Category: Sigur Center Summer Research & Language Fellows

Chloe King B.A. International Affairs 2019
Sigur Center 2018 Asian Language Fellow
School for International Training Indonesia, COTI Summer Studies Program, Indonesia

Chloe King is a rising senior in the Elliot School, majoring in international affairs with minors in sustainability and geographic information systems. She spent seven months in Indonesia in 2017 as a Boren Scholar, researching NGO conservation initiatives in marine ecotourism destinations around the country. A PADI Divemaster, her passion for protecting the ocean keeps pulling her back to Indonesia and some of the most diverse—and threatened—marine ecosystems in the world. 

Hi everyone! For my last blog post, I made a short vlog of my last weeks in Beijing. My friends and I performed at a talent show, ate hotpot, went to Beijing’s famous Beihai Park, and visited the Lama Temple, among other things.

Katherine Alesio

B.S. Civil Engineering, B.A. Chinese Language and Literature 2020

Sigur Center 2018 Asian Language Study in Asia Grant Recipient

Minzu University of China – Associated Colleges in China Program

Hi everyone! Last weekend some classmates and I made the trip to Qingdao, a relatively famous city in Shandong Prefecture known as the home of Tsingtao Beer, to experience the city’s annual beer festival and get a taste of life in Qingdao. I’ve made a short travel video covering our experiences, hope you enjoy!

Katherine Alesio
B.S. Civil Engineering, B.A. Chinese Language and Literature 2020
Sigur Center 2018 Asian Language Study in Asia Grant Recipient
Minzu University of China – Associated Colleges in China Program

Though it hasn’t been long since I last posted, my time in Taipei is quickly drawing to a close. Soon I will return to the arduous life of a graduate student. Time passes surprisingly quickly when you are bent over your textbook, trying to discern the delicate strokes of each 繁體字 (traditional character). There’s no shortage of things to do in Taipei and the surrounding area but on a weekday I usually end up doing this:

5:45 a.m. I wake up every day at this time despite my repeated attempts to sleep in until 6:30.

6:45 a.m. I walk under as much as shade as possible to the Being Fit x 7-11 Gym on Songjiang Nanjing Road. Though it’s pretty cool at this time of day (84 degrees qualifies as cool at this point in the summer), the sun is brutal. Luckily, the gym is air conditioned and according to the TV screen at the entrance, has extra clean air. I’m wondering when American 7-11’s will open gyms and if they could ever be popular.

8:00 a.m. I like to eat some surprisingly fresh fruit in the 7-11 (coming to store near you in America?) then walk over to the local breakfast place. Though many Taiwanese breakfast places are now offering Western style breakfast in the manner of peanut butter toast, sandwiches, or eggs and bacon, traditional Taiwanese breakfast for me is what is called a 蔥蛋 (Onion Egg). Sometimes, this delicious egg wrapped in a mysterious Taiwanese tortilla. Another choice for breakfast is 蔥抓餅 (green onion pancake) that I can grab on my way to class.

10:20 a.m.-1:10 p.m. For three hours, my 9 classmates and I work with our teacher, 吳老師 (Ms. Wu) to improve our Chinese. This usually includes forming sentences with new vocabulary, reading, and learning new grammar.

2:20 p.m.-4:10 p.m. For lunch I like to go to the cafe right next to MTC’s building or a vegetarian 自助餐廳 (self-serve canteen). After lunch, I usually return to the library and study some more.

4:20 p.m.-5:10 p.m. Since my class is after this, I have a number of options to learn Chinese. I can go to the library and study amongst my peers (which include students from countries all over the world, professionals, monks, nuns, retired folks, and people from any occupation you can imagine).

If I don’t have anything in particular to study, I can head to one of the required classes. There’s a number of options available, from Chinese in the Media (last class we discussed a famous Youtuber’s visit to the hidden 小吃店 (snack shops) of 淡水), Chinese Cuisine and Dining ( last class, we discussed 東坡肉 -a cut of pork marinated with a strong history behind it), to Taiwanese for Beginners. Participating in these classes usually involves answering questions or roleplaying.

Sometimes, MTC has a showing of a famous Taiwanese TV show called 光陰的故事 (Time Story). This series spans several generations of five families in a small village. Expect high drama with occasional public service announcements (the last one encouraged people to donate blood). Otherwise, I stay in the library or head out to a cafe (a cafe that preferably has a resident cat) for tea where I can study or read (see picture for my reading list).

