1 10 91 http://exhibits.library.stonybrook.edu/WUA/files/original/0f699af6f0a266a32c0290ccdd04a530.pdf 9f315ccfee02fe3c0b7f675b57a537a3 PDF Text Text Naveed Ahmed, Daniel Coyne, Susmita Chakraborty, Brian Khaneyan AAS 307 SECTION ONE Person interviewed: Margarethe (Maggie) Adams Interviewee’s title or position: Margarethe holds many titles in obtaining a B.A. in Russian and Soviet Area Studies and both a M.M. and Ph.D. in Musicology. She also holds a position as a professor of music and an assistant professor of Ethnomusicology at Stony Brook University. On top of being an expert and pioneer in her field, Maggie is also a wife, a mother and a provider for her family. Date: Wednesday Nov 11 , 2015 th Time, and length of interview: 1:08:32 Via Audio Recording Your objective in conducting this interview: The initial focus of the interview was to address and develop a vivid analysis of ethnomusicology, but further developments in the interview led us to poke at the role of women in ethnomusicology, the countries that Maggie visited, the role of women in said countries, and what exactly it was that got her interested in her field of work. SECTION TWO With a little direction from Professor Christoff we found Margarethe Adams on the Stony Brook University department of music page and began to putting together a little bit about her career and prior education. We decided to centralize our focus of the interview on Ethnomusicology. However, prior to the interview we could only manage to grasp a vague interpretation of what Ethnomusicology was. Thankfully, Naveed and Brian had already taken a class with Professor Adams and that allowed us to really have our first foot in the door, on a personal level. What �really helped us structuralize our interview was when Naveed and Brian both expressed how easy it was to talk to Maggie and how passionate she was about what she taught in class. We decided as a group beforehand to use Maggie’s strengths and passions to guide us through the interview. With a malleable backbone, our interview was led in directions and to topics we never would have expected to cover if we had sought otherwise. We learned that sometimes, the best journey is one that is most unexpected, making the end of the road that much sweeter. We sent Maggie a couple of emails prior to the interview to clarify a couple of specific details. We conversed about a few topic questions from which we created a sample outline of potential questions that are listed below: -In our previous correspondence, you defined ethnomusicology as combining anthropology with music. Can you elaborate on that? -Did you have any familial influences that affected your decision to pursue a career in ethnomusicology? -Were there any obstacles you faced as a woman pursuing a career in ethnomusicology? How were your experiences different compared to male colleagues? -What contributed to your decision to switch from Russian and Soviet Area studies to focusing on musicology for your Ph.D.? -How would you describe the living conditions of the women living in the areas you have worked in? -What aspects of a society’s culture are reflected by its music? How do you feel this differs from country to country? Can you make any comparisons? -According to your profile on the University’s Department of Music page, your next project is a study of music and Islam in Central and Inner Asia. How is the project going? What are your findings so far? -Do you have any words of advice for aspiring ethnomusicologists out there? -What were some of your favorite countries to study and do work in? �SECTION 3 We got more than complete answers to our questions in our interview with Margarethe Adams. We were fortunate enough to be interviewing someone with her extensive experience because we were able to ask one question and be responded to with answers that were easily several minutes long at a time. Not only did she more than sufficiently answer the questions that we came into the interview with, but her responses would raise different issues and touch on things that we may not have even been aware of. This would lead to many spontaneous followup questions and requests for her to elaborate further on all the great points she was raising. Even though our group had done our preliminary research on Margarethe and her work, we understood that a career as extensive and diverse as hers simply can not be summed up in the brief biographies and descriptions we were able to find online. Because of this, we chose to have our interview be a middle ground between being structured and unstructured. The preliminary research allowed us to form a list of questions that covered the main points we wanted to cover. However, we did not want to prepare all the questions beforehand and risk the interview being too structured. This would make us feel obligated to adhere to that structure and potentially miss out on things we may not have considered, as well as making the conversation feel monotonous and forced. Our decision ended up being for the best, as we maintained a basic structure while at the same time giving the interview some wiggle room to diverge and just let the conversation flow organically. Most of the information we got out of this interview ended up being the result of that. As the conversation started to come to a close, we had a question or two from our list that was unanswered. Margarethe had no problem backtracking for us and answering them, and this allowed her to give a more focused opinion and answer than when we just let the conversation go wherever. Having our interview be a mix of structured and unstructured was definitely the right decision. In moments where we felt that we needed to steer the conversation in a slightly different direction, we used our probing questions. We started off the interview by asking “Could you �please describe what ethnomusicology means to you?” and Margarethe’s response to this served as the foundation for the rest of the interview. Later on in the interview when she spoke about her experiences working in different parts of the world, we found ourselves particularly interested in her work in Kazakhstan. We decided to ask her on the spot “Could you please elaborate on your experiences in Kazakhstan?” as that was one of the places she particularly focused on throughout her career. This question got her to tell us about the idea of Islam in Kazakhstan and how different people and cultures interpret the same religion differently. She went on to give examples of this in how Kazakh women would dress and how people would embark in pilgrimages. We certainly would not have gotten this thorough response from her if we worded our question in a different way, such as “Why did you focus so much on Kazakhstan?”. This certainly demonstrates the importance of probing questions that do not create an unintentionally biased response from the interviewee. Daniel handled correspondence between Margarethe and us and arranged the interview with her by e-mail. All of us contributed to the pre-interview research and helped compile questions. During the actual interview, Susmita setup the audio recording on her laptop. After that, there was not necessarily a division of tasks. All of us were equally part of the conversation with Margarethe and passed around our list of questions. We all jotted our own notes throughout the interview whenever we saw fit. This meant that even when someone was writing, the rest of us were there to keep Margarethe engaged at all times through conversation, follow up questions, eye contact, and non-verbal gestures. While Margarethe did not give us any particular references to articles or people to research, she did incorporate the experiences of other people in her answers to our questions. One particular instance of this was when we asked her about her experiences as a woman in the field of ethnomusicology and the challenges it presented to her. This brought up the issues of being a pregnant woman or a mother working in the field, as well as sexual harassment experienced by women in different countries. She would not only share with us her personal �experiences, but the experiences of her colleagues and friends and just what she has observed throughout her career. It is certainly understandable that she would not want to disclose names of any of her colleagues who experienced terrible forms of sexual harassment, for the sake of their privacy. SECTION 4 Interview Notes:  Ethnography: specific geographic focus; performance; primary mode of research  Kazakhstan: many cultural clashes; political ideology & music  Politics → music in public places → propaganda o Are the people of the country buying the propaganda?  Role as woman o Gender big part of ethnography o Gender roles in society  Marriage in 30s  El Monty, Kazakhstan  Political ideology through institutions o Familial connections  Old model vs. new model of ethnomusicology o Research through literature vs research through socialization  Traveling with kids  Trip in China (middle of winter)  Bus trip  Some sexual harassment o Some women attacked o Kazak festival...incident with elderly gentleman o Married women seen as not available o No special treatment to them because of them being American  Countries that end with “-stan” → Muslim stereotypes  Reverse culture shock: very diverse communities exist there o Research question: how are women examining themselves after fall of the Soviet Union?  Idea of worship  Feeling of spirituality  Pilgrimage vs. going to mosque  Going to pilgrimage as tourists during Soviet era  Pilgrimage → what is it doing that social structure isn’t doing? o Reasons...fertility, legal issues, etc o No major lifestyle change (go once and it’s over) o Businesses revolved around practice (busses, travel, hotel)  Being a “proper” Muslim o Wearing hijabs/religious articles of clothing  Those who are Muslim but do not wear hijabs: are we less Muslim?  Music and belief? o Christian and Islam �       Understanding languages → opening doors “Christmas Cake” concept o After 25 years old, women seen as undesirable for marriage Favorite place → China o Year after Tiananmen Massacre o Xiendu (Southwest Province) Worship in performance o How you perform belief Political ideology o Public performance Television o Media, what kinds of media/music are being shown on TV o National holidays → folk music o Imported holidays (ex: New Years) → 70s/80s Russian music How is time reflected in performance? SECTION 5 Throughout the interview, many emerging topics were raised and stayed relevant through the course of the conversation. The most overarching theme was the concept that being a woman had both its advantages and disadvantages in the field of ethnomusicology. While being a mother and a wife opened up many doors to environments that otherwise would not have been explored by a single counterpart (such as daycares, schools, etc), it also came with the issue of safety while traveling, traveling with young children, and the possibility of being sexually harassed. Another huge umbrella theme of the interview focused on the role of how the portrayal and type of music performed or utilized in public places was a reflection of political ideologies being imposed on the citizens. For example, national holidays specific to Kazakhstan would imply music on television to be geared towards traditional Kazakh folk music, while imported holidays (such as New Year’s Eve) entailed Russian music from the 1970s-80s. The fall of the Soviet Era played a huge factor in the shift Kazakhs have taken in learning where they belong in the spiritual and religious realms, as well as seeking a new-found identity for themselves that best express their views. The practice of pilgrimage, which was once perceived as touristic for Kazakhs, was now being observed as a sacred, religious journey, one which is symbolical of that of Kazakhs. �The amount of interpretations that could have been made from Ms. Adam’s interview was limited as the accounts and stories that were told were very black-and-white and to the point. The only room for interpretation was left amongst ourselves after we walked out of Ms. Adams office and was given the chance to take in everything that was said, reflect on it, and sum up key points that Ms. Adams wanted us to walk away with. These key concepts include introspective views of what it meant to be a woman ethnographer, being a wife and mother on the job and having to encounter hardships of travel and being in an unfamiliar place. It also put into perspective how being a woman allowed for a different type of experience for an ethnographer compared to a male counterpart, as women had more familial connections in these societies through children and other children’s parents. Due to the amount and depth of content we were able to walk away with from this interview, our group did not feel that a follow-up interview would have been necessary with Ms. Adams. We did not expect to get the huge amount of material from her as we had originally anticipated, and there were many parts of the interview that were not needed for the purposes of our final project. However, the in depth explanations that we did not incorporate or emphasize greatly in our project definitely contributed to our understanding of the points made by Adams, and helped us better demonstrate the research and career paths taken by Adams and her reflections on her work. Our group was lucky in the way that we had prepared our interview questions to serve as a sort of “skeleton,” which Adams was easily able to attach flesh and meat to because of her abundance of experiences and thoughts to share from. None of the questions that we had come to the interview with went unanswered, and we were able to receive a greater understanding of the type of society that exists in Kazakhstan, as well as other areas that Adams had done research in, bridging the gap of knowledge between what we had perceived these societies to be like and what they actually are. While our approach to the interview with a “skeleton” question list, and actively asking questions based on her answers worked for us, it’s important to note that this approach was a �tactical decision made by the group beforehand. Based on the research we had done, and the prior knowledge we had with Brian and Naveed taking a class with Professor Adams beforehand, we knew that Adams would be incredibly open and accommodating to most of our questions, and would enjoy questions that would naturally come up during the interview. However, some interviewees do not work well with such an approach. An interview that shows this is Nancy Payne’s interview, conducted by: Junbum Hwang, Hosun Jung, and Kyuri Kim. In this interview, the students were interviewing the Vice President of PeaceTech Labs - a position that can be exposed to public scrutiny. Much like a politician, someone with this position in a company would be expected to have very thought out and concise answers, as their answers could affect the company. In their public speaking, they tend to be very careful about what they say, making sure that nothing they say can be either taken out of context, or simply taken the wrong way. The easiest way to see an example of this is through Twitter. Twitter is a social media platform designed to share your personal thoughts. However, there is a distinct difference between the twitter of a politician, and the twitter of one of my high school teachers, @MrReiff on Twitter. I specifically use this example because these two cases are very comparable. Mr. Reiff interacts with other Twitter accounts, having interesting discussions on education, specifically technology education. However, Mrs. Payne uses twitter simply as a platform to promote PeaceTech Labs: “Give the gift of a peace on #GivingTuesday! Help support the @PeaceTechLab http://www.peacetechlab.org/support “ - @NSPayne. This analysis of Twitter profiles can tell us a lot about a person, and how they would respond to interview questions. Unfortunately, Professor Adams did not have a Twitter. Payne seemed to answer the interview questions in a way that is reminiscent of a politician's answers. She would not necessarily dodge questions that asked for a strong opinion, but she would essentially give a non-answer for some of the questions that could have portrayed her in a bad light. With that being said, the interview was still very interesting as she had a lot to say about her company, and the great work it does. I believe that if we had a subject like this, our interview would not have been as �successful with our “skeleton” question list approach. This interview taught us that it is incredibly important to understand your subject prior to interviewing, as it’s critical to create a successful question list and interview approach. However, good planning and prior knowledge of our subject indicated to us that our interview would be successful with our approach. