Category: Sigur Center Summer Research & Language Fellows

A Tale of Experiences and Learning

Violence against Women, a topic which has recently generated a lot of conversations in the Indian society, is the base of our research study. The Indian feminist movements have been seen to rise in waves, carved by various cases of violence against women, from the Bhanwari Devi case, Roop Kanwar’s immolation, to the most recent Nirbhaya gang-rape (brutal gang-rape on a moving bus in Delhi). Such cases have seen the uproar of masses; leading to the judicial system taking a step forward towards a less paternalistic state, like the introduction of the Vishakha Guidelines, influenced by the Bhanwari Devi rape case, and the introduction of fast track courts, post the Nirbhaya incident.

In the pursuit of our research study, we sought to understand the masses’ opinions about crimes against women, their sources of information about such crimes, along with the police force’s understanding of the changes in the system in recent times – thus tracing a trajectory of crimes against women from the heinous Nirbhaya rape case, up until now. In trying to do so, our team engaged in conversations with people from the police force and those from urban slum clusters, and surveyed the youth of Delhi. This wide sample was chosen to give us a holistic view of what crimes against women means to people in Delhi, the national capital of India.

We started out with understanding what the youth think of violence against women (VAW), especially reporting of VAW. After developing survey instruments entailing vignettes, we dipped our toes into the field with the pilot in Devli (a small village in South Delhi), after which we were ready to immerse ourselves fully. The pilot at Devli came with a lot of unexpected twists; we went in for a pleasantry meeting, and ended up conducting a pilot survey with 80 students (details provided in part 1 of this blog). However, this pilot gave us confidence to conduct the surveys in the proceeding days, and reassured us that we could overcome any challenges that the field throws at us. What followed suit was a series of rollouts across regions in Delhi.

My favorite experience came from two such rollouts; one in the Delhi Cantonment area in New Delhi district and one in Vikaspuri, in West Delhi. As I entered the Cantonment area of Shekhawat Lines, this unknown realm reminded me of ghost towns, with dilapidated buildings covered in moulds, and lawns with dried grass. An eerie silence engulfed the whole area with not a single person within eyesight. However, in the middle of the Cantonment lay an extravagant, lush, gated area called the Aahwan Centre.

Out of all the vocational centers that I had gotten the chance to visit until then, it was safe to say that the one in the Aahwan Centre was the best. The two courses taught there were beauty and wellness, and computers. The laboratories for both the courses were equipped with the best instruments, the classrooms complete with detailed charts about the coursework, and projectors for visual aid. As I explained the nature of the research study to the trainers at the centre, I was forewarned that no such crimes occur within the cantonment area, because of which respondents may not be able to relate to the questions. However, it was later found that the students seemed moved by the situations presented to them and could recall incidents that were similar to those they were reading about in the questionnaire. I was told by one of the respondents that they found the survey thought-provoking because such situations are the harsh reality of being a woman in Delhi.

The rollout at Vikaspuri was scheduled with a centre of PMKVY, which caters to people with hearing disabilities. As I reached the location of the rollout with a sign language interpreter, I was warned by the Centre head that instead of the estimated 40 minutes given to complete the survey, the students may take anywhere up to 2-3 hours to complete it, because of the situation-based questions and the low reading abilities of the students. This meant that every word of the questionnaire needed to be interpreted to the students in sign language. However, the coordinator was very impressed with the questions and was keen on administering it to her students, because they never get to talk about such things. She also expressed interest in incorporating such themes into their course syllabus to create awareness amongst her students about the issue of violence against women. This thought itself was quite motivating and rewarding for us!

