Professor Hayrettin Yucesoy, Associate Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies, spoke to Connections about Islam. Here are a few take away messages and resources below.
Blogpost written by Rebecca, Eslam and Lindsey
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Dr. Anna Shabsin kicked off the new academic year with intergroup dialogue training for the first Connections meeting! Dr. Shabsin taught our over 30 attendees about TING listening and LARA communication while everyone enjoyed Mediterranean food from The Vine. Below are two graphics explaining TING listening and LARA communication. These skills will benefit Connections members throughout the coming year as we explore and discuss a wide range of topics including Islam, Ableism, The Transgender Identity, and more.
How many graduate, medical and professional students can you fit into one room? Before Friday, August 26, we weren't sure. Now we know that we can fit almost 200 people into one space thanks to your participation in our first ever Joint Happy Hour! Connections, SNMA, OUTgrads, ABBGS and GALAS came up with the unprecedented idea to bring their student groups together for one event instead of shepherding the bright-eyed, bushy-tailed new students from information session to information session. Although it hadn't been done before, the event was definitely grand! As students from all programs at WashU and neighboring schools learned about each of our student groups, they also ate and drank merrily while playing games. We mingled with graduate students from the Danforth campus, OT and PT students, medical campus graduate students and students from neighboring institutions in St. Louis while playing Jenga, Bingo and Fish in a Bowl! The participation, atmosphere and energy in the room were all amazing! Connections was happy to participate in such a great event and we can't wait for next year!! Take a look at our pictures in the photo gallery below and please feel free to leave comments/suggestions/pictures from the Joint Happy Hour in our comment section! This summer 14 Connections members road tripped down to Memphis, Tennessee for the weekend. We visited historical and cultural sites such as, the National Civil Rights Museum, the Cotton Museum, and the Rock n’ Soul Museum. From slavery to current times, we learned about all aspects of live from the perspective of a diverse set up people and industries. This provided context for current events and prompted meaningful discussions.
For April's topic of Aging, Caroline Merz, a graduate student in Clinical Geropsychology, spoke to Connections about aging. Three main messages from the speaker-
Blogpost written by Mark and Rebecca.
On Friday, March 4, 2016, we heard from Dr. Lingchei ‘Letty’ Chen, Associate Professor of Modern Chinese Language and Literature. We had an informal discussion led by Dr. Chen where she outlined some of the challenges she sees involving Asians and Asian-Americans in society. Some major points made were:
Historical Context
The Model Minority, the American Dream, and the Asian Diaspora
Eight Microaggressions Asian Americans Face (4)(this is not meant to be an exhaustive list, as there are many more!)
References(1) "The Color of Success: Asian Americans and the Origins of the Model Minority" by Ellen S. Wu
(2) "Will the Model Minority Please Identify Itself? The American Identity and Its Discontents” - Ruth Hsu (3) “Theorizing Diaspora” - Jana Evans Braziel and Anita Mannur (4) “Racial Microaggressions and the Asian American Experience.” – Derald Wing Sue Blogpost written by Simon, Jessica, and Rebecca On February 5th, we heard from Stephanie Weiskopf and Austin Sweeney from “The Men’s Project”, which is a program for undergraduate man-identifying students to explore their own masculinity. First, it was explained that the study of masculinities was actually born out of the feminist movement of the 1970’s. There are many different types of masculinity based on many different factors including socioeconomic status, race, sexual orientation, gender expression, and more. However, the most dominant and arguably the most damaging form of masculinity is hegemonic masculinity. Hegemonic Masculinity is defined by Four Pillars:
It was said during the talk by Stephanie and Austin that the number one fear of men is to be embarrassed in front of other men, while the number one fear of women is to be killed by a man. The statistics below seem to support this fear of violence in women. In America, more than 1 in 4 women have experienced sexual violence from a partner. Of course, some of the women who have experienced violence from an intimate partner could have experienced it at the hand of a women. Nevertheless, allowing men to step outside of the “man-box” and abolish the rules of hegemonic masculinity would be beneficial to both men and women. The following video was played during the meeting and it shows the consequences of men acting out hegemonic masculinity. At our next meeting on February 19th we discussed the following questions and encouraged the continued thought on this subject matter. The first half of the meeting was split by gender identity, and for the second half, we discussed in diverse gender identity groups. This allowed for open and honest discussion by all, in whatever environment they were most comfortable.
Sources: Kimmel, Michael. “Interview: Michael Kimmel, Ph.D.” No Safe Place: Violence Against Women. PBS. 27 March. 1998. Television. Zhang, Laura. “One Disturbing Chart That Explains Violence Against Women.” Mic. 10 July. 2013. Web. 15 March. 2016. Porter, Tony. “Tony Porter: A Call to Men.” Online video file. TEDWomen. TED, Dec. 2010. Web. 18 March. 2016. What is Judaism?
