[Emily Zimmerman]

I found Dr. Vinayak Bharne's ten levels of influence on the construction of Asian cities a very helpful framework worth recapping.  As I recall, the ten levels are:  1) Ancient sites on the virgin landscape;  2) Intra-Asian hybridities (e.g., the Taj Mahal, in India but influenced by Persian culture;  3) Colonialism (e.g., Portuguese influence in Macau);  4) Self-imposed Westernization;  5) Modern urbanism;  6) Illegal, informal habitats such as slums with significant economic activity;  7) Rural indigenous communities (such as the Fujian Hakka fortress-like villages); 8) Ambivalence to modern ubanism and cultural conservation efforts;  9) Instant megacities;  10) Post-industrial models of sustainability and new urbanism.    I also appreciate the three overarching themes -- traditions, tensions, and transformations -- that he provides to help structure how we can start to sort through all this complexity.

[Emily Zimmerman]

Hello everyone; I'm lucky enough to get accepted to this class from the wait list, as a non K-12 teacher (although my brother David teaches history at Conestoga High in PA).  I did teach Asian-American Studies at San Francisco State University from 2000-2005, and prior to that, I directed a (now discontinued) Masters program in Korean Studies at the Intercultural Institute of California.  Currently, I volunteer as a Master Gardener (with University of California Cooperative Extension), and I have a 25-minute slide presentation called "Introduction to Korean Culture Through Plants."  My favorite book on bridging East-West differences is is U. Michigan psychologist Richard Nisbitt's "The Geography of Thought: How Asians and Westerners Think Differently, and Why." 

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