“Bridging Cultural Ties and Understanding: International Education Within and from China - Oregonian” plus 1 more

Bridging Cultural Ties and Understanding: International Education Within and from China - Oregonian

Posted:

Published: Wednesday, January 26, 2011, 3:07 PM Updated: Wednesday, January 26, 2011, 9:12 PM

Some see China on the rise as a strategic threat to the interests of the U.S. and its allies. Others see emerging China as a source of opportunities for new markets and new relationships in the global economy. On both sides of the discussion, most observers acknowledge the importance of international education in promoting changes in China's political economy.

On Tuesday, Feb. 8, Clark College economics professor James M. Craven/Omahkohkiaaiipooyii will share insights from his teaching experiences in China as part of Clark's 2010-2011 Faculty Speaker Series.

The event, which is free and open to the public, is titled "Bridging Cultural Ties and Understanding: International Education Within and from China." It will be held from 4-5:30 p.m. in rooms 258 B&C in the Penguin Union Building on Clark's main campus.

Clark College is located at 1933 Fort Vancouver Way, Vancouver. Driving directions and parking maps are available at www.clark.edu/maps.

Craven/Omahkohkiaaiipooyii is a consulting and visiting professor of economics at Tsinghua University in Beijing and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. He said, "My knowledge of new approaches, needs and constraints in international education programs in China is based, not only on my own teaching experiences there, but also on discussions with Chinese officials who are charged with recruiting, structuring and monitoring new programs in international education. Those efforts are impacted by China's shifting policies and imperatives on education and foreign policy."

Craven/Omahkohkiaaiipooyii will also discuss shifting attitudes within China toward the West and "what international program content China is prepared to allow into China, what it will not allow, and why."

About James M. Craven/Omahkohkiaaiipooyii

Professor James M. Craven, a dual U.S. and Canadian citizen, is a veteran of the U.S. Army and a member of the Blackfoot Nation. His Blackfoot name is Omahkohkiaaiipooyii. For more than 30 years, he has taught economics, geography and ethnology from undergraduate to post-doctoral levels. A professor of economics at Clark College, Craven/Omahkohkiaaiipooyii is a consulting and visiting professor of economics at Tsinghua University in Beijing and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, where he serves on the editorial board of the journal "International Critical Thought."

As recently as 2010, he has presented papers and taught a graduate course at Tsinghua University in Beijing. He has also presented papers, published in peer-reviewed journals, at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Additionally, he has been a guest lecturer at Yunnan University in the province of Yunnan and at the Minzu University of China. Located in Beijing, Minzu University has been described as the most prestigious of China's 13 "minzu," or "nationalities" institutions, serving students from minority groups. Founded in 1911, Tsinghua University, China's second oldest and largest university, is considered by many to be the premier sciences university in the country. Its graduates include many members of China's current leadership.

Meeting with members of the Government of China as well as leading Chinese educators, Craven/Omahkohkiaaiipooyii has participated in discussions related to international education, national minorities in China, and U.S.-China relations.

Craven/Omahkohkiaaiipooyii has taught in the United States, Europe, India, Puerto Rico, Canada and parts of Asia. In addition to English, he speaks six languages and is currently learning Mandarin Chinese. He has been featured in various Marquis "Who's Who" publications including "The World"; "America"; "The West"; "Science and Engineering"; "Finance and Industry"; and "American Education."

About the Clark College Faculty Speaker Series

The Faculty Speaker Series, established by Clark College with support from the Clark College Foundation, honors individual faculty members and celebrates academic excellence.

The Faculty Speaker Series showcases experiences that have enriched both the life and teaching of a Clark faculty member. Throughout the series, faculty members share their developmental experiences with the college community -- and members of the community at large -- while addressing some of today's most intriguing issues.

Past Faculty Speaker Series discussions have focused on rich and diverse topics including the Fulbright international teaching experience and sustainable food choices as well as timely discussions of issues relating to health, science, writing and art.

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php
Five Filters featured article: Collateral Damage - WikiLeaks In The Crosshairs.

Cultural revelation and a good soak in St. Petersburg - Los Angeles Times

Posted:

reporting from St. Petersburg, Russia —

I tell Valentina it's my first time in a banya and that I've forgotten to bring birch branches. "Oh, I'll flog you with mine," she says, offering typical Russian hospitality.

