Difference between women and men

I had read that women enter a situation and focus on the relationships within that setting. Men enter a situation and try and recognize or establish a pecking order or hierarchy amongst the group assembled.

While reading the Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, the article "...The Construction of Masculinity" by Michael Messner says, "As a result of these internalized gender differences, males were posited to develop more "positional" identities (with fears of intimacy), whereas females develop more "relational" identities (with fears of separation) (Gilligan, 1982; Rubin, 1983).

I think these perceptions have developed over the long, long period of human development. They continue to develop and change. I think the perceptions are changing faster and faster as society becomes more complex.

A Phenomenological Study

In the Phenomenological Study about "Cognitive Representations of AIDS" by Elizabeth H. Anderson and Margaret Hull Spencer, the authors address a heart wrenching topic. How do people that are infected with the AIDS cope with having that disease? For many, the disease will lead to death so they must come to terms with that.

Most people view death as an event that will happen in the unforeseen future. They can put it in the back of their mind and not think about it. This happens so often in society that if someone is preoccupied with death, they might be seen as being mentally ill or mentally unstable.

Unfortunately, people suffering from AIDS must deal with this difficult topic head on. As the author point out, their responses range from being traumatized to the realization that their life is being devoured.

The authors say, "With the diagnosis of AIDS, dreams of marrying, having children, or working were no longer perceived as possible. The impact on each one's life was measured differently from loss of ability to work to loss of children, family, possessions, and sense of oneself. The thought of leaving children, family, and friends was extremely difficult but considered a reality."

The authors have done a great service to study such a difficult topic. Hopefully, their research will help people cope with an unpleasant situation. They can help shed light on ways to give people hope.

Ethnography - Examining cultures

I am enjoying working on an ethnography examining a Language Club in Korea. I came to Korea to learn about the culture. Teaching English allows me to stay in the country and support myself. Studying the Korean Language helps me learn about the culture. I am tickled if I can study the culture in a TESOL program. It is a dream come true.

"Let's See": Contrasting Talks about Teaching, part 2

This article could of been called, "Constructive criticism is the way to go" or "People love positive feedback." The author, John F. Fanselow, wants to take the fear out of evaluations. If a supervisor has "superior vision" then teachers will feel like they are at their mercy or become very defensive. However, if all the teachers can cooperate and learn together then a positive, supportive environment can be created. Teachers hope to create this in their classroom so why not start with each other?

Case Study

Creswell talks about a case study that he did that involved a gunman incident. No one was physically hurt but they underwent psychological trauma.

Two days after the attacks of 9/11, I was working in downtown San Francisco. The alarm went off and everyone evacuated the building. Throughout the day, different buildings were evacuated throughout the city. It was found that all this occurred because of one bomb threat that was phoned in.

The city was going through psychological trauma. What I found interesting was that it occurred two days after the event. The feelings of vulnerability did not emerge until long after the event had been internalized. This sheds some light on the nature of psychological disturbances. They are sometimes delayed or manifested later.

Creswell tried to do the study to help schools deal with incidents like this that might occur in the future. As the author found out, people who seemed initially fine, felt very disturbed by what they experienced later. There was a delayed reaction to the events.

It was valuable that the author examined the situation over time as things are perceived through different lenses after time passes. This is valuable research because unfortunately this is an all too frequent event in North America.

Activism in Ethnography

I was reading the example in Creswell of an Ethnography and it talked about the Straight Edgers and their viewpoint. One participant says"

"...There's a pendulum in society and it's tilted one way so far, and sitting in the middle of the pendulum isn't going to help swing it back. There needs to be more straight edgers on the other side to help even it out, at the least."

In the book, "Why do all the black kids sit together in the cafeteria", the author says that going along with society is like riding the 'moving sidewalk' at the airport. If you just go along with society then you are perpetuating the way things are. You need to actively go against the mainstream in order to bring about a positive change. Only then are you 'against' some negative aspect of society that exists. Only by trying to counteract something do you stand up to it.

I have wondered why things often stay the same. Only by actively going against things can one make a positive contribution to change.

Cultural Differences between Korea and North America

Many Koreans that I have spoken to are interested in the cultural differences between Korea and North America.

Korea has a very long and ancient history but North America is a relatively new place. Being that way, Korea is very much steeped in tradition and there is a lot of obligation to society and to one's family. In that way, life choices in Korea made be looked at more narrowly.

In North America, many people are encouraged to discover what they want and pursue their dream, no matter how unique it is. This leads to a lot of self-actualization and personal growth. However, it comes at a price as a lot of people in North American cultural feel disconnected from each other. Sometimes this manifests itself in an attitude of everyone for themselves.

In Korea, there is a lot of respect for one's family and for one's elders. To reciprocate a lot of the seniors try and teach and take care of their juniors. So it creates a tremendous bond in the culture but it is a lot of responsibility as well.