After getting acquainted with the Centre head, we went on to administer the questionnaire. It was a massive task for the interpreter to individually address doubts of 40-odd respondents, who had many questions of their own about the survey. The students, however, seemed quite moved by the situations presented to them. To be able to effectively translate the questions into sign language required a lot of minute attention to detail, along with immense amounts of patience. We set out with the aim of being done with the survey in the usual one hour timeframe, but ended up spending about 3.5 hours administering the survey. This made me think of how I’d taken for granted the reading abilities of 18-30 year olds, while on the other hand, people with hearing disabilities lack proper schools or funding for schools from the government, which results in readings levels of primary school students. Nonetheless, their enthusiasm to participate in the survey gave us energy and optimism, and thus we were able to carry out the survey effectively.

The field experience that I have gained over the last month through this research study has acquainted me with nooks and crannies of Delhi that I had never been to despite residing in Delhi for more than two decades. Having grown-up in the quintessential city life of Delhi, I was embarrassingly unaware of these other ‘Delhis’ that existed in my own backyard! While each such Delhi was distinct in its own respect, what connects us all is the call/urge to mitigate VAW across spaces and communities…

Abhilasha Sahay, Phd Economics 2020

Sigur Center 2019 Field Research Fellow, India

My time in Taiwan is reaching closer and closer to an end. Time has gone by rather fast considering that my experience began in the middle of May. I am pretty confident that I have gained some sort of lasting tangible knowledge in Chinese given that there has been a class every day for 3 hours. Additionally, I have picked up on some of the cultural behaviors in this area. Lastly, I have eaten a whole lot of food that would be rare to find in DC.

In terms of learning a new language, the class has been rather consistent. With a solid block of time set aside to learn Chinese, there have been definite improvements in vocabulary and grammar. Not only is there 3 hours for class, there is also the additional time for studying and just general usage to get by in life. The efficiency/effectiveness of the pursuit of language acquisition is much greater, especially when just focusing on a single subject.

While learning Chinese through a classroom setting is beneficial, the use of it outside of class is arguably just as important. The constant reading, listening, and speaking do wonders in reinforcing what is learned in the classroom and facilitating greater learning outside of the classroom. Communicating with people about multiple subjects that are not covered in class obviously expands the source of knowledge. This also applies to the reading of signs and whatnot when getting around the area. 

Lastly, and most importantly to myself is the exploration or recollection of eating traditional Taiwanese food has been great, plus the price of items here are much more affordable than in DC. It has been interesting to eat dishes that incorporate the whole animal, which is more often done than in the US. Such dishes include the use of the insides of pigs, ex. the heart, liver, blood, etc. On the other hand, the more popular treats, such as bubble tea and potstickers, are always refreshing as well. 

All in all, the study abroad experience so far has been very positive. I have continued to hit the main goals of learning Chinese and picking up on the culture. 

Ander Tebbutt, BAccy 2022

Sigur Center 2019 Asian Language Fellow

National Taiwan Normal University, Taiwan

I traveled across oceans in three planes, cars, and shuttles to reach the Nawalparasi district of Nepal. I had one sole purpose for this trip – to conduct cognitive testing of a gender norms scale that I’m developing. Gender norms are a sub-set of social norms that describe how people of a particular gender are expected to behave, in a given social context. Cognitive testing is a fancy word for making sure that the questions that we plan to ask make sense to participants. In measurement jargon, this is called “content validity.” For example, one of my questions is, “In most families you know, women’s parents pay a dowry when their daughter gets married” with answer choices ranging from “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree.” I need to make sure that participants understand the word “dowry” as it’s translated in Nepali and that they understand that we’re asking about “most families,” not themselves. To do so, we asked open-ended questions about how they answered the question and what the dowry practice is like in their community.

