DST_VS 3510HW: Guest Lectures and the Importance of New Perspective Over the course of this semester, the guest lecturers have provided not only a vast assortment of knowledge and expertise on their own respective fields of study, but a complex and diverse array of personal experience and cultural backgrounds.. One lecture I found particularly intriguing,Continue reading “Post #8”
Author Archives: keeganpwelch
Post #7
The Biopolitics of COVID-19 The term ‘biopolitics’ can be understood as the intersectional relationship between human life and the role of politics, the guiding political rationality which takes the administration of life and populations as its subject, in Michel Foucault’s words: “to ensure, sustain, and multiply life, to put this life in order” (The WillContinue reading “Post #7”
Post #6
Slavoj Žižek: Critique of Ideology The term ‘ideology’ often defines the way in which we see the world around us, shaping the way in which we think and behave, how we derive meaning from the things that we experience and interact with in our everyday lives. As Manfred B. Steger defines it, “ideologies are powerfulContinue reading “Post #6”
Post #5
Preserving Cultural Diversity In her TED talk Ancient Wisdom for a Modern World, Dr. Elizabeth Lindsay recounts her life as a young girl growing up on the beaches of Hawaii. She shares intimate stories of her people, her culture, and their deep devotion to the land: “they mend broken bones by chanting softly, they fishContinue reading “Post #5”
Post #4
Climate Change and Our Moral Obligation Scientists say that, under current rates of global emissions, the planet will be 2.5 to 10° F warmer by the end of the century, causing cataclysmic changes to our environment in terms of drought, weather disturbances, rising sea-levels and ocean acidification, and international conflict — threats to our veryContinue reading “Post #4”
Post #3
Bhutan: Nationalism, Cultural Identity, & Economic Inequality The term ‘nationalism’ refers to an ideology which promotes the interests of a particular nation — groups of people sharing a common language, history, and cultural identity, enclosed in the same geographical borders — especially with the aim of gaining and maintaining national sovereignty, often to the exclusionContinue reading “Post #3”
Post #2
The Kingdom of Bhutan: Language and International Cooperation The Kingdom of Bhutan is home to two dozen languages, all of them members of the Tibeto-Burman language family with the exceptions of Nepali, an Indo-Aryan language, and Bhutanese Sign Language. The sole official and national language, Dzongkha, is spoken by over half a million people, inContinue reading “Post #2”
Post #1
Preserving Cultural and Political Identity Amidst a Globalizing World Bhutan, a Bhuddist kingdom in the Eastern Himalayas known for its monasteries and dramatic landscapes, home to just over 800,000 people, is a small, developing country sandwiched between the population giants of India and China at 1.3 and 1.4 billion people. It’s GDP, projected to floatContinue reading “Post #1”
Asian Globalization 