On April 22, 2022, I attended a webinar on surveillance hosted by Alasdair King, who is the Executive Director of International Veterinary Health, Merck Animal Health, and Andrew Gibson who works as Research and Epidemiology Manager, Mission Rabies. This event was supported by the Fogarty International Center. This is because the issue of Rabies is an international one and while we do deal with cases here at home it has even greater impacts on other countries with less access to medical care. They spoke on the issue of surveillance and why it is so important. As we saw with Covid-19 diseases can be fast-acting and have massive ramifications so being able to predict where they are coming from, identify risks, minimize the impact or eradicate them is vital. There are lots of steps we need to take to work on these things, such as understanding local needs, engaging with professionals, building a better health infrastructure for the animals, and improving training around these issues. Some ways the community can help is by raising awareness, discussing, and reporting cases. However, surveillance improvement is essential. This program relates to IA because of its focus on the spread of disease and rabies being an international issue. IA is all about or greater community and what we can do to improve it. This event really got into why we need to be working together to take on diseases like this. I really enjoyed this program and its speakers I do not specialize in healthcare but with Covid have taken a special interest in it and what other diseases we need to be aware of. It intersects with my other coursework, however, as a business student because we have been studying the difficulties and constraints of businesses and governments to function at their most efficiently without infringing on the rights of any people. In this case, surveillance which is essential for combating rabies could be viewed as an invasion of privacy and be viewed as not acceptable.
Posts
Career Conversations
On March 15th, 2022, I was able to attend the webinar on career development. This event was hosted by the Office of International Affairs as well as the College of Engineering and the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences. I thought it would be beneficial to attend this event since my project with the Global Leadership Cohort focused on food justice and sustainability here in Colombus. It was very interesting to hear from Mr. Henrique Tramontini dos Santos about his experience working with Bayer Crop Science in Brazil as well as his experience in the College. This tied in very well to my own studies as I have spent so much time learning about food justice mostly from an American and European perspective. Learning about what crops are like in Brazil and what individuals are doing there south of the equator opened up my mind to consider it in an even wider global context. This relates well to IA because we have previously touched on sustainable practices and the environment’s effects on people. Last semester I was able to hear a speaker talk about the effect of things like agent orange on the environment and therefore its impact on people. Here, I was able to hear about how farming practices also have an impact on us and our environment. IA is a space to learn about international practices and international farming is a part of that. While I am not studying environmental science or agriculture I am studying business. In my business 2292 class we touched on business ethics and what should we be doing and what responsibilities we have to our consumers and the environment. This event touched on methods that were both beneficial economically and sustainably which I appreciated. It was a very well-rounded event that covered the environment and farming in a way that understands all the players involved.
GLI food justice panel
On February 23rd I attended the Global Leadership Initiatives Food Justice Panel. This panel was hosted by myself and three other students as part of our year-long projects with the cohort. The panel had four speakers who talked for an hour about their different organizations and how each organization addresses the local issues with food insecurity in Columbus. There was Tim was from the Mid Ohio Food Collective and discussed how Columbus’s largest food bank and distributor helps the community and also what they do with food that isn’t collected quickly. That is where Emily’s organization Food Rescue US Columbus. This is a national org. that helps “rescue” food that would otherwise be wasted and will deliver it to members of the community that can’t always go and collects food themselves. Her organization is also very cool because they ensure that things like produce are going to people and places with kitchens while pre-prepared food is going to people who don’t have kitchens. The other two organizations that were in attendance Over the Fence Urban Farms and Bronsvilee Growers Market both of which touched on more urban farming, education, community building around food, and the importance of organic produce.
This event relates to IA because while it did feature organizations that handle food insecurity and justice at a local level they tied in and mentioned how all things food-related have an international focus. Food is something that bonds communities and families it is not just an essential need to survive but feeds people spiritually as well which is something that they addressed here. When the floor opened up for a Q&A I was able to ask some questions about this and they told us how important it is to provide for one another but especially our immigrant communities as well. They touched on how food donations are great and all but they should be healthy and something that the ones consuming will know how to use as there is no point in providing corn to a family that only uses rice. Food insecurity is something we in all countries know and need to address. Honestly, the program ran great the only thing would be is it would be nice to have it be longer but that wasn’t possible as the downtown library where it was held closed at 7 pm. This interests with my coursework as I am currently studying political science and right now have been focusing on patriarchy as well as government aid two things that tend to be at play when discussing failure to provide food in the US.
When are we going to win again?: Hockey and Politics in Putin’s Russia with Bruce Berglund
On December 3rd, 2021 I virtually attended an event called ” When are we going to win again?: Hockey and Politics in Putin’s Russia”. This was hosted by Bruce Berglund and the Center for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies. It was wonderful to hear from Professor Berglund. He is incredibly accomplished and is not only a three-time Fulbright scholar but has also taught history for two decades in different universities.