A scale is a compendium of multiple items (survey questions) that as a whole represent a latent construct; they measure beliefs or attitudes we expect to exist as a result of our theoretical understanding of the world, but cannot directly measure. Different from measuring height and weight, gender norms cannot be directly measured. Creating and validating a scale helps to ensure that we are truly capturing this concept. Oftentimes, researchers simply hire data collectors to conduct cognitive testing. However, being present in Nepal allowed me to be a part of burgeoning questions about how to improve each question for clarity. For example, participants had a hard time differentiating between two important concepts, descriptive gender norms and injunctive gender norms. Perceived descriptive norms are what people are actually doing (e.g., most parents in this community pay a dowry when their daughter gets married) and perceived injunctive norms are perceptions about what someone should do (e.g., people in this community know that they should not pay a dowry and that it’s illegal but they still do it). One of the data collectors, Minakshi, suggested that we provide an example around hand washing to differentiate between the two types of questions. She suggested we add this example to the instructions, “we all know that we should wash our hands with soap and water before we eat but not everyone actually does that. For the next set of questions, I’m going to ask about what you think families believe they should do, not what they actually do.” Adding this vastly improved comprehension – a critical difference for this scale. By working closely with two data collectors for four days, they will be able to train the rest of the team on the questions, the importance of the scale, and how to answer questions, before the next round of data collection this fall.

Of course, another benefit of crossing oceans is that I get a glimpse into the lives of the women, or similar women, who will be helping to validate this scale with their responses. Since I don’t speak Nepali, I hang back with the driver as the data collectors conduct each interview. We sit in green plastic chairs under kind people’s roofs. Everyone welcomes us in. One family placed two water bottles and a bowl of sugar in front of me. I asked the driver what the sugar was for and he said that it’s a common welcome gesture for guests. The woman offered it to me directly and as I picked up the spoon to place some sugar in my palm, I realized there were tiny ants all over it. I was already midway to ladling the ant-infested sugar into my palm and the whole house was watching me so I just hoped that the ants didn’t hang on tight. I put a little in my mouth and kept the rest of the sugar tightly clenched in my fist for the next hour until the interview finished. When I was about to get into the car, I opened my palm to let the rest of the sugar fall to the ground but it was mostly melted into my clammy hand at the point. All in the name of science! The next day, sitting under a restaurant overhang, a family put me to work rolling and stuffing momos (Nepali dumplings). My dumplings were smaller and lopsided compared to the rest but they were patient with me and happy to have the help – or at least the entertainment.

Men, women, and children spend the day cooking, cleaning, washing, and selling things but life didn’t feel as harried as it does in Washington, D.C. The slow, languid pace in the Newalparasi District made me feel guilty when I’d open up my laptop to crank out the methods section of a paper while I waited for the data collectors to return. But this is what I know – checklists, accomplishments, efficiency. The Newalparasi district where we worked is only 35 kilometers from Buddha’s birthplace. Originally, Buddha was a Brahman man named Siddhartha Gautama, who left all of his possessions, money, and family to explore. He wanted to understand the world outside of his sheltered, privileged life and in the process, found enlightenment and internal peace. Buddhist philosophy may not include cranking out methods sections and keeping a list of how many publications I’ve produced. Rolling momos and sitting with families, albeit mostly in silence, is probably more Buddhist.

As a social scientist, I am proud of methodical attention to detail and I want to contribute a sound, rigorous gender norms instrument that the field can use to reduce gender inequity. At the same time, I want to slow down and appreciate the immeasurable part of life. As always, travel and a glimpse into another way of living helps me remember that.

Coming to Taiwan has allowed me to practice and improve my Mandarin by leaps and bounds. The immersive experience goes beyond the classroom and allows me to be learning 24/7. However, what many students do not consider is the practice of language exchange. Language Exchange involves two or more people that help each other practice languages that they are learning. This can be a great help to students on a budget as participants teach their partner their native or fluent language instead of charging money as a tutor would. I found many partners through Facebook groups as well as sites like tealit.com that focus on language exchange.

