Month: February 2020 (Page 2 of 8)
Li Ziqi & Tampopo Reflection Podcast
Li Ziqi Podcast
My name is Giuseppe Collia and you’re listening to the Greta Thunberg Fan Club.
Last Friday, February 21st, 2020, Professor Yang spoke to our Food Studies Capstone Seminar about Chinese YouTuber and social media influence, Li Ziqi.
We learned that Li Ziqi was born and raised in rural China by her grandparents, having lost her parents to illness and poverty. As she got older, like many Chinese people today, she decided to move to the city to seek better opportunities.
And actually, Li Ziqi’s migration to the city is not simply a Chinese phenomenon, but actually a tendency worldwide. In 2007, the number of people worldwide living in urban areas surpassed that of those living in rural areas. The US and more developed countries are at about 80% urban populations while less developed countries are around 50% – and there’s no sign of stopping.
https://graylinegroup.com/urbanization-catalyst-overview/
But these are just trends. Sometimes, people decide to leave the city. In the US, New York City has seen large migrations out. Young people move in looking for nightlife and job opportunities just out of college, but tend to move out when they become middle class families. The fact of the matter is, it’s expensive, chaotic, and largely lawn-free, which for a lot of people’s preferences, is less than ideal when raising a family.
https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/04/why-is-everyone-leaving-the-city/521844/
Aften a stint in the city working in restaurants and as a DJ, Li Ziqi also returned to rural life. But she wasn’t a married woman looking for a place to raise her children. In actuality, it was family that harked her home. Her grandfather had died and her grandmother was in poor health. She felt called back to care for her grandmother who had cared so much for her in her formative years.
This makes me think about my own situation. My father’s health is also waning and I feel somewhat called to assist him and the family in his care. Currently, my aunt and uncle care for him as I am in college, however as I am soon graduating, I feel pressure to move home to support them all.
Back home, she began to make videos that she would post online, both on YouTube and on the Chinese equivalent video uploading platform. Her videos today are a beautiful process of making food from scratch, sometimes from foraged or farmed ingredients, fermented at home, cooked and plated with incredible intent.
Some people see this as a poor representation of China. Li Ziqi paints a beautiful picture of rural China where many others live in poverty. Others think that Li Ziqi is creating an honorable outward facing image of China, presenting it well to the world.
Another representation in this case is the simplicity of Chinese culture and the care for family. The US is generally considered to be an individualistic society, putting a lot of influence on personal success, while China has historically been more collective, valuing the family. However research seems to suggest that China is becoming more individualistic in a time of rapid socioeconomic and political change in China.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3839668/
Li Ziqi returned home to care for her grandmother, and I too feel the pressure to move home to care for my father. Is this a poor representation of new Chinese individual tendencies, or is this simply the tail end of a collective one? Will I go home to care for my father after graduation, or pursue my own life and ambitions? Is there right and wrong to morality here, or are these simply differing points of view based upon lived experience?
In this podcast, I respond to the file Tampopo and a lecture by Prof. Yates on Japanese food culture. I connect the two through the topic of mindful eating.
This podcast responds to the lecture Professor Rae Yang gave about Li Ziqi, a Chinese food and country life blogger and internet celebrity.
Using Formative Research to Design a Behavior Change Strategy to Increase the Use of Improved Cookstoves in Peri-Urban Kampala, Uganda
https://dickinson.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01DICKINSON_INST/1hd8ko0/doaj_soai_doaj_org_article_840d72c455644d888caec4d5c4388988
This article aims to get a population to adopt the use of a tool. At Dickinson, we may aim to get our community to adopt the Ecotainer. Learning from the strategies of this study may serve us in our project.
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Understanding pivotal experiences in behavior change for the design of technologies for personal wellbeing
https://dickinson.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01DICKINSON_INST/1hd8ko0/elsevier_sdoi_10_1016_j_jbi_2018_01_002
This article examines how to capture people in pivotal moments and also how to design for people who are not motivated for behavior change. This can help us to design for first year students and for the beginning of semesters, two examples of when people experience change. This can also help us to design more generally.
On Wednesday, Anna, Meddy, and I met with Brenda Landis in the media center. During our conversation, Brenda provided us with links to a past student project that features local community gardens, though not all of the gardens in the video are still active. However, this discussion in combination with the video provided insight about community stakeholders to reach out to, and possible formatting and structure ideas for our own video.
Furthermore, Brenda provided us with a link to this video about urban farming in Baltimore. Perhaps this can contribute to one of our case studies. Ideally, we hope to interview a diverse range of individuals as demonstrated in this video.
https://filmmakerfreedom.com/blog/start-with-why
I have been doing some research into how to create a meaningful and impactful mini documentary. This article discussed that everyone has something to say, and something we care about, but it is how we film it that makes a difference. Everyone needs a why, and it is important to find the why before filming begins. The “why” serves as the main influence, motivation, and guiding factor throughout the process.
http://thinkingfood.dash.umn.edu/food/telling-stories-through-food/
This week, my focus was to lean more on modern articles that talked about storytelling through food. I wasn’t surprised to find out that food gives people the ability to talk difficult and personal things. This article touched on the ways in which food practices have been vital to healing historical trauma, recalling childhood experiences as farm workers, and combating urban violence. It was important for me to understand the vulnerability that comes alongside storytelling. I hope to notice and honor this during our interview process.
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