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Women in US-Asian Relations Student Oral History Project Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Adams, Margarethe ; Christoff, Peggy Spitzer -- Senior Lecturer, China Studies. Director of Undergraduate Programs: Asian And Asian American Studies. Subject The topic of the resource Asian Americans--Study and teaching; Women social reformers--Asia; Women social reformers--United States; Oral history Relation A related resource AAS_POL_307_OralHistoryProject; AAS_POL_307_OralHistoryProject_2015 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted (URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/). Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context aas_2015_20160815_madams_doc_dis Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2015-11-11 Description An account of the resource Every fall, students at Stony Brook University in class, AAS/POL 307 (Women in US-Asian Relations), set out to interview women who are committed to enhancing US-Asian relations. Women’s contributions occur at many different levels of society and encompass a variety of occupations. In conducting oral history interviews, students prepare documentation for the Stony Brook University Melville Library’s digital collection and, in the process, acquire deep knowledge about women’s social, cultural, political, and economic roles in the United States and Asia, which includes those in Asian American communities. Each interview consists of multiple files, including: a text document and Powerpoint slides, which were converted to PDFs for this digitization project. The project is a joint effort between the Department of Asian and Asian American Studies and the University Libraries. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Ahmed, Naveed ; Coyne, Daniel ; Chakraborty, Susmita ; Khaneyan, Brian Type The nature or genre of the resource text Title A name given to the resource Margarethe (Maggie) Adams http://exhibits.library.stonybrook.edu/WUA/files/original/f6d962dc8387a343ad82262b75857de7.pdf badc479a3738dd8693252b46668cfeb5 PDF Text Text Margarethe Adams is an ethnomusicologist and a professor at Stony Brook University. Since her childhood, she had a strong interest in Central Asian culture, which culminated in her studying Russian and Chinese as an undergraduate and conducting her first ethnographic work in Kazakhstan. Her main areas of work also include China, Japan, and Mongolia. Margarethe is interested in the political implications of ethnomusicology in the areas that used to be part of the Soviet Union. She looks at music and musical performances and how they reflect these changing political ideologies, as well as diasporas of people who spill over across the borders into other countries. On a cultural level, her work as an ethnographer allows her to shed light on the experiences of women and their roles in these different societies. This contributes to the overall greater understanding of women in the context of USAsian relations. *Audio Clip Plays* As discussed in this sound clip, ethnography is a very collaborative field. The research and subject matter that ethnographers study relies on the conversations and mixing of ideas brought about by discussions between ethnographers. Being a woman in this field is very important, because there is a certain perspective that women can bring to the table in cultural study fields such as ethnography. This perspective would perhaps not be represented if the field was dominated by men. While this is a benefit and a necessity for the field, Adams also brought up that being a woman in academia is very difficult, especially as academia becomes an �increasingly competitive field. She notes that academia requires a full commitment to work, and that most people are essentially working full time until they are thirty. This brings up a problem for most women who are looking to get into the field, as Adams notes there is essentially no time to look for a spouse, or to have children during your 20s to 30s, as this is the time when you would be working the hardest in academia. �Clip 1 - “Maggie’s research and field work lies in a number of different countries, but her concerns remain centralized on the Political ideology and musical performance in Kazaks and diasporas near and around Kazakhstan. For those of you who don’t know what diasporas are, it’s a term that describes Individuals or groups of people that have ventured beyond their native borders and settled.” Clip 2 - “This interview was held in real time on November 11th of 2015, at the Staller Center for Music on Stony Brook University’s West Campus. Maggie Adam’s personal office sheltered our interview for 68 and a half minutes. The space provided us with an adequate environment to tentatively take notes and study our subject. The initial focus of the interview was to address and develop a vivid analysis of ethnomusicology, but further intentions led us to poke at the role of women in ethnomusicology, the countries that Maggie visited, the role of women in said countries and what exactly it was that got her interested in her field of work.” � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Women in US-Asian Relations Student Oral History Project Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Adams, Margarethe ; Christoff, Peggy Spitzer -- Senior Lecturer, China Studies. Director of Undergraduate Programs: Asian And Asian American Studies. Subject The topic of the resource Asian Americans--Study and teaching; Women social reformers--Asia; Women social reformers--United States; Oral history Relation A related resource AAS_POL_307_OralHistoryProject; AAS_POL_307_OralHistoryProject_2015 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted (URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/). Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context aas_2015_20160815_madams_ppt_dis Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2015 Description An account of the resource Every fall, students at Stony Brook University in class, AAS/POL 307 (Women in US-Asian Relations), set out to interview women who are committed to enhancing US-Asian relations. Women’s contributions occur at many different levels of society and encompass a variety of occupations. In conducting oral history interviews, students prepare documentation for the Stony Brook University Melville Library’s digital collection and, in the process, acquire deep knowledge about women’s social, cultural, political, and economic roles in the United States and Asia, which includes those in Asian American communities. Each interview consists of multiple files, including: a text document and Powerpoint slides, which were converted to PDFs for this digitization project. The project is a joint effort between the Department of Asian and Asian American Studies and the University Libraries. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Ahmed, Naveed ; Coyne, Daniel ; Chakraborty, Susmita ; Khaneyan, Brian Type The nature or genre of the resource text Title A name given to the resource Margarethe (Maggie) Adams http://exhibits.library.stonybrook.edu/WUA/files/original/21b755583a51720019eab324574519d1.pdf b9510b2a45ef59904e7458dc35e3cf9a PDF Text Text Person interviewed: Lucille Barale Interviewee’s title or position: Adjunct professor, Attorney, consultant Date, time and length of interview: November 10 at 1pm and it lasted 46 minutes 10 seconds. Team: Paul Nguyen, Stefanie Chen, Christolin Michel Objective: Learning about the roles women play in US-Asian Relations, and Ms. Barale’s career. 2) Our group originally was assigned to perform an interview with Kerry Dumbaugh. We sent her an email on October 20, however we never received a response from her. During the time that we waited for her responses, we researched about her and came up with questions to ask her. Two weeks later on November 3, we sent a follow up email in hope that she would check it in case she forgot however we never did get a response. We figure she may be busy with the current issues in China government and the policies there. Professor Christoff had a backup interviewee for groups that may have issues with their assigned person. Lucille Barale was then assigned to us since we never got a response from Kerry Dumbaugh. The questions we had originally for Kerry Dumbaugh was altered in order to work into Ms. Barale life. Researching Ms. Barale was not a difficult task since we learn a bit from Professor Christoff, she provided us Ms. Barale website, which was lucillebarale.com. From that website we found out that Ms. Barale is a specialist in the legal aspect of business in China. She worked with foreign companies on their investments and acquisitions in china since the 1980’s. We later on found a Linkedin associated with Ms. Barale. From Linkedin, we found that she is currently a “visiting professor” at Georgetown University Law center. She was a “visiting professor” of law at Renmin University Law School. She partnered with Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer advising foreign investors on projects in China. Ms. Barale was President for a year in American Chamber of Commerce Hong Kong in 1989. She later became a chairman for a year in �2004. For roughly 13 years, she worked as an attorney for the Coudert Brothers. In order to work at these places, we knew that she was very fluent in Mandarin Chinese. We categorized the questions for Ms. Barale into three parts. The first part deals with Ms. Barale’s early life. The questions we asked for this part was: Were there any significant events in childhood, or as you got older that sparked your interest in China? Did any family members have an interest in China and/or international relations? Can you tell us a little bit about your education path from high school through college? The second part of the questions deals with Ms. Barale’s career path. Those questions are the following: We have looked at your website and wondered if you could tell us about your work as an attorney in China. Did you encounter any specific opportunities or obstacles in that work? Because we are interested in women in USAsian relations, we wondered if being a woman affected your career path. You seemed to have had at least three careers (an attorney, consultant, and adjunct professor) – Is that right? How did you decide to pursue each of these careers? Who is the most interesting person you have met in your career and why? The last part deals with her reflections and those questions are: How would you respond to someone who believes that law doesn’t play a role in social and cultural change? What, in your opinion, is one of the biggest issues concerning China’s economic and legal systems? How do either of these affect Chinese women? Finally, what advice do you give someone who is pursuing a similar career as yours? 3) Because our interview was last minute due to issues regarding Kerry Dumbaugh, Ms. Barale was unable to review our interview questions prior to the interview so for all except for one question we were able to get complete responses. The question that she could not give us a complete answer for was the question in regards to the most interesting person she has meet throughout her career. Although she did mention a story where she was taken meet a widow of �the former ministries of foreign affairs in old courtyard house. She realized then that it fed a part of her that was eager or hungry to really have more contact and more direct experience with The Chinese. Our interview was a mixed structure. We had our list of questions in front of us during the interview, but if there was something she said that we wished she elaborated on, we would ask her other questions that were not on our official list of questions. For our section “Reflections” on our question sheet was just some of our probing questions that we used to ask Professor Barale. It focuses on her opinions in issues in China which further explains some answers she gave us throughout the interview. We worked as a team where everyone was actively listening as well as taking shorthand notes. There were times where we got sidetrack from the main question in order to ask her questions in regards to her response. An example would be when she told us about students asking her questions, she never even thought of. We asked her for an example of one those questions, which was a bit too much to ask for on short notices, however she was able to provide one example for us. As mentioned before, our interview was quite last minute so Professor Barale was unable to give us any documents or references before the interview. We studied her website on her background so we felt that it was sufficient for us to carry out a fulfilling interview. However after the interview she responded to our follow up email with information on the question of women’s right in China. She suggested us to look into Leta Hong Fincher who have written a well-researched book entitled, “Leftover Women: The Resurgence of Gender Inequality in China.” She thought that many of Professor Fincher’s observations and findings may help explain the feeling we have that women’s rights is a growing problem. 