Heading to England

Hi everyone! I decided to start my blog back up again for my three week trip to England. I am heading over there to participate in a two week research seminar on religion, culture, and politics at Oxford. I am really excited to go to a country where people speak English as their native language. It is going to be a totally different experience, especially compared to all the traveling that I have done in Asia. I have only ever been to Europe once before and that was to Germany and the Netherlands in 2006. The research seminar that I am participating in looks to be very intense and full of information that I have never studied before. Judging from the readings that I have done to prepare for the program, there will be a lot of research and discussion regarding religion. I have never really studied religion (unless you count sort of learning about Quakerism in middle school advisory) so I guess you could say that this experience will be very far out of my comfort zone. I also don't really know any of the other people from Washington College who are participating. Right now I am trying to be optimistic and not freak out about leaving my comfort zone. I keep reminding myself that the whole program is only two weeks and if I could survive four months in Hong Kong where people don't speak English, then I can do this.

In order to do this program, I applied for a grant from the Cater Society at Washington College. Below I have inserting some details about the program that I wrote in my application.

"The Oxford Research Seminar is an intensive, noncredit bearing program that focuses on international experience and independent research. Participants will be engaged in sustained exploration of a certain set of topics through a structured program of research and discussion under the direction of Joseph Prud'homme and other Oxford professors. We will participate in one-on-one tutorials with Oxford professors. During the time, we will have access to the Boleian Library, the main research library at Oxford, as well as the Angus Library at Regent's Park College, a special collections library of the University of Oxford containing resources on religious history. At the end of the two-week experience, we will present our research findings to a panel of Oxford professors.

My specific research goals focus on the change in the role of women as the bearers of cultural memory and religiosity. Starting in the early nineteenth century, religiosity became defined as largely feminine. Women were deemed the carriers of religiosity. Since religion was such a huge part of European culture and history, women were also the preservers of cultural heritage and memory. However, as women left the home and entered the workforce in the twentieth century, this preservation of cultural heritage, memory, and religiosity began to be lost. Feminist activism seems to crush cultural heritage preservation because feminist advocates are more interested in keeping certain interpretations of the past alive that portray the negativity of patriarchy rather than focusing on the remembering and preserving heritage and religious practices. I am interested in exploring the fascinating tension between feminism and the preservation of memory, religiosity, and heritage. These research goals, which I came up with on my own, will be part of the independent research that I will conduct with assistance from Dr. Prud’homme and other Oxford professors."

Throughout the program, in addition to our group discussions and independent research, we will also be going on special trips, including going to see The Merchant of Venice at the Stratford, taking a day trip to the Cotswalds, and visiting a mosque.

After the program ends on July 1, I will head to London to see my best friend, Rachel, who moved to London after we graduated high school. She has just finished her degree and is about to enter the real world! I am so excited to see her and see the life that she has made for herself over there. Of course, I will also be a tourist and go see the major sites in London.

I will update again once I get to Oxford on Monday! I have no idea what my internet situation will be like, but I will try to update every two days or so.