Humility

I have been learning a lot about humility lately (from our reading and in church yesterday), and I have decided that it is a very important quality to possess. Elder Uchdorf I feel gives a perfect example of what humility really is. He says, humility is not thinking less of ourselves; it's thinking less about ourselves.

Sometimes when I feel I am getting too prideful, I resort to looking down on myself and my weaknesses, in attempt to eliminate my pride. But this way of thinking may just as well be another form of pride. I am still thinking and worrying about myself, as opposed to thinking about others. Humility and service seem to go hand in hand. If you are constantly thinking of others and looking for ways to serve others, you will be thinking less about yourself, and therefore become more humble.

It will be very important with my project to make sure I have a sense of humility about me as I attempt to get to know people enough to make a film about them. I should be careful not to expect anyone to help me just because of who I am and what I'm doing in India. Hopefully people will not only help me, but I will find ways to help them also. If I am willing to serve, or even take the initiative, people will probably be more willing to help me in return. But even as I am in the process of making the film, I need to make sure my focus is on the people and what they are saying or doing, and not on me, and how I will put these people into a film.

A Great Discovery

Lately I've been having a hard time finding information to help me persue my topic. All my attempts to use the library databases seem in vane, but then today I tried just typing "Tibetans and Indians" in a google search and magically and wonderfully I found this: http://www.friendsoftibet.org/articles/varma.html

An interview with Prashant Varam, an Indian, talking about a support group he and other Indians have establishedto help Tibetan refugees. This was a great find because now I have charitable organizations working both ways. Indians helping Tibetans and Tibetans helping Indians. The support group's website can be seen here: http://friendsoftibet.org/

On top of that, I was very touched by what Prashant had to say in his interview. It is apparent that he has a strong love and respect for the Tibetan people and he sincerely wishes to help them. I am not sure yet if he lives anywhere near McLeod Ganj, but the website has many members, hopefully some of which live close enough that I could talk to them.

These kinds of finds are very uplifting, not only because it shows people love each other, but because it tells me my project idea might actually work!

Thinking for Myself

I enjoyed our reading about Ophelia Syndrome. I think it is a very important issue to consider as a student, but also as anybody. People are always telling us how to think, whether it be straight to our faces or through some form of media, and it's very important to be able to take all of this in, consider it, debate it, and then think for ourselves. I agree with Plummer that a lot of college classes can be dangerous in this way, especially classes that just tell you things and expect you to learn and memorize them. A nice thing about college however is that you have many teachers, each of which will have slightly different ideas and perspectives of different topics. So in this way, you are able to see some things from different angles, and it helps you to think for yourself. I am glad to be in the film program because it is focused more on the creativity and the art than it is on learning and repeating "facts". Of course, there is a technical side that must be learned, but for the most part, I feel like my film teachers have simply tried to teach me to be opened minded, to seek multiple fountains of education, and to be creative with what I create. I actually feel that college has opened my mind much more than it has told me what to believe. Many of ways I now see the world are completely different than how I would have seen it a couple of years ago.

Besides coming to college. I have recently started reading a lot more on my own account, and I have found that the more I read, the more perspectives and ideas I take in, and the more I see how other people see the world. The more I am able to see the world through other people's eyes in this manner, the more I realize that most people seem to be "right". In their own way. Of course, nobody is right in everything they do, and like this article says, I shouldn't allow myself to simply believe everything I hear, but seeing the world in the way others do, helps me to see the reasons why people do what they do.

Something great about my field study project is that I will get to see many different viewpoints while making my film. I will see things through the eyes of Tibetans as well as Indians, some of which may have a great relationship to the other, and some may not. I'm sure I will hear many different things from different people, and my job, when editing the film will be how to sort all of those different ideas out and combine them with my own. It will be a challenge to try not to take sides and remained unbiased, but I will also need to think and judge for myself what is the best way to make the film and to present it to others... It's a lot to think about.

Choosing a Site and Gaining Access

This is an important detail to think about before going into the field. I have considered to some degree what "sites" I would like to explore with my film, but I should start getting more specific.

