For my last reflection, I would like to look back at the semester and think about how far I have expanded my horizons in regards to international affairs. To think I came in knowing how little I did in regards to how I feel now is baffling. I actually thought it was funny because I came in feeling like the one who knew the less, for sure. My peers had taken comparative politics classes, social justice seminars and knew way too much about countries like Slovakia, and then there was me, whose academic background relied on a world politics class in ninth grade because my school provided strictly what the curriculum required.
During my first class, I realized I needed to start keeping up with my peers’ vocabulary given that I did not know half of the technical terms they used. I would Google-search the word hegemony at least three times a week and re-read the definition until I knew I could recite it. My peers had what I thought was very peculiar vocabulary because there were no Spanish translations for more than half of the words I did not know, which made it a lot harder. I also questioned the meaning I had of a lot of the terms; I was taught that liberal had only one definition, and that was “Californians”, yet PTJ made me rethink this when I wrote liberal instead of liberalist in one of my essays; little did I know that there was a world of difference between both. I also questioned what I identified as, or with for that matter, and how big of a deal the notion of double consciousness really is. I questioned the difference between race, ethnicity and nationality many times, and felt frustrated and on the verge of a mini meltdown when people would use America to refer to the United States. I rethought and restructured what I planned my career to be many, many times and made the shifts and changes pertinent along the way. I questioned if I really was going to be able to finish the semester at all given that I had to leave and wasn’t even sure if I would be deemed “healthy enough” to come back. I struggled with keeping up, with expressing myself, with getting everyone to consider my perspective, and with finding someone to talk to about the struggles all at the same time, but I did it. I was able to finish. I made myself feel like I was at my peers’ knowledge level even though I have yet so much to learn and even attempt to comprehend. I may or may not have finished the class with the grade I wanted to originally, but I am infinitely thankful for the learning experience and reality check I have had with this class; sad it was only a semester.
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For this week’s reflection, I would just like to say that I’m way to excited for the debate tomorrow morning (and that this is really going to be an informal reflection.) I feel like there are sooooo many scandals the different groups are dealing with that the committee would be like “Well, in order to draw a consensus, let’s spill your tea first and then try to sort out what we work together in, because…you know, we have the same views.” The questions after each group’s presentation were a definite portrayal of this.
On the one hand, I am eager to see what Emma Watson and her fashion sense are bringing to the debate. Her eco-friendly Louis Vuitton campaign raised some controversy a few years back given her, at the time, recent apparition in the UN for a completely different cause. However, on the other hand, I feel like the organizations and corporations that already have a stance in the committee are more than enough, and that adding a single person is counterproductive; I mean, we’re basically just sprinkling some celebrity advertisement in there. Furthermore, I am interested to see how the chairs will react based on the scandal-first discussion we’re having, and the way in which they will steer the conversation. I think overall, even though it is a more simplified debate given that it’s mostly organizations and corporations, the solution will come even harder because of this. Simply because we cannot establish a compromise with Mozambique due to the no actual representation of the country, and the level of mobility organizations and corporations have, we have to sort of imagine what would be best for Mozambique and just go back and forth assuming every participant knows what’s best. Stay tuned for next week’s reflection. |
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December 2018
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