Tenille Jensen Blog 8

In my first blog, I talked about what makes a nation from my own perspective someone who immigrated to the United States with my immediate family. Nations are ultimately comprised of people so I felt that loyalty that was an important aspect of what nationhood truly means. The United States is a perfect example because this land is comprised of various nationalities and origins; what makes us one as a nation and one community is our loyalty to the idea of being “American” and have created an American culture aside from the unique backgrounds we all come from. In this day and age, this idea of loyalty to land becomes extremely important as well because we have quickly become a globalized community with people traveling and living abroad all over the world, inter-racial marriages, and a blending of cultures, so it’s not unheard of for nations to be communities solely defined by a racial, cultural, and religious distinctions (although there most certainly many nations primarily defined by these unique characteristics).

The main lesson I have learned so far through the wonderful movies we have seen and the insightful discussions we have had is that human nature transcends race, culture, language, and even money. Emotions are not unique to any particular to race or culture: we all cry, laugh, we all feel pain, we all long for acceptance from someone, we yearn to be loved, we believe in something, we see the importance of family, we all laugh, we all have dreams, and we feel in the core of our beings what is morally right and wrong (whether we choose to follow it or not). I believe that is the very focal point in which we all fit into this continuum of race, sex, power relations, history, and culture despite all coming from different communities. So I would propose a project that allowed the participants to see just how similar we all are rather than focusing on the differences we face and then trying to bridge the gaps from there. I think we would all be surprised at the similarities and how we all face the same emotions, desires, even insecurities; our experiences on Earth is is what has created our modes of expression. I think it would be great to purpose an exchange where we find a person believed to share nothing in common with you and live their life for a week…I think people will be surprised how similar people really are. To be honest, I believe the imagined communities we really make are the ones where we try to find the differences amongst the human race. As we continue to globalize, I believe we will see just how similar we all really are.