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This is part three of a five-part series recognizing Virginia Wesleyan faculty members who are currently doing work with the aid of development grants received during the summer of 2006.
by Christina Foster '07
Several Virginia Wesleyan faculty members traveled to exotic places during the summer after receiving summer development grants. Two such faculty members are Dr. Mavel Velasco, professor of Spanish, and Batten Professor of Communications Dr. Kathy Merlock Jackson.
Velasco completed her research over the summer in Bolivia. She was most interested in Bolivian film director Jorge Sanjines, who creates most of his works based on the indigenous populations of Bolivia and even Ecuador. Sanjines was the subject of Velasco's research because she wanted to see if he was still interested in making films about the indigenous populations in Bolivia, which Velasco found to be the case.
"The purpose was to see what [Sanjines] was doing, but also to see, in general, what Bolivia was producing," said Velasco. "I chose him because of his political ideas of equality for the indigenous people of Bolivia."
Velasco was "glad to see their industry picking up" and realized that the reason Bolivia has so few filmmakers is because "state funds are not available to support the film industry." They also don't have the labs to produce entire films; they have to send the films to other countries to be edited, which costs more money.
While in Bolivia, Velasco's research took her in another direction: the way the indigenous populations dress and how their choice of clothing impacts their society.
"The way [Sanjines] dresses reflects his indigenous identity," said Velasco.
Velasco is writing a paper about Sanjines and the indigenous people of Bolivia, which she will present at a Latin American Studies conference in Canada in February.
Another faculty member who received a 2006 summer development grant was Jackson. She visited Tokyo, Japan for a 10-day seminar at International Christian University, where she attended various lectures about contemporary and popular Japanese cultures and societies. Jackson's particular interests include children and the media and animation, which is one subject she studied while in Tokyo.
"There's a pressure to conform," said Jackson. "It's a very regimented society in many ways."
She found that students there are put under severe pressure when it comes to academics and that they will memorize instead of gaining critical thinking skills. Jackson also found that "the company comes first in Japan, but the family comes first here [in America]." Therefore, the people of Japan have no sympathy for those who take off from work for family-related situations, such as illness or matters of the home.
Part of Jackson's research was about animation. The Japanese culture tries so hard to conform that they find other outlets to express themselves. Two of these outlets are anime, the Japanese word for animation, and manga, the Japanese word for comics and print cartoons.
"Everyone reads comics there," said Jackson. "They are widely read by all age groups."
Tokyo is five times greater in size than New York City, so the density of the city is offset by "cute" things like anime and manga.
"No culture has coined perfection," said Jackson, "but we could learn some things from them, and they could learn a few things from us."
Jackson had a good experience overall in Tokyo and has already incorporated some of her findings about Japanese culture into the courses she teaches.