Learning Journal 27

I thought the article about "Coping with Culture Shock" was very interesting.  It was funny because on the second page of the article it basically says, the basic make up of another city will probably be the same as your town, there will be tall buildings and taxis and stop lights, etc.. . . . but I was thinking, I don't think Tonga is really going to look like that right away.  So from the very beginning, it's probably going to be a culture shock, because the make up of the island is quite different.  As the article listed different things that one could have culture shock to, I tried to pick the ones that most worried me.  Some of the things he listed were: confusion over role behavior, surprise or disgust about some of culture characteristics, loss of familiar surroundings, being rejected (or not accepted) by community members, and sense of doubt when old values are brought into question.  Although all of these are concerns, some worry me a lot more than others.  I have been thinking about how scary and depressing it would be if the community members rejected me, or just didn't like me.  I'm not worried that they won't be friendly or nice to me, but it's really scary for me to think about them never really liking me or letting me into their community.  Of all of the things listed in the article, this scares me more than all of the others.

A couple of suggestions on how to deal with the culture shock really stuck out to me, first being prepared. We have been working on that for the past few months, so I feel like I'm getting prepared as much as possible.  I think it's really great that we have learned things about the culture here though, because I feel like if I would have just gone there without knowing certain things it would have been a lot harder.  For example, the dogs that are deserted on the streets, or eating horse, or letting someone else take your child and raise them.  All of those things would have been a lot more surprising and upsetting if I would have seen it there without knowing about it before.  Another suggestion he gave that I thought was really helpful was to become familiar with local ways of communicating.  I think the best way for me to overcome my culture shock, and feel like I can be accepted in the community, is to learn as much as possible about what the do, how the communicate, and what is acceptable and expected.  Although I think there will obviously be some shock when I get to culture, I think this article was really helpful in helping me to deal with that shock.

learning journal 18

This weekend I went to church at the Polynesian ward!  I only went to relief society, but it was so fun to get to talk to a couple of the Tongan people there!  I was actually paying attention to the lesson more than trying to do participant observations or taking note of their behaviors, but I did notice a few things that were really interesting.  The first thing was when I walked in, there were no gaps between where people were sitting.  In my relief society it's like everyone is grouped with their friends and there are a few seats between each little group.  I don't know if it was because they were all just friends, but it was like they just didn't mind sitting by whoever.  When I walked in, I was late and a girl on the edge of the row immediately moved her stuff and motioned for me to sit by her.  It was really nice.

Another thing I noticed was that they talked to each other from across the room.  For example, when one girl was sharing an experience another girl hollered something from literally the other side of the room and then a couple other comments were made.  I loved it!!  It was like a discussion and it was totally informal, but the message from the lesson was still getting across.  And so many of the girls were hillarious! I know it's just as stereotypical to say "Tongans are all funny" as it is to say "Tongans are all jerks" (this is just an example, not anything I have ever heard anyone say!), but a lot of the girls made me laugh so hard, which was really nice!  One of the girls invited me to come to FHE and to a Tongan class they have on wednesday nights, so that was exciting!  I plan on going back to meet more Tongan people and to get the experience of being around people that I don't know and putting myself out there.

On a different note, I really enjoyed the readings for today.  I thought the one about "eating Christmas dinner with the bushmen was really applicable."  It made me think about how important it is to not think that everything the people do or say to you is because you are white, or American, or an outsider.  The guy in the story felt like they were being mean to him or whatever because he was an outsider, but when he started asking around he found out they all treat each other like that and it wasn't just him.He actually should have felt happy they were treating him like one of them, or at least that's how I would feel.  I think my goal is to not be viewed the whole time I'm there as a BYU student, or an American, or a white girl, or anything else like that, but rather to be treated like one of them as much as possible.  I know that's a pretty heavy goal, but I think as you build relationships and get to know the people individually, they will start to think of me as more than just another student.  And the reading about helping, fixing, or serving made me realize how important it is to keep in mind that we are no better than the people that we will be in contact with in Tonga and that we should remember how they are serving us just as much as we will be serving them.

