SFL Journal #8

To read all of the posts from my SFL class, click here!
Today in class we talked about our Polynesian friends! I loved this and it was so beneficial to learn more about the culture beyond what I had experienced with our friends we've met from the football team.

We learned that in Polynesian cultures there is more understanding of gender roles, men are men, and women are women. They embrace these roles and make them an important part of their life.

One thing I found very interesting and that contrasts my own upbringing is the idea of communal families. In these cultures, people help raise the children around them, regardless of who their parents are. I feel like in the culture I came from, parents had the opinion or attitude of judging other parents or children, not helping in the development. These other cultures are smaller and intertwined allowing more of this helping attitude.

Another result of the intertwined communities is more cohesion and support of local leaders. Instead of having a distant leader of your community that you don't know, your leader is someone you associate with frequently. These leaders have more of a vested interest and receive more support from the community.

I wonder what our political system would be like if we had close leaders with a vested interest, not governing an area that they don't have to live in or associate with.