4) We started the interview by asking her if there was any significant events in her childhood that sparks her interest in China. She took a couple of seconds and told us that it �wasn’t in her childhood but in her high school days where the interests started. Her French teacher told her about a summer school class that taught Chinese language. She recalled it as a Carnegie Foundation, and it started programs in learning Asian languages primarily Chinese and Japanese. Her interests further progress when she got into Georgetown where she knew she wanted to study Chinese language. She thought it was very critical that students nowadays learn more than one language due to the fact that interconnectivity of different cultures, globalization and economics. We then asked if there was any family members that contributed to her career in US-Asian Relations. She quickly responded no but then she shared how she contributed to her sibling’s interests in Asian Studies. Ms. Barale explains how that started when she studied abroad in Taiwan. She would write back home to her family expressing how much she love it there and the wonderful experiences that she have received being there. She also suggested her family should send her sister over to experience a bit Taiwan and that they could travel back home together. To her surprise, her family was willing to let her sister travel because her family came from a lower middle class and her dad had recently lost his job then. She told us that because her family values education, they were willing to send her sister to Asia with her. Ms. Barale’s sister later on studying Asian Studies major at University of Minnesota and got her masters in teaching Chinese and a PHD in sociolinguistic at UPenn. The next part of the interview deals with her career path. For this part, we asked her if there was any obstacles, disadvantages being American in China or advantages when she was in China. Ms. Barale started working as an attorney in Hong Kong in 1980 to 1983 and considered it to be normal financial and legal environment compared to Beijing. She moved to Beijing in 1983 to work with the law office of Coudert Brothers. In Beijing, she felt that it was very clear that foreigners were contained and very segregated. They were to live in certain areas only and �have offices in “ghettos” area. Comparing Beijing to Taiwan, she thought it was harder to live in Beijing. In Taiwan, foreigners were able to live with local residents and was easier to have Chinese friends. On a professional level, she felt that here were some practical obstacles such as living conditions however it was still possible to have access with Chinese government officials. She feel that it was possible because of the Joint Venture law that started in 1979. The Chinese government were beginning to encourage foreign investments. We learn from her that when the Joint Venture law was first announced there were only roughly 25 to 30 paragraphs. Those paragraphs were the foundation for foreign investments. We further learn from Ms. Barale that in 1983, the implementing regulations now have 110 to 115 paragraphs that gave us more details on how we should be going about foreign investments and what needs to be done to establish foreign investments. Being a woman did not affected her career path. Ms. Barale stated that in 1983, the Chinese government had categories for foreigners, they were treated as such and not based on gender. She felt that they were issues that she should considered as obstacles for women but she generally felt lucky in a sense that she did not experienced it herself. She wasn’t to sure on how to explain it so she gave us some information post interview. Having different career path, we questioned how she went about pursuing each of those career. She explained how she love Chinese language and wanted to apply something practical with the language. The idea of having a result and seeing whether you succeed or not appealed her. She went back to an earlier interest and applied to law school. Up until that point she specialized and focused on China and Taiwan and all things Chinese. Being in law school now, bought back lots of topics that were relevant to even her parents, neighbors and friends. Some of those topics were tax returns or people’s will. She enjoyed combining Chinese with something she can practice which is the real reason why she went into practice of law. She knew that it was �going to be a long learning curve in order to get to the level that she is comfortable enough to enjoy what she is doing. She practiced law for over 25 years and enjoyed every moment of it. She was retiring but she missed having the experiences of people challenging her with questions she did not think of. She likes it when people question what she already know from a different perspective. This caused her to return back to academia in order to fulfill that enjoyment. She is really pleased to be working with students and occasionally does get questions that make her rethink about what she think she knows. The last part of the interview, we wanted her to share some of her reflections in her life or career path. We wanted to know whether law plays a role in social and cultural changes especially correlating with attitudes people have about women in US-Asian relations in aspect with her experiences as an attorney. She felt that there was so much emphasis on the development of commercial law and laws that needs to be in place for China’s economy to develop, such as the company law, the real property law, security law, that other laws relating to family or inheritance have not always have the attention they should have. These laws are really where women are either treated equally or put at a disadvantage and that's why it should have more attention. She talked about cases of divorce laws and property laws where in rural areas, after divorces, one person usually get that land and continue farming and its normally the women who loses out. She thinks there are to some extent being recognized but it is a problem and she doesn’t think it has been addressed in any meaningful way. She recently read that the court will start taking sexual harassment cases and that is entirely new for China as well. She felt that there is a lot of work to be done in some crucial areas that would allow women to have a fair chance in society. We wonder on what she considered one of the biggest issues concerning China’s economy and their legal systems. She admits she does not know what the biggest issue is but �there are certainly a lot of issues. She started talking about the issue with pensions or the care for the elder, support for elderly. She told us that for people who haven't studied much about China would probably think of China that is run by the communist party based on socialist principles therefore we got a security blanket for people such as orphans, sick or the elderly. However that is not the case, new housing usually overtake old communities, which would push people out into new environment that they are not familiar or used to. This would lead to people dropping through the system. She restated that in issues concerning women were property ownership and rights after divorce should have more attentions. Stefanie shared some insights on that topic shortly after that response. Being Chinese, she felt that it was kind of in her culture to look after the elderly once they retired. Her family took in her grandma took care of her. She felt that it’s kind of a different time now where some generations today would send their elderly parents to nursing homes. Based on insight from Stefanie, Ms. Barale shared some of her insights as well. She had one of her students telling her about situation in China, specifically in Hai bian court. Some of the elderly were being pushed out of their home by their own family members. Knowing that, Ms. Barale finds it hard to understand why family members would do that to each other. She agrees with Stefanie on the subject of taking care of the elderly and share more stories with us. She told us about the time when her mother came to live with her in Hong Kong. Her mother would sometimes go to Beijing with Ms. Barale when she went on business trips. During the day, Ms. Barale would have to leave her mother alone because she was in meeting and traveling, however she always felt wherever her mother went, it would be safe for her. The people would always be kind to her mother and would never let her get lost. She feels that the respect for elderly is crumbling due to the pressure of modern economy. Lastly, we asked her if she had any advices for people who wish to pursue a similar career. She started off explaining �that she never had one integrated coherent plan. At each stage of her life, she was always sort of piecing together how it will work out for her. She ended the answer with “Be open and be flexible”. It a simple advice but has a strong meaning to it. We feel that to be open we have to be willing to accept any opportunities and be willing to move on as well as being flexible to changes. 5) Our interview with Professor Barale was one that was very inspiring. Professor Barale is a woman who is extremely successful within her field. She contributed this mostly to following what she loved; the beauty of language. It’s a message that is often the central theme of today’s media however it’s a whole new experience when you hear how it applies to an actually person’s life. She also shared an anecdote about how she has passed on the same ideas to her sister who has also become interested in other cultures and exploration. Other than this, another interesting aspect of our interview was when she told us that her travels and her career had been completely void of gender walls. In China, she was seen as just a foreigner, not as a woman. Every word used during the interview had meaning and significance. She often took pauses during the questioning to make sure of that. However, if asked a question that she didn’t know the answer to, she would kindly tell us so. During the presentations, many other groups spoke on behalf of their interview experiences. Some of the ones that stood out to us were the ones on Jennifer Chou; of Radio Free Asia, Mary David and Margarethe Adams. Jennifer Chou amazed us due to the fact that she was able to downplay gender discrimination and how much she cared about the Asia and Asia relation events. She always made sure that she got the word out and informed the masses using any available resources. Mary David was a human trafficking and counter terrorist activist who uses art to teach and express her cause. Margarethe Adams was an expert in ethnomusicology; and believes that much �could be learned about a culture through their music and poetry. All of these women found something that they strongly believed in and did something about it. The presentation portion of the class was extremely inspirational and displayed the powers of determination, good will, and creativity. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Women in US-Asian Relations Student Oral History Project Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Barale, Lucille ; Christoff, Peggy Spitzer -- Senior Lecturer, China Studies. Director of Undergraduate Programs: Asian And Asian American Studies. Subject The topic of the resource Asian Americans--Study and teaching; Women social reformers--Asia; Women social reformers--United States; Oral history Relation A related resource AAS_POL_307_OralHistoryProject; AAS_POL_307_OralHistoryProject_2015 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted (URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/). Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context aas_2015_20160815_lbarale_doc_dis Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2015 Description An account of the resource Every fall, students at Stony Brook University in class, AAS/POL 307 (Women in US-Asian Relations), set out to interview women who are committed to enhancing US-Asian relations. Women’s contributions occur at many different levels of society and encompass a variety of occupations. In conducting oral history interviews, students prepare documentation for the Stony Brook University Melville Library’s digital collection and, in the process, acquire deep knowledge about women’s social, cultural, political, and economic roles in the United States and Asia, which includes those in Asian American communities. Each interview consists of multiple files, including: a text document and Powerpoint slides, which were converted to PDFs for this digitization project. The project is a joint effort between the Department of Asian and Asian American Studies and the University Libraries. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Nguyen, Paul ; Chen, Stefanie ; Michel, Christolin Type The nature or genre of the resource text Title A name given to the resource Lucille Barale http://exhibits.library.stonybrook.edu/WUA/files/original/103391bbf5982364659c8d30aa95fc33.pdf 2046e6dbf6544e6f5d7ece4552460936 PDF Text Text 1 �2 �3 �4 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Women in US-Asian Relations Student Oral History Project Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Barale, Lucille ; Christoff, Peggy Spitzer -- Senior Lecturer, China Studies. Director of Undergraduate Programs: Asian And Asian American Studies. Subject The topic of the resource Asian Americans--Study and teaching; Women social reformers--Asia; Women social reformers--United States; Oral history Relation A related resource AAS_POL_307_OralHistoryProject; AAS_POL_307_OralHistoryProject_2015 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted (URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/). Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context aas_2015_20160815_lbarale_ppt_dis Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2015 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Nguyen, Paul ; Chen, Stefanie ; Michel, Christolin Type The nature or genre of the resource text Title A name given to the resource Lucille Barale Description An account of the resource Every fall, students at Stony Brook University in class, AAS/POL 307 (Women in US-Asian Relations), set out to interview women who are committed to enhancing US-Asian relations. Women’s contributions occur at many different levels of society and encompass a variety of occupations. In conducting oral history interviews, students prepare documentation for the Stony Brook University Melville Library’s digital collection and, in the process, acquire deep knowledge about women’s social, cultural, political, and economic roles in the United States and Asia, which includes those in Asian American communities. Each interview consists of multiple files, including: a text document and Powerpoint slides, which were converted to PDFs for this digitization project. The project is a joint effort between the Department of Asian and Asian American Studies and the University Libraries. http://exhibits.library.stonybrook.edu/WUA/files/original/b91b276b18bec716ef422a9447b01ecb.pdf 69fcc6a7382f7c33d9c5521d6b5a9b71 PDF Text Text Christopher Gomez, Michael Munson, Seth Williams AAS 307 - Final Paper Section 1: Person interviewed: Clarissa Burt Interviewee’s title or position: Associate Professor of Arabic Language, Literature and Culture at the United States Naval Academy Date, time and length of interview: November 10th, 7:00 pm, 45 minutes Your objective in conducting the interview: To learn about the career and goals of Associate Professor, Clarissa Burt Section 2: Description of the pre-interview research (What did you find out prior to the interview about the person and/or place with which she is affiliated? How did you prepare for the interview?) List your interview questions. For our pre-interview research, we decided to Google our interviewee. The person that we found online was an actress and model. Before conducting any further research, we asked Professor Christoff if this was indeed the correct woman. It turned out that it was a different woman, so we were fortunate to catch this early on. Christopher conducted most of the communication between our group and Clarissa Burt, including initially contacting her about the interview, scheduling a time for the interview, and getting information from Clarissa. We were also given information by our �professor as a part of our research. We learned facts such as Clarissa being a professor at the US Naval Academy, her living in the Arabic world for over 10 years in a 20 year span, and about her interest in Arabic culture and literature. It was from this information that we were able to construct questions as a group for the interview. The group discussed and proposed each question, and organized them in an order that we found appropriate in regards to a chronological perspective. Each member had a printed out list of the questions we intended to ask Clarissa during the interview. These are some of the questions that we asked: What interested you into studying Arabic? What is it about