Signs and Symbols Torah, Tanakh, and Talmud The Tanakh is the Hebrew Bible, consisting of the Torah (the 5 books of Moses), Prophets, and Writings. The Torah is hand written on stitched together parchment paper by a scribe. A Yad (hand) is used by the reader to keep his/her place, you are not supposed to touch the scrolls. One portion of the Torah is read, analyzed and discussed every week, until the end of the year when Jews celebrate Simchat Torah. On this holiday, the very last portion in Deuteronomy of the Torah is read, then the whole Torah is unrolled and the first portion of Genesis is read. All of the interpretations and commentary is contained within the Talmud. The center of the page (red) is the Mishna, ancient oral law, the lower part (yellow) is the Gemara is a collection of scholarly discussion, the right side (blue) is commentary by Rashi one of the most famous French scholars, finally the margins of the page (green) contain commentary from other Rabbi's from the 10th Century onward. The Talmud has 6 sections that cover every aspect of life and religious observance. Branches of Judaism
The Jewish Diaspora and Persecution The diaspora of Jews is huge. Jews can be found in every country. Much of this is due to persecution that Jews have faced through the centuries. To help provide some context to the severity of this persecution and for the reasons why, I'll cite some figures. Between the years 250 CE and 1948 CE - a period of 1,700 years - Jews have experienced more than
Historians have classified six explanations as to why people hate the Jews:
Jewish Holidays A common saying amongst Jews to summarize the holidays is: "They tried to kill us, we survived, now let's eat." Many of the holidays are centered around an instance in history when Jews' livelihood, religion, and well-being were threatened. When the Jews have prevailed through, we re-live the events as if it actually happened to us. We are supposed to gain a personal understanding of what it was like to live at that time. But of course, after we recognize the suffering of our ancestors (and others still today) we celebrate our survival! Jews from Around the World! Presented to Connections and Blog post by Rebecca.
Rabbi Susan Talve spoke to Connections about a wide variety of topics. I will attempt to summarize a few here, though I cannot do her justice in my summary.
Here is some information about Rabbi Susan Talve, and the Central Reform Congregation from their website: "Central Reform Congregation, a Reform Jewish congregation in St. Louis, Missouri, represents the coming together of a diverse and inclusive group of individuals who accept the responsibility of maintaining a community of respect and friendship. Through the study of Jewish texts, both ancient and modern, we join together to address questions relevant to the quality of our lives and the lives of all humankind. We maintain an active commitment to tikkun olam, the repair of the world, through social change and social responsibility projects. Central Reform provides a home for us and for our children in which we strive to create an environment of warmth, caring, growth and commitment. As the only Jewish congregation in the City of St. Louis, CRC has grown to more than 750 households since our founding in 1984. We are a community sharing an ongoing search for Jewish answers to fundamental life questions in a manner in which members and guests can find healing and inspiration. As a diverse and inclusive community, we seek equal roles for men and women and welcome members of interfaith backgrounds, Jews by choice, members of the gay and lesbian community, singles, and people of all ages. With a commitment to people paramount, member participation is a fundamental cornerstone of our philosophy." http://www.centralreform.org/ Presented to Connections by Rabbi Susan Talve.
Blog post written by Rebecca.
Dr. Norwood discussed an overview of colorism and the worldwide impact that it has. One of the most telling topics was the “Doll Study.” Children were asked to rate the characteristics of illustrated children of different skin tones. In the majority of cases, the children rated the lighter illustrated children as smarter, more well-behaved, and overall better than the dark illustrated children. This is termed “white bias,” and was observed in children as young as 4 years of age. Similar white bias was observed from black children, indicating that even black children are conditioned to see light skin as better. Dr. Norwood also gave examples of the impact of colorism in society. In the case of the justice system individuals with darker skin are given more lengthy prison sentences for the same offenses than those with lighter skin. In the foster care system, children with darker skin have a longer wait time to adoption than children with lighter skin. In the education system, a 2013 study, “The Relationship Between Skin Tone and School Suspension for African Americans,” demonstrated that African-American children with darker skin tones were more likely to be suspended from school than those with lighter skin tones [2]. In the media, magazine editors have repeatedly lightened the skin tone of black actors and models on cover photos. Dr. Norwood was kind enough to provide us with numerous examples of both colorism and racism, and we have included them below.
Blog post written by Jessica |
AuthorThis blog is made to record the information learned at Connections lectures. Archives
May 2019
CategoriesAll information provided on Connection's web site is provided for information purposes only. Although every reasonable effort is made to present current and accurate information, Connection's makes no guarantees of any kind and cannot be held liable for any outdated or incorrect information.
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