This event does a great job of tying into IA. It does so because it discusses the political nature of sports and how Putin, one of the world’s most prominent leaders, use of hockey as a political tool. I think people often underestimate the influence of soft power and communication to the masses through things like sports. We understand that culture is important and politicians often reference eras when their countries were at peaks to show that they want to be there again. Putin is doing this as well with subtle calls to Soviet glory since hockey was one of the few things that really did excel in Soviet Russia. There is great national pride around this so he is able to use it to bring people together. This should matter not just to the Russians but to anyone who cares about international affairs.
I liked this program a lot specifically I appreciated being able to access it over FacebookLive. I was not able to go in person due to personal reasons but I was still able to attend because of the integration of technology. It did, however, take a while to work and there were some technical errors I experienced but that could’ve been on my end. I think if it could just be more streamlined like having it also over zoom would be ideal.
This intersected well with conversations that I am having in my current political science class where we are discussing how things like the Olympics and Space Race helped with international relations or were another way to compete without direct conflict. We have also been discussing the importance of soft power and how much of the United States’ influence can come from our media or Hollywood. We also collaborate with other countries and communicate through means of competition like the Olympics or having international leagues.
Ideas of Race and Racism in History
On Tuesday October 12, 2021, Nick Breifogel, an associate professor of history hosted and director of the Goldberg center of excellence in teaching, an event titles Ideas of Race and Racism in History. He hosted several speakers who were, including Alice Conkin, Hassan Jefferies, Deandre Smiles, and Robin Judd. These professors of history discussed how navigating race and racism is important for us today.
This topic related to IA because it was about starting and building on the discussion of Racism and how it guides the world around us. While we as Americans have our own history with racism and its horrid impacts on this nation and people it is not a strictly American practice. Racism is found all around the globe and impacts everything from international relations between nations to internal discrimination among a nation’s citizens.
I thought this presentation with the panelists was fascinating as they spoke from different perspectives with different specialties. Colonialism and science helped perpetuate racism not just in America but in other western nations as well. They touched on the development of racism there was the idea that race was a biological concept supported by many scientists for years and this grave mistake by western science has left an incredibly lasting impact. I like that they discuss how scientists really thought some races were inherently “superior” and intelligent than others and that they could rank them. Even though this has quite obviously been disproven the concepts the eugenics supported are still often used by racists today.
This actually did overlap well with my minor. My minor is political science and as of late we have been discussing the impact of racist rhetoric from political elites and how the masses respond. The influence of racism is incredibly important to political representation, elections, and funding for minority communities all of which we have been discussing. While the class I’m currently taking is focusing on the current American experience with race and racism it was fascinating to get a recap on it from the historical perspective. It has been a long time since I have thought about the roots of racism which Alice Conkin listed here so this was an excellent refresher.
Global Health Initiative: World Rabies Day
On September 16th, 2021 I was able to watch a part of the Global Health Initiative webinar series, this session focused on the impact of rabies. The conversation was led by OSU’s own Laura Binkley, with speakers Anna Czupryna from the University of Glasgow, and Kennedy Lushasi from the Health Institute in Tanzania, they discussed the elimination work of this deadly disease and some of their own work in the field related to it. I found the five pillars to eliminate rabies to be informative and a good tool to break down all the important things that need to be involved. These five pillars are socio-cultural, technical, organization, political and resources all of these need to be addressed and involved to properly prevent and control the spread of rabies. One of the countries they worked in is Ethiopia because this is one of the most rabies effected countries in the world and does not have the same resources as countries like the United States to combat the issue. GoHi has actually been able to assist in assessing the impact of rabies in Ethopia and hosted a workshop to get others involved to share previous work on rabies in Ethiopia and set goals and priorities for controlling rabies in the country. They continued to discuss some of the many ways medical researchers and professionals are collaborating with with governments and on the ground organizations This whole series has been interesting and something I want to follow in the future. The series clearly is related to IA because of the fact it is focusing on health and in this case rabies on a global scale. It shows the way that many organizations and people can collaborate from all around the global to try and combat a problem that can effect anyone. While this event hasn’t directly overlapped with any of my current studies or projects it opened my eyes to something that I want to consider more in the future. When I think of IA I tend to think of government, human rights, and the environment and stay away from the medical side of things. This is because I am just not as well informed or read up on international medical affairs as some other topics and I feel that there are a lot of other people and organizations committed to it so my work would be better utilized elsewhere. However, now I want to research and look more into possibly lesser known diseases and ones that do require global collaboration to combat and see what ways from the States I can get involved.
IA Global Health + Pre-Med
On March 26, 2021, I got to watch the recording of the IA Global Health and Pre-Med Panel. I thought it was incredible and taught me a lot of things that I intend to apply to my own career path even though I don’t intend to pursue a medical career. The panelists for this event were Allison Yan, Mary Charelton, Mackenzie Wright, Grace Wang, and Allison Huffman. One of the things that felt great was learning about Allison’s perspective on how to balance career and life the idea of having more realistic dreams and goals really hit home for me as it seems nearly impossible to have a high-level career and still have a family. It was also incredibly informative to hear the different ways they were getting their education and working abroad. I liked how they talked about getting to possibly volunteer abroad or even work with the navy of an organization that will take them to different countries. It was informative to see how many different organizations there were for them to join and that worked well with their career goals. Light seems like a fantastic organization as well as all the other ones that the girls were so hands-on with. I really enjoyed this talk especially hearing about their perspectives in undergrad and also just what they have been doing in med school. I honestly have nothing negative to say about this panel I loved it.
