Challenge 3

MY REFLECTIONS BEFORE THE CLASS...




WHAT TOOLS CAN WE USE TO BECOME OPEN-MINDED?

I’ve chosen that picture because it has made me felt distressed. Maybe globalization means to become a global world unifying our economy, culture, society and more else. But how we can do it? What part of different cultures we have to choose? It’s an easy word with a very complicated answer. What happens with the poorest cultures, the worst economies and the disadvantaged countries? I don’t want to put them under my carpet!

That photo shows some tools we can use to become open-minded. The main important thing is the necessity of consider that we, the citizens, are all equal and we have to respect each other.

First of all, if we want to change and become to a global world we have to look around us and realize that there are many cultures, different than us, that have to be respected and included in that process. Maybe it seems that I only consider the culture in the globalization process, but it’s not really true. When I write I also think about economical aspects, but unfortunately I don’t have enough knowledges to talk about it.

Moreover I also think that before considering us an open-minded people we have to investigate and ask oneself what we think about other people, traditions, cultures, economies and ways of living and understanding the life. Maybe someone can think that it is unnecessary. Not me. Sometimes we say racist comments, or we discriminate someone just for her/him way of wearing. However we describe us as a tolerance person.  It’s necessary to lay one's cards on the table before considering something.

Finally I think that the best way of becoming a open-minded person is trying to understand our world, the reasons why people act depending on the place they live. After that we only have to ask oneself why there are some things that we are not able to understand or perhaps we don’t want to accept. 

TOOLS:

1.       Ask oneself what we think about globalization.

2.       Think about the poorest and richest places in the world.

3.       Realize about the cultural and economical differences.

4.       Reflection what we think about the other customs.

5.       Select, or try to do it, the way of becoming a global world.

6.       Think how we can teach children to respect and tolerate all sorts of cultures, religions, etc. 


MY REFLECTION AFTER THE CLASS...


Hundreds of cultures are around us. Maybe we aren’t aware of how different is the person near us in our own city. I think that’s because we are get use to our own culture and we don’t realize or don’t spent time thinking about why we considerate normal the things we do…


After the last Globalization class Marcus Balslev asked us to think about the questions we may do when we discover a new culture, different than us. I have no specific answer/question for that, but I’m sure we can do or learn something about other cultures just for trying to accept that differences that sometimes are the main responsible for fights and misunderstandings.


Here I want to show some of the questions I think are necessary to try to understand other people customs:

a.       What kind of food do they eat? Are there any relation between the food and the place where that people live?

b.      What are the clothes they used to wear? Why do they wear those sorts of clothes?

c.       What’s the language they talk? Are there some ideals behind it?

d.      What are their traditions and celebrations?

e.      How is the familiar relation? What do they think about their relatives? What do they think about their friends?

f.        Do they used to stay outside or inside their home? How that affect on their mood?

g.       Do children have to go to school? Until when the education is obligatory?

h.      How is the relation between woman and man? Why?

i.        Etc.


I know that there are lots a lots of questions that, of course, I haven’t written here. That’s why I think that a person should ask oneself WHY, WHAT, HOW, WHERE, WHEN things happens.


For me accept some aspects from other cultures could be difficult, but I’ve realized that as more I travel as more I accept. Discover new cultures going to the place that it becomes and try to integrate myself and take part in some events are fantastic attitude to understand the other’s customs.


Finally I want to comment the “game” we did the last class. We had to write in a paper something that was strange for us the first time we arrived in a new city. After that, with a string, we had to connect our feelings explain why we felt our word and why we wanted to connect with the other feeling. I think it was really good activity that let me realize that although we are different than the person near us always there are a reason to be in contact with him/her…

SUMMARIZING CLASS PICTURE: