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IA blog post 2 (november)

I attended the “Migrant Rights within Empire, Art, Activism, and Democracy” on November 18, 2020, hosted by the Global Arts and Humanities Society of Fellows.

I enjoyed this discourse because the topics discussed relate directly to the major, I recently declared at OSU. I came to OSU in the Exploration program, and I declared my major in Sociology with a minor in Political Science, Human Rights, and Spanish. Attending this webinar was perfect for me because although I’m unsure of my career, I know I want to work in the field of human rights, specifically around the topic of immigration. This webinar was helpful because I now have access to the contacts of three professors at OSU (all of them in either the sociology or political science department), and I can come to them as a resource. I learned more about the Immigration Enforcement Regime, which was led by Professor Ines Valdez, and she talked about policed migration and the illegalization of Mexican and Central American workers in the US. She also discussed immigration flow and enforcement, and how things began to change after 9/11. Mass detention and deportation were two topics talked about heavily, both of which I benefitted from hearing about since this is the direction I want to go in (preferably) for my major. I also heard Prof. Victor Espinosa, who works in the department of sociology, discuss “a world without borders”. His discourse was extremely helpful in understanding this possible direction in my major, and I will definitely be reaching out to him in the future.

This topic relates to IA because immigration is an international issue – the issue of immigration, mass detention, and deportation is widely debated in the United States, and our relationships with other countries influence a lot of the policies that the US has on these topics. A world without borders is a world we need to strive to achieve.

IA blog post 1 (november)

This program was called “The Bruising of America: When Black, White, and Blue Collide”. It was hosted on November 17th, 2020 at 6 pm, and the discussions were led by Dr. Rashall Brackney and Ann Fisher.

I enjoyed listening in on this conversation, I thought it was extremely educational on white supremacy and our relationship with police in this country. It was helpful to hear the opinions of an actual police officer from the front lines, and I thought her input contributed well to the discourse. They talked about a term I thought was ironic, they called it “Police Culture”, and they discussed its influences on police practices in the US. The police offer who spoke was from Charlottesville, and she mentioned the Charlottesville marches that began in 2017 on racial supremacy and emphasized how important it was to have these uncomfortable conversations. Listening to their discussion, I was reinforced in my beliefs that we need more transparency in society (which was a topic that was talked about heavily). Transparency allows us to have access to policing where we’ve, unfortunately, created an “us vs them” mentality. With transparency, we have easier access to trying to solve the problems created by “Police culture”. The discussion emphasized getting to the bottom of the problem of supremacy and systemic institutionalized racism in policing, and the possible consequences of becoming a lost society if we don’t. Overall, I thought this conversation was really educational, and it reinforced a lot of the prior beliefs that I had about the Black community and police officers in the US.

This event relates to IA because police brutality isn’t just an American issue – it’s something that’s happened everywhere, regardless of who the brutality was toward. Like in Nigeria with the #ENDSARS crisis, we need to put more effort into changing these systems in place that are not working correctly and focus more on bringing together communities instead of making it an “us vs them” issue. Black lives matter everywhere, and the more we talk about it, the easier it is, I feel, to potentially find a solution when everyone understands what’s going on.

IA blog post 2 (october)

I attended the Disability, Human Rights, and Sexuality webinar on October 21st, 2020, hosted by the Global Arts and Humanities Society of Fellows.  They talked about human rights in the context of the global pandemic and anti-black violence, and we also addressed the issues many disabled people face in today’s society.

I thought this program was interesting – the speakers talked about human rights violations against LGBTQIA+ and disabled people, and we asked questions like “how are human rights limited?” in the context of a lot of the issues going on in today’s society. I learned that a lot of the people in the disabled community feel that disabilities are fetishized in everyday life (which is something I didn’t know) and I thought it was interesting to learn how it feels (from the perspective of a disabled person) to experience human rights violations in society today. They also talked about how language can induce violence and how the linguistic representations of people can lead to violent patterns. One speaker talked about how same-sex couples were perceived during a time like the 1860s versus now, where in the 1860s, for example, same-sex couples were deemed to be criminals, and in places like India where sexual relations had an interpretation in the law where it was to be seen as appropriate or not. I thought it was interesting to learn how different countries interpreted these laws and how these laws evolved to be what they are today – not just in the US, but in other countries as well.

This webinar relates to IA because it talks about human rights violations on an international level – focusing on LGBTQIA rights, the rights of disabled people, and the rights of black people not just in the US, but in other countries. It also placed an emphasis on the evolution of how these groups were seen in different countries, introducing a new perspective to someone who didn’t really know that these same issues were apparent in other nations.

IA blog post 1 (october)

I attended “Popular Music and Social Activism between South Korea and the US: From Civil Rights Protest Songs to K-Pop and BLM” on October 14th, 2020.
This event was really interesting – I don’t have a lot of personal interest in K-pop, but hearing about how it related to BLM and its connections to the history of both the US and South Korea was pretty incredible. I learned that a lot of South Korean protest music stems from American Civil Rights Anthems during the 60s. For example, “We Shall Not Be Moved” was sang during the 1963 March on Washington. South Korean artist Kim Ming-g released a song inspired by it called “We Shall Overcome” in 1972. I didn’t think that a country like South Korea would take influence from a movement in the US during this time. However, this thought that I had soon went away as the speakers also talked about how the US military bases in Korea were channels for cultural exchange. American soldiers stationed in Korea during this time could easily exchange cultural ideas like music. According to the speaker, the Americans introduced blues, soul, funk, and disco to the South Koreans. It was really interesting to learn about the history behind the relationship of BLM to K-Pop. I had brushed off the idea that cultures as different as South Koreans and black Americans could be involved in this way, but music is the language that binds us together as a people. Learning about this made a lot of sense in understanding why the K-pop fandom is so involved in BLM today – a recent example from the efforts of young people on Tik-Tok and K-pop fans working together to convince Trump he’d have people arrive at his rally in Tulsa and making it so that no one would show up. It’s amazing how K-pop fans are so involved in the political and social movements of today, and I’m glad I attended this webinar to learn more about it.
This event relates to IA because we learned about the cultural exchange through two very different nations. The way that K-pop fans care so much about the black community in the US just shows how impactful cultural exchanges from history can be, and we should never put down the value and effectiveness of these exchanges.

