GHS208-05 Fall 2019 China and the Islamic Middle East

On the 4th of December, Professor McGrath hosted a discussion with regards to the impact new technologies are having on religion today. It was a very interesting discussion, and very open to the opinions of the group. Dr. McGrath introduced us to the subject through some of the new forms of technology impacting religion in our world, such as the use of apps that generate prayer for the user, or robotic priests that are becoming common in Europe and are performing tasks such as baptisms.

The part of the discussion which I found the most interesting was regarding the topic of recorded sermons. In today’s age, less people are going to physical churches or places of worship to participate in sermons, and instead are relying on live streams or digital recordings of the sermon. One of the faculty members in the discussion brought up a verdict the Catholic church had came up with that essentially discredits watching a previously recorded sermon as receiving the same benefit as the sermon offers to those physically at the sermon. However, live streams, which involve being in the same space and time as the sermon while just watching it from home, are acceptable in receiving the benefit of the sermon. So clearly there is a fine line in what is acceptable when it comes to technology affecting the benefit of prayer and sermon, and this was very interesting to learn about as I’m sure in this digital age many people are relying on media for religious matters.

The topic of religion and religious studies is something I’m not all too familiar with, so it was much easier for me to engage in and receive the messages of this sermon as it connected with many current forms of technology and technology use. I brought a friend to this discussion and he too said he really learned a lot in the brief time we were at Dr. McGrath’s discussion. So kudos to you Dr. McGrath!  And thank you for putting on such a wonderful break for our final studies!

Something really cool that I got to do this week was interview someone close to me about Islam—my dad! I figured he would be a good person to talk to because he teaches 7th grade social studies, and in Indiana, that’s the year that social studies covers religions of the world. I wanted to compare how we study Islam in a collegiate setting to how he teaches 12 year olds. We chatted for 30 mins, so here are some paraphrased highlights!

He explained that he teaches Islam through a unit on Western monotheistic religions. He goes kind of chronologically, starting with Judaism, then its connection to Jesus and Christianity, and Islam comes up later as Muhammad lived after Jesus. He tells the origin story of Islam and how Muhammad lived around a lot of polytheism but encountered monotheism probably through travel and trade. After sharing the work of Muhammad and explaining the origins of the religion, they talk about what it looks like to practice the religion today.

After studying Islam at a college level, I was initially surprised how briefly my dad covers the topic. But, then I considered that the 7th grade curriculum is a lot broader and moves more quickly, making connections across many religions and parts of the world.

Another thing that kind of shocked me was that my dad sometimes gets backlash from parents just for teaching Islam. We’ve talked before about how he very consciously teaches from facts and history—so angry parents are usually just upset by the fact that Islam is being taught in the classroom at all. He says it’s not often that he gets backlash, just an email or phone call every once in a while, but it really surprised me that parents would be upset enough to contact him. I wondered, after this conversation, if his students ever directly questioned the teaching of Islam in class, and he said that it was much rarer. They tend to regurgitate what they’re taught at home but are generally more willing to learn and engage with the content.

This reinforced my thoughts about the importance of religious literacy, that I think has come up a bit this semester in class discussions. If we are knowledgable about what is being taught in public schools, I’d hope there is less backlash about students being presented with information and equipped with the tools to analyze and interpret for themselves. It was really cool to talk to my dad about the subject he teaches now that I have a stronger background in it!

When we were driving to the class yesterday we weren’t sure what to expect, but when we got there we were greeted by some of the people we met at the international festival! I did not think that they were going to actually trust us with real swords, but they did! Other members who weren’t able to be there for our class left their swords for us to borrow! These swords aren’t the sharpest, but if you had one and you needed to do some damage, you definitely could! We got to learn Yang style 32! It is one of the many routines that they all knew, and it was very long with a lot of different steps! We learned the first half in class, but no one mastered it! The one woman that was helping us told us it took her about a year to master the whole thing! These routines are very technical, they have very specific hand and foot placement and you can feel like you are doing it right, but the odds are you’re doing it wrong. Everyone there was very nice and encouraging! I actually had a bunch of fun learning the routine and I felt very powerful with a sword in my hand, it was pretty cool! If anyone ever gets the chance to do a sword class like we did, I would 100% recommend it!!

Last night I was able to participate in a Taiji Sword class through my ICR. Through the IACA we were able to take a class at Master Ling’s Taiji School in Noblesville. I had not factored in rush hour before leaving so I was a little late, but I really enjoyed the class. Dr. Ling himself taught our class and showed us a basic form that is practiced. Last year I had taken the Tai Chi PWB and had thought that this class would be similar, just with a sword. I was very wrong. I learned that the sword aspect of taiji added a whole other component than what I had learned last year in class. It also could have been that last year I learned a different style of taiji than the one that we practiced last night. I thought it was a little awkward holding the sword with my right hand as I am naturally left handed, but Dr. Ling had said that the sword is held in the right hand as most people are right handed. I thought it was really interesting learning some of the different movements that are practiced and the names of those movements. At the end, Dr. Ling and some of the other people that were helping with the class showed us the full form. I thought it was really interesting seeing the form in full and watching the different movements of the sword.

The process of creating a website was somewhat challenging. We chose to use Wix and it wasn’t as bad as what it could have been, but I also wasn’t the group member who ended up with all their work deleted either. My section ended up appearing fairly simple which was intentional. I tend to like things clean and very organized in life, so that was reflected from my page on our website. I enjoyed working with my group, and I feel like everyone contributed equally. It was also really cool that three of the five group members had first hand information from visiting the mosque for their ICR hours. Learning about their experience and having them incorporate that into the website definitely made the website much better in my eyes. Hopefully by the next time we all have to work on websites in the future, we can figure out how to work through some of the kinks and issues a little more smoothly. Luckily, it all worked out in the end and I feel like we ended up with a decent website overall.

For our final group project my group decided to create a website about China. The website was done in a blog post or article style where we had the homepage with different posts about various topics relating to China. Different topics we included were: music and television, fashion, traditions, philosophies, food, and history. We thought it was a good idea to have a wide range of topics all in one centralized page.

This would allow people who visit the site to have easy access to a multitude of topics, so that they could get a flavor of everything that China has to offer. On my portion, the historical aspect, I used a lot of hyperlinks within my post to link to my various sources. I found that when searching for Chinese dynasties and history overall, there were plenty of sources which had similar/accurate information. Some websites were harder to read so I chose the sites which were the easiest to understand.

We chose Wix to build our website, which has a free service allowing people to bypass writing their own HTML code which can get complicated. There were a couple downsides to using Wix including moving images and formatting in general. While we couldn’t get the website to look exactly like we envisioned it was still good enough for using a completely free service. Working in our group was fun since each person was able to work independently on their own post, allowing for us to focus in on our varying interests on China.

I thoroughly enjoyed the group project and thought it helped bring a lot of information together on the class. I wish that we had more projects like this throughout the semester because it not only helped build our knowledge for the class topics but also allowed us to interact with each other more than just in class.

Our Website

I was in a group with six people: Will, Patrick, Michael, Taylor, Maddy, and myself. We made a website on Wix. The information below is what I put on the website.

CONFUCIANISM
Confucians’ believe humanity should have loyalty and reciprocity. Confucius believed “do not do to others what you would not want others to do to you.” He thought everyone should be on their best behavior. Humanity is also known as jen in the Chinese culture. By having courtesy, good faith, diligence, and kindness, one is then a gentleman. Filial Piety is a popular Confucian term. It means children should serve and respect their parents and those who are above them.
Confucius lived from 551BC- 479BC. He was from a noble family and received training in writing, reading, and music. When he died, he failed to have mentored a ruler. He wanted China to return to the ways of Zhou, but China was divided and in turmoil.

LEGALISM
Legalists wanted to end the turmoil in China also. They believed that human nature is selfish. It is natural for humans to like rewards and pleasures and dislike punishments. Laws are the way to go because they should entice loyalty, bravery, and obedience. Legalism was popular during the Qin dynasty (256BC to 221 BC).

DAOISM
It is said that people were Confucians’ at work, and Daoist individuals in private. Daoism offered refuge from responsibilities for people. Daoist individuals should have beneficence and should be discarding profit.

Last Sunday I wrapped up my time at Nur-Allah. I am so thankful to have served here, and I will take what I have learned with me into my future. The people that I met were so kind to all of us, and understanding when we asked simple or silly questions. Going in, I had a very small amount of background knowledge, and knew practically nothing about the Nation of Islam. However, through this experience I gained wonderful knowledge in both Islam and the Nation of Islam. The kids at the mosque were so sweet, and so smart. I know that we were supposed to be helping them learn, but at times it felt like they were teaching us. The sisters there were always ready to help, and I truly looked forward to our service time every Sunday. I never knew what we were going to be doing each day, but I knew that it would be rewarding because we would be helping out the kind people there. I am so grateful that I got to serve here, and I can’t wait to go back to visit these kind souls next semester.

This semester I had the opportunity to participate in the ICR component for GHS 208. After having found interest in Chinese culture during the beginning of the semester I decided to volunteer for the Indianapolis Association of Chinese Americans (IACA). While the experience was short in time I gained a lot of knowledge and experience that I’ll take with me for the rest of my life.

One of the best experiences I had this semester occurred during the first couple weeks of school, a lunch that the entire class was invited to. The lunch was the first time I was able to meet Benny and Kwan, two members of the IACA. We all enjoyed traditional Chinese food while discussing a range of topics from the Hong Kong protests to what living in China is actually like. I was able to gain a first hand account of people who actually lived in the country, something I’ve never experienced before.

Another fun opportunity this semester was visiting Newfields museum. Benny personally took me and a couple other students on a tour of Newfields during a beautiful October day. We got to see the gardens outside and then headed inside for the exhibits. One of the coolest pieces of art I saw was an earthenware sculpture of a man on his camel. While this doesn’t sound particularly interesting this piece was quite special because it depicted a caucasian man riding the camel. The sculpture was produced around 700AD, placing its origin during the Tang dynasty. The piece showed just how interconnected East Asia was with the Europeans. A prime example of how the Silk Road bridged culture gaps between the two “sides” of the world.

One of the most fun experiences was getting to participate in the Indianapolis International Festival. The first day was interesting because we had the chance to meet with the IACA and interact with the various cultural booths set up. Getting an opportunity to speak with people of a myriad of backgrounds in such a compact space was really cool. I got to see just how similar yet different we are as people, even though our lineages may be from opposite sides of the globe. The second day of the international festival I got to participate in the Lion Dance, a traditional Chinese dance which symbolize’s good luck. The experience was super fun and I got to connect with the Chinese community in a way I never would have if not for ICR.

To sum up my ICR experience overall I had a lot of fun. Participating in various activities brought me out of my comfort zone. The experiences opened up my mind and made me realize that not everybody lives their lives in a similar manner. That while we’re all human we have a special cultural identify which helps define who we are. Understanding and mingling with different cultures helps you gain more perspective on the world, leading to a greater level of critical thinking on issues you encounter everyday.