Halfway done...but with what?!?

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Well, you'll all have to excuse the several posts from me all of a sudden!! I've had a chance to catch up on a few things so I thought I would go ahead and catch you up on what I have been doing since the second semester has begun at Monash! I realised that I haven't told you all what I've been doing in my new classes this semester!!

I have two FANTASTIC classes this semester! These two units are my core subjects, meaning that they are compulsory for my degree program. The first course is a seminar called "Wars of Recognition: Terrorism and Political Violence." This course, which is team taught by a professor and a PhD student, focuses on the establishment of the relationship between globalisation and the forms of political violence (terrorism) that emerge as contests of culture and identity arise. Mainly, we are focusing on the establishment of violence as a result of the disintegration of national identities. Each week's seminar discussion is different: we spent the first four weeks discussing the theories behind globalisation, structure vs. agency debate, and the theories behind cultural identities. In the past couple of weeks, we have broken down terrorism into a discussion of the psychology of terrorists, the use of the media in the promotion of terrorism, and whether or not the 'War on Terror' has worked on the threat of violence around the world. In the coming weeks, we are actually going to explore whether or not there are viable options for avoiding political violence and terrorism.


Pretty cool, huh?!? The course is so timely and being from the USA, I can contribute a lot to the discussion and also learn so much more about the US and its tactics.


The second course is titled "Global Soul: Consumers, Citizens, and Rebels"....verrry different from any kind of class I've had before!! Going along with the theme of globalisation, the premise of this course is that globalisation has left us with loosened borders from how we have traditionally thought of our countries (i.e. we are much more mobile in society these days). Because of globalisation and the expansion of our own personal borders, our feelings of national identity no longer relies on what is within our physical borders, but we have now begun to focus on the consumer ethos, which challenges us to examine life by the goods and services we are afforded in our lives. This class brings about theoretical and practical concepts which explore how changes in how we consume have changed the possibilities and forms of citizenship (what/where we call home). Also, we look at how a new kind of politics has emerged by the commodification of the media, politics, and the educational arenas. The main point of this class: we realise just how commercialised our lives have become because of our possessions and the attention we pay to Hollywood, the media, product placement, etc. I LOVE this course, because each week is another great discussion which brings out so many different opinions and solutions.

This course is pretty amazing as well because our professor introduces the topic, students give presentations, and then we open up the seminar for discussion and the professor lets it go on for a while, which brings some very interesting perspectives to the floor!


I really am enjoying my courses this semester, as well as the students who have joined the program during Semester 2. For example, there is a student in my Global Soul course who is a former Bosnia refugee who provides such a different perspective on the issues than the Western-educated students. It can get to very heated debate between students in class, but I absolutely enjoy it and really look forward to the new challenges every week! This experience is also helping me to develop the skills necessary to work in a political environment on an international scale. It's so great!

As we are halfway done with the semester, you know what that means: PAPERS!! I've got a 5,000 research paper for each class due in the coming weeks, so it's something great to look forward to!


Hope you are all doing well!!

Cindy 😊

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