Sociology & Social Work Students Experience China
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| NMU Students Jake McGraw, Amy Napper and Amy Jo Chick explore China |
Dr. Renxin Yang offered SO 495 Social/Cultural Studies in China�as a four-week study abroad course during Summer Session 2008.
The class was designed for students to engage in a field study on social environment and social change, history, art and culture of Chinese society. Hosts for the course included:
- Shanghai East China University of Political Science and Law (lectures on society and social change);
- Zhejiang University (lectures on Chinese culture and art: calligraphy and brush painting, and impact of Chinese philosophy and religion on art);
- Beijing Sports University (Tai Chi/Ji training).
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| Dr. Yang and Amy Napper model traditional apparel with Amy Chick | NMU student Jake McGraw listens to Chinese student perspectives |
The class visited some of the historical and cultural highlights in the cities where the hosts are located, such as the Great Wall, Forbidden City, Xileng Yinshe (famous for traditional Chinese art), Art Gallery of Bada Shanren (Qing Dynasty artist), Huang Qiuyuan Art Museum, Songcheng (Song Dynasty Village), Teng Wang Ge (one of the three famous ancient pavilions in South China), and China Academe of Fine Arts.
It was a busy, well-organized learning experience, but the students also had time to take in the sights and sounds of bustling cities, vibrant culture and new cuisine.
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| Learning Calligraphy at Zhejiang University: Dr. Loukinen and Jake McGraw receive an introduction to this ancient art from Chinese hosts. |
NMU student assessment of the experience was enthusiastic. ""Fun, "informative" and "once-in-a-lifetime" were terms they used in attempting to summarize their experience.
Here are a couple excerpts of student assessments in their own worlds:
Social work major Amy Jo Chick writes:
The cultural studies class gave me the change to personally observe Chinese society, people, and culture. The first-hand experiences and knowledge gained through this course could never be replaced by information from books, movies, television, magazines, or mass media in general. I feel as though I have not been able to fully express how truly amazing the experience was, even after sharing many stories and photographs.
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| NMU students Amy Napper and Jake McGraw pose with Chinese hosts in traditional garb. | NMU student, Amy Chick studies athletic display at Beijing Sports University |
Dr. Yang provides the experience of a lifetime. There is no way an individual traveling to China with an ordinary tour group could have the same well-rounded and extensive experience as the SO 495 group.
. . . I have a renewed appreciation for cultural competence. Now that I have experience how uncomfortable the feeling of being an outsider can be, I want to make sure that when I am a social worker, I make sure that my clients, no matter what race or ethnicity, are as comfortable as possible.
Social work major Amy Napper writes of her experience:
Before going on this trip I had only been out of the States a handful of times to visit sites in Canada through my high school theater class. I had yet to experience anything that would be so dramatically different from my own culture.
One of the most important things I learned from this class is to have an open-mind.
Here in America we take many things for granted. For example, the majority of people in China do not own automobiles; many own bicycles, take taxi cabs, or ride the bus. During a visit to Zhejiang University, we were interacting with an English class and the students were amazed that we, college students not unlike themselves, all owned our own vehicles.
Chinese students with whom I visited explained to me that a normal day to them consists of waking up to studying, go to class (They may have nearly ten classes a day!), and then study again before bed. I see so many people in the U.S. not take their education seriously.
It was an adjustment to be viewed as a minority. We had to become accustomed to looking so different from everyone else. Here we are used to seeing people of many different ethnic groups, but some of the places we visited rarely get foreigners. It was a little unusual to have people staring and taking your photograph, although at the same time it was amusing. It wasn�t uncommon for people to ask to take their photo with us.
Being in China gave me a much better understanding of cultural relativism because it was an opportunity for me to see it with my own eyes and experience it firsthand. Life in China is very different than it is here in terms of religion, the food, the dress, and so on, but it is no better or worse than our beliefs. . . . This trip to China has made me appreciate my life more, and it has also helped me to see it from a different perspective.
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| Cultural events such as this dance performance enriched student experience. |
More information about the class content and key destinations can be found at the following web sites:
www.kinabaloo.com/forbidden_city.html,
www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/greatwall/Allabout.html
www.travelchinaguide.com/cityguides/shanghai/attractions.htm
