Thoughts on Session #1

[Anonymous]

I was impressed with Professor Clay Dube's presentation. The lecture was filled with solid facts concerning East Asia cemented together with relevant anecdotes that perfectly portrayed the lecture's focus. For too long history textbooks in the West have marginalized the contributions of Asia. The spotlight seemed to be always focused on the Great Wall. Students were left with the impression that China, for example, wanted nothing to do with other world civilizations. I was impressed by the "Freeman Story" and reassured that powerful organizations exist to promote awareness of Asian cultures and their enormous contributions to humanity

[Anonymous]

East Asia and all its conflicts reminds me so much of the Middle East though the reasons for the conflicts are completely different. God bless the US that has only two neighbors and one of them is Canada! I found the first session so so interesting. The game of chess that is played between nations is so interesting specially because very rarely are the masses put into consideration, kind of like LAUSD and its students.
edited by ccastaneda on 4/17/2012

[Anonymous]

I am in the same boat at you are of being grateful that my class includes 15 minute SSR. There were a lot of reading that I needed to catch up with. I even spent my lunch time juggling eating my lunch while catching up with our reading assignments simultaneously. There were a lot of interesting facts that I didn't know about so my readings had a lot of highlighted on it.

[Anonymous]

There is so much information in the news about China - some of which requires a historical perspective. The problem is presenting students with information that will help them form a personal perspective from various points of view so as to foster a balanced, retrospective view moving forward. That is my challenge as well.

[Anonymous]

I was in East Africa recently (which is why I missed the last two sessions), in the country of Uganda. I was especially aware of evidences of trade connections that I saw while there. Although I did not see too many foreigners (I would guess maybe 5% were non-Africans), those that I did see were predominantly Westerners or South Asians. One day I did see a few East Asians (Chinese, I think) in the heart of Kampala, but most of the businessmen that I saw were South Asian, which makes sense given the proximity to the Indian Ocean. Many of the material goods that I saw, from automobiles to boxes of tissue, were imported from Japan and China, I believe that while South Asians might tend to have a larger physical presence in the region, it is the Chinese that has the most extensive trade relationships established there.

[Anonymous]

I was struck by the population and geographical size of Japan in comparison with the population and size of California and have shared that more than a couple of times with students and friends. Definitely puts things in perspective!

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

Dear Colleagues,

Please share your thoughts on the session with Clay in this thread. There are is no structure for the comments. We are really interested in hearing your thoughts, comments, and suggestions on the lecture and readings.

Our next session is Monday, April 16 from 4:00 PM - 7:00 PM in the same conference room.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

Best,
Yingjia

[Author]

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