Our next unit is called “Anywhere but Here” and it is built around the literature of travel. We’re going to use travel literature as a platform to inquire into how individual experiences of culture can teach us about more global experiences of culture. We’re also going to explore the concept of identity through the AOI Environments. In Unit 2, we explored how identities form and reform within the context of communities. In this unit, we will examine this formation and reformation of identity as individuals encounter different cultures on a transitory basis; and what happens when the interactions become understandings that endure.
Have a look at these materials and let your curiosity loose! Be ready to share your questions on Monday, Jan 21st.
Watch this entertaining video:
Read this travel essay on Easter Island.
Have a look at this feature story about how travel helps us to see interconnectedness.
The Learner's Toolbox 
How does experiencing different cultures affect the way we act towards others?
How does cultural background shape our identity?
How does interacting with different cultures create inspiration?
How can one’s identity be influenced only in a short period of time?
How does a short time in a foreign environment create a long term effect?
Does the instability of environment affect the individual negatively?
How does an individual adapt to another culture in a short period of time?
How does experiencing different cultures affect an individual’s identity?
If we can’t live up to the values and expectations of the different cultures our environment or society has set up for us in different places, does that mean that we are a failure?
Even though we follow different cultures and live in different places, what are some of the values and ideas that connect all of us together?
An environment is all surrounding where living things interact with each other under the different standard in which people are obliged to and also where they give back what they earned from the resources they used from their environment. But, the understanding of the standards are dependent on one’s nature.
Pat R, Fuji, Pond, Miriam
corrections : The environment is all of the surrounding…
If humans have the same nature as in all of our basic needs and how we live are identical, then why are we competing to the standards of each environment? Why do we hope to go into an environment that rises higher than what we are before?
Will an environment ALWAYS identify our identity? And if so, why do some people in the higher class falling down and acting like a lower class, or why are some lower class people see the advantage of acting like a higher class person in society?
Definition: The environment is the context of our lives which may be literal or imaginative that we take resources from and give back to; this becomes one of the factors that shapes the individual into who they are, and therefore how they react to the environment.
From Chelsea, Naam, Fon, Gaem
What happens when each person’s environment serve as a supporting surrounding to one’s aspirations? Or the contrary, as a restriction?
In cases where individuals struggle to fit in, what costs are they willing to pay to be happy? Under what possible overwhelming circumstances will it become necessary for one to abandon their very own environment?
How do the difference of cultures and customs affect a person’s mind for a long period, but in such a short, significant time period?
How do people from different cultures with many differences, yet with some similarities, connect in the society?
Definition: A context of a physical or virtual surrounding that interacts with each other under some obligations that one must face under the difference of standards – it is the factor that shapes each individual into understanding their ‘true self’.
Lee, Charlotte, Daven, Volk
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How do different cultures affect one’s characteristics?
Why do people with similar culture and background tend to ‘stick around’ with each other?
What are the universal rules in all environment? Does such thing even exist?
Does an ideal environment exist?
What makes the difference between memorable experiences and experiences that we forget?
Why do we seek the experience of other cultures?
Do the obligations of an environment apply to everyone in that environment?
How does being in a new environment affect an individual?