My starting point is to look at the Tong-Len organization. I still need to contact this group, but I would love to have access to the group, the people running the group, and some of their different service projects. I hope that it will not be too hard to get involved this way. What may be a little hard is I want to also observe this group from the receivers' point of view. This may be more difficult because I may not be able to identify or find anyone in this category until I actually get to India. I think it is important though, especially with my topic, to try and get equal Tibetan Indian perspective. I liked what Neuman said about teaming up with different people from different backgrounds to see something from different angles. This is what I will try to do, seeing things through Tibetan, Indian, as well as my own eyes.

Besides the Tong-Len organization and the people it serves, some general sites I would like to explore are the following (permitted that they are ethical places to research):
-All Tibetan community
-All Indian community
-Mixed Indian/Tibetan Community
-Tibetan and Indian holy or spiritual locations
-A few Tibetan and Indian homes
-Tibetan and Indian places of work

The Tong-Len organization and the people it helps will hopefully be a more in-depth study and something that I will be more involved in through participation and talking to people, whereas, things like holy or spiritual places may be strictly observational. I will need to be careful to talk to people about where it is acceptable for me to go and interact and film, and where it is not appropriate for me to do so.

Proposal: Rough Draft

Good Samaritans in Our Time

A Field Study Proposal

Introduction

A shared belief in charity and compassion has the power to bring different cultures and people together. This is what I hope to show through the documentary film I will be making while in India. The film will focus on the relationships between Indians and Tibetan refugees living in Dharam Sala and McLeod Ganj, India. It will show their struggles in living side by side, but also and more importantly, it will show the ways in which they have helped one another. By using film to explore the kindness and charity shared between Tibetans and Indians I hope to inspire people in America to follow the example and be “good Samaritans”.

This project also functions as my own personal and spiritual goal to become more charitable and service oriented. I believe that by immersing myself in the theme of charity, studying it, finding people who exemplify it, and practicing it myself, I will become a more charitable person.

In addition, this project will be a chance for me to get field experience in my major. While the film program offers a lot of great classes, it is rare to get a chance like this, to focus all efforts on one project out in the field. Not only will it be a great learning experience, but the final product will be a valuable addition to my portfolio.

Significance

            The significance of this project will be more in the message of the film than in any field research or factual value. Still, as far as I can tell (and I need to do more digging) there has been very little said or studied about the relationship between Tibetans and Indians, and what studies have been made seem to deal with it more from a political point of view. This of course plays a large role in the relationship, but my film will mostly be looking at individuals, not in political positions, and how and why they have found ways to help one another.

While this topic could be studied in many other parts of the world, I feel that Dharam Sala will be a prime example because of what’s going on their now. There is conflict still, but also much love and compassion. BYU’s history in Dharam Sala will also make it easier for me to make this film because many students before me have already been to the area and the people living there have seen these students conducting research in their towns. So when I come into the area, I will not be a complete alien to the people living there.

Also, because of BYU’s history with this area, I will be fortunate to live with a Tibetan host family in McLeod Ganj during my time in the field. I will do some contacting work before entering the field, to get in touch with a Tibetan charitable organization set up in Dharam Sala, but a lot of the work in finding people for my project will have to come once I have arrived in the field.

Methodology

I will be working with a few Tibetan individuals as well as a few Indian individuals, preferably all people who may know or be connected to each other in some way. It will be important to see and represent the Tibetans and Indians equally, and to find common ground between them despite their different cultural backgrounds. I plan to find Tibetans first, starting with the charitable organization, and then finding Indians that have benefitted from the services of this organization, as well any Indians who inspired the Tibetan monks to start the organization.

Before entering the field I will have a base or an outline of the story of my film and what I suspect may happen while I am there. Once in the field, I will spend at least the first week or two just getting to know the area and the people I will be working with. When I feel that I have established good relationships with these people and they have agreed to be filmed I will start to shoot footage. Filming will include sit down interviews with these individuals as well as watching them in their day to day lives and how they interact with others. It will also follow the events or projects conducted by the Tibetan charitable organization. In addition, I will want to get some footage of the general area to establish to the audience where the film is taking place.

