Glimpse Quarterly Questions Family Values and Traditions in America
In this exclusive report, Glimpse Quarterly draws from survey responses from over 1,000 American study abroad students to examine family values around the world and challenge the United States' emphases on independence and self-sufficiency.
Providence, Rhode Island (PRWEB) March 6, 2006 ––
An exclusive report released in the Spring 2006 issue of Glimpse Quarterly utilizes feedback from a survey of over 1,000 returned study abroad students to compare family values and traditions in America to those in other countries around the world. Major topics addressed are: privacy versus communality, careers versus personal relationships and freedom versus familial responsibility.
Asserts Emily Andrew, a student at University of Rhode Island who studied abroad in Spain, “Spaniards value family more than their work or career.” Northwestern College student Alicia Kuiken echoes this sentiment: “After coming home from Mexico, I realized how hard Americans work for things we do not need. In Mexico, I understood the importance of … spending time with family and friends.”
Says Purdue University study abroad student, John Lugowski, “While in India, I came to see how shallow American culture can be. Specifically, the quality of friendships and strength of families is much less.”
The report was written and compiled by Glimpse Quarterly’s Editor in Chief, Kerala Goodkin, who asserts, “It is a healthy exercise to examine the notions, practices and expectations that surround family in other countries. We have every right to value our freedom, but what do we sacrifice to enjoy this freedom?” The report also includes article excerpts from Glimpse Quarterly’s online counterpart, GlimpseAbroad. org, which relate various familial experiences that study abroad students have had in Thailand, Denmark, Mexico and Ecuador.
In addition to this exclusive report, the Spring 2006 issue of Glimpse Quarterly features a special spotlight section on Australia, featuring first-person perspectives on Australians’ unique relationship with the “great outdoors.” It also features a photo essay on Beijing’s traditional neighborhoods, called “Hutongs,” which are rapidly disappearing in the face of modernizing forces. Other stories include: “A Bloodthirsty Cocaine Factory? Colombia: What the U. S. Media Doesn’t Understand” and “How to Relieve Stress: Cape Verdean Women Reveal Their Secret.”
Glimpse Quarterly is published by the 501(c)3 Glimpse Foundation, which promotes cross-cultural understanding and exchange, especially between the United States and the rest of the world, by providing a print and electronic forum for sharing the experience of young adults living and studying abroad. Primarily distributed through colleges and universities across the country, the magazine has a current circulation of 10,000 with a projected readership of 15,000. It is also available in bookstores nationwide.
The Glimpse Foundation was established by Brown University students in November 2001 and began full-time production in May 2002, with generous seed funds from the National Geographic Society. Glimpse uses its growing youth network to innovate platforms for creative nonfiction, informed discourse and intercultural exchange.
Complimentary review copies of Glimpse Quarterly Spring 2006 available upon request.
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