Author: cla521

When I was trying to decide which museum to visit, I decided to pick the Long Island Children’s Muesum. Not only have I been working at the Long Island Children’s Museum for 5 years and have been able to experience the different exhibits that are available to visitors over time, I chose this museum because it showed a different perspective. At the Long Island Children’s Museum, their exhibits are a reflection of what topics that this museum believes are important to teach and convey to children. The LICM has always emphasized the importance of implementing informal education systems as well as creating a space for visitors to have a good time. Even though the LICM is different from traditional museums where they don’t always have specific artists’ works highlighted over time, they do curate exhibits based on trends/themes that they want to highlight at the moment. For example, they had an exhibit last summer that featured the artworks of four Shinnecock artists in order to help teach visitors about Shinnecock traditions as well as share the stories of someone who is part of the Shinnecock nation. The LICM, just like any other museum, curates their exhibits based on a certain theme that they want their visitors to experience.

Recently, an exhibit currently on display is titled “Your House My House.” It is an interactive space where visitors are able to experience while gaining insights about houses and cultures around the world, highlighting different customs and how that is impacted by the environment that surrounds each respective culture. “Your House My House” revolves around the idea of how important it is to educate children about other cultures while also encouraging them to respect those who are different from their own. As kids are still having their minds shaped and constantly curious, the museum created a space that brings familiarity while introducing new things. 

The “Your House My House” exhibit’s careful planning and execution are demonstrated by how well it can depict the subtleties of daily life in many different parts of the world. This methodical approach fosters a greater knowledge of cultural distinctions while simultaneously offering tourists a visual feast of architectural diversity. The creative curation of this exhibit is exemplified by two unique homes: a stilt house from a Malaysian fishing town and a Mongolian herder’s ger. Beyond a simple visual depiction, the exhibit in the Mongolian herder’s ger entails an interactive experience that captures the distinct way of life of a nomadic population. Visitors are taken to the rugged expanses of Mongolia by the artisan curtains that adorn the walls of the ger and the unique pieces that provide a look into the daily lives and customs of Mongolian herders. This meticulous attention to detail not only draws attention to the architectural features but also emphasizes how important handmade goods and cultural artifacts are in defining a community’s identity. Similar to this, a Malaysian fishing village’s stilt house provides guests with a tactile experience by including real props that depict the way of life for those who live in such homes. It also includes a boat where kids are able to ‘fish’, which introduces the main source of income to these villagers that represent the way of life there. The exhibit’s focus on these particular dwellings not only broadens visitors’ perspectives on life around the world, but it also invites reflection on the humanity that unites people from seemingly dissimilar cultures. By providing opportunities for direct interaction with a variety of living situations, “Your House My House” acts  as a starting point for the disassembling of these preconceptions and the development of a respect for the various world cultures.

In a world where diversity is seen everywhere, this exhibit is something that I find significant. Even in the modern world when many different cultures coexist, prejudice toward traditions and rituals that are different from one’s own is still a major problem. Such prejudice frequently results from ingrained attitudes and practices. Exhibitions such as “Your House My House” are essential in questioning and transforming these deeply held beliefs. Through immersive experiences that highlight the diversity of homes and cultures across the globe, these displays hope to foster a tolerance that may not have been taught in other settings, especially to younger generations. It is hoped that these activities will help dismantle preconceived notions and promote a more tolerant and open-minded society by providing personal exploration and exposure to the complexities of global diversity in a space designed for kids.

“Ching Chong Chinaman” by Lauren Yee highlights the personal struggle of trying to find ones identity, while offering a satirical exploration of specifically cultural backgrounds and the manipulation of these identities to achieve selfish intentions. Throughout the play, we are introduced to Desdemona who is the family’s eldest daughter and is determined to make it into Princeton University. We are shown time and time again exactly how Desdemona believes she is to get into Princeton: the usage of cultural backgrounds that she does not necessarily understand the hardships those of that community have gone through.