Ethics and Approval

To make sure my project is ethical, I will be sure to give the participants some idea of what the project is and what I am making it for. Participants will be required to give consent before I use any footage of them in the final film, and if they refuse, the footage will not be used. Also, even when consent is given, I will be careful when choosing my footage to be respectful to those being filmed and will discard any footage that could be seen as harmful to them. I will also be getting IRB approval before going into the field, which application and approval will help to ensure that my project is ethical.

Post-field Application

            Upon returning from the field I will finish editing the film and then begin looking for places to show it. I will work with my mentor to secure showings of the film possibly on campus, on BYU-TV or through various film festivals.

Qualifications and Limitations

            I feel that I am qualified to do this project as a filmmaker because I have been studying film for over a year now and this semester I have been specifically studying documentary film and practicing techniques. I have also been working as a documentary filmmaker for BYU’s center for service and learning for the past six months. The center for service and learning has also helped me to get more involved in and take interest in service and charity, which is the theme of my film. As for qualifications for the location, I served a full-time mission in Mexico, and learned how to adapt to another culture. I am also currently enrolled in Tibetan and Hindi language classes to learn a little of the native languages before going to the field.

            Limitations to my project may include the amount and quality of film equipment I can take into the field, financial funding, and a basic ignorance of things such as the culture and language (though I am trying to learn as much I can beforehand, there is no possible way of knowing everything there is to know).

Qualifications of Primary Faculty Member

            My mentor Jeff Parkin has written, produced, and directed three feature films, worked for production companies like CBS, Miramax, United Artists, and Fox, and has won numerous awards for his work. He has now been a film professor at BYU for six and a half years. In that time he has worked on many projects, including two documentaries which he shot in south India. He has an amazing grasp on the art of storytelling and will undoubtedly make tremendous contributions to this project.

Justification of In-field Coursework and Faculty

            (I am still working to figure out what courses I will be taking in the field)

Schedule

            I will be conducting further reading and research from now through April, 2011. On May 9^th I will travel to Mcleod Ganj, India where I will be until mid-August. During this time I will conduct research and shoot my film. I will return in August and edit the film over the following six weeks. During this time I will also start researching where the film can be screened so that I can start showing it almost immediately after it is finished. After completing the film I will work on my final paper for the field study class and have it ready to turn in by the deadline of December 15, 2011.

Budget

            This is something I need to evaluate further. I am still planning to apply for several grants and financial aid, and don’t know how much I will have yet. How much I spend on equipment will depend on how much I am able to get from grants. Besides film equipment, I will need to look at the normal field study expenses and figure out how much each thing will cost.

Current Conflict in Dharam Sala

I read an article about this last week, and it has been brought to my attention on multiple occasions since then. This is big, and has a lot to do with my project.

Recently, Indian police found an equivalent of around $1 million in the Karmapa Lama's monastery. Much of this money was in Chinese currency which has caused a lot of suspicious from Indian officials and media. Many are accusing the Karmapa Lama of being a Chinese spy. He claims that the money has come in donations from all over the world including Buddhists in China. It is still an ongoing event as police try to acquire more evidence. There is more I could summarize, but I'd better just give a link: http://www.minnpost.com/worldcsm/2011/02/15/25813/tibets_karmapa_lama_fueling_china_and_india_border_tensions (and if anyone is interested in seeing more links, I have more.)

Unless things are very quickly and neatly cleaned up, this event will most likely have a large significance for my project when we get to Mcleod Ganj in May. Even if the conflict is "resolved", the event has already caused many Indians to worry about their Tibetan neighbors and suspect them of having secret ties to China. However it turns out, relations between the two communities may take a while to mend simply because of the doubts that have been raised. It may also turn out to be a doorway to further conflicts and suspicions between Tibetans and Indians.

I plan on keeping a close eye on this as well as working it into my project and my story.

Update:

I just read another article, looking at the Hamachel Pradesh's chief minister's point of view on the event. He says that it is under investigation by the central government and that his state government has nothing to comment or add. If the central government finds no fault, than he has no reason to look further. From what I read, he seems to counter the media, or at least try to calm people down about the issue.

He reminds the people: "Karmapa's name in any way is not involved in a any land related cases. Neither there are any cases against some particular monastery person. Under the general policy of Himachal Pradesh, if there has been any illegal land dealing then it would be investigated. If there would be any case against Tibetans or any other person, then law would treat every one equally and would proceed accordingly."