Lobbying For Good: John Glenn College of Public Affairs
On March 1st, 2021 I watched an explanation on lobbying from our college of Public Affairs. This included a guest Kellie Adesina, who has served both in the House and Senate and has worked in agriculture interviewed by Dean Brown. Lobbying is something I think everyone needs to have a better understanding of because it is such an essential thing. I think many people view it as inherently bad as they picture big powerful companies trying to influence legislation. Which is true to an extent. When we picture lobbies we see the gun and oil lobbies when actually all industries do this and it can cause changes for good. I love how she talked about her experiences meeting with people like Feeding America who can provide different perspectives and help change legislation so it works more effectively and doesn’t have a negative impact. I thought it was interesting to get her perspective as someone who used to be a government staffer and is now working in the private sector for Bayer a pharmaceutical company. A lot of lobbies aim to educate Congress on what they are making laws on. I think that this really ties to IA because it shows how important business’s are not just governments we can expand the process of lobbying ones individual government to seeing how NGO’s and MNC’s can affect the world and its commerce. While companies will work in ways to benefit themselves they also know their field and do so much more. I loved the process of debunking the negativity image of lobbying. I think this was important to watch because it helps us understand how lobbying works in our own country and its policies and that thought process can be applied on an international scale. I have no critiques of this.
Final Russian Project
I have learned a great deal this past semester such as the importance of film in Russia, the complex issues with Chechnya, and the difficulties the country faced when wild capitalism was introduced. The reading Soviet Film Industry’s Social Function elaborates how important film has been at spreading its message as well as being a universal type of media that was accessible to basically everyone. This helped me understand how important film culture is in Russia and how it helps document the evolution of its political and social climates. These films also influenced the idea of the ideal Russian man and woman who were morally strong and hard-working setting a standard and expectations that people still aim to achieve. Furthermore, the Chechnya PowerPoint provided an overview showing the history between it and Russia and why Russia felt entitled to retain it after the disbandment of the USSR. It showed that no one was innocent during the wars that followed they weren’t black and white because, in reality, everyone committed atrocities. I also better understand just how corrupt and chaotic Russia became with capitalism introduced. The rise of the Mafyia and lack of stability was a massive problem that has shaped Russia and created a longing for the communist past and strong leaders like Putin as mentioned in the week twelve lecture and The Making of Putin to restore it to power.
My perception continued to change even more after reading about some of their works mentioned in the PowerPoint about 19th-century literature I was able to appreciate more of the art and culture here seeing its complexity but also normalcy creating room to relate more to the average Russian people. I was also able to better understand the resentment that Russia has for the US which was mentioned in our final lecture. The US believes that it has been the savior of both world wars while Russia sees itself as the true savior of Europe because of how they held the eastern front. With the US failing to acknowledge their contribution It is understandable why Russia would be irritated.
The US depicts itself as the polar opposite of Russia when in fact they are incredibly similar. The “Women question” and the reading A Week like Any Other showed how similar the stresses were for women globally. Women have been fighting for a position in the workplace for years and once it was achieved they were expected to do that as well as maintain the house and were judged based on their home and how many children they had. Something that is more complicated is that both the US and Russia viewed themselves as leaders of the world during the Cold War but aimed to guide it in drastically different directions with Russia championing communism and the US selling capitalism to the world and forcing it on places. This leadership is a part of both their national identities and is mentioned in.
Exploring Regional African Cultures
On November 5th, 4 pm, 2020, International Affairs Scholar, a second-year, Fatoumata Bah hosted a discussion and presentation on regional African cultures. I love how she started off her presentation by asking the audience easy and fun questions like where would you like to “Where would you like to visit in Africa?” This event relates to IA because it examines Africa as a whole and explains the many unique regional cultural differences. In the United States, we are educated loosely on Africa and treat the continent as one country instead of respecting and delving into it the same way we do European nations. Africa is a huge incredibly diverse place with so much to learn and appreciate as well as a lot of conflicts that we as scholars need to be aware of. I like that she clarified what regions she would be discussing and provided which countries are included in the regions. I appreciated that she picked several countries to discuss and their histories not only the more well-known ones. I think it was a great overview of a lot of content touching on major conflicts in countries and the slave trades that were common throughout the continent. I learned a lot from this discussion actually and would be interested in taking classes to learn more about African cultures in the future. We like to call America the melting pot which it is I suppose but Africa is a melting pot as well but one that came from colonization and wasn’t voluntary. I think my only critique if any would be to clean up filler words when presenting such as um or like but honestly this was a wonderful presentation and I loved it.