Hello ASTU class! Didn’t have the chance to read your fellow classmates’ blogs this weekend? There’s no need to worry! I’ve written a summary of the class’ collective thoughts for your enjoyment! Each and every one of the unique ideas and connections you shared helped to broaden my outlook and these insights are the focal point of tonight’s class blog. I have chosen to segment my summary and review into two themes that were consistently woven into the discussion: global citizenship and the value of bias.
The Effects of Interpretive Communities on Global Citizenship
The submissions by Mariana Baldivieso, Andrea Barraza, and Mckaylee Catcher all focus on relating the idea of an “interpretive community”, an integral aspect of remembering as discussed in “The Role of Interpretative Communities in Remembering and Learning”, to our program’s guiding concept, global citizenship (Shahzad). Within this common theme, each blogger identifies different connections between the concepts and places value on different aspects. Mariana personalizes this connection by discussing how her greatest influencers, her parents, embody the term global citizens. Her relationship with and proximity to two global citizens is vital in the ongoing creation of her own views and ambition for seeing change. I have extended this observation to hypothesize that global citizenship in one’s interpretive community fosters and grows global citizenship in others. Andrea Barraza furthers this by reiterating what we are learning through the combination of CAP courses; she proposes that the classroom, as it is made up of interactions with ethnically and culturally diverse peers, serves as an interpretive community, similar to Mariana’s. With a broader perspective, Mckaylee Catcher enters the conversation with an optimistic tone towards the importance of globalized communities. The basis of her argument is that interpretive communities, such as the ones discussed in the aforementioned blogs are contributing to the creation of a world free of the biases that come from generations of misleading media and discrimination. Diverse and progressive communities allows us to remember and translate the past as diverse critical thinkers. The thread of global citizenship that runs through these blogs has sparked my interest about how the effects of interpretive communities can be associated with the world’s current trend of rapid and transformative globalization.
Bias: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly?
Numerous other blogs discussed the role of bias in shaping our perceptions of the past and present. I would like to bring our attention to Harnoor Sidhu, who provides a slightly counterintuitive interpretation. Harnoor disagrees with the stereotypical connotations that are typically associated with bias arguing that biased literature is often highly valuable, allowing readers to glean the perspective of the writer, as well as their cultural influences. Harnoor is not trying to convince her readers that biased writing or media cannot be misleading or highly discriminatory, but she is urging people not to blindly dismiss it and view it as an opportunity to learn. This argument is compelling to me as this outlook on bias is crucial to our collective growth when it comes to interpreting scholarly writing. Rowan Likes shares the value that Harnoor places on biases and takes the point further by discussing the importance of mitigation between individual remembering and interpretive communities. According to Rowan, a healthy balance between the two is what promotes the rounded and dynamic mindset that we have associated with global citizens. His reasoning behind his point is that although the influences of interpretive communities are an important aspect of remembering and learning, there is importance in having individual experiences through literature and the real world. Rowan attributes healthy relations between the two as key factor in ensuring we have the ability to create our own autonomous thoughts, while still being influenced by others. From my individual experience thus far, the CAP program actively works to provide such a balance and strives to develop the students into diverse critical thinkers.
Works Cited
Shahzad, Farhat. “The Role of Interpretive Communities in Remembering and Learning.” Canadian Journal of Education 34.3 (2011): 301-316. Web. ProQuest. 1 Sept. 2014.