Vanuatu

Lecture @ USP (University of South Pacific)

I figured that attending the local university for at least one lecture would be a requirement before I can claim that I have "experienced" living in Vanuatu.. or Port Vila at least.

So, that’s what I did: I attended one-day lecture of a 2-week-intense course of Law & Human Rights. There was a visiting professor from Australia who was teaching the course, so understandably so, this wouldn’t qualify as a true “local” experience. But regardless, my observations are as follows:

• there is this amazing uniformity or similarity between all academic institutions, maybe because USP is so strongly influenced by the academic community in Australia and New Zealand. But doesn’t this cut down, dramatically, on the possibility of creative solutions or unconventional discourse?
• Cultural diversity or cultural retention is used, today, as n acceptable social-justice ideal or belief. But the action in custom to be violent or take revenge doesn’t receive the same examination or criticism as is accorded to the “eye for an eye” principle in Islam
• The influential or power-broker community of Pacific islands is more often than not educated in the West. The professor asked if this community *really* knows the true custom or tradition, since they have been away and educated in a non-traditional system of education? My personal opinion: no. if you’ve been education then, unconsciously, there is this really strong push or desire to appease your authorities i.e. teachers. Therefore, your replies are more “moderate” or diplomatic; over time your principles get diluted to an extent that they no longer are “real” or in line with the traditional opinions on the grass roots level
• Even strong proponents of custom say that certain things in custom, either those that were present or those that have been misinterpreted and included over time, have to done away with. But the question is: who decides what we do away with? More importantly, how likely are the “deciders” to consider interests of stake holders and how often are they going to resist the temptation to give into ideas that personally benefit them first?
• What is the correlation between countries that have a majority of young (under 15 years) populations and the country’s status as: developed, developing or under-developed
• Most, if not all, education at USP is done in English. You can’t, realistically, expect to not put a Western flavor or spin on “everything” that is being taught since English is being used as the tool of expression. What good does it do to acknowledge the overwhelming (undeserved?) Western influence on education system when the tool of delivery remains the same and doesn’t undergo significant change?
• Self-Determination: some student in class said that self-determination is more of a group, rather than an individual, thing. Interesting, because earlier I never thought of a distinction between the two

posted by faa-T @ 3:13 AM