Journal Entry- Culture Shock

Today in field study preparation class we talked about culture shock. We talked about an assigned article called "Coping with Culture Shock" by Ferraro.

In this article, there are stages in culture shock that travelers go through:

• The Honeymoon Stage
• Irritation and Hostility
• Gradual Adjustment
• Biculturalism

When we talked about these stages in class, our teacher, Ashley, said that she didn't want to number them because it's not that black and white or straightforward. In fact, we will probably go from one stage to another and then back again, maybe even to square one, throughout our trip.

Current Events

Today in my field study prep course we talked about current events in the Tibetan-in-exile situation, and how they might affect our experience in the field. One major one that was talked about was the current elections that took place recently, and about how the results will be announced a little before the time we will be entering the field, which will mean that the community will be buzzing with the changes and fresh faces in government.

Another subject we talked about was the tug-of-war going on between India and China over Nepal, and how this took a toll on the recent elections. Many exiled Tibetans were not allowed to vote in the recent elections. Is this possibly a result of the recent generous donation China gave to Nepal? Having Nepal on its side, China has an advantage over the Tibet-India alliance.

Another event we talked about was the possible retirement of His Holiness the Dalai Lama from his role as political leader. I just found a brief article moments ago that says that this retirement was accepted, but I will continue to search around for some more depth in this subject.

So after a class full of current events and a few questions about our upcoming lives in McLeod Ganj, I feel as if I'm a square one again. It's a different square one than when I started my journey in developing a project, IRB protocol, finding a mentor, etc etc etc. This square one is purely on a board of knowledge. Knowledge about the religion and politics of the people with whom we will be working. Sure we are learning and researching and trying to piece together enough to understand something, anything, that can help us in the field. But reading and living are two very different things. I can research and read as much as I can, but the plain and simple fact is, I am not living there and don't understand the effect that religion and these current events are having in the lives of the Tibetans. These events are going to affect their lives, and because I will be living with them and working with them, they will affect mine as well.

Online Journal- Ophelia Syndrome

"How do I feel?" "What do I think?"

These questions are raised by an article I read called "Diagnosing and Treating the Ophelia Syndrome" by Thomas G. Plummer.

Ophelia Syndrome is when a person is "chronically ignorant, chronically dependent, and chronically submissive." They are not able to think independently and just allow all of their thoughts and actions be dictated by what others tell them to think and do. The author lists several treatments for this:

Treatment 1: Seek Out and Learn From Great Teachers, Regardless of What They Teach

Treatment 2: Dare To Know and Trust Yourself

Treatment 3: Learn to Live With Uncertainty

Treatment 4: Practice Thinking from Different Points of View

Treatment 5: Foster Idle Thinking

Treatment 6: Plan to Step Out of Bounds

Journal Entry/ Annotated Source

For my field study prep course, I was required to find and read an article that touches on the family structure in Tibetan families, specifically with stratification, or hierarchy. I was very glad to be able to find an article that was specifically about this topic, and I was even able to find it in less than an hour!!

"Stratification, Polyandry, and Family Structure in Central Tibet" is an article written by Melvyn C. Goldstein about marriage and family structure in Tibet, and how the decision between monogamy, polyandry, polygamy, etc. is based on social status and the politico-economic rights and obligations that are associated with this status.

Exiled Tibetan Women- Journal Entry

For my field study prep class, we were asked to find an article or source relating to gender, families, or marriage that's related to our area. I looked for a long time and found a few sources on Indian gender roles, but it has been very hard to find much on exiled Tibetan population. This has been a frustration of mine during research; that not a lot is said on the people I will be living with and studying in the upcoming months. I know that I will be studying in India, but because my project deals primarily with the Tibetan population, I wanted to find something that I can really understand in context while I'm abroad.

There is a book called Feminism, Nationalism, and Tibetan Women in Exile written by Alex Butler.

Journal Entry 7

The group that I will be traveling with to India got together and watched the film Seven Years in Tibet this weekend. That film, along with the reading The Making of Modern Tibet by A. Tom Grunfeld that my field study preparation class assigned us to read, has shed a little light on the history of the area in which we will be studying.

The thing about history is that I don't think it's ever unbiased. It has been written by somebody, and nobody is a completely neutral source. Everyone brings some sort of opinion to the table in any work. There will always be details deemed unimportant by the writer, yet may have importance to another. Something will always be left out or it will be mutated, in a small or large way, sometimes unintentionally, and perhaps sometimes not.

Journal Entry 5

My field study preparation course has recently required us to read some cross-cultural field research sources and then to analyze them, locating and identifying things such as method, audience, sources, etc. One article that I read was one that was written specifically about McLeod Ganj, India, the area in which I will be studying. Although I was supposed to be practicing "speed reading," and therefore read it via "skimming," I found it interesting and plan on reading the remainder of it thoroughly, seeing as it directly relates to my project. From what I gathered while speed-reading the article, I have learned that Tibetan culture rests in the Tibetan people, and their continuation of this culture is the only way to continue their identity as Tibetans, otherwise, they will just be a minority Chinese race.

Journal #1

I have been thinking a lot about my project recently. I originally wanted to compare parenting styles used by Tibetans to the styles that have been established and studied here in the US (according to Baumrind). However, after reading the article "What Students Don't Learn Abroad" I decided that this wasn't the approach I really wanted to take. Instead of comparing, I want to strictly observe and learn about their parenting styles as free-standing and original.

Of course, because I have learned and studied the styles taught to me here at BYU, some sort of comparison, whether it be intentional or not, seems inevitable. I would, however, like to try to be as unbiased as possible as I observe and create categories instead of trying to fit my observations into pre-made categories. Instead of using the parenting styles I have studied as set-in-stone-categories, I will use them as very primitive building blocks.