Arabic literature that makes it stand out to you (as opposed to other types of literatures)? Do you plan to return to the Arabic world? What interested into becoming a professor? What kinds of responses have you gotten from your students? What is a current project of yours? Section 3: Answer these questions: 1. Did you get complete answers to your questions? Explain 2. Was your interview structured, unstructured, or mixed? Explain 3. What probing questions did you use? Explain 4. Explain your team approach. That is, who did what? 5. Did the interviewee give you any documents or references to articles to read, or did she mention other people for you to talk to (or research)? Explain Throughout the interview, Clarissa gave us vastly complete and elaborative answers to our questions. In fact, she would often answer the next couple of questions �we had set up before we could even ask them. It made sense that would answer the next questions that we had, as our list of questions was what we found to be chronological. For every question asked, she left us well informed on that specific topic and mentioned only information that was relevant to that topic. For example, when asked about what interested her into Arabic, she included every important point leading up to her ultimate decision, including what she was studying previously and what interested her in general. We consider that our interview was mixed, leaning more towards a structured format. Our group planned to follow the list of questions we had printed out, but at the same time, ask probing questions when appropriate in order to engage in somewhat of a “small talk” conversation. An example of a probing question that we used was when she told us about what interested her in Arabic literature, she mentioned the beauties specific to it. We asked her what exactly it was about the literature that made it so special, and sure enough she gave us a descriptive and immersive answer. She explained that she was hooked on the works of ancient Arabics like nomadic pastoralists and traders who lived such unique lives, and even by the ways young Arabs use literature as a means of establishing themselves and calling for change. Christopher conducted the communication between the group and Clarissa. From there the group worked together to construct our questions. Some notes were taken during the interview, but we also tried to focus on the conversations we were having with our interviewee, as we understood that we could take advantage of the interview being recorded. Michael was our group’s moderator during the interview, that is, he started us off and ended the event. All members participated in asking the �questions that we had prepared as well as questions that were not printed out that came as responses to Clarissa’s answers. Professor Burt did in fact give us some poets to look into. As a part of one of her answers, she mentioned Wadih Saadeh who now lives in Australia and whose work is documented on the Internet (many of which are translated by Professor Burt). At the end of the interview, Clarissa was apologetic in her current project not being womancentered and gave us two women poets that we could also look into online: Iman Mercal and Farah Chammah. Section 4: Insert your interview notes/write up here. Remember to be accurate and concise. Consider what was said, any emerging trends your interviewee mentioned, different interpretations, and recommendations for follow up interviews. Being a teacher in the field of Arabic Literature and Culture at the United States Naval Academy for about 11 or 12 years, Clarissa formally introduced herself as Associate Professor Clarissa Burt. Clarissa was also quick to point out that she had lived in Cairo for about 10 years total over a 20-year span prior to starting at the Naval Academy. It was be hard to hide our growing interest in Clarissa’s motives for learning Arabic (a language mostly concentrated in the Eastern Hemisphere) so we got right to asking her why she learned Arabic in the first place. Clarissa found the question humorous and responded with a story: Clarissa actually did not learn Arabic from the �get-go. Clarissa had studied numerous languages in High School (and even some in Middle School) and grew an immense interest for theology and the bible by her early twenties. More specifically, Clarissa concentrated on Latin and German in High School and then concentrated more on Hebrew and Greek as an undergraduate. Because of her peers and teachers tendency to tell Clarissa that Arabic would be too hard to learn without a prior general knowledge of the aforementioned languages, Clarissa saved Arabic for the last (but definitely not least) language that she would learn. Clarissa was immediately hooked on Arabic because of the beauty in the literatures she was encountering while studying the ancient language. Besides, Clarissa could go to the cafes in Cairo and bond with contemporary poets over the Arabic language and, well, what could be better than that!?! Ancient Arabic is different than other literatures and poetry because it shares a great deal with other Semitic languages and ancient poetries. With a Ph.D. in comparative Semitics, Clarissa is extremely knowledgeable on the subject and was able to give us a quick rundown about Arabic. Arabic has its own unique beauties and specificities because of the lifestyles of the Ancient Arabs who were nomadic pastoralists in the desert and people doing trading across the Arabian Peninsula. Clarissa was also naturally fascinated by how Arabic poetry was specifically being used by young people during her time in Egypt. Young people used this poetry to promote change for their generation and in society and displayed a tendency to go against what their parents were doing. Arab culture also has much more powerful poetry than the United States does. Poets would come to town in the Arab world and sell out giant stadiums, much like Beyoncé would do in the United States. The final interesting fact �about Arabic was that women’s participation in literate culture and cultural space was much more evident in Egypt than it was in the United States during the late eighties and early nineties. It is important to note that women in Egypt were actually playing a big part in politics, the working world, and literature at the time. They had a voice and a great ability to use the power of literature and poetry in order to preach their own concerns. This has interested Clarissa all throughout the course of her career. After hearing Clarissa rave about her experiences in Cairo and her love for the Arab world, we asked why she came back to the States and become a professor. The simple answer to this question is because Clarissa wanted to make a living doing what she loved and refused to settle for anything less. Clarissa loved studying and teaching the literature and language so much that there was no other option than for her to become a professor. Plus, Clarissa knew that her teaching could potentially open the doors for others to follow her footsteps into the Arab world. Clarissa has been very fortunate to have excellent students at the naval academy and has been tremendously gratified by the students who really take an interest in her work. She has gone on to watch some of her students become excellent in Arabic and this is what keeps her going. She always hopes that some of her students will use their Arabic skills in business, politics, or diplomacy after the navy. Finally, we asked Clarissa to give us some insight on women’s roles in the Arab world. It turns out that there are tremendously different situations regarding women’s roles that differ from country to country, or sometimes even within a single country. Clarissa has watched things change radically in Egypt, Jordan, and Morocco throughout her career. The extent of women’s involvement has gone up and down with the fortunes �in the Egyptian political system. There is a feminist consciousness in the Arab world, which gets articulated differently from country to country. Since the revolution, Muslim brotherhood backlash and hostility towards women on the streets has been a problem and there continues to be suppression towards women. Just that morning, Clarissa had heard of a death of two sisters who had been thrown off the top of an apartment building. Her assumption that this was a murder goes to show the severity of these issues in the Arab world. On a brighter side, although there are serious problems in the Arab world, women are interested in creating opportunities for other women and in making society better for women and girls. While between 25 and 50 percent of young women cannot find jobs in the Arab world, women created an NGO that had very successfully given them pathways into careers. With some extremist groups that have the desire to push women back to a position of powerlessness and domestic seclusion still present in the Arab world, there are still women and men actively finding ways to participate and raise awareness. Section 5: Your analysis: What aspects of the interview did you find to be particularly meaningful? What aspects were not useful? What more would you like to know? What other in-class presentations did you find particularly useful? Explain In my few years studying at Stony Brook University, I have only been assigned one interview, for my freshman seminar class. At first I thought because this task was so tedious that it would not be helpful. I figured that doing an interview was just a filler �assignment, just a project to keep us busy and kill time. After interviewing someone in our Stony Brook marine biology department, I learned a lot about the practices at our Stony Brook South Hampton campus, the biologist’s life and findings during her travels. This knowledge gave me great insight on some of the amazing things people are doing around the world. Learning about these experiences from a primary source is an excellent way to figure out more about the world and more about you. After doing my first interview it opened up my mind to new things that I may want to study here at Stony Brook in order to take advantage of my college experience while I am young and still have the chance. The same curiosity that is fulfilled with knowledge by reading books and articles can be achieved during an interview of knowledgeable people. Interviewing professionals has taught me that even if some have not yet gotten the luxury of publishing their life experiences into a book or journal, they still have amazing life changing lessons and experiences that are capable of inspiring those who are willing to listen. This year I was granted the luxury of being able to have a conversation over video chat with Professor Clarissa Burt. Professor Burt is a professor of Arabic studies at US Naval Academy. Her eventful life experiences have brought on her passion for the Arab culture. She spent 10 years living in the city of Cairo in Egypt where she was able to gauge her love for the topic from first-hand experience. She learned the language and grew an everlasting relationship with the Middle East. Within Clarissa’s journey throughout the Middle East, her main attachment grew between her and the art of poetry expressed there. She spoke to us of wonderful poets that inspired her, including Iman Mercal and Farah Chammah to name a few. In her spare time she would �enjoy watching these poets live in order to feel the emotions they convey through their work. Professor Burt wishes to be able to spread awareness to all of the unwritten languages that exist in the Arabic world. She wants to be able to eventually develop a written language platform for these languages, so that they may be understood by all who are willing and curious to learn more. Clarissa informed us of her relationship that started her family with a man she met in this Arabic land. She does not say much about this man other than the fact that he is the father of her children. Professor Burt also tells us a little about the backstory of one of her favorite writers Wadih Saadeh. Although that information is interesting I decided to place more focus on her effort to make Arabic poetry more globally recognized. While Clarissa’s works may not directly impact the career trajectories that our group wishes to follow, we found what we learned to be incredibly interesting. We find Clarissa Burt’s life to be an inspiration, and has persuaded us into looking more into Arabic literature. Our group would also like to learn more about women’s roles in the Arabic world, therefore the poets that Clarissa mentioned would be good starting points. The main interview that intrigued me was the group that interviewed Nancy Davis Lewis. Since my group had our own experience interviewing a woman whose main purpose was to implement change, this one caught my eye because her purpose was similar. Though Clarissa Burt’s goal was to implement change with language, Nancy Lewis thought that women should be agents of change. Nancy Davis Lewis a director of research at “East West Society”. Some of her main points that she preached is that she believes women to be more caring for the environment and that women should be the �main leaders in the development of society. She thinks that the voice of women being heard is important in going forward. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Women in US-Asian Relations Student Oral History Project Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Burt, Clarissa ; Christoff, Peggy Spitzer -- Senior Lecturer, China Studies. Director of Undergraduate Programs: Asian And Asian American Studies. Subject The topic of the resource Asian Americans--Study and teaching; Women social reformers--Asia; Women social reformers--United States; Oral history Relation A related resource AAS_POL_307_OralHistoryProject; AAS_POL_307_OralHistoryProject_2015 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted (URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/). Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context aas_2015_20160815_cburt_doc_dis Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2015 Description An account of the resource Every fall, students at Stony Brook University in class, AAS/POL 307 (Women in US-Asian Relations), set out to interview women who are committed to enhancing US-Asian relations. Women’s contributions occur at many different levels of society and encompass a variety of occupations. In conducting oral history interviews, students prepare documentation for the Stony Brook University Melville Library’s digital collection and, in the process, acquire deep knowledge about women’s social, cultural, political, and economic roles in the United States and Asia, which includes those in Asian American communities. Each interview consists of multiple files, including: a text document and Powerpoint slides, which were converted to PDFs for this digitization project. The project is a joint effort between the Department of Asian and Asian American Studies and the University Libraries. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Gomez, Christopher ; Munson, Michael ; Williams, Seth Type The nature or genre of the resource text Title A name given to the resource Clarissa Burt http://exhibits.library.stonybrook.edu/WUA/files/original/86c88c9a5c878ec876200b39ca7802b5.pdf 0222150afa0fd5035c1c27bae8037d57 PDF Text Text 1 �Associate Professor Clarissa Burt has been a teacher in the field of Arabic Literature at the United States Naval Academy for a little over a decade and has a Ph.D in comparative semitics. Clarissa lived in Cairo for about 10 years over the course of a 20 year span before coming back to the States to become a professor in the Naval Academy. Clarissa became interested in Arabic, a language mainly concentrated in the Eastern Hemisphere, after studying many other languages throughout high school. Her love for Arabic and knowledge of the language grew because of the beauty in the literatures that she was encountering while studying the ancient language. Clarissa was kind enough to give us a brief lesson on the Arabic language and notified us about how it was being used by young people during her time in Egypt and even went as far as to compare Arabic poetry in Egypt to Hip-Hop in American culture. Clarissa was also able to give us some insight about women’s roles in the Arab world. It turns out that there are tremendously different situations regarding women’s roles that differ from country to country, or sometimes even within a single country. Clarissa has watched these things change radically in Egypt, Jordan, and Morocco throughout her career. The extent of women’s involvement has gone up and down with the fortunes in the Egyptian political system. There is a feminist consciousness in the Arab world which gets articulated differently from country to country. Since the revolution, Muslim 2 �brotherhood backlash and hostility towards women on the streets has been a problem and there continues to be suppression towards women. Just the morning of the interview, Clarissa had heard of a death of 2 sisters who had been thrown off the top of an apartment building. Her assumption that this had to have been a murder goes to show the severity of these issues in the Arab world. On a brighter side, although there are serious problems in the Arab world, women are interested in creating opportunities for other women and in making society better for women and girls. While between 25 and 50 percent of young women cannot find jobs in the Arab world, women created an NGO that had very successfully given them pathways into careers. With some extremist groups that have the desire to push women back to a position of powerlessness and domestic seclusion still present in the Arab world, there are still women and men actively finding ways to participate and raise awareness. 2 �3 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Women in US-Asian Relations Student Oral History Project Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Burt, Clarissa ; Christoff, Peggy Spitzer -- Senior Lecturer, China Studies. Director of Undergraduate Programs: Asian And Asian American Studies. Subject The topic of the resource Asian Americans--Study and teaching; Women social reformers--Asia; Women social reformers--United States; Oral history Relation A related resource AAS_POL_307_OralHistoryProject; AAS_POL_307_OralHistoryProject_2015 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted (URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/). Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context aas_2015_20160815_cburt_ppt_dis Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2015 Description An account of the resource Every fall, students at Stony Brook University in class, AAS/POL 307 (Women in US-Asian Relations), set out to interview women who are committed to enhancing US-Asian relations. Women’s contributions occur at many different levels of society and encompass a variety of occupations. In conducting oral history interviews, students prepare documentation for the Stony Brook University Melville Library’s digital collection and, in the process, acquire deep knowledge about women’s social, cultural, political, and economic roles in the United States and Asia, which includes those in Asian American communities. Each interview consists of multiple files, including: a text document and Powerpoint slides, which were converted to PDFs for this digitization project. The project is a joint effort between the Department of Asian and Asian American Studies and the University Libraries. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Gomez, Christopher ; Munson, Michael ; Williams, Seth Type The nature or genre of the resource text Title A name given to the resource Clarissa Burt http://exhibits.library.stonybrook.edu/WUA/files/original/f94973d971c5806c2171bb81b2d08ec3.pdf fac278fcfed8dde05b152d18962d6bb8 PDF Text Text Dr. Latha Chandran was born and raised in Kerala, which is the most southern part of India. At the age of 17, she moved to the United States where an arranged marriage was planned for her. Before traveling to the United States, she pursued a medical degree from the University of Kerala Medical School. When she left India for the United States, she had no idea what was in store for her. She began applying to different residency programs, even while being seven months pregnant. After getting denied several times from the residency program here at Stony Brook, she began applying elsewhere even though it was inconvenient. She eventually got accepted into a residency program at Lincoln Medical Center in New York City. After working there for several months, the chief of residents at Stony Brook eventually realized what she is capable of. She was then offered a position at Stony Brook University Hospital, where she was asked to be chief resident after only being there for three months. Now after thirty years of practicing medicine, she focuses most of her time towards undergraduate medical education, where she stands as the vice dean. Dr. Chandran is outstanding physician, who has overcame tremendous obstacles to get to where she is today. �The questions that we asked Dr. Chandran were centered on the obstacles that she faced while being here in the United States. Although she left her family behind in India at a young age to move to the United States, it was never a decision she regretted. When asking why she wanted to pursue a career in medicine, she responded “my mother wanted a child that was a doctor.” This was significant because it demonstrated the relationship between parents and children within different cultures. Dr. Chandra claimed that when she came to the United States she wanted to make a difference. She wanted to change the way that us Americans view Indians and their culture. This in person interview was conducted on November 5th at approximately 3:00. This interview lasted for about 40 minutes. We asked Dr. Chandra prior to our interview if we could audio record her, which was done on both an ipad and an iphone. Audio recording her was extremely beneficial because it gave us the chance to go back and analyze the information that she had provided for us. This interview was conducted like a mixed structured interview. There were both prescribed and flexible questions that were asked and Dr. Chandran provided us with her own opinions. She was extremely enthusiastic and grateful to be interviewed for our final project. Publisher’s note (3/16/2017) The following document is the same as above, but with corrections made by the interviewee, Dr. Latha Chandran, in red. �Dr. Latha Chandran was born and raised in Kerala, which is the most southern part of India. She moved to the US after having an arranged (not forced) marriage when she was 25.At the age of 17, she moved to the United States where an arranged marriage was planned for her. Before traveling to the United States, she pursued a medical degree from the University of Kerala Trivandrum Medical CollegeSchool. When she left India for the United States, she had no idea what was in store for her. She began applying to different residency programs, even while being seven months pregnant. After getting denied several times from the residency program here at Stony Brook, she began applying elsewhere even though it was inconvenient. She eventually got accepted into a residency program at Lincoln Medical Center in New York City. Although she was rejected three times from the residency program at Stony Brook, she transferred her in her final year of residency. After working there for several months, the chief of residents at Stony Brook eventually realized what she is capable of. She was then offered a position at Stony Brook University Hospital, where Sshe was asked to be chief resident after only being there for three months. Now after twenty threethirty years of practicing medicine, she focuses most of her time towards undergraduate medical education, where she servetands as the vice dean. Dr. Chandran is an outstanding physician, who has overcoame tremendous obstacles to get to where she is today. �The questions that we asked Dr. Chandran were centered on the obstacles that she faced while being here in the United States. Although she left her family behind in India at a young age to move to the United States, it was never a decision she regretted. When asking why she wanted to pursue a career in medicine, she responded “my mother wanted a child that was a doctor.” This was significant because it demonstrated the relationship between parents and children within different cultures. Dr. Chandran claimed that when she came to the United States she wanted to make a difference. She wanted to change the way that us Americans view Indians and their culture. This in person interview was conducted on November 5th at approximately 3:00. This interview lasted for about 40 minutes. We asked Dr. Chandran prior to our interview if we could audio record her, which was done on both an ipad and an iphone. Audio recording her was extremely beneficial because it gave us the chance to go back and analyze the information that she had provided for us. This interview was conducted like a mixed structured interview. There were both prescribed and flexible questions that were asked and Dr. Chandran provided us with her own opinions. She was extremely enthusiastic and grateful to be interviewed for our final project. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Women in US-Asian Relations Student Oral History Project Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Christoff, Peggy Spitzer -- Senior Lecturer, China Studies. Director of Undergraduate Programs: Asian And Asian American Studies. Subject The topic of the resource Asian Americans--Study and teaching; Women social reformers--Asia; Women social reformers--United States; Oral history Relation A related resource AAS_POL_307_OralHistoryProject; AAS_POL_307_OralHistoryProject_2015 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted (URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/). Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context aas_2015_20160815_lchandran_ppt_corrected_dis Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2015 Description An account of the resource Every fall, students at Stony Brook University in class, AAS/POL 307 (Women in US-Asian Relations), set out to interview women who are committed to enhancing US-Asian relations. Women’s contributions occur at many different levels of society and encompass a variety of occupations. In conducting oral history interviews, students prepare documentation for the Stony Brook University Melville Library’s digital collection and, in the process, acquire deep knowledge about women’s social, cultural, political, and economic roles in the United States and Asia, which includes those in Asian American communities. Each interview consists of multiple files, including: a text document and Powerpoint slides, which were converted to PDFs for this digitization project. The project is a joint effort between the Department of Asian and Asian American Studies and the University Libraries. The original PowerPoint file was deleted from the Chandran project. This decision was made by the publisher since corrections were made to the notes in the PowerPoint and everything was captured in the PDF version of the PowerPoint. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Liranzo, Emely ; Jaramillo, Victoria ; Shevlin, Alyssa ; Chandran, Dr. Latha Type The nature or genre of the resource text Title A name given to the resource Dr. Latha Chandran http://exhibits.library.stonybrook.edu/WUA/files/original/085dfe047d013312254a99890a00eb69.pdf 4930c1a20234a45625cc98f52d8d07d1 PDF Text Text Emely Liranzo Victoria Jaramillo Alyssa Shevlin Dr. Latha Chandran Interview (Section 1) Person interviewed: Dr. Latha Chandran Interviewee’s title or position: Pediatrician, chief of residents at Stony brook University Hospital, and undergraduate medical educator. Date, time, and length of interview: This interview was conducted on November 5th at approximately 3:00 pm. This interview lasted for about 40 minutes. Your objective in conducting this interview: It was centered on the obstacles that Dr. Chandran faced while being here in the United States. (Section 2) Description of the pre-interview research (What did you find out prior to the interview about the person and/or place with which she is affiliated? How did you prepare for the interview?) We searched for Dr. Latha Chandran in Google, and we found out that she is a pediatrician in East Setauket, New York and is affiliated with Stony Brook University Hospital. She received her medical degree from University of Kerala Medical College and has been in practice for 31 years. She is one of 108 doctors at Stony Brook University Hospital who specialize in Pediatrics. Dr. Chandran has many publications in which she emphasize mostly in medical education, disease in children, and programs for youth. She is an outstanding physician with honors and recognition for most of the achievements she has made. We prepared our questions for the �interview based on the research we did, mostly using her publications as a source. We asked her about her background and personal experiences since she moved to the United States. List your interview questions. 1. Where did you grow up? 2. What occupations did your parents and siblings pursue? 3. Did you ever consider a career other than medicine? (Please explain.) 4. What were your reasons for moving to the United States? And how did you learn the language? 5. What inspired you to specialize in pediatrics? 6. What were your reasons for developing an expertise in contraception, diaper rash, genital warts and pneumonia? 7. What personal and professional goals matter the most to you? 8. We noticed that you have many publications and even won two awards (Bridges to Excellence Recognition and NCQA Physician Practice Connections). How did you manage to achieve so much in your career? 9. Did you face any particular hardships while you were pursuing your career in medicine? 10. Was it difficult to be a woman in medical school? (Why or why not?) 11. What advice would you give us as we pursue a career in medicine? (Section 3) 1. Did you get complete answers to your questions? Explain At the time Dr. Chandran was answering our question, she always answered what we asked her with details of her past experiences, always bringing more details to answer our questions. When we asked her: “what inspired you to specialize in pediatrics?” her answers were not �straightforward, she started with her past experiences when she was in University of Kerala where she specialized in gynecology, then when she moved to the United States to do her residency it was difficult and full of challenges because she didn’t go to a medical school in the US. With some influence she was accepted into Stony Brook University Hospital where she did her residency in pediatrics. 