I'm working at the Muséum d'Histoire naturelle (the Natural History Museum). I'll be there all this semester, and I'll be able to help them with their new exhibits. The museum has a sister institution in the United Kingdom, and they also have a lot of anglophone visitors. My job is to translate the signs beside the exhibits into English, so that English-speakers who take the tour can understand what's written. It's kind of fun. I'm learning a lot of vocab; of course, I don't know how often I'll use the word "scavenger" in French...
While at the museum, I'll be working on two exhibits. The first will be on Darwinism. We're starting with Lucy and working our way up to all the modern-day discoveries. It all seems to be really interesting. Granted, this kind of research doesn't really help me with my French or philosophy major, but oh well. The second exhibit will be a lot more interesting. It's called Métamorphose (metamorphosis). It will analyze the half-human, half-animal creatures that appear in mythology, and try to determine where these images came from- that is to say, whether or not they have any foundation in reality. I'm curious about it, although I already have my answer (or at least I think I do). This exihibit will at least help me with my philosophy major because there are tons of references to Antiquity in philosophy, and I'm a nerd and I like mythology.
Let's be honest, the French protest a lot. When we first arrived, a lot of the buses and trains were shut down because people wanted to know what the French government was going to do about the economy. They wanted to make sure that they wouldn't be fired, that there would still be jobs, and that they would not loose pay. They called for President Sarkozy to come forward and let them know, concretely, what he was planning to do. Now, a few weeks later, we have another strike. This time it's in the educational sector. The French government is trying to reform the educational systems, and a lot of students and professors do not approve. The government is trying to decrease the amount of hours a professor can work while also increasing class sizes. They also want to make acceptance to universities more selective. As it is now, if you pass you bac, you have the right to attend any public university in the country. The process is only more selective if you're going to one of the Grandes Ecoles (like Sciences Politiques in Paris, for example). The thing about the bac is that a passing grade is considered to be 10/20 or higher. It's a little bit harder in America, right? Yes. The good thing is a lot of students get to pursue a higher education. The bad thing is the government is having a hard time funding the education sector which is already where France spends most of its money. The government also want to increase the fees for attending a university. Whenever I bring up the 50k dollar cost of a Vandy education, the French look at me; mouths hanging wide. Here, even the Grandes Ecoles (the schools that will form the French elite) cost about 6k euros. Yeah, crazy. And so, they strike and protest to say that they don't agree with the present legislation, that it needs to be reviewed, and that another solution must be found.
It's definitely something that I haven't seen before in America. I don't think we strike or protest as much. We just call up our representatives and have our elected officials do that for us. It makes life a whole lot easier. Maybe we're lazier, but it makes me happy to know that political change is only a phone call away.
The last thing that I want to talk about are the Maghrebins. I don't know if that's an English would, but in any case, it's the people who live in the northern, francophone region of Africa. For one of my classes, we study the history of this region and we're also going to Tunisia this spring. For the class, our professor invited 4 men, and 5 women to come to class and talk to us about Islam, Maghreb, and just the general cultural differences. It was a really interesting conversation. These students were really into their faith, and it was the first time that I've had my beliefs confirmed- that Western thought is just different from the Middle-Eastern thought. For example, we were talking about polygamy and one of my friends asked it the women would feel ok if their husbands had to go out and find someone else to fulfill their "needs". In America, a woman would say "yes", and that kind of behavior would even be grounds for divorce. But these women said that it was not that bad, that they would approve, that a man should do that instead of suffering. What?!? Pardon? Comment? Excusez-moi?! I've always said that we all just have a different way of seeing the world, but now I've had that belief confirmed. I love being right. It makes me happy.
It was still nice to hear their reasoning. To be fair, the other side of the polygamy argument was that the husband had to ask permission from his wife, and he must do for one what he does for the other. That is to say, if he buys one wife a gift, he has to buy one for the other; if he spends the night with one wife, he has to spend the next night with the other. I guess that makes it better... The only thing I can say that made me unhappy about the process was how they refused to be critical about their religion. I'm a pretty devout Catholic, but I'll argue against Christianity just to have an interesting debate. They would never do that, and I think that's a little unfortunate. I feel the best way to ensure you really believe something is to be able to argue against it; to question it. How else can you be sure that you're convictions are justified?
In all, though, the people were really open about the entire thing. They answered our questions without reservations, and even offered to hang out with us afterward. It was really a great experience, especially since I've never hung out with Muslims and talked about religion. It was an enlightening experience. I think I'd like to continue the dialogue.
The least you need to know:
- Darwinism and Metamorphosis- what more can a guy ask for?
- Free time? Let's go protest!!!
- Intellectual conversations surrounding Islam can be entertaining. And my parents always told me not to talk about religion in polite company...
- I'm going to NICE tomorrow. Yeah, that's right.
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire