Students learn more about Multicultural and Language Programs at Buckeyes Go Global

Joseph Schmittgen
Fri, 23 Aug 2019 04:27:24 +0000
Campus, Lantern TV, News, Alec Mulhollen, buckeyes go global, Columbus, columbus campus, culture, Dan Montour, global, global engagement team, linguistics, Ohio, ohio state, ohio state university

Students gathered around the front doors of Hagerty Hall Wednesday to watch ethnic dance performances, listen to music and celebrate world cultures and foreign languages.

Co-sponsored by Ohio State’s language and cultural departments in collaboration with Ohio State student organizations, Buckeyes Go Global featured stands hosted by 30 student organizations introducing students to different courses, activities and opportunities within Ohio State’s multicultural campus.

Ehsan Estiri, Ph.D. candidate and teaching associate in the department of Near Eastern languages and cultures, said the language and cultural departments in Hagerty appointed him to organize an event at which they could promote their courses and show the campus community what they offer. Estiri said that many of the students are likely unaware of the broad range of courses they offer, including languages such as Arabic, Farsi, Turkish and Uzbek.

“We know the campus community doesn’t know a lot about those courses, so we set up this event together to introduce those courses and cultural courses,” Estiri said.

The student organizations represented a broad range of interests, from culture-focused organizations — such as the Arab Student Union and the language-concentrated Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures — to social justice-focused student organization Students for Refugees.

Among many performances was one by a group of students from ASU, performing Dabke, a traditional dance found throughout multiple Arab countries.

One of the performers, Sarah Makari, a third-year psychology and Egyptian member of ASU, said she hadn’t practiced Dabke until this past year because it was uncommon in her culture.

“It was a completely new concept for me,” Makari said. “But it’s allowed me to meet other Arabs on campus and really just embrace my Arab culture.”

Dan Montour, program coordinator in the Office of International Affairs and part of the Global Engagement team, said the performances were high quality and pleasurable.

“I really enjoy the diverse types of dance and music they provided here,” Mountour said. “It’s always fun to watch a Dabke team perform at Ohio State.”

Alec Mulhollen, a first-year in linguistics, said she enjoyed watching the performances because she was able to learn more about people from different parts of the world.

“You don’t really get to see it in town or even at theaters some of the time,” Mulhollen said. “So seeing it here in an environment that’s really welcoming and opening is very nice.”