Social Change
Questions and Quotes from each piece:
· In the first piece, I am wondering about the ways in which we can combat or actively pursue what Kaufman brings up, specifically how she notes the ways of European tradition and how there is more cohesion between community and the individual in those areas of the world allowing for both increased individual growth and freedom as well as a more unified, less conflicting society, how can we as Americans bring these ideas into practice to change the way we see each other and be able to recognize the potential our collective human nature has in challenging social order?
o “In a society where people are bound together by networks of deep relationships, the social order changes and adapts to make way for the needs of all members of society.”
o “It is a life of give and take” — the individual is there for the community while the community is there for the individual
o “There is no conflict between the individual and society when people are able to develop freely”
· Cornel’s piece — How do we begin to achieve the “spirituality/communal aspects of Democracy even in this time of advanced technology and market culture?
o “Nurturing spirituality is so difficult today because we are bombarded by a market culture that evolves around buying and selling, promoting and advertising…”
o the idea that we must continue the fight in our tradition of struggle for “decency and dignity, for freedom and democracy”
o “Ultimately there can be no democratic tradition without nonmarket values”
· Ivan’s piece — Why do we do these projects instead of going to these places to immerse ourselves in their culture, explore their country and learn instead of trying to pretentiously “help” them almost in a way of belittlement? Or How can these projects come off as less pretentious, or is the answer to just simply eliminate them all together?
o “It is increasingly unfair for you to impose yourselves on a village where you are so linguistically deaf and dumb that you don’t even understand what you are doing, or what people think of you.”
o “When you and you middle class Mexican counterparts meet, you will be told that you are doing something valuable, that you are ‘sacrificing’ to help others.”
Connections made:
· I think the first two definitely have more obvious connections to each other than the last one does, but they can still all be connected and related in some way.
o The first two connect in the sense that they were both emphasizing the need for communal connection between individual people and the communities as a whole. This is so that there may be more care, more inclusion, and just overall less tension and conflicts because people will ideally be living amongst deeper more interrelated relationships with one another, looking out for each other and looking out for the community as a whole (“give and take” while also straying away from the “market culture” that Cornel says keeps us from living in the spirituality and morality of democracy).
o I found a connection between the third piece and the other ones through the idea that it seems to be important that we achieve a sense of community and understanding in order to be able to do any sort of volunteer work in a more genuine way. Or, alternatively, this acknowledgement of the need for understanding and respect for others, especially of a different culture and language, will help us recognize our place and how our actions truly affect them and how it makes them feel.
· Connection between text and community partner:
o I can somewhat connect the third piece to the community engagement mostly on the idea of respect. Respect in that, the idea of volunteering isn’t in a “do-gooder” sense as Ivan describes it, but is an opportunity for us to be in an environment where the social issues students face are being challenged and give us the opportunity to learn about others and create a sense of connection and establish community.
