Hamish Robb
Global Studies Portfolio
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Selected Reflections
On this page, I have selected my three favorite Global Studies events and their respective reflections. Unfortunately, I cannot post all of them and I cannot assume that most people want to read through the brick of text that is my event journal.
5/3/18 - New Haven Trip (IRIS & Kiss play at Yale Rep)
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Since we first started learning about the refugee crisis, my understanding has changed more than I expected. One assumption I had about refugees was that there was a risk that some are terrorists. My position then was that the risk was worth it due to the humanitarian crisis. However, I learned at IRIS that this was not nearly as true as I had thought. The emphasis of the talk we were given was on the processes that refugees go through to get to America. I think it was really effective at hitting me with the reality that most refugees can barely get by in their camps, let alone come to America and somehow fall through the cracks to operate as terrorists. Another realization I had from IRIS was how effective misinformation and propaganda has been at painting an unfair picture of refugees. The refugee crisis is politically polarizing because most people do not see it on a micro scale. For my understanding of refugees, this was the best place to learn about it because it was a direct interaction with people who work with refugees.
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In the same topic of understanding the refugee crisis on the level of how it affects refugees, Kiss also helped me understand more. I could relate to the idea of a western audience completely mischaracterizing something from another culture. It was a very similar topic as the one I framed my college essay on. Learning the cultural context for references such as the titular kiss completely changed the atmosphere of the play. I love analysing works for intentional deeper messages, so I naturally liked Kiss.
2/15/18 - Many Faiths, One Conversation
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When I first decided to attend the Many Faiths, One Conversation Salon at the Harriet Beecher Stowe house, my expectation was that the event would be more focused on the role of organised religion in a secular society. Not that I believe that arguing is necessary, but I came in expecting that there would be some drastically opposing views at some point. I also expected a larger audience for the conversation. However, the event was more geared to the role religion plays in personal spirituality. Each of the four women had a unique and deeply personal religious journey. I think that the connection between each of Abraham’s Daughters was not so much that they belonged to the same group of religions but that they all formed a personal connection to their religion. The most interesting story told that night was from the woman who had converted to sufism after exploring the world and falling in love with the middle east. Every sentence she spoke of her journey, I was trying to roughly profile what religion she represented, and I did not even consider sufism. Overall, by the end of this event, I realized that bringing in opposing views to a conversation like this was not the point. It reminded me of my time taking the Comparative Religions class with Dr. Doyle last year because we learned about the differences between organized religions and personal spirituality.
10/28/17 - Oneika Raymond
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I first connected with Oneika when she talked about how important it is to dig deeper as a traveler. Specifically, she was talking about her travels in Mongolia, and her experience living with some local people. I was intrigued by the fact that she was able to eat and sleep with people who had lived there their whole lives. This reminded me of the time I went down to a place called Canyon de Chelly in Arizona. I had been on a road trip across the southwest, hiking and taking photos wherever I could. My best experience on this whole trip was taking a six hour long Jeep tour down Canyon de Chelly. Our tour guide, an old woman named Irene, was one of the few people that lived in the Canyon. We talked all about Navajo traditions, linguistics and history. At the end of the day, I felt a lot more fulfilled from the tour than any other time that I had just taken pictures and left. There are two levels of depth when traveling: face value and digging deep. If you go to a place for the museums, tourist areas, and photo spots, you’re seeing the more curated face value of a location. Digging deep is a lot more challenging, especially because you can never be sure if what you’re experiencing is real. Oneika suggested that the best way to do this is to arrange to stay with some local people. The second best way is take a tour, which is what I did. I never thought on the days before I met her that I would agree so strongly with Oneika about the value of digging deep while traveling.
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When Oneika came to the Global Studies classroom, we read a short story by her about an experience she had in Egypt. She had been robbed on the streets and was extremely frustrated. When an old former tour guide wanted to guide her around and help her out from the kindness of his heart, she tried to push him away. It was only when she saw his room full of old artifacts that she realized that she was being prejudiced against him based off of one experience she had. This reminded me of my college essay, which is also about Canyon de Chelly. I came to the Canyon with the idea that Native American culture was in ruins and completely hopeless. I learned from my conversations with Irene that I had fallen for the same kinds of stereotypes I thought I was impervious from.