and we had a guest lecturer talking about citizenship (the broader concept of it more than specifically documentation). It was interesting, but hard to sit for 3 hours and be lectured to in such an exhausted state. Here's a picture of the classroom that the graduate class is in, that I took last week. There was one left handed wooden desk amongst all the plastic right handed ones, and it seemed like somethign that needed a picture taken. Plus you can see what one of my classrooms is like, though they are all quite different, since they are each in different locations on campus. This is in the Graduate building for the Derecho school (which i think of as law, but could be wrong). So it's a kind of fancy building, and the bathrooms are always really clean, since so few people have classes here. Sometimes I head up there to use the restroom when I'm in the area, but I feel weird, since there's only one entrance, and there's a receptionist. I'm always worried that they'll tell me I'm not allowed to be there, since I'm not a Derecho student (and that school seems to expect everyone one to dress really "professionally" (whatever that means), making me obviously not belong there).After class, I decided I wasn't that hungry, so instead of going to the veggie place like I had planned, I ended up buying french fries. I had been stressed, because I had very little change, so I was being pretty careful with the decisions I made. i didn't pick up copies of some of my readings and revolved to do it later.
Then I had my Social Theory class, in which we watched a german film from the 70s with Spanish subtitles, entitled "The Enigma of Kasper Haus." I took notes in english, because I didn't know enough film terms and such in Spanish. It was about someone who becomes an adult never having interacted with another person, and therefore supposedly not having any social constructions. They end up in a town where they try to learn how to interact "correctly"while bringing up questions of what is natural or logical in society. Quite interesting. I felt like I was in a school in the U.S. while watching it, since I was thinking in English. But I found it interesting to think about the moments in which people were laughing, and how that interaction with my perception of people in México. And also the different meanings that could operate in the film watching it here as opposed to in the U.S. I also was amazed at how many words in German and English are the same.
We discussed the film a bit, and I wanted to talk about the way in which in the beginning, he supposedly hasn't been affected by society, but he is wearing clothes, eating bread and water, trapped in a stone room, and has a toy horse which it appears he dresses with strips of fabric. I think this could mean that even when society is supposedly not present, it's still constructing reality and therefore there can never be a state free from society, making nature and society forever imbricated (there you go dad!). And the ending was really interesting. But of course, I didn't raise my hand, and waited for a later chance to speak. The professor said something to the effect that each sequence in the film had to do with a different part of society, and then she looked at me and said you took notes on the sequences, right? (I didn't see anyone else taking notes throughout the film). I was kind of unsure as to the response she was looking for, since I hadn't organized my notes by sequence or thought really deeply about what each sequence might represent. So I essentially mumbled "I don't know....." ugh. that's usually the class I feel most comfortable participating in. We were assigned a one-page paper relating the film to the concepts that Marx is talking about, and I think I'll probably talk about the opening of the film and how that relates to the way he talks about the economic situation constructing the consciousness.
After class, I managed to walk by the Humanities 1 Tower right as the class for the Desarrollo y Gestión Interculturales major was getting out, so I ran into Juan and someone else, and we talked for a bit. Then I headed home, watched some TV with Ale (I feel like I'm watching quite a bit of TV recently, because it's what's going on when I get home), and gt to bed around 11.
Wednesday, woke up at 10, and started doing reading for América Latina Hoy. Marijane came over, and was typing a paper, so we all studies for a while, and talked a bit. Then Marijane needed to head to an internet cafe to print out the paper, so I helped her find it, and helped her find her way to UNAM, since she just moved here Friday and hadn't had to really walk there yet from here. I headed home and tried to do more reading and researching (this week I had two articles to read and write a response to, as well as a paper on gestión in Bolivia). Eventually Rachel came over, and we ended up heading across the street to get food. When we got back, Marijane was back, and so we all hung out for a bit. Rachel ended up spending the night, and stayed up late working on homework. I stayed up until 4:30ish, and hopefully did an alright job on my papers. I need to get started earlier, but there's so much work I have to do for my other classes.
Today I got up, and Rachel looked over one of my papers, helping me add the articles I forgot. I worked on my papers a bit more, and then headed to an internet cafe to print them out, and then to class. When I turned on my cell phone, I realized i had had a missed call from Cat. Turned out she was down here and wanted to hang out, so we planed to meet after class. The professor talked for a while about how especially our research on countries was research for us to be learning a lot about a specific country, and getting a better idea how to research, and therefore, that we shouldn't be worried about our grades on the homework as much as what we got out of doing it. He said we would all pass the class. He also talked about the importance of sources. Today we talked about neoliberalism and its discourses, and I'll need to write about how neoliberalism figures into Bolivia's National Plan of Development. Doing the research for this class has been quite interesting so far, but I'm feeling like I can't really find out what's going on in Bolivia. I'm just finding and reading some articles which end up being from mainstream media, and who knows what sorts of propaganda they are filled with? I mean, every source has biases, but I feel like I'd like to get ahold of a bigger variety of sources....but my main resource is the UCSC article databases, which don't have a lot of Spanish material or stuff on Latin America. I wonder if I can get access to UNAM's databases. Or maybe I'll ask my social theory professor form some useful places to look, since she has been doing field research in Bolivia. It's hard because soooo much has been going on in the past decade that I need stuff that is really up to date. For example, the paper I turned in today focuses on the New Constitution and the ways it has been implemented. And this constitution was ratified this February, so I could only really use things from the last 7 months.
After class I called Cat, who was at the Botanical Gardens. I had no idea where that was, though it seems like it was in the part of campus pretty far south, closer to Political and Social Science, but we decided to meet at the library. I was waiting there, and ran into Ko, who introduced me to two of his friends. He and one of them were reading a play together, so I talked with the other one. They both are majoring in literature, drama, and theater. The one I was talking to has been doing directing, and their name was Gloria. She was really nice. Cat hadn't showed up for quite a while, so I started worrying that since there were two entrances, that Cat was on the other side. Ko and his other friend had left to eat so Gloria suggested we walk all the way around the library, in case Cat was on a different side. Right as we finished, Cat called, and we met up.
We headed to Comedor Guevara, the vegetarian place next to Filosofía y Letras. The soup and one of the entrees had milk, too bad, what I got to have was delicious: beans, a veggie dish, and tortillas. We talked about classes and such, and eventually head to the metro. Cat headed back up north, and I came home, and hing out with Ale for a while. Then I took a nap and Rebecca and I just went to see if there were hours posted for the internet cafes, since she has to print a paper early tomorrow.
just found Linda from my Construction of Identities class on facebook. lol. Facebook connections here can now begin.
Tomorrow I guess I should head to the immigration office, which is in Polanco, near the movie theater where I saw Corazón del Tiempo. I need to pick up my visa, and it seems like the best day to do it. it would also be good to get copies of some readings for my Social theory class. And at 3, in Casa de California, we have a meeting with the EAP advisors from UCSC. Our job is to debunk all the negative bias there is towards our programs, essentially. Which I definitely feel strongly about.
Oh, and the title of this post has to do with a quote from a TV show Ale was telling me about.
1 comment:
The photograph is artistic. Funny to have it be strange to be thinking in English.
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