(no subject)
Today was an easy day to find positives. Today's lesson is one I was working really hard on for a week or so. It is a two part lesson in which we are examining the issues surrounding the UN Court decision against Japanese whaling in the Pacific and Southern oceans. The meat of the lesson involves students reading a variety of digital text sources and news articles on the history of Japanese whaling and its significance to their culture, the status of whale populations world-wide and the details of the UN court ruling and Japans response. Today was the prequel to that. Today I wanted to get them thinking about the different values that exist between differing cultures and populations, so I made a powerpoint filled with a variety of photos of people engaging in hunting (or the aftermath-- photo's and butchering). I chose some photos that were very blase and some that were specifically chosen to elicit an emotional response in viewers, like one of a man standing over two prone seal pups aiming a rifle at them. I asked them to make a chart in which they listed the animal species and whether they were comfortable or uncomfortable with the type of hunting or activity depicted (I did include some fishing photos). It started off easy with a few photos of some fileted trout and panfish. Then we went on to striped bass and goose hunting and deer hunting. All of these are staples of the local diet and activity for a portion of the year. Moving on, we looked at national pics of hunting elsewhere in the US, and finally, photos of people hunting around the world, for animals like wolves, lions, gazelle, zebras and kangaroos.
Not surprisingly, most of the students were very much in support of local hunting, but very much against hunting animals from foreign countries such as Africa and Australia. Afterwards, I asked them to look at their remarks and draw conclusions on any trends they saw. Some said they were against hunting animals that were "cute" or animal from "movies, like Madagascar and the Lion King." We then discussed the impact that culture has on our beliefs of the acceptability of a given practice, such as hunting. We talked about locational biases relating to the population numbers of various species, and how things that are rare where you live can often seem more worthy of preserving than things that are common. I asked them all how old they were the first time they went hunting (8-10 years old) or fishing (3-5 years old) with their families. I asked them if they felt that these activities were culturally significant to them and their family. Most said yes. We then talked about how it would feel to have someone from outside your culture or family come in and tell you that you can't do something you have always done, regardless of their reasons. We also watched two videos that lead us into next classes activites. One video showed native Indonesian fishermen hunting in groups out of large canoes for sperm whales. It was an unbiased video from the BBC that talked about differences in culture and why these men hunt whales (to feed their families). Then we watched a very biased video by Whale Wars depicting the Japanese fleet hunting a Minke whale. We talked about the differences between the two situations, the advanced technology used by the Japanese, and the bias that the video displayed, and how it was designed to elicit an emotional response. I am hopeful that they will remember our activities today when we work on the actual meat of the lesson on Friday this week, and try not to let their own cultural biases cloud the issue. My goal is for them to look at the science, and the science alone, in order to make an informed decision without letting feelings and culture interfere. :-)
Things I am thankful for today:
Not surprisingly, most of the students were very much in support of local hunting, but very much against hunting animals from foreign countries such as Africa and Australia. Afterwards, I asked them to look at their remarks and draw conclusions on any trends they saw. Some said they were against hunting animals that were "cute" or animal from "movies, like Madagascar and the Lion King." We then discussed the impact that culture has on our beliefs of the acceptability of a given practice, such as hunting. We talked about locational biases relating to the population numbers of various species, and how things that are rare where you live can often seem more worthy of preserving than things that are common. I asked them all how old they were the first time they went hunting (8-10 years old) or fishing (3-5 years old) with their families. I asked them if they felt that these activities were culturally significant to them and their family. Most said yes. We then talked about how it would feel to have someone from outside your culture or family come in and tell you that you can't do something you have always done, regardless of their reasons. We also watched two videos that lead us into next classes activites. One video showed native Indonesian fishermen hunting in groups out of large canoes for sperm whales. It was an unbiased video from the BBC that talked about differences in culture and why these men hunt whales (to feed their families). Then we watched a very biased video by Whale Wars depicting the Japanese fleet hunting a Minke whale. We talked about the differences between the two situations, the advanced technology used by the Japanese, and the bias that the video displayed, and how it was designed to elicit an emotional response. I am hopeful that they will remember our activities today when we work on the actual meat of the lesson on Friday this week, and try not to let their own cultural biases cloud the issue. My goal is for them to look at the science, and the science alone, in order to make an informed decision without letting feelings and culture interfere. :-)
Things I am thankful for today:
- The nice ladies at CCBC student services who helped me to sort out the error I kept getting when I tried to register for my Spanish class.
- My parents, for fronting the money for my first class (I think I already mentioned them once, but today I actually paid the bill and was again thankful!)
- The opportunity to have lunch with my whole department and have solid, enjoyable conversations that didn't necessarily relate to our jobs. It's a nice change to not "talk shop" at lunch every day.