Journal Entry- Kundun

Yesterday, I watched a movie called Kundun, which was about the life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. The movie was well done, and from what I understand, relatively accurate (considering it's still a movie and therefore has limited time). It was enjoyable to watch it and learn about H.H. the Dalai Lama, and to be able to see a little more of the culture and religion that is so strongly present in Tibetan families and communities.

Something that was interesting was the character that represented the oracle in the story, which was brought in on two or three occasions. I did not know that this was a part of Tibetan Buddhism, and I wasn't sure how to react to those scenes because I am not used to seeing a ceremony like that. I know that there will be significant cultural differences, and there will be things I see, taste, hear, and feel that I never imagined I would, but I wonder how I will react. I wonder if I will feel awkward or if I can remove myself from the situation a little and look at it through different eyes. I wonder if these cultural differences will affect my project.


I know that I have talked a lot in previous entries about how differences between culture and beliefs is going to influence parenting and influence how I look on things. The only way I can really know to what extent these influences reach into my experience and my project is by going abroad. I won't know until I get there. I can prepare and try to make the boundaries of my question and project more permeable, more flexible. How can I do this?

• I can't be too specific. That's why I changed my question from "what are the primary parenting types in Tibetan families" to "What do Tibetans consider to be 'good parenting'."
• I need to be prepared to change this question again if needs be
• I need to have multiple methods to gather data incase one or more becomes difficult to use.
• Structured Interviews
• Unstructured Interviews
• Surveys
• Group interviews?

Something else I would like to do to prepare is really study the culture and religion a lot more. We have readings and I've been trying to find articles and books that relate to my topic, but I think I forget how much Tibetan Buddhism relates to my topic. This is something I would like to learn a lot more about.

In order to have a more flexible project, I will begin independently studying Tibetan Buddhism, and I will begin to have more options to obtain information to answer my question. I will also continue to meet with faculty to discuss my question and methods to see if this will really work well for me.