I was very lucky to meet a few Taiwanese locals who have helped me learn and practice more than I could learn in the classroom. I was able to work on fine-tuning my pronunciation, learn about Taiwanese culture, and much more. Through meeting language partners, I was also able to explore new parts of the city and try new foods every time I met up with a language partner – I’ve made some of my best friends in Taiwan this way. One language partner in particular even went to the extent of teaching me Zhuyin (also known as Bopomofo), which is the Taiwanese equivalent of Pinyin. It’s a feat in of itself as many Taiwanese people do not know how to use pinyin. Learning Bopomofo has helped to improve my pronunciation as well as allowing me to access more resources as children’s books often use Zhuyin. Language exchange allowed me to improve my speaking speed and learn more casual expressions that younger people will more often use. It has given me the liberty to design my own plans about what I wanted to learn and dive into topics that my classes may look over, such as  movies or music that were trending in Taiwan. From talking about the work of Hebe Tien to Jay Chou, I discussed song lyrics and the clever ways that artists use Mandarin. I was also able to pick up on some Taiwanese (Taiyu) and Hakka words that have infiltrated into everyday Taiwanese Mandarin conversation to better appreciate the many regional variations of Mandarin. I learned about the many views on the upcoming presidential race and the controversial KMT candidates that have been stirring heated debate among the Taiwanese public.

It also felt great being able to help so many people learn English and achieve their goals as well. While there were some meetups that were awkward or boring, after meeting a few people I quickly found that most people looking for exchange were friendly, engaging, and offered a lot to learn from. I’ve done exchanges with fellow students, as well as people who were in their 60’s. I was able to meet and have intriguing conversations with people from different workplaces and political views. I am grateful for the opportunity to take intensive classes at National Chengchi University but also grateful to be surrounded by so many partners who help push me to the goal of fluency.

7/10/19

My Bahasa Indonesia has improved significantly. Per my instructors, I have already reached the CEFR B1 level. In general, I find myself better able to converse with people in Indonesian and do so regarding more complicated topics. For example, I can now talk about political or cultural topics with relative ease. In my remaining month here, I hope to continue the progress at the same pace, but even if I don’t, I will have still have opened up many doors that were previously locked up tight.

Indeed, I would go so far as to say that the most salient experiences I have experienced since my last blogpost were all directly related to my advancing language skills. I finally feel comfortable enough to haggle at the market, even if I still end up on the worse end of every exchange. Being able to hold my own in a conversation played no small part in easing the stress involved in applying for a visa extension, a process that included multiple trips to multiple immigration offices and fun bureaucratic wrangling.

This weekend I will finally get the chance to travel a little outside the Jakarta metro area (specifically Bali), something I hope to do a couple more times before I return to America.  In other news, soto ayam – a soup composed of chicken, noodles, and potato – is quite tasty and is best consumed by the street alongside a menagerie of motorcycles and stray cats.

Marine Debris Beach Cleanup in Taiwan

Marine debris not only adversely affect marine animals when they ingest or are entangled in the them (i.e. the viral video of the turtle with a straw stuck in its nose), but also threaten food safety and quality, human health, and coastal tourism. Moreover, marine debris risk destabilizing the economic livelihood and health of the nearly 2 billion people who rely on the ocean for their primary source of protein. The most hazardous and wide-spread marine debris are plastics. Plastic waste makes up 80% of all the waste in the world’s oceans. How did this happen? Well, in short- we produce a lot of plastic! Plastic production has been exponentially increasingly since it became a commonplace consumer good in the 1950s (i.e. Tupperware, shopping bags, and candy wrappers). In 2015 alone, the amount of plastic produced was nearly equivalent to the estimated mass of 2/3 of the entire human population. Of all this plastic waste, it is estimated that only around 10% has been properly recycled, with the rest entering landfills, incineration plants, and natural environments. East Asia and the Pacific Region account for 60% of the global total of marine debris. Therefore it is no surprise that Asian countries make up eight of the top ten marine debris-polluting nations. Thus, I’ve come to Taiwan not only to increase my Mandarin language skills but also to conduct intensive research on finding/developing sustainable business solutions and emerging technologies that can be leveraged to reduce plastic marine debris. My research has been fascinating so far, and I am already assisting various organizations to adopt Circular Economy business models and technologies to reduce their waste generation while increasing profits at the same time. The best solution to addressing the plastic marine debris issue is to make solving it an easy and profitable decision for businesses, especially large corporations which heavily influence global supply chains. Below is a link to a video produced by my colleague Matt Girvan of a recent beach cleanup we documented in northern Taiwan. While beach cleanups do not solve the marine debris issue, they are immensely valuable as an educational and community building activity to increase awareness of this rapidly evolving global challenge. Enjoy the film! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTo96Tdnb_w *video credit: Matt Girvan Media; https://mattgirvanmedia.com/   Grayson Shor M.A. International Affairs, Specialized in Asia’s Emerging Circular Economy Business Ecosystem and Plastic Marine Debris Solutions Sigur Center 2019 Asian Language Fellow National Taiwan University, Taiwan