Finally, after watching Time Story, I head back to my humble apartment at then to another self-serve vegetarian buffet.

Lexi Wong M.A. International Affairs 2019
Sigur Center 2018 Asian Language Fellow
National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei

Lexi Wong is a Sigur Center 2018 Asian Language Fellow studying Mandarin in Taipei, Taiwan at National Taiwan Normal University’s Mandarin Training Center. Lexi is currently a first-year graduate student at The George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs where she is studying International Affairs with a regional concentration on Asia.

After the 2004 tsunami, aid workers from all over the world flew into Aceh. In the aid world, “Aceh” is still associated with the tsunami, beneficiaries of the world’s largest humanitarian response in human history. This narrative not only reduces Acehnese to victims, it also overlooks the role of many Achenese in humanitarian efforts that began even before the tsunami. Aceh’s culture of humanitarianism thus evolved very differently from the rest of the international aid industry – one with important lessons on localization and humanity.

This humanitarianism was on full display when over a thousand Rohingya refugees arrived on Aceh’s shores in 2015, after 7 months of being ping-ponged between different Southeast Asian countries, each refusing them permission to disembark.

(Source)

Although the Indonesian coast guard were under orders to not let the refugee boats land, the Acehnese fishermen deliberately helped the refugees evade them to get to land. When asked why, the fishermen explain that this is their customary law, adat nelayan Aceh, or the custom of the Acehnese fisherman. Namely, when at sea, if they encounter anything that is in need of help, they are under obligation to offer assistance. This is mandatory for injured animals, what more fellow human beings.

Hence, contrary to the narratives in Malaysia and Indonesia, the fishermen are adamant that they did not simply offer help to the Rohingya because they were fellow Muslim brothers. As one of my interviewees put it:

“If we [Acehnese] only help these Rohingya because we come from the same religion, what makes us different from the Buddhists that are trying to throw out these Muslims from their own land?”

Aceh’s humanitarian response to the refugees did not stop at the initial rescue. They were given medical treatment, housed, fed, given language lessons, livelihood training, and even access to the local schooling system.

One of the most important things about the refugee camps in Aceh is the way they treat the refugees with dignity. While most refugee camps are renowned for confining refugee to the camps (like prison cells), I was pleasantly surprised when the Rohingya children brought me out of the camp to this adjacent swimming pool which they could freely use.

This has not been costless for the Acehnese community, who have their own history of conflict and disaster. In part, it is because the Acehnese know what it is like to be a victim of disaster or conflict, that they understand the importance of treating refugees not as objects to be managed efficiently or securely, but as fellow human beings. Moreover, given the large internally displaced population during Aceh’s conflict years, there is no shortage of Acehnese who have had years of experience organizing camps, aid distribution, and engaging with victims of conflict.

But it is not just their experience as victims that informs the Acehnese of how to do humanitarianism. The Acehnese insist that it is their custom to honour their guests, adat pemulia jamee (literally, custom of honouring the guest).

Contrary to the hyper-professionalized international humanitarian industry, everyday acts of Acehnese hospitality like these regularly disrupted my hyper-modern, efficiency-oriented, cold-hearted-optimizing sensibilities. It makes me think that the professionalization of humanitarianism (such as the SPHERE standards) often appears so obviously attractive because it promises tangible, visible, physical benefits, while masking what it takes away – the practical, intangible, human parts of everyday living. That doesn’t make professionalization inherently evil. However, hyper-professionalized projects, designed in the absence of relationships with the very people one wishes to help, become deeply suspect.

As one veteran humanitarian (pictured) put it:

“The NGO world is a world where trial and error is always involved. You never have the peak of knowledge in this work. What’s best practice today may not be best practice in the next ten years. Best practices are always relative. Failure is always relative, and we are always learning.

For example, when the (Acehnese) fishermen rescued the Rohingya – that wasn’t the international standard. In fact, they were taking the risk to rescue them because it was illegal. They did it because of their local custom. That suggests that their local custom was better than the international standards. So why stick with the international standards when there is something better? If this best practice is better than the one before, why not change it?

The problem with professionalism is that it kills the inspiration to learn. How do you know something is done correctly if you’ve never failed? You should do first, and learn. Of course, don’t close your eyes when you do it. Keep your eyes open, be watchful, and you can gain new knowledge.”

Amoz JY Hor is a PhD student in Political Science at the George Washington University. His research explores how emotions affect the way the subaltern is understood in practices of humanitarianism.