Online Poster Session
Issue of Economic Immobility: How Can Education Bridge the Gap?
Virtual Poster Catherine Siew Kheng Chua, Li Mei Johannah Soo
The impacts of globalization have been discussed in both academic and public domains as it continues to expand in various directions. In order to prepare people to perform well, government bodies are placing emphasis on equipping people with the "right" education to innovate and ride global trends. Moreover, education acts as a great social leveller and plays an essential role in providing opportunity for individuals to succeed. However, in reality, to acquire the desired education can be a challenge and this progression from lower to middle and upper class can be immensely restricted. One reason for this is that admission to school is determined by academic performance, which are influenced by families' financial position. Using Pierre Bourdieu's "The Forms of Capital" (1986), we discuss how the process of globalization has redefined multiple forms of capital and exacerbated social inequalities. Although the concept of social inequality is not a new phenomenon, we argue that the process of globalization makes it more difficult for certain groups of people to possess, accumulate, and convert capital into desired wealth. This study stresses the importance of implementing policies that seeks to address the problem of equity in education; it argues that implementing policies that aim to treat everyone fairly and provide equal access can only be plausible if all people are placed at the same starting point and require the same amount of help. Using Singapore as an example, "all schools are good schools" only when "unequal" support is given to different groups of Singaporeans.
Globalization of a Sacred Narrative: Situating India's Ramayana Traditions within Colonial, Postcolonial, and Neoliberal Global Contexts
Virtual Poster Eddie Boucher, Lindsay Russell
There are several important studies that discuss the diversity of India's Ramayana tradition (Richman, 1991; Lutgendorf, 1991) and others that analyze the various political and social uses of this myth-historical sacred narrative (Gopal, 1991). However, there is a significant gap in the literature in the treatment of the Ramayana and its position within globalization. This paper seeks to address this gap by analyzing the uses and diverse subjectivities of the Ramayana in colonial, postcolonial, and neoliberal global contexts. Our approach is diachronic as we analyze translations of the narrative over time in the effort to explore the complex roles of translation, appropriation, and promotion of a cultural narrative in relation to varying waves of globalization. Our paper comprises three sections. First, we consult primary-source translations of the Ramayana by Christian missionaries and British colonial agents in the early and mid nineteenth century. In this section we discuss ways that these early works are used to represent India in the broader justification of British colonization of India. Next, we explore ways the Ramayana was interpreted and translated by Indian scholars in postcolonial India and further discuss how these works served to both reclaim the narrative and to promote a favorable image of Indian religion and culture to the world. Finally, we critique neoliberal globalization as we discuss how modern Indologists in the West have produced more recent translations of the Ramayana that serve to both appropriate and promote the narrative within the globalized contexts.
The National Association of Black Social Workers Completes Forty International Education Conferences: Conferee Perspectives of NABSW's Mission and Code of Ethics
Virtual Poster Sevaughn Banks
The National Association of Black Social Workers, Inc. held the first annual International Education Conference (IEC) in the Bahamas in 1975. Since that time, IECs have been held throughout the continent of Africa, Europe, North, Central and South America, and the Caribbean. 2017 commemorates forty conferences which have operationalized and actualized NABSW’s mission of enhancing the quality of life and empowering people of African ancestry through advocacy, human services delivery, and research. NABSW integrates Afrocentric ideology, the seven principles of Nguzu Saba, and the seven principles of Ma’at. Critical race theory is illuminated in this paper. A phenomenological approach is matched with Afrocentric ideology as each traveler experiences each conference significantly and uniquely different from everyone else with respect to time, place, and space. A mixed method approach sought to uncover how NABSW implements its mission and the ways in which the mission is actualized, from a attendee-centric perspective. The virtual poster will employ photovoice where pictures, stories, and mementos will be shared with attendees invoking a sense of shared experience. A forty-item quantitative and qualitative survey was administered via the NABSW membership list serv. Members were able to complete a Word version of the survey or could opt to complete it online in Qualtrics. Purposive sampling made it necessary to send the survey to previous IEC conferees, who may not have been members, but may have traveled with NABSW. They completed a Word version of the survey or could opt to complete it online in Qualtrics. Three complementary focus groups were scheduled and completed. Two focus groups targeted attendees. One of the groups targeted previous conference coordinators. SPSS was used to analyze quantitative data. Nvivo or Dedoose was used to analyze qualitative data. The focus of this research poster will be qualitative aspects of attendees' responses, including desire to travel to Africa/African Diaspora as their first conference experience, desire to travel with NABSW because of its focus on the African experience, and desire to travel with NABSW because of its professional reputation. Attendees gave several examples of ways in which NABSW integrates Afrocentric ideology and principles into its international education conferences, including but not limited to a focus on African history in the locale, reiteration of harmony and justice in workshop presentations, and rolling workshops and the Black Family ritual focuses on African (American) food and customs. Social work educators will learn how operationalization of Afrocentric theories translate into applied practice in global arenas. They may be motivated, as a result of listening to the stories, seeing the photos, and handling mementos, to implement global perspectives of justice and advocacy in their curricula.
Mediating Sustainability Through the Story of Tea
Virtual Poster Shu Ling Chen Berggreen, Shu Ling Chen Berggreen
Next only to water, tea is the world’s most consumed beverage. However, more than just a drink, tea also embodies cultural, economic, and political meanings through time and across cultures. There is an essential tie between the media and a meaning-making process. It is the media that often creates/carries the visions of health, tranquility, and environmental friendliness offered by tea. Media’s creation/recreation of this image persists even in the face of vast human inequalities and suffering and negative environmental impacts through the current practice of tea production under global conglomerates. First cultivated in China more than 5000 years ago, tea is now cultivated in more than 50 countries around the world, so forest cover must be cleared for this, and there are other environmental impacts, such as soil erosion, water contamination, and air pollution. Further, when monoculture farms are created for tea cultivation, natural predation systems are altered, allowing more insects to flourish and higher use of pesticide. The monoculture farm methods also contributes to habitat loss, threatening the survival of many species. Media’s mythic narratives naturalize and celebrate the current production practice while silencing the pain and suffering endured in order to gratify the very practice and consumption promoted by medium. The goal of this study is to analyze the infinite intersections of media and the conceptualization and consumption of tea and raise the public awareness of environmental impacts stemming from the current tea production process with the hope of gradual reduction of these negative outcomes.
