Chloe Knuth Wisconsin Global Youth Summit March 4, 2017 Encompassed Many Cultures (Mostly Nigerian)
Explain where you went, what you saw or what you experienced: I went to the Wisconsin Global Youth Summit in Madison. This experience was extremely insightful. I discovered what it meant to be a global citizen. It was a full day filled with activities that explored how I could use my own interests and experiences to be engaged at the international level, while also exposing me to different languages, cultures and people around the world. First, I talked with Wisconsin International Scholars, an undergraduate group that has made their university experience global through a scholarship community. Then I had an intercultural exchange through conversation with UW-Madison international students involved in International Reach. Next, there was a Chinese drum performance. That was really fun because they had uplifting and joyful songs, which was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone. After that, each table was tasked with learning a new language, creating a skit to share the new culture, and then presenting their new knowledge before the large group in under an hour. The last event of the day was a student panel discussing study abroad. Four UW-Madison students talked to us about how we can go abroad and what we can do next to keep learning about language, culture, and the world. The students empowered us to take advantage of less common languages and continue our international studies.
What did you learn about the country/religion/culture you experienced? I experienced multiple cultures. For one, my International Reach person was a woman from Nigeria. She talked a lot about their government and conflicts that have happened in Nigeria. She went in depth about Nigeria’s wars, history, and politics. It was very interesting and made me realize that I should be more aware of the history of other countries. The other culture was from the language session. My table was assigned Hausa, a language spoken in Nigeria. My table took a different approach to the skit. Armed with props, our group changed into traditional dress and regaled the crowd in stories of a culture of long tunics and intricate, vivid patterned robes. We also showed off our abilities with short introductions for the audience and familial greetings. My Hausa teacher did not speak English throughout the entire time he was teaching us the language. It was exceptionally difficult and we all had to try to decipher what he was saying just by his hand motions alone. However, this challenge was worth the hard work because learning about another culture was inspiring. The Nigerian culture I have learned about from this global summit has fueled my passion for understanding all cultures.
How did this activity broaden or deepen your understanding of the world? This global youth summit has taught me that the world is full of thousands of different cultures just waiting to be explored. The demonstrations and discussions between us, high school students, and college students strengthened my perspective of the world by talking to me on a personal level. These people changed my understanding of culture and made me realize that to be a global citizen means to view oneself as being aware of the entire world, having respect for and valuing diversity, and has an understanding of how the world functions.
How is this culture the same or different from your own? The Nigerian culture is totally different than my own culture. American culture is built on freedom and opportunities, while the Nigerian government used to suppress their people and corruption was evident for decades. Recently, their government has started to turn more democratic, but many clans are still against these reforms. I think that my culture and Nigerian culture are opposite of one another because of how different the two governments work.