Week 5

Hmm, I managed to fall behind again. Oops. I do not kid when I say that this program has a lot involved with it.

So, I will try and be brief. The crux of this week for me was being the discussion leader alongside David. Our studies in Conflict Management this week involved human needs theory and structural violence. Human needs is what it sounds like. Picture Maslow's Hierarchy of needs. Except, in the realm of poly sci, we see people aggressively trying to entertain all of their needs at once. Maslow might be rolling in his grave. This was a neat throwback topic for me, considering my psych undergrad. More recently (during week 7) I have been listening to an CD lecture while in the car that reminded me of the power of self-actualization. I am in charge of my self. I will graduate with a 4.0. Haha. Anywho, violence covered structural, cultural, and direct violence. I spent a lot of time thinking about how hate is perpetuated by way of cultural violence during this week. It wasn't really related to IPM at all. I just found myself thinking about how we treat immigrants in our country, whether legal or not. This focuses most on Latin American immigrants. It isn't like our subtle little hatreds (and yes, we all have them and participate in cultural violence) are limited to the US. This is worldwide, it always has been, and it always will be. So, I made a bit of a pact with myself to try and put myself in the shoes of Latin Americans. I will think about the cold early mornings, outside of home depot, or a large gas station. All that they want to do is work, and work hard at that. Yes, it is challenging right now, and you could argue that they are taking jobs from rightful US citizens in this time of economic straights. If you want to work that badly, get your ass out there with them, learn a trade. They aren't above it, they are human, you are too, thus, you are not above it. Dang, I went on a rant. One with no clear point either. It is late.

So, I thought that it was really engaging to read my co-students postings, think about their position, and offer some direction for their future explorations. This is what I liked most. While it was time consuming, I felt it time well spent. However, it was this week that I noticed that the instructor can be a little too blunt. Confrontational maybe. I am sure she is just trying to play devils advocate, but I have reconnoitered with some other students, and I am not alone in this sentiment. It feels like the professor may see us as, to borrow someone others words, stupid. My jury is still out on intentions, but I will make note of it here. It may have to wait for my post 1st semester debriefing to avoid conflict. After all, I have given all of my profs this website info. Shhhh. They might be spying on me right now.

At any rate, I got full credit for this exercise. I am very proud of this. Next week is my first exam, which I began studying for. It is in my international governance class, which I feel I have a very good grasp on. All of the information to date falls so nicely into theories and levels of analysis. Theories being: realist, liberalism, and the neo's of both, with a few sub groups in there as well. We look at all of these through 3 levels of analysis: individual (1st), state (2nd), and international (3rd). Look at that! I just studied with my blog! Too bad I have already taken the test and got my grade back in real time...

Till next week.