Method's Assignment #2

I never got my first method's assignment done, so for my second one I chose to do an interview. But not just any interview!

The interviews that I conduct in the field will be filmed, so I filmed my interview today. I have been learning and practicing a lot with filmed interviews lately in my work and my documentary class. In my work, I am filming a series of interviews about people who have had to be caregivers to someone in their family. In these interviews however, I am simply filming while someone else gives the questions. This makes my job a little easier because I can focus more on the camera angles and sound. This seems to be a preferred way of doing it, but I realize that in the field, unless I can find somebody who can work the camera or conduct the interviews for me, I will most likely be doing both jobs simultaneously. This can be difficult because it's hard to work the camera and be sincerely attentive to the interviewee at the same time. This is something we've discussed in my documentary class that I think comes from the idea that "I'm recording this so I can pay more attention to it when I watch it later."

So today for the interview, I first prepared a set of questions, then, after setting up, I made sure to sit just a little to the side of the camera where I could still adjust it if I needed to, but I wouldn't be so close that it would distract me too much from the interview.

For the interview itself, I interviewed Scot, who works in the Y-serve office. My project is going to be about the ways and reasons Tibetans and Indians serve each other, so I interviewed Scott about why he does service, how he got involved, how his faith and beliefs influence the service he gives, and what are some of the blessings that have come from serving others. It was a very good interview and I feel like I did a good job at communicating with him and making him feel comfortable. One thing I wish I would have done was actually to adjust the camera at least once or twice in between questions to get a slightly different shot.

The nice thing about filming is that I don't have to take notes during the interview. I can review the tape later and do that.

And now it's time for class!

India's Caste System

India's caste system is a rather complicated organization of its people. There are two different castes or organizations that are used: Varna and Jatis. Varna is a simpler, but less recognized system which consists of four main groups based on occupation: Teachers/priests, warriors/administrators, agriculturists/merchants, and artisans/service providers. Jatis on the other hand has many more groups which people fit under and considers more than just occupation. These groups consider things like wealth, where you live, if you are Hindu or not, if you have committed any crimes, or if you are sick.

One of the groups I found most interesting was the Untouchable group. Called "children of God" by Gandhi, but called "depressed" by themselves. These are the people who are seen as thieves, diseased, or have converted from Hinduism to another religion. I read somewhere that it was now illegal to have this as a caste, or for people who would fall into this caste to be treated as they used to be, but there is still a lot of discrimination against these people. They are looked down on and given the more degrading jobs.

One way that the Indian government is trying to improve the caste system (or give greater opportunity to people in lower castes) is through positive discrimination. This means that they are given benefits because of their lack of wealth. For example, schools are required to accept a certain percentage of students from each caste so that they do not allow only the more wealthy students to enter. This is helping the lower castes to improve, get better jobs, and gain more wealth for themselves.

I imagine that the caste system functions slightly different depending on where you are in India and it will be interesting to see it in action in Dharamsala as well as any other places we may go on our mid-semester retreat. Because in the past, people have been penalized or looked down upon for changing religions from Hindu to some other, I wonder if there is any prejudice of Hindus living in Dharamsala towards the Buddhist Tibetans. Of course, Tibetans did not change from Hindu to Buddhist, but I imagine that there still may exist some conflict or social differences because of their different religions. If there is a prejudice, this could greatly effect my project; not necessarily for bad or good, but it would play a large role in how Indians see and treat Tibetans.


1. Srinivas, M. N. "Caste in Modern India". The Journal of Asian Studies, Aug., 1957, Vol. 16(4), p.529 - 548.

2. "Caste System in Modern India". Web. Feb 8, 2011. <http://adaniel.tripod.com/modernindia.htm>

3. Wikipedia: Caste. Web. Feb 9, 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caste#India>.

Getting into Service

Because of busy-ness, I often feel like I don't have time to go out and do "service". I try to serve Julia as best I can at home, but this semester I have made it a goal to actually get out and do more service. This goal doubles as a way for me to prepare for my project because my project is all about service. I'm looking at how Tibetans and Indians have served one another and how their religious and/or personal beliefs may influence these actions. My church promotes service and I believe that doing service for others is a good thing, but if I don't do it myself, it seems hypocritical of me to make a film about a service oriented people. I hope that if I do service here in Provo before I go to India, I will be more inclined to give service while in India, and more likely to find and identify with Tibetans and Indians who are devoted to service.

