Extra Credit Learning Journal 2

I went to "Manulua: Creative Activities between Two Communities" by Prof. Joe Ostraff on Thursday afternoon. It was really good and very informative. He talked about how to get into and navigate different communities. He showed slides of different pictures of Mataika, Tonga and used the parallel between a Tongan little girl holding a kitten and his daughter holding a baby pig. He said that children do the same things. Even though they are from a different culture and have different backgrounds they still do the same thing with animals. It made me think about my views of going into Tonga and how I view the people. I think I sometimes view the people of Tonga by their culture. I think one of the most important things I need to remember when I go down to the field is that Tongan's are just like me. Yeah we have different backgrounds and perceptions regarding certain things but bottom line we are all people. We all have the same basic needs. I really liked Joe's presentation. Especially the part when he said that the Tongan's don't really care when palangi mess up or do something not culturally appropriate because they are palangi and it's okay. That really helped me to feel better about entering a culture I am not familiar with.