2. Was your interview structured, unstructured, or mixed? Explain Our interview was mixed, but mostly unstructured. We followed the sequence of the questions we prepared, but flexible in asking open questions as Dr. Chandran was responding. This allowed us to get more deep information and understanding in what she was saying. Like when we asked her: “What were your reasons to come to the United States?” she responded that she moved because an arranged marriage where his husband was living in the U.S. something that was part of her culture. With this information we asked her more in depth and personal questions based on her arranged marriage, like what her parents were expecting, and if that was what she wanted. We were flexible in developing new questions that weren’t in our list. 3. What probing questions did you use? Explain One of our probing questions was: “What did you mean by cultural shock?”, she answered that in India doctors are held in respect. They don’t communicate if the patient has cancer for example or if the family request it. Here in the United States things are different, nurses yell at doctors saying that they are the worst in the area, where in India there’s more respect. This is what she meant by cultural shock. 4. Explain your team approach. That is, who did what? Each person in our group asked mostly the same amount of questions from our list. We also approached to her differently in terms of open questions in our interview. Our focus was to know �more about her and get to the deepest responses from her. This interview was conducted like a mixed structure interview because we tended to stick to our questions, yet go off track enough for Dr. Chandran to have the opportunity to say what she needed to. 5. Did the interviewee give you any documents or references to articles to read, or did she mention other people for you to talk to (or research)? Explain Dr. Chandran didn’t provide or suggested us any document or mention people to follow up, but she focused more in giving us awesome advice like, “Whatever you do, be the best”, “In life you have to take some risk and be prepared to fail”, “If you do your best people will notice you”, “Follow what your heart tells you to do, because if you do then it’s a journey”. This advice was strong and significant to us, as we want to pursue a career in medicine. (Section 4) Insert your interview notes/write up here. Remember to be accurate and concise. Consider what was said, any emerging trends your interviewee mentioned, different interpretations, and recommendations for follow up interviews. Interview Notes: - Born in Kerala, India (which is the most southern part). - Mother was a housewife, father had a degree in law but is a banker, brother has an engineering degree and sister is in higher education. - Went to an all-women’s college - Language was not an issue -- India is a British colony, so English is taught - The mother wanted a child that was a doctor. The brother was ultimately the chosen one but he didn’t want to be a doctor, so Dr. Chandran decided that since she was good at school she might as well go for it. �- She was the youngest in medical school at the University of Kerala. - She came over to the United States at 17 for an arranged marriage. “Although it was an arranged marriage, it doesn’t mean it was a forced marriage” (Dr. Chandran). - She realized he was good to his family so she knew that they would be the perfect match since she is a family person. - Applied to Stony Brook residency three times but got denied every time. - She wanted to work at Stony Brook because it was convenient (close to house and children, only had one car). - After getting a residency program at Lincoln Memorial Medical Center in New York City, a fellow employee saw what she was capable of and recommended her to Stony Brook, where she finally got accepted. - After being there for three months, she was asked to be chief resident, where she finally resigned because of the stress. (Made work schedules for employees, dealt with paperwork, etc.) - She DOES NOT specialize in genital warts, diaper rash, etc. She does specialize in pediatrics and adolescent health though. When she was in India she had a lot of experience in gynecology. - Wanted to be invisible throughout her residency - She has won numerous awards for her work - Works for undergraduate medical education at Stony Brook University Recommendations: Our interview went exactly like we pictured it would go. We had a mixed structure interview, so we had both prescribed questions and open ended. We gave Dr. Chandran the opportunity to say what she needed to and go off on tangents about topics that she thought �was important. It was a comfortable environment and we felt like she was one of us. We recommend for follow up interviews to be honest and understanding. If you disagree with what the individual who you are interviewing has to say, tell them, it will open up a new conversation. Also, elaborate on what they say. If there is a topic that sounds interesting to you, ask them more about it. Another recommendation is to make sure to do research about the person you are interviewing prior to the interview, it will give you more to talk about and help you understand what they are saying. Listening is also a key recommendation when conducting an interview. A final recommendation would be ask what you don’t know. When asking what you don’t know it makes you seem like you are interested in what the individual has to say, along with learning something that you didn’t already know. This also opens up to new conversations and it makes it much more personal. Different Interpretations: When conducting this particular interview with Dr. Chandran we didn’t really have any problems interpreting what she had to say. She very clear on all the information that she had provided us with. Although the information was clear for the most part, there was one detail that was confusing. Dr. Chandran stated within her interview that she had traveled to the United States at 17 years old for her arranged marriage. Traveling to the U.S at 17 is possible, but she also stated that she had obtained her medical degree by then. In the U.S it is almost impossible to have completed medical school at 17, but we aren’t aware of how the education system works in India. After reviewing the audio recording, we noticed this, so it was not addressed within the interview. We left out this information while presenting because we didn’t want to give false information, so we stated that she traveled to the U.S “at a young age.” Overall, we were able to clearly interpret the information that Dr. Chandran had provided for us. Commented [CL1]: The confusion of the students regarding when I moved to the US is clear in this paragraph. �Trends: When conducting this interview, there were numerous trends that were brought up. Dr. Chandran made it clear that one way to be successful is by never giving up. The idea of never giving up was constantly brought up throughout the interview. She used personal stories to make more relatable for us to comprehend. For instance, her experience of applying for a residency program showed how determined she was to be a doctor. Although she got denied several times, she never gave up. Another trend that was often seen throughout this interview was to make sure you pick a career that you love. She made it clear that having a career that makes a lot of money isn’t worth not being happy. “A job that makes $750,000 where you aren’t happy doesn’t compare to a job that you love where you are making $75,000” (Dr. Chandran). (Section 5) Your analysis: What aspects of the interview did you find to be particularly meaningful? One of the aspects of the interview that was meaningful to us, was how Dr. Chandran used her perspective and experiences, like applying to Stony Brook Hospital, to show us how people have to persevere. She applied to Stony Brook University Hospital to do her residency program, but she was rejected three times every year. She began applying elsewhere even though it was inconvenient, she eventually got accepted into a residency program at Lincoln Medical Center in New York City. When she started her residency there, she got some connections who made Stony Brook to take her in consideration. When they called her for the interview, Dr. Chandran was pregnant, which was a disadvantage for her because of domestic responsibilities. They asked her what was she capable of, she reply: “Once I come here I can show what I am capable of”, and that was the attitude they liked. She was finally accepted and then they offered her a position where she was asked to be chief resident after only being there for three months. What aspects were not useful? �One of our questions was: “What were your reasons for developing an expertise in contraception, diaper rash, genital warts and pneumonia?” Dr. Chandran was a little impressed with this question, and she asked us where we got that question from. We told her that we did a little research about her and we found this information. She just laughed and said that she did her expertise in pediatric. In terms of diaper rash, genital warts, and pneumonia she is not in that area, but is something that she doesn't feel uncomfortable with. What more would you like to know? When interviewing Dr. Chandran, there wasn’t a lot of information about her contributions to U.S- Asian relations. Although she talked about her upbringings in India, she didn’t discuss what she had done to help both India and America. When doing research on her, information about her life other than her career wasn’t really provided. We understand that she has had many successes, such as awards, but during the interview she didn’t touch upon if any of these awards were related to U.S-Asian contributions. Personally if we were to re-interview her, I believe we would ask more questions focusing on her background in India rather than her career. What other in-class presentations did you find particularly useful? Explain Although all of the in-class presentations were well conducted and helpful, there were some that stood out upon the rest. For instance, the presentation on Ambassador Julia Chang Bloch that Melissa, Maria and Stephanie presented was extremely helpful because it provided us with both an insight on her personal life and her career. They began the presentation with a detailed biography of Ambassador Bloch. They started it by telling us about her upbringing in Chefoo (now Yantai) China and her family life. They then continued their presentation by including details about how she got started in her career. One detail that stood out was why she decided to join the Peace Corps. Bloch ultimately joined the Peace Corp as a result of John F. Kennedy’s �assassination. She felt like he dedicated so much time to his country and that she should do the same. “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country” (John F. Kennedy). This was a quote that Ambassador Bloch often lived by. Growing up her father constantly reminded her she needs to dedicate time to her country, because it has done so much for her. During this presentation, we enjoyed the personal stories that were described between the interviewers and Ambassador Bloch. By including personal stories, it made the interview more personal and relatable, which was seen during the presentation. This presentation was also very well organized. They were well prepared and knew exactly what to say during both the presentation and audio clip. Having a well prepared presentation makes it much easier for their listeners to comprehend the material, rather than going back and forth. Another presentation that was particularly useful was the one about Jennifer Chou and her career with Radio Free Asia. This presentation was extremely useful because it primarily focused on her contributions to U.SAsian relations. They began their presentations much like the other groups and discussed her upbringings within Taiwan. Chou was an only child and had a normal upbringing. She pursued an education at UCLA in Massachusetts. Her family would often watch the news, which eventually gave her an interest in journalism. Her mother wanted her to be a career woman because her mother was never able to. Learning this detail about her life was crucial because it described the relationship between children and parents within Asia. Majority of the time here in the United States we pick career paths based on our own interests, not because of what your parents want you to do (although this is true in some cases). One important detail that was described within this presentation was that Jennifer Chou didn’t experience any “culture shock” when she came to the United States. This was important because this was a major topic that was discussed within this course. By discussing the idea of culture shock, they included their in-class �knowledge into their interview, which demonstrated their understanding in the course. We also enjoyed the fact that they emphasized their presentation on how it was to be a woman within this field of work. This was significant because this course is focused on women and their contributions within U.S-Asian relations, which is exactly what Jennifer Chou had accomplished. They discussed how Chou often was discriminated against because she was a woman, but that didn’t seem to stop her. Her main focus within her career is looking at human right issues that are associated with women and what she can do to fix them. This presentation was extremely beneficial because it gave us an understanding of what this course was really about. It opened up our eyes to how powerful women’s contributions can be to not only the country that they are focused on, but others that are also in need. Publisher’s note (3/16/2017) The following are corrections made by the interviewee after reviewing the student report of the interview. The corrections correlate to the phrases highlighted in yellow in the student report above: Latha Chandran’s corrections to the Student Interview AAS 2015 report (submitted 3/15/17) Interviewee’s title or position: Vice Dean for Undergraduate Medical Education, Professor of Pediatrics and Board Certified General Pediatrician Section 2: In 2015 I was in practice for 23 years (not 31) Section 3: She completed her residency at Stony Brook University Hospital after having started it at Lincoln Hospital (there was no “influence,” etc.) Question 3: Here in the United States, patients have more say in their care. I have personally been yelled at by nurses during my intern years, whereas in India there is more respect. �Section 4: She started medical school at 18, got married at 25 and came over to the US with a green card at 27 years of age. She would not have come to the US if it weren’t for her marriage. Section 4: After being at Stony Brook for three months as a senior resident she was offered the position of a fourth year chief residency which she successfully completed (there was no resignation of any kind). Section 4: Wanted to be invisible throughout her medical school in India due to fear of hazing (not residency). Section 5: ….but she was rejected three times. Delete every year. Section 5: She just laughed and said that as a general pediatrician she has some expertise in all common problems that affect children, but she was not a super expert like a subspecialist. 2017 Update Dr Latha Chandran as of 2017, is the Miriam and David Donoho Distinguished Teaching Professor and the Founding Director of the Donoho Academy of Clinical and Educational Scholars. She currently serves as the Vice Dean for Academic and Faculty Affairs at Stony Brook School of Medicine. In 2016, Dr Chandran was named a SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor and subsequently inducted into the SUNY Distinguished Academy. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Women in US-Asian Relations Student Oral History Project Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Christoff, Peggy Spitzer -- Senior Lecturer, China Studies. Director of Undergraduate Programs: Asian And Asian American Studies. Subject The topic of the resource Asian Americans--Study and teaching; Women social reformers--Asia; Women social reformers--United States; Oral history Relation A related resource AAS_POL_307_OralHistoryProject; AAS_POL_307_OralHistoryProject_2015 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted (URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/). Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context aas_2015_20160815_lchandran_doc_corrected_dis Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2015 Description An account of the resource Every fall, students at Stony Brook University in class, AAS/POL 307 (Women in US-Asian Relations), set out to interview women who are committed to enhancing US-Asian relations. Women’s contributions occur at many different levels of society and encompass a variety of occupations. In conducting oral history interviews, students prepare documentation for the Stony Brook University Melville Library’s digital collection and, in the process, acquire deep knowledge about women’s social, cultural, political, and economic roles in the United States and Asia, which includes those in Asian American communities. Each interview consists of multiple files, including: a text document and Powerpoint slides, which were converted to PDFs for this digitization project. The project is a joint effort between the Department of Asian and Asian American Studies and the University Libraries. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Liranzo, Emely ; Jaramillo, Victoria ; Shevlin, Alyssa ; Chandran, Dr. Latha Type The nature or genre of the resource text Title A name given to the resource Dr. Latha Chandran http://exhibits.library.stonybrook.edu/WUA/files/original/c298e9ec93da42ebfc556c3a8885f7d1.pdf 5f6554388dd1f1aa30455e54b21fb11c PDF Text Text Melissa Kelly Maria Marrero Stephanie Paguay Section 1 On November 3rd, 2015 we sat down to interview Julia Chang Bloch. The three of us were students in Women in U.S.-Asian relations and we were very interested in hearing more about the endeavors of this woman. The little we knew of her was told to us by Professor Christoff and was found by basic Google searches. Presently the founder of the U.S.-China education Trust, Ms. Bloch has held many titles in her life, including but not limited to, Ambassador of Nepal. The interview took place at 4:30pm via Adobe Connect, in a conference room in the Humanities Building at Stony Brook University. The interview lasted approximately thirty minutes. Our objective was to better understand the life, endeavors and challenges of Julia Chang Bloch and to learn about her career path and about the ways that women have contributed to U.S.-Asian relations. Section 2 We prepared for our interview by first going on to the open web and searching for Ms. Bloch’s name. We sorted through a numerous amount of material and photos on Ms. Bloch. This material allowed us to learn more about Ms. Bloch prior to our interview. She is a woman that has done so much in her lifetime and there are many things to read about her. We needed to come up with some good questions and this gave us an idea as to what kind of questions to ask her. After working together in and out of class we gathered our questions and ran them by Professor Christoff for her guidance. Some of the questions we asked were as follows: �1. What were the reasons you and/or your family left China for the U.S? 2. What inspired you to join the Peace Corps? How would you describe your experience volunteering and did this establish your drive to continue working in civil service? 3. Can you tell us a little bit about your experiences as the U.S. ambassador to Nepal? 4. What were your driving forces in your career and what inspired you? 5. What is your vision for the U.S. China Education Trust? We were provided the email of Ms. Laurie Size, the executive secretary for Julia Chang Bloch. We sent her an email requesting the opportunity to interview Ms. Bloch. We requested that she forward this request along to Ms. Bloch. This is the correspondence that was sent on October 21, 2015. Dear Ambassador Bloch, Under the direction of Professor Peggy Christoff, we are writing to request an interview with you. We, Stephanie Paguay, Melissa Kelly and Maria Marrero, are students at Stony Brook University and taking a course titled, “Women in US-Asian Relations.” Our majors are Psychology, with a concentration in Sociology; Business, with a concentration in Accounting and Multidisciplinary Studies with concentrations in Health Science and History. We are very interested in talking with you about your career path and contributions to US-Asian relations. Thus far in our coursework, we have conducted library research on women who historically have made a variety of contributions to US-Asian relations, including �missionaries, educators, artists, and film-makers (Isabella Thoburn, Jade Snow Wong, Ida Pruitt, Harriet Newell, Gertrude Howe and Gail Dolgin.) We are excited to learn first-hand about your visionary work and share it with our classmates. We understand that you earned a Masters degree from Harvard University and went on to become not only an ambassador to Nepal but also the first ambassador of Asian descent. What an admirable feat! We would like to set up a video conferencing appointment with you, hopefully, before you leave the country in November. If this is not possible, we could do it after Thanksgiving. Our University uses Adobe connect, which is similar to Skype. As we are developing our interview questions, we also wondered if you have information that you would like to share with us prior to the interview. We are honored to learn from you. If there are any specific times that you are available, please let us know. Thank you in advance for this opportunity. Maria Marrero Melissa Kelly Stephanie Paguay Laurie got back to us very promptly. She advised that Ms. Bloch was available on November 3rd, 2015 at 4:30pm. This worked great for all three of us on the interviewing end because our schedules are all a little hectic and this is the time of day we were hoping for. After securing this date and time we revisited our questions in preparation for our interview. The questions were then mailed to Laurie Size. She was very helpful in getting our questions along to Ms. Bloch so that she would understand in advance what the basis �of our interview would be. This would also help speed along the interview process because we had limited time with her via Adobe Connect. This is the email that was sent at that time. Good Morning Laurie, These are some of the questions we would like to ask ambassador Bloch in our conference tomorrow: 1. What were the reasons you and/or your family left China for the U.S.? 2. What inspired you to join the Peace Corps? How would you describe your experience volunteering and did this establish your drive to continue working in the civil service? 3. Can you tell us a little bit about your experiences as the US ambassador to Nepal? 4. What were your driving forces in your career and what inspired you? 5. What is your vision for the US-China Education Trust? We would like to just send this ahead of time so that she has an idea of what we are interested in learning and also, since we won’t have a lot of time, this would help speed things up. Thanks a lot. Maria, Melissa & Stephanie Section 3 1) We were able to get complete answers to all of our questions. The first question we asked really opened up a dialogue between the four of us. Ms. Bloch gave us a little bit more background of her father, being the first Harvard graduate of Asian descent, he �had many friends in the U.S. and several of them were telling him that he should move here. She also explained that it was a time when China was in turmoil and the decision was made by her parents to bring their family to the United States. It was nice talking to her and seeing her reflect and reminisce about what it was like when she moved here at the age of nine. Although a young girl at the time, she was old enough to remember her first moments living in the United States. When the second question was asked, she actually corrected our question and said that she works in public service and not civil service. She then continued to explain to us what her public service was and this only helped us to better understand her vast career going forward in the interview. 2) We feel as though our interview was done in a mixed format because even though we had a set of questions, some of the answers provided by Ms. Bloch would lead to other topics. For instance, when we asked Ms. Bloch about her childhood and if it was hard to come to America she told us a little story on how her life actually changed (for the better) and how freeing it was for her to not have to be with her Amah (her Nanny) all the time. She also told us the story about a little girl who was eager to meet the Ambassador of Nepal but was shocked when she saw that she (Ms. Bloch) looked just like her. A great cue that we picked up on this was how excited Ms. Bloch gets when reminiscing about her childhood and it was easy to see that she was enjoying the interview because she was giving us a lot of positive non-verbal cues, such as smiling often, getting excited about answering some of the questions and nodding her head. Listening to her was very interesting and we spent a lot of time writing down as much as �we could. We wanted to get as much as we could from this experience and the time spent conversing with her. 3) When Ms. Bloch told us some of the interesting things that happened to her as an ambassador (such as the incident with the little girl) we asked some of the probing questions to get a more in depth understanding of how this took place. Rather than being bothered or offended by how she was perceived by that little girl, we got the feeling that Ms. Bloch was actually proud of that moment in her life because she had a big smile on her face and her eyes lit up. 4) We approached the interview with a plan but it changed as the interview got started. The plan was that Melissa was going to ask all the questions and Stephanie and Maria would take notes but we got so engaged in the interview and we all took notes and asked questions although Melissa asked the majority of them. 5) Ms. Bloch did not give us any documents or follow up references but she did however, give us great advice. That advice was to use the momentum or the ‘don’t’s or cant’s’ of other people as a driving force to push us farther. Section 4 While all intently listening we tried to take as many notes as possible. We did not want to appear disengaged and although we needed to jot down what was being said we also knew that we would have the interview recorded to refer back to later. We took this time to listen intently and be fully engaged in the time we had to spend with Julia Chang Bloch. The notes we did take were pretty straightforward. Ms. Bloch advised us a lot about her childhood in China; that she was constantly looked after and cared for- almost �to the point where it was cumbersome; she never had any time to herself or time to play or go outside; she explained to us that girls of her generation did not go outside to “play”; they went to home and school only. When she was nine and her family left China, the decision was made solely by her parents. This decision was based in part by the signs of the times because of the turmoil that China was in and also based on the fact that her father had just finished his education in the United States at Harvard and he had many contacts and friends here who suggested that it may be the time to leave China for the United States. Ms. Bloch explained that when first living in the United States she now had the opportunity to be a kid- she had time and she had freedom to play outside- and she loved it! As we wrote down as much as we could Ms. Bloch fondly reminisced about her time as a young girl in the United States; she felt free coming to the United States versus living in China; she didn’t have a nanny here and her mother and father were working a lot; we then asked her what her mother did for work and she started talking about that- saying that he mother did various work- she was a cocktail waitress who then years later owned her own business. There was a large part of the interview where we discussed the assassination of JFK. Talking about this even today you can see that it really strikes a cord with Julia. She kept referring to herself as an old lady, I do not think that she thought that we were old enough to understand the impact of this loss to our nation. Although we may not have been around when it occurred it is something that we definitely know of and have learned in history classes. However, to speak with someone who was of college age when it happened we realized what an effect this had on her. This was the driving force in Ms. Bloch joining the Peace Corps. She expressed her concern about today’s youth and how �she feels that not enough young people are involved in their government; more young people need to be involved and care about what goes on in their country; she then explained about her time as ambassador and as previously discussed her story about the young girl in Nepal; she talked about how she has filled positions that men may have previously filled and no matter how people looked at her she had a point to prove to show that she could get the job done and that if someone said otherwise this would only make her work that much harder; she spoke about the U.S.-China education trust and how important education is; how important keeping a good relationship between the U.S. and China is; we advised her that Stony Brook has a very high Asian population and we discussed the exchange programs Stony Brook University offered; she was intrigued by this and we listed the countries that the students were from; we advised that in our class there are several students from Asia. Section 5 While conducting our interview with Ms. Bloch we discovered various information especially what drove her to be successful in her career. Although we followed our format with questions when interviewing Ms. Bloch there was of course new questions that we felt we had to ask and wanted know. Specifically, when she was appointed as Ambassador to Nepal, we wanted to know if she faced any criticism or difficult time working with colleagues. Her response to us was that she did not necessarily face criticism, but she was looked at as someone who was not fit for the job. Being a small woman in a room with tall, grown men she often received attitude from others that made her believe that they �did not believe in her and her capabilities. Ms. Bloch told us that whenever she faced a situation like that she picked her head up high and showed them that she could in fact do her job and do it well. She explained to us that throughout her life she has been breaking barriers and that is what has made her successful. Her prime mission in her career is to break the barrier between China and the United States. As president of the U.S.