On October 27th, I attended the CRIS Mural Painting event at Fouse Elementary School. This event met the requirements for a service event. At the event, we were paired with students from the elementary and middle school to paint murals and create leaves with inspirational quotes. I had a great time getting to know the student that I painted the mural with and it served as a great reminder of the importance of local involvement. As international affairs students, we often have in mind the goals of creating systemic changes and making broad strokes, but it’s just as important to consider our impact on local communities. Maintaining connections to local groups is essential so that when dealing with matters of international affairs, we’re able to keep in mind how individuals themselves are important and even gain insight as to what the thoughts are of those who will be affected by big-picture decisions but who aren’t directly involved in the decision-making. Even for those who don’t intend to work on an international scale, local engagement provides insight into what is going on within your community that may draw you to get involved somehow, whether politically, socially, or any other way that may push you to be an active citizen. 

At the Gateway Film Center on November 12th, I watched the Korean film Parasite, meeting the campus event requirement. The movie told the story of an unemployed family infiltrating practically every aspect of a wealthy family’s life by taking up jobs that the family was hiring. The story explores the drastic separation between the upper and working class, as well as how defined roles of each social class affect the identity of members of a society.

I thought that the movie was incredibly well-done and it reaffirmed for me the belief that regardless of the origins of a film, most major themes are able to transcend language barriers, and audiences can use international films to expand their cultural knowledge of the world and drive forward new curiosity. Within that same idea of the value of viewing international art and film, I’ve heard that the movie is in consideration for nomination at The Oscars in the category of best picture. While this isn’t fully confirmed, it brought me to wonder, why is it that we so rarely see international films nominated in major categories besides those specifically dedicated to international creators? While there is value to the fact that there are categories dedicated to international films, the core associations that reward music and film fall short in recognizing international talent and art outside of America, Canada, and Western Europe. This issue depicts a public lack of appreciation for the diversity that is at our fingertips, but it could even be argued that this norm limits people’s growth in terms of what they are willing to explore. 

The night of October 8^th, the Office of International Affairs put on a presentation about fashion around the world, incorporating student discussion with the project. I’m personally intrigued by the work that the international affairs office puts on, as they both teach about international ideas and work to engage with the extensive international community of OSU. Looking deeply into the realm of fashion as an international art form brought me to think about the significance of the industry within fashion capitals. While I’m not nearly as in tune with the world of business and economics as many people are within this school, I’ve quite recently come to recognize the economics of a nation as more of a holistic concept involving citizens’ functions inside and outside of work. Through taking an environmental class, I was pushed to think of the ways in which business branches out within a community and this discussion on fashion opened my eyes to what life is like working in a fashion capital. Obviously, not everyone in Paris works as a designer, but when a major component of a nation’s culture and tourism is fashion, it influences the functioning of surrounding business. Because of the economic connection to fashion in cities like Paris and Milan citizens themselves are connected to an international industry as well as a kind of international language to take pride in. Not only was this event a good time to consider an aspect of how nations work specifically to observe the art of each other’s cultures, but I was able to hear what others thought on this topic that I’m largely unfamiliar with. It’s uplifting to see international relations within the scope of others becoming inspired by other cultures’ work and I hope to look for more events along these lines rather than only striving to see those that round up the politics of nations.

