session 1 discussion

[Anonymous]

Awareness of Asia:
Listening to the lecture created awareness to how developed East Asia has been in past and how it has effected current history. In business and marketing East Asia continues to grow in numbers causing for presidential campaigns to frequently tour and partnership with these countries. These aspects of bridging countries as allies with United States should give Americans awareness of the importance of these foreign countries and should cause one to become familiar with the current events occurring in East Asia.

Space and Military Intelligence:
Observing the amount of space expeditions Korea is currently organizing brings awareness that surrounding nations need to reconsider the strength and intelligence of East Asia. Korea is now making a point to mission into the moon, more of a statement and awareness to surrounding countries. Growth in science and technology is apparent providing citizens with understanding that Korea has the ability to do more than many surrounding countries.
An astonishing fact shared was the military of China is at the equivalent strength of United States and that both countries combined make up half of the world’s military spending. The fact that United States is sending submarines and airplanes to spy on the Chinese military rises questions if our military is taking precaution to be better equipped. Questions arise to the strength of the Chinese military and how equipped United States military has been or currently is. Very excited to learn about the military forces in past East Asia and how their forces enabled them to gain more resources and opportunities.

[Anonymous]

Since I'm not big on Facebook. I'm going to post my favorite stamp here. My favorite is from Tajikistan, 2004 Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Speak No Evil. I couldn't help myself and I had to find a little back history on the Three Wise Monkeys. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_wise_monkeys

[Anonymous]

During the first class session I realized I must have read the wrong articles because the ones I read were 40-60 pages each. They were, however, very interesting and eye opening. They supported three differing topics: the economic crisis in Asia, the environmental issues in Asia, and issues surrounding the birth sex ratios in various Asian countries. Each had a very different theme about things I have thought about, but never really had the time or opportunity to research or study. I remember learning in college about female infanticide in East Asian countries and not really understanding how in depth and critical it was at the time, but it always remained in my mind. Reading about the real reasoning behind it initially being to control population levels in some ways made sense, but in other ways seems to me too be an overstepping of the government. How is it that the government gets to tell you how many children you should be allowed to have and raise- the "One Child Policy"? At least, this is my American thinking. When reading more and thinking deeper, in a way it began to make some sense, however, the idea of aborting upon finding your baby is female or killing them upon birth because the are female is beyond my comprehension as a human being. It seems so crude and inhumane. I have a lot of resect for the countries such as South Korea that decided to turn it around and have, for the most part, and been very successful. The article I read was titled, "China's Mismatched Bookends: A Tale of Birth Sex Ratios in South Korea and Vietnam," by Boer, et al. The part that I very much don't understand is how/why Vietnam has recently begun son preference, selective abortion, and female infanticide when other countries are trying to get away from such practices. I look forward to discussions related to this topic, as I am curious to hear other points of view and learn more about these ideals.
In relation to articles read on the subjects of the economic crisis in Asia, I was very much dumbfounded to realize there was so much I did not know about and was previously unaware. Financial topics have never really been much of an interest to me in the past, but os something I know every adult should be knowledgable in. Learning about the exchange rates, imports/exports in the mentioned countries, investing, and related economic up and downfalls was actually very interesting. Being able to better wrap my head around the ups and downs in places such as Malaysia, Korea, the Philippines, Indonesia, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, and Singapore made me better understand our own American economy and why there have been many of the changes and crises over the last twenty or so years. Growing up as an American in California may have been somewhat detrimental to me, in the sense that I am not as globally aware or competent as I once believed I was. The news here does not portray things the way they really are. The article, "The Asian Economic Crisis," by Karunatilleka was fascinating. The reasoning behind each choice by each Asian country made sense for what they were dealing with at the time and gave me a good overall understanding of overseas financial borrowing, interest rates, and banking.
The last articles I read were geared towards Asia's environmental crisis, specifically China. Much to my former understanding, this is not a new crisis. This is an issue which has been pressing for many decades, in part due to the vast amount of people who live there and in part to the vast amount of products made there. Learning more about the water contamination, carbon emissions, rapid industrialization, severe pollution, and huge amount of energy consumption was unfathomable. I thought that the US was creating the most issues surrounding these areas, however, learned quickly that we are second to China. The modernization of China and the millions living in poverty make me question so much about this as well. I am very interested in learning more about global pollution and environmental issues so that I can pass the importance of this topic on to my Kindergarten students and school as a whole. The next generations need to become more aware and alert about the severity of these issues. I look forward to discussions about these topics in this class. I believe this course is going to be very eye opening for me in so many areas in relation to Asia, its people, and both positive and negative aspects of the historical implications in which we will be reading about and discussing.
edited by skollar on 2/13/2016
edited by skollar on 2/13/2016

