Last week’s lecture was probably my favorite lecture from the series so far. The speaker, who, before the lecture, I recognized as @sosyolohija on Twitter, Athena Charanne Presto, talked about Philippine Society, Culture, & Politics. Her lecture was basically an introduction to sociology: she shared a number of readings and examples, to illustrate an analysis of society from a sociological point of view. While they are different disciplines, it reminded me a lot of my anthropology classes.
She emphasized how grand events are analyzed more than the minute — and that is correct and easily observed — when it is in fact the minute that makes the whole. In daily life, we fail to recognize that, while we rally for big social issues, it is in the small decisions that we make everyday that play a huge factor in the issues we are fighting against. It is important to be able to objectively look into how we are socialized and how we make judgments based on this socialization.
I also learned in the lecture that “trolling” and dissemination of incorrect information across media are actually a business and an industry, directly related to politics. It’s insane how politicians would go so far just to acquire power. All the more reason for us to be careful and critical when confronted with knowledge, to be true scholars, and to help others by informing them with what is correct.
Lastly, my favorite takeaway was that struggles are not isolated from each other. All struggles are interconnected — struggles of class, gender, and ethnicity. You cannot be an advocate of gender issues without factoring in the struggles of LGBTQ+ in the lower strata of society. Doing so is ignorant and dismissive of actual issues that happen in the real world. An individual’s struggles are shaped by different variables in their environment. Intersectionality is important.
I really loved this lecture! The speaker was funny and she went about the session in such a fun way. It made me want to take a sociology class, too!