On October 3^rd, I attended a lecture given by Nushin Arbabzada, entitled: Shakespeare Among the Suicide Bombers. Arbabzada is a playwright, journalist, and scholar who discussed the cultural significance of theater throughout the history of Afghanistan and how it falls within the crossfire of conflict within the country today. Theater and the arts have always served as vehicles to the voices of those in positions without a guaranteed audience from leaders, but what was fascinating to me within this lecture was learning how theater has been used as a bridge built by those in positions of power to their people. I personally view relations between people and those that lead them as something not associated with the arts and culturally significant parts of life, rather I’m drawn to a cut and dry idea of formally brutal interactions between citizens and those that govern them. By this, I suppose I mean to say that it is rare to come face to face with a government working to utilize activities of cultural significance in the name of mutual respect and cooperation with citizens. I feel as though this sentiment may be exhausting to hear as it has certainly begun to echo throughout my sentiments in these entries, but I am once again brought to the realization that I am so very unaware of countries beyond ours, much less the complexities of relationship development and maintenance between the citizens and the governing bodies of nations. Beyond the intriguing dynamic that has been fostered between the citizens and government of Afghanistan through the arts, this connection also allows for a more personal and culturally holistic analysis of how citizens of the nation themselves view the extremist groups that attempt to claim the country as their own. The fact that extremist groups that are considered by the citizens of Afghanistan to act as terror groups, harm the theater community’s presence and act in violence without effort contributed towards connection through cultural tools like theater, indicates a lack in cooperative interaction from the extremist groups.

I attended a presentation on Rwandan Genocide which was categorized as meeting the academic requirement for events. Obviously, genocide is a difficult topic to tackle because it’s emotionally and mentally intimidating, but what’s unexpectedly hard to face about the issue is how rarely genocide is caught in time to prevent mass casualties and pain. Through the lens of international affairs, it seems that a major issue for national and international governing bodies should be to confront major issues such as the unwarranted killing of peoples, but it remains terrifyingly avoidable. We discussed the categories that qualify an event as genocide and how that continues to expand and be more inclusive in order to try and protect a wider range of groups (i.e. LGBTQ+, those of certain genders) yet action is rarely taken against genocides until it is far too late. If there are so many guidelines, how is it that countries tiptoe around the term “genocide” to avoid outright international involvement? The issue is, of course, complicated by boundaries set between nations and their allies, but it greatly concerns me that international governing groups such as the UN have few to no accessible examples of how outside nations step in in these situations. International affairs are significant to me because it indicates that interaction occurs between nations occurring and often carries the connotation that these interactions are educational and used in beneficial ways. This activity served as a reminder of why one of the paths that I look towards as a way out of the undecided label is public service and government work. I want to be involved in some way to the world’s international affairs because major issues like the lack of pushback as genocides take place shouldn’t be something that takes forever to face. There are strategic stalemates than occur in government operations to prevent mass movements (i.e. length of senator terms in the U.S.) but stalemates should never spell out passivity towards human suffering, especially when the perpetrators are aware of the atrocities occurring.

On August 28^th, I attended the screening of the documentary Honeyland. Honeyland is a documentary that details the life of Hatidze Muratova, a woman living secluded with her mother in the mountains of Macedonia. The film was shown as a part of the International Film Series being put on by the OSU Global Engagement Program and meets the social and academic requirements of an event. International Affairs requires that a person works in ways that interact with or effects people in many parts of the world. In order to successfully work with those of different background and cultures, it’s essential that a person works to develop understandings of the people that their work affects and on a personal level. Two major draws in terms of career prospects for me are film and public service. These are two very different fields but this film provided me with such confirmation as to the good that both fields can do in helping others. We often take for granted the movies that come flooding into theaters around the holidays that are often action-based, comedic, or romantic, but with filmmaking, a person can capture another person’s story as it occurs. Honeyland wasn’t a retelling of a woman’s life, but depicted her everyday activities, struggles, and traditions. I was completely unfamiliar with a life as this woman and many of the other people within the documentary led, and it was a heavy reminder as to how significantly parts of the world differ beyond climates and traditions. In filmmaking, there is such power in bringing others to know someone on a personal level in ways that they would never have the capability or even think to do. I believe that it’s fair to say that most people tend to categorize documentaries and nonfiction films as more boring genres of moving pictures, but when one is produced that captures the subject so that they appear as a holistically human person rather than an on-screen character, it excites me in thinking about the possibilities of film as well as drives me to learn about who else’s life story I’m missing out on.

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