[Anonymous]

In the article “Europe shows how Asia’s demographic crisis might correct itself,” I found it quite interesting about low fertility rates have impacted Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea over the last few decades. The immediate question that came to mind for me about these countries is if they will encourage immigrants to help fill these low rates, and if so, how? And what measures would they take? I also found it interesting how they compared these rates to those of Europe’s from the past, and that the conclusion was that Asian culture will adapt to the current reality of allowing women the ability to combine motherhood and their career. I’m wondering if this article or other articles have gone in and actually interviewed women on their thoughts about this, and what they really want and perceive is their reality. And if this will actually happen soon, because the traditional norms do still seem “deeply entrenched” as the article stated.

Futhermore, I appreciate Ivet’s comment on comparing Latin America’s birthrates with those of Asian countries mentioned in the article, and would definitely love to have students do that as well since many of my students are rooted in Latin American culture. This activity would definitely make it more relevant for them, and help them to connect to the content being taught as well.
edited by jenniferlopez on 2/14/2016

[Anonymous]

Discussion 1 Post

One of the reasons I wanted to take this course and be a part of this discussion, was because my brother lives and works in Seoul, South Korea. The stories he tells and the culture he shares are very interesting to me, since he is a part of it. I also had the opportunity to travel there for ten days and am expecting to go back there very soon. I read the article about the Vietnamese Brides.
Korea recognizes that some of the men in their country have a hard time finding a bride. Korea for the most part is open to having foreigners come to live there. Three percent most recently. Most women in Korea are educated and some very driven to achieve. They would look for that in their companion. One of the interesting things I noticed was that it is only the poor or low earning men that request these brides and on the other end only the desperate women trying to help their families. What attitude and tradition does that pass on?
The Korean government has since changed it mind on this practice since many of these marriages are ending. The article does not mention this but I would assume the country now has single women, many who are uneducated and not native, raising children by themselves. Probably needing assistance from the government, or leaving and taking part Korean children back to Vietnam with them. When Korea agreed to this practice, I’m sure they were expecting a population increase and an added boost to their economy and workforce. Instead what they are mainly getting is single, foreign women trying to raise part Korean children.
I think this probably started out as a positive solution to a issue on all ends. Women in Vietnam who desperately wanted something else would attend an 8 hour Korean class, learn a few words, and live happily ever. Their low earning husbands would be happy and contribute more and add to the population by having children, and the government would benefit by increased population. Now however, the government is setting more regulations on this practice hoping to see a decrease in marriage separations.

[Anonymous]

Introduction and lecture was very interesting to listen to. I have never paid too much importance to Asian history with the United States. It was fascinating to here about the comfort wife statue in Glendale, AMC purchase by Wang Jianlin, and the disputes that United States has with international waters. I look forward to being there for the next session.

My response to the reading is as following. The demographic crisis is on the labor force and what the countries are doing to keep productivity high, while taking care of their elderly and increasing fertility. According to the Isabel Reynolds article 40 percent of the working class will shrink in 45 years. Countries are now looking at technology to ease the working force environment by making it less strenuous for the elderly and making it more desirable for women who want to work. In addition, increase the equality of pay for men and women.

Its not surprising to me that women are choosing their career over family since having a family requires more money. If they are already providing and taking care of their elders, then having kids would feel more of a burden on them. Which is why men are looking for mail order brides to fill their obligations to continue the family line. As more of the gender roles continue to fade away in Asia the fertility in women will increase which will hopefully solve the crisis that the are having. Women will continue to fill the vacancies of the workforce and increase fertility rate to produce more balanced family units to sustain the future of Asia’s demographic.

[Anonymous]

Today’s lectured exposed me to a number of discussion points I look forward to informing myself about. For example, it was mentioned in class that for some years now, the Pacific has become a prominent center of trade. In seeing how many of the products we use in the United States are produced in Asian countries, it made complete sense that the pacific is the prominent economic theater of the world. What was interesting though, is that when it comes to curriculum development for K-12 students, this is probably the first time the pacific has been formally announced as a prominent center of trade. I was also surprised to hear that a number of US presidents have has ties to Asia, again, this is the first time I hear of these connections. I look forward to bringing these up in class as I continue to create learning opportunities for my students to make connections between the US and Asia.
edited by nramon on 2/15/2016

[Anonymous]

It was very interesting that the professor brought up the White Man’s Burden in class because I was actually teaching that during my imperialism unit the day of our seminar! But I found it fascinating that African Americans helped in the colonization of the Philippines. I have seen the picture before that the professor showed (African American and Filipino children skipping together with American flags), but I didn’t know the symbolism or context behind it. I wonder how, if at all, this history has impacted the perspective of Blacks by Filipinos on the mainland?

