Dance 211 Research Paper
Part 1: Dance 211 has truly been a unique class unlike any other that I have taken in the past, from the course topic to a new way of learning. While my focus was on the Philippines, I was able to learn from my peers about a wide range of topics from Chinese lion dance, to Buddhism, and Japanese Butoh dance to name a few. I am not going to lie, it took some time for me to adjust to this new way of learning. I think it is clear in the way my logs began compared to how they ended. It took time for me to turn from just reading the books and watching the videos to actually understanding and appreciating what I was reading. In the beginning of the semester I would spend so much time just watching videos of Filipino dances thinking that
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Geneseo is the most diverse school that I have ever gone to. While I am grateful and respect my past teachers, I can’t help but look back and be shocked at how much is left out of world history or other classes. I know in your powerpoint you said not to include that you learned diversity is important, but to be honest I did not fully understand the importance of it until this class. As sad as that sounds, it is true. The Dalai Lama was just a familiar term I had no context to whom this actually was or their role in Tibet. Dance 211 gave me the opportunity to learn about the history of these countries from a lense that was not promoting western culture while teaching it. Personally, my favorite class in high school was American History, and I can remember learning about how the United States had colonized the Philippines. What was left out was the Payne-Aldrich Tariff, which significantly stunted the growth of the Filipino markets. Or even that the Philippines had a plantation system where the indigenous people were thrown into slavery. I don’t blame my high school or teachers in specific, I think it is more a universal problem throughout the United States. I can still remember one the first classes you had commented on how general education requirements only include one non-western civilization class but two western civilization classes are required.
Geneseo is the most diverse school that I have ever gone to. While I am grateful and respect my past teachers, I can’t help but look back and be shocked at how much is left out of world history or other classes. I know in your powerpoint you said not to include that you learned diversity is important, but to be honest I did not fully understand the importance of it until this class. As sad as that sounds, it is true. The Dalai Lama was just a familiar term I had no context to whom this actually was or their role in Tibet. Dance 211 gave me the opportunity to learn about the history of these countries from a lense that was not promoting western culture while teaching it. Personally, my favorite class in high school was American History, and I can remember learning about how the United States had colonized the Philippines. What was left out was the Payne-Aldrich Tariff, which significantly stunted the growth of the Filipino markets. Or even that the Philippines had a plantation system where the indigenous people were thrown into slavery. I don’t blame my high school or teachers in specific, I think it is more a universal problem throughout the United States. I can still remember one the first classes you had commented on how general education requirements only include one non-western civilization class but two western civilization classes are required.