Ander Tebbutt, BAccy 2022 Sigur Center 2019 Asian Language Fellow National Taiwan Normal University, Taiwan

Despite being halfway through my summer in Taiwan, I still find myself failing to abide by all of the cultural norms that run deep in Taiwanese society. There are the standard rules such as, “Don’t eat or drink on the metro!” or “Always watch for cyclists and motorcyclists.” However, what I want to talk about are the infrequently discussed faux pas to watch for if you are ever traveling to this country.

Don’t: Set your bag(s) down on the ground.

Although we had a fairly large group, you can see in the front there was still a chair set aside for backpacks.[/caption]

This was a norm that I learned from my Taiwanese roommates. Of course, you are not always obligated to find a place to set your bag or backpack, but the Taiwanese culture values cleanliness. Restaurants will sometimes even bring you an extra chair to set your belongings on top of while dining. Thus, placing your backpack on the ground is not something that is commonly practiced and might earn you a couple of stares. 

Do: Bring gifts for your co-workers during your first week at work!

A small pastry from my co-workers, later they also gave me a couple of mangoes and zongzi [sticky rice].[/caption]

If the country of Taiwan took the “Five-Love Languages” test, the overwhelming resultant would be that of gift giving. In order to introduce yourself and show respect to your co-workers, gift giving is the chosen practice in the workplace. Unfortunately, this is a lesson I learned a little too late as I did not realize this until week 3 of my internship with the Democratic Progressive Party. Nevertheless, I still brought some boxes of candies and pastries to work and it was, for the most part, well received by my co-workers, who probably gave me a pass as the resident foreigner. 

Don’t: Be abrasive or loud; being discrete is key.

During this night (and many others), we were told to keep quiet, as we were disturbing the other customers.[/caption]

For every mainland Chinese stereotype of being loud, direct, and unconcerned with personal space, the exact opposite is true for the Taiwanese. When I first noticed this Taiwanese tendency towards quietness in the metro, I quickly ran through my recent experiences in public spaces, such as the bus, in shopping malls, and in restaurants. I found that I couldn’t recall anyone laughing or being as loud as my friends and I had been. Thus, if you do not want to stand out as a foreigner, in any public setting keep your voice low and do not get too rambunctious. 

Do: Ask for help when needed!

If you accidentally left belongings on the Taiwanese metro, fear not because you will most likely see it again.[/caption]

The majority of Taiwanese citizens will treat visitors with compassion. If you ever find yourself lost in the city, do not be scared to approach someone to ask for directions. They will usually gladly assist you in whatever capacity they can. Furthermore, if forgetfulness is something you have been cursed with, you needn’t fear. People I know personally have lost their phones, wallets, and laptop chargers in the city but they have all found ways to find their belongings once again. 

As I was leaving a coffee shop one day, I was astounded when a random couple chased me down across the street to tell me I had forgotten a pencil back in the shop. These little acts of kindness are very common in Taiwan. Additionally, they have begun to affect the lens in which I generally view strangers and tourists. I want to be able to bring back this habit when I head back to the States, especially regarding the plethora of tourists that come to Washington D.C.