An example is Desdemona’s relationship with Kim Lee Park, a Korean orphan that Desdemona sponsored. Kim Lee’s sponsorship was for Desdemona’s own personal gain rather than trying to relieve Kim Lee’s suffering and difficulties. That is evident when Desdemona slaps Kim Lee due to the fact that Kim Lee did not give her enough words for her essay. “Now listen, you stupid little girl, I need an essay and I can’t wait till you FEEL like it!” (Yee 22). Kim Lee is only wanted by Desdemona when she has a need for Kim Lee, like when writing the essay, but when doing other things, Kim Lee is deemed irrelevant. “Desdemona…Desdemona…I am so hungry.” “Go eat your yak.” (Yee 66). This interaction between Desdemona and Kim Lee emphasizes how Kim Lee is only of use and basically cared for when helping Desdemona and practically neglected otherwise.

Not only using other people’s identities, Desdemona takes advantage of her own family’s. After taking a heritage test, she finds out that her family had lived in Mexico and is immediately thrilled due the fact that if “she is Latino”, she has more of a story to tell to college admissions. “About being Latino? Are you kidding? This is SO much better. I’ve researched it: Hispanic girls like me face huge obstacles in their lives. Discrimination, lack of access to education and contraception” (Yee, 56). Even though Desdemona has never gone through any of these struggles in her life, it is the idea of “being Hispanic” that is alluring to her because then she will be able to add this onto her application.

This is something that however is prevalent in our society today. People want to claim that they have a cultural identity that they either don’t have or have no understanding of the struggles in order to gain a step ahead. There is a stigma of how colleges love sob stories and with that, one can get into the best possible universities. There is some truth in this and if this continues, then it will begin to deteriorate the meaningfulness of having gone through that suffering. If there is a reward for having a unique background, the very idea of it being unique could eventually lose its meaning.

Have you ever had to leave everything behind? Have you ever had to uproot yourself from the only life you’ve ever known just to ensure your survival? These are some of the difficult questions confronting refugees who embark on perilous journeys to escape their homes that have become so tainted by conflict, political turmoil, and instability, while enduring unimaginably  and sometimes inhumane conditions throughout the journey. However, as empathetic as we may strive to be, we must acknowledge that these are questions we can never fully grasp. While we understand that it may be challenging to leave behind a familiar world, we can’t truly comprehend the experience, as we’ve never lived through it ourselves.

 In Jonas Power Rasmussen’s documentary “Flee,” we accompany Amin Nawabi, a refugee who fled Afghanistan and shares his journey with an interviewer. Initially, our impression of Amin Nawabi is that of a courageous man who has endured unimaginable hardships, a survivor marked by a difficult past. He is someone that we cannot relate to, someone who has a perspective that we could only imagine to understand. However, as he recounts his experiences to the interviewer, we begin to see a more humanized perspective of him as he describes the miniscule details and complex layers of his ordeal. 

While on the surface, we understand that conflict and urgent circumstances compelled Amin’s family to leave Afghanistan and their home, the film gradually reveals a far more intricate narrative. It becomes apparent that escaping Afghanistan does not guarantee safety, and the complexities of their situation come to light as the story unfolds. One specific sequence that I believed was particularly moving was Nawabi’s recollection of his journey to Denmark. Despite the dangers and hardships of his escape, it was his connection and interaction with his fellow traveler and friend that humanized him. As the two boys navigated through their perilous trip, we were able to watch a close bond being forged between them through shared experiences and an understanding of each other’s fears. Nawabi’s unspoken affection for his companion and acknowledging his feelings is what added another layer of humanity in my eyes. Amidst the harsh realities of his situation, this reminded us that Nawabi was not just a refugee who was facing the unimaginable, but also a human being with ordinary emotions, desires, and connections. It emphasized that there was a common theme in the human experience, even in the most trying circumstances. 

