Final Reflection

The Gender and Generation in East Asia Seminar was eye opening for me. I was able to uderstand more fully the relevance and evolution of cultural perspectives and influences as it relates to gender and generation throughout history and contemporary societies. Each session yielded information useful for weaving into lessons in my classroom across many academic disciplines. The sharing of culture through the lens of East Asian History, Literature and Arts has provided a plateform for discovery, comparison and contrast in my Art, Health and Life Skill courses. I believe that the process of sharing culture allows those engaged to better understand their own culture and to appreciate those features of cultural evolution that are both different and in common with their own.  

Using the movie Crazy RIch Asians as a springboard for analysis was a very fun and engaging choice.  It introduced gender and generational practices through a very contemporary lens. When I first saw the movie, I was entertained completely without having any idea that the  underlying subject of gender roles and generational influences were interwoven into the storyline. Watching the movie as a part of this course, illuminated the roles and relationships specific to cultural norms in East Asian history and contemporary society.   

Althought the amount of material to be covered over a short time seemed overwhelming at times, I appreciate the wealth of resources and the opportunity to glean from experts, information worth continuing to study with my students. The conversations and interactions in each session gave me content which I can easily incorporate into a lesson. The esssential questions helped me to process much of what I was learning.

I found that I was personally aligned with some of the principles taught through the various ideologies. I could relate to ideologies and practices that were taught to me by my African American family. I found that I was aligned with certain ideals because of my Catholic upbringing as well. Good WIfe, Wise Mother was the example that my mother personified in our household. The ideals of Filial obligation for example is what you do out of love and respect in my African American family.  Ban Zhao’s Ideas emerging from Confucionism and Daoism. Seven Lessons For Women and 12 Chapters On Cultivation of Virtue reminded me of the chapters of Kalial Gibran’s The Prophet. In Western culture to be virtuous is to be kind and giving, wise and true. Paralleling experiences.

Some highlights for me were the discussions of Professor Lynne Miyake Differentiated DIsourses, Spaces and Influences: The Gender of Classical Japan. I’d like to explore cultural similarities and differences using Anime and story telling. Gender Identification by content, inferrence and mood is currently an evolving discussion in our classrooms and would be interesting to discuss the similarities and differences between the East and the West. Using Robin Wang’s resources from her discussion of What Makes a (Chinese) Woman Beautiful, I would ilike to explore the meaning of beauty with my students and how the meanings either differ or resinate. It will be interesting to discover whether the idea of Filial Obligation is a thread that runs through the cultures and traditions of my students who have varying ethnic backgrounds.

Connecting through the sharing of our history and our stories is how I intend to incorporate all that I’ve learned during this Seminar, with my students. I believe it is important to contunue learning about cultural similarities and differnces without passing judgement on norms and ideologies. It is important to continue looking at how cultures influence each other and how often times cultural practices mirror each other. Learning about the origin of idologies and practices opens doors to great discovery and appreciation.