Natasha joins the course!

Loh Jia Tyan was born and raised in Singapore, but only recently adopted the name of Natasha in order to avoid mispronunciation of her name in Yale-NUS classes. She has spent much of her life traveling and experiencing other cities in Southeast Asia in her brief respites from the rigidity of Singapore’s education system, but never really spent time critically thinking about these places and people she has visited. As an Anthropology major, it has become a point of interest for her to rectify her previous ignorances and gain a deeper understanding of the region she lives in. Natasha is perplexed by the fact that stark inequalities and hierarchical power structures have risen and solidified between countries in this region despite their similar geographical locations and resources. Perhaps this is a question that stems mostly from her inexperience in studying the political histories of nations in the region, but hopefully over the course of the semester, she will arrive at an answer to this question. On a slightly lighter note, she also finds it strange that Southeast Asians really enjoy fruits with uncomfortable textures and appearances such as the rambutan and the durian. Why are we so obsessed with them? Why does this fascination not extend to other global populations? Is there something in the water that makes us crave the prickly and unusual tactile sensations of these poorly designed fruits? Stay tuned to find out!