October Update

Classes started! Wahoo!! 

I had my first actual lecture today.  Classes have finally (sort of) started, and I just left my Race, Class and Ethnicity course [Sociology 377] and I was surprised by a number of things.  One: The lecturer is really quite young.  She never really gave us an introduction, so I don’t really know how old she is, but she seems like she is late 20s, early 30s.  She never even told us her name, so all I can refer to her as is ‘the lecturer.’ She dressed more casually than even some of the foreign students were.  I must admit, when she first entered the room and walked up to the stage and set some books and papers there, I assumed that she was assisting the professor by bringing his things to the room in advance.  When she opened the text and began speaking, I was not alone in being a little startled and slightly embarrassed by thinking that she was a student or assistant.  Two: She was quite firm about the fact that if a student in the lecture hall could not take an active part in the class, then that student should find a new class to be in.  Class participation, expressing one’s self orally, whether through volunteering an answer or asking a question or giving a summary of the previous class, would be a necessary part of the class.  Three: She spoke about the general goal of the class as being to discuss how race, class, and ethnicity affect societies around the word, and then proceeded to ask questions that were very specific to Tanzania.  We (Sara, Siri, and I) struggled to know how to respond because although we wanted to be able to participate in the class, to answer questions about Tanzanian culture was very uncomfortable for us.  We have been here for a little over two months now, and know a fair amount about the culture and the people, but by no means did I fee comfortable answer the questions.  Here is the dilemma and I see it – if I answer the question incorrectly, I am a foolish foreigner that isn’t willing to take the time to learn about the country I am living in.  If I answer correctly, I am afraid I’ll appear snobbish or snotty, answer question about the very people sitting around me in the class when this is their culture, their home, their people.  In the end, I decided it was better for me to just take avid notes, pay close attention to the lecturer, and hope that eventually I am comfortable enough with my understanding of Tanzania’s culture to speak up during class.