- China Education Trust, Ms. Bloch’s primary focus is to strengthen American Studies in China and vice versa. She focuses on this because she feels that these two countries can become educated on one another and form a strong relationship. Ms. Bloch expressed to us how very important this is. Something that we took away from the interview that was incredibly meaningful was how she expressed such autonomy. As young women starting our careers it was very insightful to see such a successful woman succeed so far in her life. So many times throughout her career she was able to prove to those that did not necessarily believe in her that she was able to do whatever she set out to do. Having a supportive father and family it also pushed her to achieve such great accomplishments. Another part of the interview that we will take away is the story she told us about her first trip to Nepal after becoming ambassador. This was one of the best parts of the interview. Ms. Bloch was appointed to be the Ambassador of Nepal by George H.W. Bush in 1989. Upon her welcoming visit to Nepal there was a little girl near her who was talking to her father. Within earshot of Ms. Bloch the little girl asked, “Where is the American ambassador? I want to see her.” To which her father replied and pointed that is her right there. The little girl then said, “ But she looks just like me.” �The only thing that comes to mind when thinking about what else we want to know about Ms. Bloch is where does she go from here? She has accomplished so much in her life and she is such a role model for students like us. Does she plan to retire anytime soon? Does she want to continue living in Washington, D.C. or will she retire somewhere else? Will that be in the United States or outside of the United States? Does she have family in China still that she keeps in touch with? Would she ever consider living in China again? These are just several questions that come to mind when thinking about what else we would ask Ms. Bloch if given the time to interview her again. She was such a pleasure to talk to and if time allowed we could see ourselves talking much longer than we did. Along with presenting in class all of the information we learned about Julia Chang Bloch, we also had the opportunity to listen to several other presentations. These presentations were all based on women somehow involved in U.S. Asian relations. These women have really made an impact on not only society but on our class as you can see in the presentations that were put together. Day one the first presentation was about Jennifer Cho from Radio Free Asia, a journalist. In the beginning of the presentation it was said that her parents emphasized the importance of education. We couldn’t help but think about Julia Chang Bloch’s father who also stressed the importance of education. Both women upheld these values expressed by their parents and obtained various degrees. Chou’s first job was at Voice of America- the official external broadcast institution of the United States federal government. She worked in human rights and in recognizing human rights violations. For Melissa and Stephanie hearing about Chou’s experience working with people against �China’s one child policy educated us even more on the subject we have been learning about in another one of our classes this semester. It was interesting to tie the two classes together and see a woman working toward a woman’s right to bodily autonomy. Day two of presentations we learned about Mary David. She works in the field of human rights and human trafficking. Maria and Melissa were in a group project previously in class where we read and learned about Malaysia and the issues faced there with human rights and human trafficking. It was a good tie in for this class to learn more about this woman who is directly involved in it. She is currently working in Baltimore, Maryland with criminal prosecution in regards to human trafficking. It was interesting to learn about her method of educating youth on human trafficking. She is involved in beauty pageants and the arts and this is the platform she uses to obtain speaking engagements. It is here that she is able to combine her interests and put it towards a good cause and the greater good by educating others on major issues. With all of the paths she has been on she is able to educate others who may have no idea that this goes on. The third day of presentations we learned about Carol Hamrin. She too works with interests of human rights. The presenters explained that she could be compared to women missionaries that we learned about in class, however it was not her goal to spread one religion but to spread the view and understanding of the right to religious freedom for all people. Carol Hamrin stated that she sees things differently because she is a woman; that people in her field may not see what she sees as far as really understanding the culture and society of the Chinese people. The presenters explained how she was very passionate in discussing how they should continue towards their goals and work hard and not let someone talk them out of what they want to do or accomplish. This reminded us of �Julia Chang Bloch’s words- that we must continue to work hard despite what others may say or think. We realized after listening to the other interviews how lucky we were that our interview went so smoothly. Many of our classmates had scheduling issues and connectivity issues. We did not face any of this but it was easy to understand how this could just as easily have happened to us. The women interviewed were very gracious to all of us in allowing us their time. They are figureheads in their field and just allowing us a little bit of their time was a humbling experience. We really learned a lot from Julia Chang Bloch and also all of the other interviewees that we heard about in class. Many women, just like Julia Chang Bloch, are consistently working towards breaking barriers -- for women or human rights in general. It is these women who continue to make us have a hope for the future. They continue to work towards a common goal for a greater good of men, women and children. This is the email that is being sent to Julia Chang Bloch to thank her for her time and her consideration. Dear Ms. Bloch, We wanted to take a few minutes to thank you for taking the time to speak with us on November 3, 2015 and allowing us to interview you. We sincerely appreciate the opportunity and are so grateful for the time you took to spend with us. Your answers were wonderful and we enjoyed learning about your life. Thank you so very much for your willingness to help us accomplish our project. We have enclosed our presentation and paper for your review. We hope that you will enjoy �reading this. You have truly made an impact on not only U.S.-Asian Relations but also on the three of us. Again thank you so much for your time and your consideration. Sincerely, Maria, Melissa and Stephanie � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Women in US-Asian Relations Student Oral History Project Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Bloch, Julia Chang ; Christoff, Peggy Spitzer -- Senior Lecturer, China Studies. Director of Undergraduate Programs: Asian And Asian American Studies. Subject The topic of the resource Asian Americans--Study and teaching; Women social reformers--Asia; Women social reformers--United States; Oral history Relation A related resource AAS_POL_307_OralHistoryProject; AAS_POL_307_OralHistoryProject_2015 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted (URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/). Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context aas_2015_20160815_jchangbloch_doc_dis Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2015 Description An account of the resource Every fall, students at Stony Brook University in class, AAS/POL 307 (Women in US-Asian Relations), set out to interview women who are committed to enhancing US-Asian relations. Women’s contributions occur at many different levels of society and encompass a variety of occupations. In conducting oral history interviews, students prepare documentation for the Stony Brook University Melville Library’s digital collection and, in the process, acquire deep knowledge about women’s social, cultural, political, and economic roles in the United States and Asia, which includes those in Asian American communities. Each interview consists of multiple files, including: a text document and Powerpoint slides, which were converted to PDFs for this digitization project. The project is a joint effort between the Department of Asian and Asian American Studies and the University Libraries. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Kelly, Melissa ; Marrero, Maria ; Paguay, Stephanie Type The nature or genre of the resource text Title A name given to the resource Julia Chang Bloch http://exhibits.library.stonybrook.edu/WUA/files/original/ac4955d52ec34ea59b2f4124cbe58b6a.pdf 967cb76bc6c557ec1b0f9260fbf33158 PDF Text Text 1 �The mission of Ambassador Julia Chang Bloch can be seen throughout her career. She has broken down many barriers. More specifically with her current position as President of the U.S. Education trust, she has been focusing on breaking down the barriers between China and the United States; in order so that these two countries can better understand each other. Being the first of Asian origin to become Ambassador of Nepal and being a woman at that, she has used that as her motivation to go further and be successful in her career. Something that we took away from our interview was that although being a woman with such a high-ranking position, that should be all the more reason to succeed. Having a strong mentality and courage to prove others wrong can take you very far. Woman are going far and making enormous contributions to global issues today. The women of today, such as Julia Chang Block have set the bar for women of future generations. 2 �The questions we asked Julia Chang Bloch were created around what basic information we knew about her from both Professor Christoff and our own independent research. In preparing our key questions we knew that what and how we asked them would influence the type of information we would be able to get from the interview. Our objective was to learn as much as we could about the accomplishments of Julia Chang Bloch in the half hour we had to spend with on her Adobe Connect. The interview was held at 4:30pm on November 10 th. We knew that Ms. Bloch was born in China and at the age of nine years old moved with her family to the United States. We started out by asking her about moving to a new country at a young age. We wanted to know what were the reasons for her move from China to the United States and what it was like as a young girl to move to another country. Ms. Bloch explained to us that it was an exciting time in her life. She stated that since she was a young girl at the time, it was her parent’s decision to move. Her father was not only a Harvard graduate, but the first Asian Graduate, and he had many friends in America that wanted him to move to the United States. She spoke about her childhood and stated that back in China she never went outside; she went from home to school and back home. Her Amah (her nanny) would drive her to and from school, she even said it was almost as if her feet never touched the ground! She was brought from one place to the next and really had no free time to play outside. She stated that girls of her generation did not go outside in China. Once she came to the United States she did not have an Amah and her parents were both 3 �working. She said that her and her brother got to play outside all the time and that even as a girl she felt free in the United States. We asked Ms. Bloch about her time in the Peace Corp and wanted to know what it was like and what exactly was her driving force. We wanted to know about what inspired her. Ms. Bloch’s explanation in turn inspired us. She explained that her father had always told her that when your country does so much for you you have to give back to your country. His thinking was similar to that of another great man- John F. Kennedy. Ms. Bloch explained that it was the assassination of John F. Kennedy that was her driving force in joining the Peace Corp. As our previous slide showed, John F. Kennedy is famous for his quote, “Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country.” John F. Kennedy established the Peace Corp in the 1960’s and it was Ms. Bloch’s mission to be a part of it. These questions opened up quite a dialogue for our interview. She explained that in her time many young people were involved in social programs and that today it saddens her that the same thing is not so. She would love to see young people more involved. We talked about our class and she was very interested to hear about all that we had studied. We moved onto the US-China education trust and her passion behind it. With active listening we learned that it is her goal to keep the relationship between the United States and China a good one. Both countries are tremendous super powers and in saying that need to stay on each other’s good sides. She was very clear on explaining why it is necessary and that if her two countries did not get along it would not be a good thing. She believes that with programs such as the U.S.-China education trust that a good relationship between the two countries can continue and that the United States can continue to keep the peace. Julia Chang Bloch explained to us that she has broken barriers all of her life. One of the best parts of the interview was when she told us the story about a little girl in Nepal. Ms. Bloch was appointed to Ambassador of Nepal by George H.W. Bush in 1989. Upon her welcoming visit to Nepal there was a little girl near her who was talking to her father. Within earshot of Ms. Bloch the little girl asked, “where is the American ambassador I want to see her.” To which her father replied and pointed that is her right there. The little girl then said, “ But she looks just like me.” Things like these are what has made all of her challenges worth it. Julia Chang Bloch prides herself on being able to represent her country well and at the same time being able to put herself in the shoes of others. She explained that when someone told her she wouldn’t be able to do something or couldn’t do something it was what made her push even harder. She was a wonderful interviewee and we really did enjoy interviewing her. 3 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Women in US-Asian Relations Student Oral History Project Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Bloch, Julia Chang ; Christoff, Peggy Spitzer -- Senior Lecturer, China Studies. Director of Undergraduate Programs: Asian And Asian American Studies. Subject The topic of the resource Asian Americans--Study and teaching; Women social reformers--Asia; Women social reformers--United States; Oral history Relation A related resource AAS_POL_307_OralHistoryProject; AAS_POL_307_OralHistoryProject_2015 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted (URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/). Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context aas_2015_20160815_jchangbloch_ppt_dis Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2015 Description An account of the resource Every fall, students at Stony Brook University in class, AAS/POL 307 (Women in US-Asian Relations), set out to interview women who are committed to enhancing US-Asian relations. Women’s contributions occur at many different levels of society and encompass a variety of occupations. In conducting oral history interviews, students prepare documentation for the Stony Brook University Melville Library’s digital collection and, in the process, acquire deep knowledge about women’s social, cultural, political, and economic roles in the United States and Asia, which includes those in Asian American communities. Each interview consists of multiple files, including: a text document and Powerpoint slides, which were converted to PDFs for this digitization project. The project is a joint effort between the Department of Asian and Asian American Studies and the University Libraries. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Kelly, Melissa ; Marrero, Maria ; Paguay, Stephanie Type The nature or genre of the resource text Title A name given to the resource Julia Chang Bloch