Showing posts with label Brent. Show all posts

0

First Lima then off to perspective.

Posted on Friday, June 7, 2013

Peru, a place unlike any other place i have been to.  I have traveled to almost all the major cities in the United States and have met people of all ethnicities and beliefs along my travels.  I have sat on bus stops with all walks of life and have shared thoughts with many folk. Through my travels and studies I always keep an open mind to perspective and beliefs, this is where i get my knowledge.  Perspective is history, feelings, and understanding of one's surroundings.  This trip is biology based and with that being stated I have been having my mind blown by the amount of knowledge I have gained and more importantly the amount of knowledge my fellow students hold in their brain
s.  I can not fail to mention the amount of knowledge that both Dr. Kolok and Dr. Davis hold as well.  Personally i do not study biology but i am an international business major with a minor in Spanish.  My intentions for this trip was to take in as much of the biology side of the trip as possible but to practice my Spanish as much as possible.  When applying for this trip I focused my application on social issues and social economical issues because that is what I care about most when regarding globalization raped world we live in now.  Only the third day on this beautiful trip to Peru and there is so much I have learned about Peru and how Peruvian intellects think.  In America we study economics as capital, or for the purpose of profit and do not touch on the demeanor of the capital or the profit itself.  I have been talking to professors, students, and workers about this and it has brought a smile to my face.  Here they focus on social reforms and also are conscious of social economics.  Before I go on, this doesn't include the entire Peruvian population but it does include those I have talked to and the knowledge that has been blessed upon me in classes.  The complexity that encompasses the politics here is amazing.  You have a country with political leaders trying to maneuver the land toward extraction for raw materials and you have indigenous populations still here and not as assimilated like much of the North American Indians are today in the United States.  They also face the same problems they face when the Spanish first came with their exploitative conquest to rape them of their culture and land.  These people refuse to give up their lands that feed them, themselves, their souls, and feed their live stock.  Ironically enough the game of exploitation runs just as deep through the veins of the politically powerful and these people are still committing crimes against the people and the land.  Here in Peru there are many opinions and these opinions walk the thin line of subsistence living, capitalistic ventures, history, and economic growth.  This is a quick run through with a big F-YOU to your GDP.  Tomorrow i will be touching on details on conversations, lectures, and overall experiences.
Salud y Buena vida.
To my dear friend Cristal.

0

Dear Lima,
I love you.  My journey here has increased my understanding of ethnocentrism a lot.  Day in and day out I have been keeping my eyes wide open for sights, smells, and perspective.  What I have kept close to my conscience is the fact that i do not know how this world works completely and that everyday is a day to learn something new.  Some people live their lives as if they know everything and as if they know why people are the way they are based off no factual evidence.  Asking questions and experience are the only ways to combat one's own ethnocentrism.  We have been instilled with codes and values that at times turn our perspectives in to bias and judgmental domes of ignorance.  This translates with every countries peoples.  It is not just a sickness of the United States but people from every where wave flags of misconception as if a patriot of misunderstanding.  A great example of gaining perspective was a lecture i attended at the University of Antonio Ruiz de Montoya, a Jesuit college here in Lima.  In regards to the reader this school is the University that is hosting "us" college kids from Omaha and they're doing some really beautiful and progressive ventures here. The lecture was given by a highly intelligent lady named Carmen Ilizarbe.  Her beauty matched her words of the politics and social issues that have invaded Peruvian life for many years.

Powered by Blogger.