[Anonymous]

For all of you interested in the NPR News article on the satellite that Oscar’s brought up during seminar, here is the link (http://www.npr.org/2016/02/08/465974248/north-korea-launches-rocket-believed-to-be-long-range-missile-test). It is an interview with an MIT professor who states that he doesn’t believe Korea has the capacity to have a nuclear threat with enough power to reach the U.S. currently.

[Anonymous]

RE: The Roles of African-Americans in colonizing the Philippines

Kriztian, I was also fascinated by the roles of African-Americans in colonizing the Philippines. In my US history class, we are currently learning about the Civil Rights Movement and of the approaches by various activists in the movement, and this bit of information would be interesting to bring up in conjunction to Huey Newton’s trajectory. Part of the reason Huey Newton began the Black Panthers and was highly skeptical of the government was because of his experience in Vietnam. He came to the conclusion that people of color get drafted into the military to fight the white man’s wars. This piece of information would serve to provide more grounding into how Huey Newton developed his perspective of the roles of people of color in the military.
edited by cgao on 2/18/2016

[Anonymous]

I would like to start off by stating how impressed I was after this session. I came into this experience with very high expectations and they were exceeded! I am so looking forward to the rest of this seminar! There were a few things that really caught my attention. First the readings that focused on the demographic issues that East Asia is facing really drew me in. I felt like they challenged what most people think about Asia. It also made me question what people in these countries think, if they are starting to turn against the social norms that have had a hand in creating this problem. Another aspect of the session that I found to be super interesting was the lecture and discussion portion discussing why it is important to learn about the ancient history of these areas. I found it to be very engaging and a very good explanation. A modified version of this is something that I would like to use in my class when we begin to discuss Ancient China in my classes. I feel like this would really help my students understand why it is important that we learn about the origins and how they affect the relationships today.

[Anonymous]

The Economist’s article "Europe shows how Asia’s demographic crisis might correct itself" posed the problem of low fertility rates as an Asian problem that will be solved with the help of Europe. To pose the problem in such a way of “let Europe show you the way” is extremely Eurocentric. The article chose to focus on three countries that meet the definition of “ultra low” (rates of 1.4 and below) fertility rates: Japan, Korea and Taiwan. It was important of the author to note that around 75% of populations with decreasing fertility rates are people in countries in East and South-East Asia. And because of this information it was even more important for the author to look more carefully at the specific reasons of why this must be the case (instead of just using Europe as a comparison for this problem) I think the article was lacking background on why these countries have low fertility rates (such as laws that were passed and why they were passed, socio-economic changes, globalization, competition in the workplace, etc). The author attributes the “demographic crisis” of Asia (family structures where there is an abundance of elder members in a family unit versus younger members and low fertility rates) as one that has been caused by cultural lag (“William Ogburn, coined the term “cultural lag” to describe the mismatch between the material conditions of life, which change quickly, and behaviour and attitudes, which are more resistant to change.”) ignoring that there are more factors to consider in assessing this issue. If a solution is to be found, the decisions that led to these low fertility rates need to be given more individual importance.

I just have a couple of responses to this article:

“Women are refusing to marry. And if they do marry, they are getting hitched later in life, in practice reducing their likelihood of ever bearing children.” This is happening in most industrialized countries. Women have more opportunities and options in life. They can choose to be intimate and not have a child (contraceptives). Furthermore, there is a correlation between countries with higher standards of living and low-fertility rates. I read this article about a region in India that had a remarkable lower birth rate from one generation to another and after seeing everything that had changed, researchers eventually realized that the decrease of birth rates was correlated with more televisions being available per family unit (this article was also in The Economist). Meaning that it is not so much about attitudes changing about childbirth and women’s rights (which are factors as well) than what is available to people.

“East Asia is experiencing a cultural lag even more extreme than the one that affected Europe in 1900.” Translation, Europe went through this first but Asia is doing much worse than Europe, so let the old boys show you how we fixed it. And to attribute low fertility rates to “cultural lag” as if Asian countries are backwards?! Not even taking into account the laws that limited child rates in some countries, how there have been wars, political changes, increasing urbanization, etc.

“Such cultural lags are associated with ultra-low fertility because if you force women to choose between family and career, then many will choose their career.” And many will not. Such a generalization! What makes the author think he knows the decisions of all or even “most” women?