She begins whacking my back as we sit on long wood benches in the parilka (steam room). Whack! Whack! Whack! The beatings continue for a minute or two as green bits fly about. I wince.

"Now it's my turn," she says. I return the favor but am timid. Valentina could be my mother. "Harder!" she says. I quickly locate my inner peasant and flog away. "Aaaahhh," she says, sighing.

Well-worn paths to understanding the Russian soul suddenly feel inadequate: Chekhov and Dostoyevsky, Stravinsky and "Swan Lake," root vegetables a hundred ways. To get under the skin, if you will, of Russian life, get thee to a banya, or bathhouse.

During two previous youthful visits to St. Petersburg, or "Peter," as residents call it, the occasional vodka shot provided well-being. But now in my middle age, a creaky back led me to seek restoration of a different kind as I attempted to resuscitate the language I studied in college 20 years earlier.

Sure, luxury spas and private banyas favored by novye Russkie, the new rich, now proliferate here. But I wanted to feel one with the proletariat, whose spirit still lurks just steps from the trendy cafes and boutiques lining Nevsky Prospect, the city's main thoroughfare.

Thus only an old-school, Soviet-era public banya would do. Worried about the spread of disease, Vladimir Lenin had ordered these built to cleanse the masses who poured into the cities and cramped communal housing after the 1917 Russian Revolution.

Long also an important social ritual, the banya traditionally marked births, weddings and deaths. And it still provides a relaxing afternoon out with friends. Poet and author Alexander Pushkin called it "a second mother" to Russians, offering renewal and comfort. (He never met Valentina.)

A quartet of giggly, middle-aged women join me at the entrance to the Coachmen's Banya. They enter through the door marked "Luxe," a fancier option increasingly available. But as a woman of the people, I eschew upscale surroundings in favor of the standartny. The friendly clerk takes my rubles and assigns me a metal locker. After disrobing, I enter the cavernous, utilitarian red and white washroom as water trickles from taps and showers.

Even on a Monday afternoon, the place buzzes. It feels like the Khrushchev era with a "Workers of the world, unite!" vibe: Wash, flog, relax … then climb back on the tractor or assembly line.

Do I appear a decadent Westerner despite our union in nakedness? Nyet. Paunchy older women predominate, but all ages, shapes and classes are welcome. The women are friendly but focused on relaxation. And no one cares about an extra 10 pounds caused by a runaway blini habit. It's freeing.

Most of the women arrive in pairs. I'm solo, finding no takers among my bemused friends, who looked at me as though I were crazy, begged off with previous commitments — the Hermitage! the Amber Room! Laundry! — and took off faster than a Moscow taxi driver.

Meanwhile, Valentina, a veteran, notices me looking discombobulated and approaches. "Here's a free bench, there are the buckets," she says. My toiletries now settled among the rows of metal benches, I shower, then enter the steam room.

The fresh smell of venik, or birch branches, permeates the thick air. The wet heat seeps into our muscles as we recline on hot, long benches (don't forget a towel) in the dark, wood-paneled room. I'm slowly, pleasantly, turning into an inert lump.

After steaming for a few minutes, I return to the washroom for a dip in the ice-cold pool, then a brief rest. Enter Valentina and the flogging, after several trips between hot and icy. The cycle repeats for nearly two hours until we're thoroughly relaxed.

Bathers control the temperature in the steam room by throwing water onto rocks heated by a stove. (Wood-burning are considered best.) It's similar to the Finnish sauna, also thought to have arisen in medieval times. The principle? Sweating out toxins is hygienic, improves circulation and promotes a sense of well-being. In Russia, the flogging process further contributes.

At one point, a red-capped Amazon enters the infernal parilka and barks something indecipherable at two women who had begun to flog each other. She ladles water into the stove, the temperature spikes and steam spews forth as if a volcano had erupted.

I quickly cover my face, and my back feels as if it's on fire. Borscht, ballet and Bulgakov suddenly seem preferable routes to the Russian soul.

No one moves. Then whacking begins in earnest and green bits fly. Is this why Russians tolerate life's vicissitudes better than the rest of us?

Cultural

Thursday, February 10, 2011