I work for BYU's Y-serve program, so I know about plenty of service opportunities. The only problem is that when I go to any service activities, I am usually filming and getting paid for it. This weekend, however, I had the chance to go to a program called "BYU Experience" where mentally disabled adults come and hang out with BYU students on campus and participate in a variety of activities. I told myself going into it, that I would try not just to work, but to participate and even take a break from the camera to interact with the people. We had already acquired a decent amount of footage from this event in the past, so I didn't even pull out the camera for the first half of the activity. It was good to just help out and see people through my own eyes instead of through a camera lens. I hope that throughout the rest of the semester I will be able to continue to do this with my job, as well as look for other opportunities to give service outside of my job.

Thesis

In our big group class the other day we were talking about writing 5 paragraph essays and the way they should be structured. As I was taking notes, I wrote down what I thought the thesis of my project would be, and for some reason, it kind of surprised me. To this point we've done a lot of work with asking questions, but I had never tried to state exactly what I thought or hoped the answer or outcome would be.

I wrote this as my thesis in my notes: "A shared belief in charity and compassion has the power to bring two different people/cultures together."

(I will finish this later.)

Hindu Families

For my class reading today I read an article titled "The Hindu Family" by Biren Bonnerjea. This article looked at the Hindu family unit, and the motives behind the way family's are structured.

In Hindu culture and religion, marriage is extremely important, because it is through marriage that a man is able to have a male heir; the only person who, at the father's death, can perform his funeral obsequies in order to save him from eternal punishment. Having a male offspring is a father's greatest accomplishment.

In Hindu culture it is not necessarily illegal for a man to marry more than one wife, but it is usually looked down upon. The only time it is seen as ok is if the first wife cannot bare a male son, but even then the more common thing to do is to adopt.

It's was very interesting me to discover this about the Hindu culture. I had no idea previous to reading this that having a male offspring was so essential to these people. It really is a determining factor in their salvation. This is one of those things that is so important to this culture, but so different from my own, that without studying it beforehand, I would probably be confused and unable to understand if I were to simply go to India and see the way Hindu families functioned, or their great desire or love for their sons.

Learning these things has helped me to realize that there are probably many more things I should study and learn about the people before going to India.

Cultural Inquiry Group

I attended the cultural inquiry group tonight. The activity was an interesting one. We were split up into two groups and then separated. Within our group we were given kind of our own little mini-culture that we were supposed to follow. This culture was expressed through a little game that we played in our room, which sadly nobody could seem to win. In the meantime the other group was receiving similar instructions. After getting the games down, the groups were intermixed and had to try and figure out what each other were doing.

I had to leave a little early, so I missed out on the end, but I think the message was clear. Basically, it is confusing and difficult to suddenly find yourself in a different culture. The first and probably hardest barrier to overcome is the language barrier. In our game we were not supposed to talk other than making animal noises and hand signals. Going to a country where your language isn't spoken can make it very difficult to communicate with people, so even when you want to participate, it is hard because you're often not sure of what is going on or why. Luckily for us, many people in McLeod Ganj speak English, but I am sure there will be plenty of moments when we are observing a Tibetan conversation and wishing we could know what they were saying.

Other barriers can include a knowledge of what is and isn't acceptable to a culture. In our game, we were told that we did not like to get within an arms length of any other person, so we were to keep our distance at all times. Others coming into this kind of culture not knowing this would probably cross this border often without knowing, and possibly offend many people (We didn't keep this rule that well in our game because the room was really small). Anyway, again, it's the same thing in real life. It's hard to know what is acceptable and you have to be very careful and observant to make sure you are not accidentally offending people.

At the same time, people, knowing that you are not native to their culture, are often understanding in that you may not know all of their customs and beliefs. So, it was a fun little activity and taught a good lesson.