Learning Journal 16

The reading about finding a field cite were actually very interesting.  First of all, I realized that we are really lucky to have a contact already set up for us.  It's really nice to know that we are going to have somewhere to stay and have some contacts upon arrival.  I also think that the "field" that I will be doing my research in is one that will be very accessible since all I need is to have families and homes to be in.

The following quote from the reading is one of my most favorite that I read from all the readings so far: "The researcher does not participate in the lives of subjects in order to observe them, but rather observes while participating fully in their lives.. . through living with the people being studied."  Ashley sort of talked about this last week when she was saying how important it is for us to remember that the people we will be are interacting with, and researching in a sense, are people, and not just subjects there for us to ask questions. I have stated this before, and alluded to it several of my learning journals, but it just keeps hitting me over and over again that it's so important that we keep in mind that these are people who are being kind enough to let us in their homes and in their communities and they aren't just subjects for us to use to do research on.  They are people who have lives of their own. We talked last week in class about how much they will probably want to do for us, as far as taking care of all of the housework and cooking and stuff like that. I think it's very important that I make sure to do all I can to try and help and not take advantage of their kindness.

As much as I hope to be immersed in the culture, I think realistically my kind of experience will be "participant as observer."  They will know that we are there to observe, but hopefully for the most part my research will be observe and I will be able to build real, intimate relationships with some of the families and community members.  Obviously, to others I will fill the role of "observer as participant" since I won't have close contact with them and to some I will probably just seem like another student there for school or whatever.  But with a little luck, and cultural sensitivity, I will be able to build actual relationships with the Tongan people that I meet.

Learning Journal 2: Alien vs. Native

Today's reading really got me thinking about what kind of researcher I want to be when I get in the field.  The author discussed the problems and benefits of being an extreme participant vs. and an extreme outsider.  Obviously, my goal is to be completely immersed in the culture and to learn as much as possible about the Tongan culture, but I hadn't really thought of any problems that might occur for research if you completely adopt the beliefs of the natives.  I guess the question that came to my mind was where do you draw the line from observing and participating? I definitely want to participate but I don't want that to influence the results of my research.  I think finding a balance between those things will take some effort on my part.

Learning Journal 1: My First Blog

This is my first blog, and I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed.  Creating a blog for my Prep-Course for the Tongan Field Study I will be doing over the summer, has proved to be a much more difficult task than I would have imagined.  I am working on trying to add headings to the blog so that I can sort the blogs into categories. . . this could take a while.

 We were assigned a very interested reading for tomorrow's class called "The Origin of the Tongan Tao'vala."  I was actually surprised that the whole point of the article was only to describe the origin of the Tao'vala (given the title of the article, I guess I should not have been surprised at all).  Given that this article was the first reading we were assigned about Tonga, I assumed it would be. . . well more about the Tongan culture, and not just an article of clothing. However, as I was reading I noticed myself thinking, "well, that's very strange."  I started to think if maybe that was the point of us reading this article to begin with (I'm completely guessing on that).  Maybe, we were supposed to notice how we perceive other cultures as being "strange" because they are not like our American culture.  I can't help to think that, as Americans, we our quite egocentric in the way we view other cultures. My thinking that it was strange for the Tongan people wear tao'vala to weddings, funerals, and in the presence of the king, is a perfect example of that.  Of course, in my country it would be very odd (and possibly even rude) if someone were to wear a mat, or a baked canoe sail, to a wedding or funeral, but in the Tongan culture it's completely appropriate.  This opened my eyes and made me realize that as I travel to Tonga, I will need to be very sure that I do not view the culture and their traditions compare to what we do in America.  I feel very confident that I will have a much better experience if I just observe what they do and allow myself to be immersed in that, rather than just thinking that it's different from what I do and therefore, wrong or weird.