RP3: Elsewheres

I know you are expecting me to discuss the Rabassa piece, but I titled this post "Elsewheres" to pertain to the videos we watched in class of the Maori's native dance, the Haka, and the Native Hawaiian's warrior dance.  I chose the title "Elsewheres" because never would I have thought to see or watch any Pacific Islands dances--let alone anything of the cultures besides analytical reports--in any classrooms, especially at Kalamazoo College.  It hit home for me because when I attend Pacific Islands performances back home (in California), the performers never perform only Samoan dances but dances of all several Polynesian islands, including New Zealand and Hawaii.  This sounds a lot like a comment, but I just feel really happy that a few of my classmates here have watched it.  In addition, I was curious as to what people of the class were thinking.  Honestly, I never really thought of P.I. dance attires as close to natives, but as I sat there wondering what my classmates who have never seen such dances before thought of the performances and attires, I thought to myself: Do they think that native Islanders are similar to Native Americans in the face that there is a lot of skin showing?  I thought, they probably cannot tell the difference between the island cultures, and realized that THAT was how I viewed Native American tribes that I learned about since elementary school.  It made me feel…I guess the term is ignorant…but I am glad that that thought occurred because it made me more aware of how I view things my way and how I should try to view things from other perspectives.  I knew there were difference among each tribes, but I never knew how huge the difference of their cultures were until I put myself outside of the inside as I watched these videos.