The culmination of Intercultural Week, Parade of Nations makes its annual return this weekend. Always well attended, this event allows students to enjoy a variety of ethnic foods, performances, sights and sounds and to bask in the glow of multiculturalism.
While there is certainly nothing wrong with basking, students who attend the Parade of Nations, and any number of cultural shows to come in the next few weeks, should be mindful of the activities of each group beyond the one-night extravaganza. Some cultural groups on campus have expressed concern, in the Daily's pages and elsewhere, regarding the extent to which the student population involves itself in their histories or cultures beyond food and dance. The organizations involved also host speakers, discuss issues, and provide a forum for intellectual engagement.
An event like the Parade of Nations should be a springboard to higher learning rather than an end in itself. The purpose of such cultural events, apart from entertainment, is to introduce students to different cultures and hopefully whet students' appetite for further involvement.
College is an environment in which an informational smorgasbord is at every student's fingertips. While independent research and study is made possible by Tisch Library and a first-rate set of research tools online, Tufts also provides excellent opportunities to learn about foreign issues firsthand from speakers and multicultural functions that actually do serve to educate and involve students, enriching their regular class curriculum.
That is not to say that events like the Parade do not demand a certain amount of curiosity about different cultures; indeed, the reliably high turnout at such events attests to the interest of Tufts students in at least a basic level of cultural familiarity. But at a school like Tufts that frequently boasts of the diversity of its population, we have perhaps a greater opportunity and a greater responsibility to increase our understanding of and interaction with different cultures, groups and belief systems. Culture is more than just a different way of dining or dancing.
Of course, it is understood that students here are busy people, and that each has his or her own interests. It is not always realistic to expect a student who enjoys French food at the Parade to motivate himself to attend a seminar on the French economy, in the same way that one who enjoys German beer will not necessarily want to learn about barley production in Bavaria.
Every year, hundreds of Tufts students study abroad to experience a new environment and a new society. The most popular major on campus is International Relations, and the university's language requirement demands that students graduate with a reasonably comprehensive understanding of either a foreign language or culture. In large part, Tufts effectively engages students in multicultural forums and substantive avenues of discussion. This kind of involvement suggests that students here are indeed interested in the kind of multicultural experience that Tufts offers.
Ultimately, the onus is on the students to decide whether to truly open themselves up to diverse groups on campus. With that in mind, enjoy the Parade of Nations, eat some delicious food - and then maybe go further, and find out a thing or two about the country and culture it came from.
