Runyi Wang is a first-year student in the Global Studies program. Global Studies director Prof. Mickel invited her to an interview to better understand what it’s like to be starting out at Lehigh, and what brought her to Global Studies.
Prof. Allison Mickel: So why don't you start by introducing yourself, your majors, and where you’re coming from?
Runyi Wang: So, my name is Runyi Wang and I'm a freshman and an international student from China. I just declared my majors in Global Studies and Anthropology, which is really exciting for me!
Awesome! So why don't you say a little bit of what made you decide to declare your majors?
After taking several classes in the first semester and also in the second semester, I got an idea of what Global Studies is really about, like the globalization perspective, which is really interesting and attractive since I'm an international student. This global perspective is essential to me, to perceive and think in the dimensional space of the world. So I feel like I got a lot of knowledge of different perspectives, of thinking about things in different countries. In global studies, which is a discipline full of dimensions, I enjoy exploring my favorite fields and unfamiliar and curious disciplines in multiple, multi-layered ways and means.
And also I'm really interested in culture and history. Personally, I really love to visit museums since I was really small. <laugh> So I think Global Studies is really interdisciplinary, combining global thinking and also the cultural and historical and human things together. I liked the introduction [GS 001]. I think it's pretty interesting to think deeper about the things I notice, maybe in my daily life, and think more about them.
Do you have an example of something you remember connecting to your daily life from the GS 001 course?
So, like, one thing that I feel like it's pretty connected with me is that China always is an example for Global Studies courses, whether in international relations in history, or from a cultural perspective. They're used as examples like comparison, comparison with different countries.
And how do you feel when you hear Chinese used as an example in your courses?
I feel like it's familiar. And it also lets me think more about like I didn't think that way before. I was used to being in that environment and I was just used to it. But I didn't think more about, like, the environment and all the things that shape me and who I am. With the examples and comparisons, it brought me to think about the differences, the similarities, and all the different perspectives that people are using to look at you and the outside world.
Yeah. That makes a lot of sense. I think that's something that we really want Global Studies students to get. I think a lot of what Global Studies encourages students to think about is how you are perceived by others in the world and how you impact others in the world.
So I know you're also an anthropology major. Can you tell me a little bit about the combination of those majors, why you decided to do those two together?
Last semester, I also took the course ANTH 011, which is Cultural Diversity and Human Nature. It’s about different groups of people from, maybe an area that's a little bit far from our daily life that we didn't know about. But anthropologists are trying to get closer and know more about those groups of people and trying to figure out how their culture and traditions shape who they are. So that's really interesting because that's a part that I cannot know about from my daily life. Also, as I decide to study abroad in another country, I think those ideas are really helpful for me to know about. I think all the Global Studies courses help me think, like, about how I can break the stereotypes of what I thought before.
That’s really important. And you're already going abroad, right? This summer. Do you want to talk a little bit about that?
So, I got into the study abroad program this summer for Lehigh in Paris. It will be a one-month study trip with two courses. It's all related to Paris, like, one is called Paris: The Global City. So it's using a political, art, and historical perspective to look at another country, its culture, and its history. And the exciting thing is that we are going to visit different museums and other places, to not only learn from books and lectures but also from experience.
Yeah, and that's also a huge part of global studies, spending time in other places and really richly understanding it from lived experience point of view. And that trip is led by Prof. John Savage, who's a Global Studies faculty member. So you're going to get some really good mentorship and a good experience.
You’ve mentioned museums a few times. Do you want to say a little bit about how Global Studies fits into the career you envision for yourself?
Museums are a part of the whole world. Artifacts, collections. Museums really bring everything together. That's the part I’m really interested in. And Global Studies applies to this. Every area can combine with other areas: history, culture, and museums. I’m really interested in all of these things. Although studying humanities and social sciences in a non-native language is challenging and difficult, my interest, love, and curiosity have always driven me to keep exploring.