- What key issues did you examine through your placement activities this week?
This week, my key issue was coming to terms with the idea that what is considered morally wrong in Australia, is not always considered morally wrong in Indonesia. I came across an image published in an old article shared by Plan International of a child defecating into a river naked. The image does not showcase the child’s face, which is how the image is allowed to be distributed in Indonesia. In Australia, however, that image would not be allowed as protection of the child. This has happened in many cases, and is quite inherent in policies and programs that are reflective of Indonesia’s social, political and cultural context. This issue is also relevant to why it is embedded in my university studies, that as a western development practitioner, it is not my place to imbed my western values into other cultures but to work with the culture. I have always respected this sentiment and never found an issue in conducting myself in this manner, but have found it challenging to regard when it comes to child protection and gender based violence that is somewhat considered normal in Indonesia.
- How does this reflector relate to one (or more) of your required readings?
This is relevant in Adam Cohen’s reading “Many Forms of Culture” (2009), when he considers his work on religions and cultures he reviewed that “theorizing and empirical work on socioeconomic and social class differences also document cultural differences in values, norms, and practices, as well as artifacts (such as music) that cultural groups create and that affect their worldviews” (Cohen, 2009). This is something I must always be actively aware of “when investigating social class and socioeconomic status, many investigators also probe subjective social class, or individuals’ estimation of their own social class” (Cohen, 2009).
- How do the issues you have examined during your placement this week compare with those in your home country?
The main difference would inherently be that I am so conditioned to know my own culture, my values and my morals that when someone in my own culture does something that might be wrong, I have firm ground to stand on when speaking up about it. However, in Indonesia I don’t know the culture well enough to speak in defence of someone without being critical of their values.
- Did you face any professional challenges in your placement this week? How did you overcome them?
This week, professionally I was challenged by my own western values, which has taught me a lot about being self reflective and self critical when it comes to being an international development practitioner, especially in an international NGO, where I am expected to mould into their culture as seamlessly as I can whilst on my placement.
- What was your key learning outcome from this week’s placement activities?
This week, my key-learning outcome from this week’s placement is to hold my personal morals and values close to my heart, but be extremely considerate of those values and morals in an international context.
Bibliography:
Cohen, A 2009, “Many Forms of Culture”, American Psychologist Association, Vol. 64, No. 3, Pp. 194-204
Alexandra Hall 