Turkish Festival and Other Musings

Another Sunday night, another reflection and so, though I realize this is the World Politics UC group, for a change of pace or rather focus, I would like to reflect upon cultural experiences instead of political observations. Today I went to the Turkish festival downtown in Freedom Plaza. It was beautifully warm and sunny; perhaps by consequence then, the plaza, which is definitely not particularly large, was packed with people. All the necessary and traditional elements of a festival were evident: the wall-like line of food stalls, “handmade/exotic” handicraft corner, kid’s craft booth and performance stage. On the stage I saw traditional Turkish dances and music played. The dancers were decked out in full regalia, covered with heavy looking embroidery and intricate hats. Their dances were beautiful and interesting because the dances visually represent Turkey’s cross of European and Asian cultures. Saxophones were included in the musical performances, of whose origin I question the authenticity; however the music was lively and had people up on their feet dancing, which is the most any band can hope for. One of my main ambitions for attending the festival was to taste Turkish coffee. My friend and I, after paying for the coffee waited and watched our coffee being made. Turkish coffee is prepared with very finely ground coffee beans and sugar, both of which are boiled together in, for lack of knowledge I will call, a Turkish coffeepot. The coffee was delicious, hot and thick with the powder of the coffee beans. I didn’t spend much time at the historical booths on Turkey, I can read up on Turkey any day, but I don’t get to see much of anything resembling Turkish culture in action on any given day. Words and pictures cannot replace three-dimensional experience, as cliché as that is to say.
Now, for a return to the UC, I think some of the frustration in our class( or is it only my frustration?) about the intangible grayness of discussing IR theories and their applications stems from the limitations of our classroom setting, of which we only reach beyond in our lab trips. Lacking any definite conclusions or hard evidence and with the end of each discussion still left “up in the air”, it can be difficult to grasp what we have gained, or if anything/ semblance of clarity was gained at all. Instead of spending the majority of our time on the intangible, I think it might help, at least me, to spend time with the tangible and finding that connection between the two. Realism, liberalism and constructivism are such broad concepts whose actions we describe as warfare, trading, and identification. Do these concepts translate to a smaller more individual scale? I believe so; so why can’t we explore these concepts through (it hate to use it, but) a more hands-on approach. Hearing ya’ll discuss what these theories are and how they apply is great, but were all rookies in the IR field. I feel that it would be beneficial to continue our current method of discussion but with the addition of hearing and seeing more outside experienced sources. Articles and readings provide good basis knowledge but I don’t they are always sufficiently engaging considering the importance and relevancy of their topics. My mind is giving out on me now, so I will have to conclude and hope my thoughts are adequately clear.