“In Europe the cultural lag closed eventually. Social norms began to shift in the 1960s and have changed more rapidly in the past 20 years. Childcare became more widely available. Men started to help with the laundry and the school run.” Men do this in Asia as well, and in other continents as well. But what is to say that this alone will encourage women to have kids? There is more than a man's behavior that comes into play when a woman decides what to do with her body. And social norms are changing all over the world, especially with increasing exposure to the world as a whole. “Women therefore found it easier to have both a career and rugrats. In places where this process has gone furthest—France, Scandinavia, Britain—fertility rates are almost back up to the replacement level.” There are different reasons, like cultural, political, socio-economic, religious, etc reasons that have led to higher fertility rates.

“It is common to say that Asia will not reap such a dividend because traditional norms of family and marriage are more deeply entrenched there than in Europe. It is true that industrialisation took place much faster in Asia than in the old continent, so attitudes have more catching up to do.” Again, why this argument of catching up? Catching up to what? Higher fertility rates only or also accepted Westernized behavior and attitudes? What culture is being used as a measuring stick? And further, he’s wrongly linking cultural lag to industrialization. Where is the research for this? And is it correlational or a direct link?

“By some estimates, by 2070 in some Asian countries there will be 160 men seeking a wife for every 100 women seeking a husband. Men will have to compete much harder if they want to attract a mate, and that surely means doing more housework. (Those who insist on old-fashioned gender roles will doom themselves to bachelorhood.) With more supportive husbands, women will find it easier to combine motherhood and career, so they will have more babies.” Oh my god, this is such a leap of logic. How “supportive” even defined? Some women might find that a husband who does not expect you to work while you have children is supportive, while other women might define a supportive husband as someone who does not expect her to have children. It is based on what each person values and this changes person to person.

I hated the ending: “Asian culture will adapt to reality, just like any other.” This quote unapologetically groups together over 4 dozen independent countries that share different cultures, languages, religious beliefs, etc., into a homogeneous group that needs to get in touch with reality.
edited by jgaytan on 2/19/2016

[Anonymous]

I agree. I have many questions about these birth rates and the incompatibility of men to women. Aren/t these Asian countries worried about that? I would think that this would be a very serious question to raise in places where they feel marriages and births are so important! I wonder how much of a key role religion, spirituality, and family upbringing has in this situation. I am curious how these situations are shrinking or growing due to women getting married later in life, yet mens situations don't appear to be changing. It is a very complicated and deep issue. How do the governments in these countries really feel, they created this situation. Did they get what they had hoped for? Or do they now regret the overwhelming amount of men in ratio to women of marrying/reproductive age? I am very curious to learn more and have so many pressing questions and concerns I hope we will discuss in class.

[Anonymous]

"Bride School: Where South Korea’s mail-order wives earn their trade”

I was fascinated by the fact that the government of Korea is spending money for Cambodian mail-order wives. However, I also do see the purpose for investing into the education of future citizens. While in Asia, there were many times I felt awkward because I had locals look at me in a disparaging manner. I knew one or some of my actions were seen as disrespectful, for whatever cultural reason, and I wanted to right my wrong(s). Had I have someone to explain the expected cultural practices I'm sure many of these miscommunications might have been averted. If as a tourist I felt bad for miscommunication, I can only imagine what it would feel like as a partner. Especially, if you're leaving your country in hopes of having a better future in another one. Knowing how to navigate cultural differences might keep marriages together an in turn keep the population growing, especially in they're having the same problem as China.

[Anonymous]

This particular article was interesting to me for a few different reasons. Being born and raised in America, I have not had to deal with the issues of family, money, and relationships in the same way as Dahn. When I was 18 years old, I moved out of my parents home and never turned back. I did not have a financial obligation to them or the pressure of finding a man who could care for me. I have never had to endure the uncomfortable and awkward feelings that Dahn and other women feel as they are going through this process. Another point of interest for me is the language and culture barrier. My brother married a Korean woman and although she speaks English very well, it is difficult to communicate to her other family members. In the article, Dahn was going to act as the translator when Lee was meeting with her family. This is a difficult and frustrating exchange, especially for the one who is doing all of the work. There are so many things that do not get said or communicated in the appropriate way or tone, and it is hard to make solid connections. Thank God for the human spirit and facial expressions and body language! This brings me to another reason I was taken with this article. I teach a social learning class to high school kids who struggle with social cues. I think it is wonderful that South Korea has invested in the Language and Culture classes for the soon to be brides. The information that is learned enables them to be accepted and "fit in" in a place that is different from what they know and have experienced.

[Author]

Posts