If you click Instagram or Tik Tok, you will see a post of a bunch of photos that seem to give the viewers a look into their seemingly perfect lives. There is an impression that the creator casually just threw a bunch of random pictures from their camera roll onto social media yet still remained to be aesthetically pleasing. This trend of having every photo, no matter how seemingly random, be aesthetic has created a pressure for people to perceive their lived experiences as dull and looking to the ‘perfect’ lives that are seen on social media as what they have to achieve, even though most of the time the life that is seen on those photo dumps, as these posts are called, are not achievable or true.  

This trend of creating these casual yet aesthetic instagram posts has stemmed from the fact that with the advancement of technology and the constant availability of a camera that our smartphones offer us. In Susan Sontag’s essay, “On Photography”, it describes the evolution of photography from when it was hard accessible to the modern times where it is practically always accessible, and has changed the meaning of photography. “Recently, photography has become almost as widely practiced an amusement as sex and dancing—which means that, like every mass art form, photography is not practiced by most people as an art.” (Sontag 5). That may be true as we use photography for things as simple as taking a picture of a grocery list so that we don’t have to physically carry one around. However, with the increasing popularity of the trends of curating aesthetic photo dumps, it has become more of a type of art. Each photographer has a specific meaning or idea that they want to convey to their viewers and that is what causes it to become art. In “When Staged Photography Becomes Art,” Elena Martinque mentions that staged photography has emerged as an art form. “Rather than capturing the moment, artists make specific choices when staging their images. By consciously placing elements and arranging compositions, they create the events, environments or emotions.” (Martinque). 

When people post on social media, they only want to post what makes their lives look shiny and perfect, not about the hard realities that life can actually hold. Even though what these creators photos may look as if it was just hastily taken with no serious care, the photos has a specific meaning or outlook that they are trying to put out and in turn showcasing an unachievable and romanticized aspect of their lives, while trying to make it so that it is as natural as possible. The fact that it looks so natural causes people to grow misconceptions on what reality actually looks like rather than this flawless, curated aspect of one’s life.

I have never been able to figure out what to consider myself. I am too Korean to be American, but I am also too American to be Korean. It was a struggle that I have had to navigate throughout my entire life. It never helped that there was a constant comparison that was made between my family and the other families one could see in America. Everyone would have large family dinners during weekends, special occasions, and holidays, but for my family, those large dinners would come once or twice a year if we were lucky enough to travel to Korea or my extended family were able to visit us. 

However, even with all of this confusion, a fact remained the same: I was Korean and so was my cultural heritage. Even though we were only able to visit Korea and see my family occasionally, I was raised with the same traditions and values as every other Korean. As Franchi states “Cultural heritage implies a shared bond, our belonging to a community”, that is the idea that resonates to me the most when I think of my definition of  cultural heritage. When I think of cultural heritage, I think of the values and traditions that every Korean shares. For example, in my culture, respect, especially to those that are older than you, is an important and essential value that is shared by every Korean. All Koreans use 존댓말 or jondaemal, which is a formal way of speaking, to each other until they are close enough friends to drop those formalities. Jondaemal, however, is not dropped when talking to an adult where there is a significant enough age difference. Franchi mentions how cultural heritage is often thought of as “artifacts (paintings, drawings, prints, mosaics, sculptures), historical monuments and buildings, as well as archaeological sites” but has “gradually grown to include all evidence of human creativity and expression” just like it is seen my own culture with something as common and large as the language spoken.

I believe that for me, my cultural heritage lies in my everyday actions and things such as the tradition of making sure that the eldest at the table eats first, the jondaemal I use to address my parents, the language I speak, the homemade Korean food that I eat, the Korean music that often plays in my house, and more. To some, it may seem like these are all everyday things, but these small things that differentiate me from people who aren’t Korean make up what I consider to be my cultural heritage as one day, future generations of Koreans will be doing the same.