Iowa State: What I learned in SH 230

As a freshman, I had to take a class called S+H 230–Contemporary Perspectives on Different Cultures. It was the brainchild of a professor emeritus of Sociology named Charlotte Brunner. I think they’d taught it a year or two at that point–it was…unique.

It wasn’t taught by a single professor, but by a team of instructors who took turns discussing various cultures–and then each of those instructors also served as a small group leader–like grad assistants usually do for most large classes. I don’t remember much from the small groups, I don’t remember any of the assignments, yet–here I am 37 years later realizing how significant that class was in determining my weltanschauung and life philosophy.

I remember two of the teachers by name–Dr. Brunner and the doctoral student from Uganda, Daisy Kabagarama. There was also an Iranian male, an Indian male and a Pakistani female, but their names escape me. In any event, they opened my eyes to the differences in the world–that there was more to everything than Europe OR the basic all-white nature of Iowa. I also gained a perspective on history.

I remember Kabagarama talking about married life and the work required of women–that there was a double-standard that made it difficult for young women (in general) to commit to getting an education.

I also remember (and then used!) Dr. Brunner’s discussion of college-student culture in the 1920s when I became a social studies teacher–it was fascinating to see how much changed, yet remained the same…the social mores around dating–when is the right time for a kiss, for more…the origin of terms like ‘pinning’, etc.

That class helped open my eyes to the world–giving me a more ‘liberal’ outlook (using the word in the classic sense)–to understand other perspectives, to want to learn about other cultures. It was perfect timing for me coming from a podunk, crappy small high school. Combined with a “secular” Pakistani roommate the first semester and then a devout Indonesian Muslim the second–while living next to an ethnic-Chinese Indonesian…man, how the world exploded wide for me.

I don’t know if the class is still taught or anything like it. I hope so–but I hope it is still taught in a way permitting kids to engage the material on their own terms–with no preaching or political agenda involved. That was important for me, too. I grew as a person because my curiosity was engaged–and because I wasn’t preached at.

Dr. Brunner died (I think) shortly after that class–she was 80 then already. I looked up Kabagarama. She was most recently a church minister at Wichita State and is probably now retired. I took the time to find a contact email for Kabagarama and sent a thank you–she won’t know me or anything like that, but I thought it important to say “Hey–I’m 35+ years down the road and you made a difference in who I am! Thank you!”

So…an Iowa State memory with no snark nor anything funny…just a way that the university helped me become a good adult.