The first region I will be focusing on for 90 days is Southeast Asia. This semester I am taking an International Relations course where each student is required to choose a country and learn everything about it; I chose the Philippines. So to start off this blog I will not only see the world run from the Filipino perspective but from other nations of Southeast Asia as well.
Mary, I met worked with your Dad in the Philippines and met your whole family for dinner - including you - last September when I came own to Virginia Beach for a visit. Glad to hear you are interested in international relations and have chosen to start out with the Philippines. Take a look at the U.S. AGency for International Development (USAID) website for information on the philippines (I can't remember the URL right now, but you could google it.). Also, take a look at a map of the whole Pacific that stretches from the shores of California all the way past Hawaii and beyond Philippines to China/Vietnam to really get a good sense of the geographic position of the Philippines in the Pacific. It is important to understand geography and trade routes/shipping lanes. And remember even long before the Spanish came to the Philippines in the late 1500s, Chinese and Malaya even Arabian traders were coming to the Philippines. Another really interesting aspect of the Philipines that there is little known about is the influence of early Chinese traders who settled in coastal towns and really became important to the commerce of the country and all of SE Asia.
ReplyDeleteOkay, all for now and say hi to your dad for me. Dan Miller
What is the "Filipino perspective" anyway? Ask a Filipino in Manila about their favorite sport or pastime. (Too) many will say, "Waiting for an overseas job." Check out these overseas foreign worker statistics:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.rappler.com/rich-media/16728-infographic-overseas-filipino-workers-the-story
In the Philippines, OFWs are commonly called "bagong bayani," which means "new heroes."
ReplyDeletehttp://www.pbs.org/pov/learning/photo_gallery_background.php
Hi Mary, congratulations for taking this smart initiative to share your project through the web. I am a friend of your Dad (whom I met at the Foreign Language Program), an amazing human being and the world needs thousands of him in order to bring positive changes in our “Global Village”… However, I don’t have much knowledge about Philippine, but from experience, use the following web site to get accurate data from any country around the world: http://theworldfactbook.info/geos/sg.html
ReplyDeleteI wish you Full success in your endeavors.
Madani M. Ndiaye