world. To start off the event, there was kahoot game that quizzed the students about their knowledge on current events. Following the game was a presentation about other global events such as the European Union struggling to get enough vaccines for their citizens. This event relates to international affairs because it quite literally was discussing international affairs. These current events include Switzerland’s ban on face coverings in public, the settlement payment to the family of George Floyd, and Amazon banning the sale of books like When Harry Became Sally. I enjoyed attending this event, because it brought me up to date on current issues that I haven’t been able to explore on my own. This program relates to my interests because I think it is important to be caught up on global affairs. Without proper knowledge on global affairs, it is impossible to make proper judgements about different events. For example, people could see Amazon refusing to sell that book as an infringement on some sort of right to free speech, which, is incorrect. They need to know the whole situation of how lgbt people have been painted as being mentally ill for countless decades and what Amazon is doing is refusing to spread that false narrative. Now, that is not saying I like Amazon as a business, but I do respect this decision.