December 2017 – Page 6 – GW Blogs from Abroad

Identity Crisis?!

AdminDecember 1, 2017December 14, 2018

Hey everyone! I just got back from Paris! I know, what?! But yes! We were there for the week studying the Cameroonian immigrants that live in the city. It was a rough but fun week in the City of Lights. Shout out to my best friend, Emilio, who is studying abroad in Italy for visiting me!

This week was important to me because being an immigrant myself, this was a topic dear to my heart and it was exciting for me to learn about it in another context. While coming to Paris was awesome, it was difficult at first to feel okay here knowing that this city was built out of the exploitation of the colonies and to this day still has some policies that take massive amount of money from its old colonies, such as Cameroon. It was a tough contradicting feeling (this goes out not just to France, but many European countries and the United States as well) But after having a course on immigration in France, visiting the families, and visiting the African market in Château Rouge, near Sacre Coeur, it was bitter-sweet. I realized though how critical it was for us to be there.

We had an amazing professor who blew my mind by some great things:

African migrants only account for 0.4% of all of migrants and that 66% of African migrants do not leave the continent, rather they move regions.
The concept of migration misery were migrants are represented as poor people from countries and are told that they cannot be accepted by West countries because "they already have their own poor people."
That migration in the African context "translates as a form of popular response to the crisis of neo-patrimonial state" (I never thought about migration as a form of protest which was an interested out look that migrants represent a group that are against the system)

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How To Do Paris in 8 Hours

AdminDecember 1, 2017December 14, 2018

By austineliasdejesus

I finally traveled last weekend and went to Paris. For eight hours. Before my friend and I planned the trip, I didn't know how I felt about taking a less than one day trip, but it was probably the best decision we could have made. We tried planning our trip around this Huffington Post article, but it left a lot to be desired in terms of specific details and there were just some things we didn't have time for. So here's an incredibly detailed itinerary if you're planning on doing this kind of thing in Paris.

1. Take the first morning train out of your home city and arrive at Gare Du Nord at around 9:45. Immediately head to the metro and buy a single day metro ticket, which will cost you around 10 euros. You can go with the single day pass that covers Zones 1-3.

2. Take the 4 train towards Mairie de Montrouge for 3 stops to Strasbourg-Saint Denis, then switch to the 8 train towards Balard 9 stops to Ecole Militaire.

3. Get off at Ecole Militaire and, once you get out of the stop, head straight towards one of the many cafes that line the nearby streets to get some coffee and croissants.

4. Once you get your breakfast, walk towards the Eiffel Tower (you'll basically see it right after you get off the train). Hang out around there for a bit and leave at about 11:30. If you want, you can try to get in line to go up the Eiffel, but the line is long and you'll get a great view of Paris later on.

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Can speech really be free in Rwanda?

AdminDecember 1, 2017December 17, 2018

By Kellie Bancalari

Tomorrow marks the official start of my research period. As I explained in previous posts, I will be researching the limits of free speech in a post genocidal society -- basically trying to answer the question of whether or not free speech and state stability can co-exist in Rwanda.

Since returning from my travels in Uganda, I've been working very diligently on completing my research proposal for the Local Review Board to have my research approved. This meant drafting my methodology, literature review, background to the study, and ethical considerations. Thankfully, my research was approved a few days ago with flying colors.

In the next four weeks, I will be interviewing journalists, government officials, and local people to find out what the state of media is really like from the local perspective. In my time here, I have found that what organizations like Human Rights Watch, Reporters Without Borders and Amnesty International write about the state of free speech in Rwanda is not a complete truth.

Speech I have found, in nearly every society, is not completely free. And honestly, I don't think it can be. You can't yell fire in a movie theater because you can kill people, just like in Rwanda you can't spread genocide ideology because, as we have seen, you can kill millions.

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Muzungu

AdminDecember 1, 2017December 14, 2018

By jojoraewilliams

If you are white and ever find yourself outside in Uganda, a chorus of "Muzungu, Muzungu!" will follow you wherever you go. Kids will chase you yelling it, men will try to get your attention with it, and taxi conductors will shout it to get you to go with them. Being white in Uganda you already stick out like a sore thumb, and having locals constantly point it out doesn't help very much. Muzungu is just their name for a non-African, and while sometimes it can get on your nerves, if you remember that no one means it to be offensive, you get used to it pretty quickly.

The word actually means wanderer and has an interesting history. When Europeans first started exploring Africa the locals didn't understand why all these crazy white guys were just walking aimlessly into the bush, so the locals starting calling the explorers wanderers, or Muzungus. The name stuck and has spread to most of East Africa. After years of colonialism and then the era of aid in this continent, Muzungu has evolved to also mean a person of wealth and so sometimes wealthy locals are called it as well.

Muzungu will follow me around for the rest of my time here. As I hike the beautiful national parks, walk the banks of the Nile, or continue exploring the crowded capital I think about how the term wanderer is fitting.

Quality Over Quantity

AdminDecember 1, 2017December 14, 2018

By czhangangel

Previously in my last blog, I touched on how the Hong Kong/Chinese school system is a manifestation of and an influencer of cultural values. Recently, I have observed a difference between the young mindsets of Hong Kong residents and those of foreigners. When interacting with students at my school, we can relate to many things since we both have similar interests and life spans composing of development and life experiences. This applies to both my exchange/international friends as well as Hong Kong natives

However, I wonder, “why can’t I connect with Hong Kong natives on a deeper level or more naturally, like I do with my foreign friends?” I don’t believe it is a language or culture barrier since my foreigner friends are from all over the world such as Australia, Sweden, China, Canada, U.S., and U.K. – all with different cultures and where English may not their first language either. It is also not the difference in age or education level since we are all in the same or similar institutions. I believe it goes down to the difference in people’s experiences which helps them relate to and connect with others on a deeper level. In experience, there is a sharp difference between quantity and quality that contributes to character growth.

In Hong Kong, I hear more stories of, in my opinion, immaturity or lacking greater experience. I have been subject to people’s rants of a variety of situations in Hong Kong already – from both family and friends. For example, (in all anonymity) I’ve heard people only going study something at a certain place just because their parents said to, hiding a credit card bill because the person didn’t want his/her guardian seeing the amount of spending, and one asking his/her guardian to wipe his/her bottom after being constipated. Obviously, this is not to generalize all young Hong Kong people. I am only providing the causes for my impression. There are definitely “normal” people in the middle of these situations, but I think there are more cases of this “extremity” in Hong Kong than I have ever observed before.

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