IA blog post 3 (september)

The event I attended was called Current Event Night on September 27th, 2020.

I thought the program was really informative in educating us about current events. I normally read the news every morning, and I get breaking news updates from CNN anytime something important happens (usually around politics in our country). However, I didn’t know about a lot of the stuff going on in international news. For example, France’s paternity leave doubled from 14 to 28 days, and this even applies to same-sex couples. This is incredible news – besides increasing the amount of time they have for paternity leave, the way other countries are starting to accept same-sex marriages is very progressive. We’ve been seeing other countries adopt laws in favor for same-sex couples, so I think it’s incredible that this trend is continuing. I also learned about the economic recession in Australia, on top of the wild files they were ravaged with which also negatively impacted their consumer spending and tourism. It’s important for us to keep in touch with world news because as humans, it should be in our best efforts to want to do better things for the people and the world around us. Not being ignorant or oblivious to world affairs shows good character.

This event relates to IA because we talked about international affairs all around the world. Different events going on in countries like France, Botswana, and Australia that are politically relevant to the current political state we live in here (in the US). Knowing about the governments and national news of other countries helps us in the US to identify the positives and negatives of our own government. Staying politically informed helps us in the long run, as we can better identify how we want our government to function in the future.

IA Blog post 2 (september)

The program I attended was called Fellowships 101 with the Undergraduate Fellowship Office (UFO), hosted on September 24th, 2020, by Corey Enron and Jasmine Stork from the UFO and Honors & Scholars Center.

I’m really glad I attended this program; I feel like I learned a lot about my options here for scholarships and fellowships as a student at OSU. I was, however, disheartened to learn that some applications require the university to directly nominate students and that some scholarships are only open to students in certain grades. I was interested in learning about the Critical language scholarship, as my sister also talked to me about applying for this program- she’s really passionate about languages, and I wanted to follow in her path. She had told me about the different languages you could learn through the CLS and I thought this would be something I’d personally like.

Since I began applying to colleges, I knew I wanted to study abroad, so attending this event was a huge help in solidifying my interests. Although my major is undecided, I know I wanted to double minor in a language (probably Spanish as I am a heritage speaker), so doing a study abroad in a Spanish speaking country through one of these scholarships would be a major help. I’m still unsure about my academic path, but I would hope that learning a language and immersing myself in the culture that the language is spoken in would give me some sense of direction as I continue in my college career.

This event directly relates to IA because a lot of these scholarships allow students to go abroad to immerse themselves in the culture of a different country. Studying a language in the US is one thing, but to become part of the culture through one of these scholarships is an experience everyone should go through at some point in their life. I hope that with my (hopeful) academic success, I’m able to take in a new perspective somewhere where I’m not used to.

IA Blog Post 1 (September)

 

The event I attended was by the Global Arts and Humanities Society of Fellows. It was titled Human Rights: Pasts and Futures – Pandemics, Racism, and Colonialism, live-streamed through Zoom on September 23rd, 2020.

The most interesting takeaway I got from this event was from the first speaker, Iyko Day, who’s an associate professor of English and Critical Social thought. She talked about social justice on a national level, focusing on civil rights and abolitionism in the United States. From her dialogue, I learned that a lot of the time, the expansion of civil rights in an attempt to solve social problems actually does the opposite of what it intends and expands discrimination instead, leading to the mass incarceration of the black community in the United States and an increase in the number of hate crimes we see towards marginalized communities. She mentioned how there are certain policies that exist, where certain laws implemented to try and “protect” these marginalized communities inadvertently worsen the situation many minority communities faced when it comes to seeking protection under law enforcement. I also really enjoyed hearing her argument as to what abolitionist democracy was and why it could work in the United States, rooting her argument in the history of the United States’ treatment towards black people, and emphasizing the argument for abolitionist democracy as the founding of a “new society” rather than completely changing our government.

Although my major is currently undeclared and my academic interests are still pretty vague, hearing this discussion honestly reinforced the way I feel about social justice. I was reminded why I cared about this topic, and being immersed in a discussion with like-minded, educated women helped re-spark my passion for human rights again. The first speaker really put into perspective the reality that minority groups in this country face, and I feel that we could all benefit from hearing her discussion again.

This event relates to international affairs because all three speakers emphasized how the social issues we faced today (whether its BLM, human rights, or social justice issues) are relevant to people all around the globe. Our fight in the Black Lives Matter movement is not just a fight for the freedom from police brutality of black people in the US, but a fight for human rights around the globe. These problems affect people everywhere, and the more time we take to be informed about our human rights, the better we can come together as a people, rather than just a nation. The third speaker talked more about international issues, basically summarizing what was going on in certain parts of the world (the situation in Hong Kong facing coronavirus and the pro-democracy protests in Belarus). Overall, I feel the webinar was very informative in talking about social and humanitarian issues around the globe.