General Studies Reflective Essay

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The School of General Studies is one of the most diverse schools at Columbia University. GS has more great number of the student population who identify themselves as students of color. This paper will explore how the students from the Caribbean diaspora stay connected on campus while being away from their families. Our exploration of this subject will include empirical data that will show how the communities from the Caribbean archipelago stay connected to their culture with both music and food. We will also prove the importance of groups that provide a safe space to speak about issues that are important to who they identify with culturally. One of the questions that we asked of our focus group was “How do you stay connected to …show more content…

I loved her and through her I had a connection to both sides of the island” After speaking for an extended amount of time about the current politics between the countries, it inspired our next question “Do you feel that these two countries coming from the same context of colonialism ever find a middle ground?. The young man from the Dominican Republic answered first “I hope so, It’s my hope that we can truly move forward and realize our difference and similarities and embrace them” his countrywoman nodded her head in agreement. The Haitian interviewee spoke up that she disagreed “I personally don’t think well ever be able to reconcile our differences. We are so damaged by the history of colonization and the racial constructs that were set up and we continue to perpetrate them against each other. I believe that the disease that was left on our island might not be cured because one side of the island embraces their African heritage while the other runs away from it” With that we ended the interview and thanked them for their time and we were invited to come to both groups for celebrations before the thanksgiving holiday, which we did and found a new circle of

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