Day 4 (7th Jan): Spectrum

Globalisation. In recent years, the word has become ubiquitous in our lexicon for culture, economics, tourism; a phenomenon that has permeated inextricably into our everyday lives.  The lecture at Chiang Mai University this morning covered many issues stemming from globalisation, ranging from technology to migration to climate change.

As the overarching theme of our study trip, globalisation remains at the core of every group’s research topic and I think my takeaway from today’s lecture was that globalisation (as with many things) is not inherently good or bad, but what we make of it. Globalisation facilitates the movement of people across borders and this can bring about tourism as well as illegal human trafficking. The nature of things is shaped by how people make use of them and whether globalisation is beneficial or detrimental is really subjective to the parties involved.

(Our original plans for a focus group discussion after the lecture were abruptly cancelled due to some miscommunication but I’m glad my group took these unforeseen circumstances in our stride.)

In the afternoon, my group had our Amazing Race today and it was interesting for me as a Psychology major to observe our group dynamics and the behaviours of my group members. Different personalities, social tendencies, motivations and emotions came into play and being able to apply (a little) of what I have learnt in class to a real life context was a good learning experience.

Psychology aside, leadership was the big theme today and the debrief session brought up a lot of areas for our reflection; about who we want to be in the group, who we want to be as people, as humans in our lives in future.

We are all on different ends of the leadership spectrum and I think it’s not wrong to acknowledge that some of us are better at leading while others are more comfortable with following at different points in time. I feel that while it takes courage and strength to step up and lead the group, stepping down and supporting rather than leading also takes an equal (but different) courage and strength. It is inevitable that people in a group have differing opinions and acknowledging that giving in to others isn’t a weakness but also a strength, is important while working in a group. It isn’t being less of a leader, but rather understanding that as individuals, we are all part of a bigger picture and we can’t always have things going our way.

“Sometimes the hardest power to master is the power of yielding.”

– Rick Riordan, Percy Jackson

Michelle Neoh

(P.S. Finally found the ice cream rolls I have been looking for today at the night market around our hotel)