Taylor Parker
University of Florida
B.A. (magna cum laude) Jewish Studies, French and Francophone Studies , International Studies
STUDY ABROAD
Little more than 1% of undergraduates in the United States study abroad. In a world besieged by fear of the “Other,” I believe it is paramount to engage in intercultural dialogue and exchanges in order to ameliorate international relations in an increasingly globalized world. Studying abroad provides an opportunity for one to experience the world from a different perspective; coupled with education, studying abroad serves as an active and immersive framework for comparing cultures and societies, which in turn facilitate positive global engagements.
I completed two study abroad programs in Avignon, France and another in Reims, France at L’Institute des Études Politiques, better known as Sciences Po. My first program coincided with the Festival d’Avignon, an enormous theater spectacle during the month of June which attracts hundreds of performance companies and millions of spectators from around the world. The theme for 2016’s festival engaged with questions of difference, indifference, alterity and memory. I attended the most anticipated spectacle of the festival- Ivo Van Hove’s production of Les Damnés, featuring the Comédie Française. Set in pre-World War II fascist Germany, Les Damnés explored the nature of perversion, violence, and abjection. It further evoked these questions with a closing scene reminiscent of the violence of the November 2015 Paris attacks-- the main antagonist mimics firing a machine gun on the audience after clothing himself in the ashes of all those murdered during the story. The jarring sound of rapid-fire and the bursting light emitted from the LED screens on stage caused an intensely unsettling and poignant anxiety, doubtlessly influencing the interpretation of the play and its impression on the audience. The memory of violence evoked in this final act called into question perhaps the most prominent violence of our modern era-- terrorism.
A bit of context: Staged in the 14th century Palais des Papes (Popes' Palace), featuring a story occurring in Germany at the beginning of WWII, and witnessed by an international audience, the implications of this final scene reverberate across layers of national and international history, politics of identity, and present-day conflicts. I recall the various interpretations of my French and American professors, classmates and other spectators leaving the play. United by the disconcerting end of the performance, it seemed as if everyone tentatively became aware of the unresolved, profound violence represented by this play in their own lives. These introspections juxtaposed the memories of 1930s and 40s Europe with today’s conflicts: the persecution of ethno-religious, refugee “Others” fleeing the Nazi regime and the modern question of Muslim refugees fleeing war and violent conflict in the Middle East, North and Sub-Saharan Africa; a cycle of violence perpetuated and exacerbated by anxiety reflected in the wave of partisan and national politics.
I remember feeling a lingering anxiety after the end of the play, one which followed me through the rest of my stay in France-- the existential crisis of action. How to act? How to find a language that touches the bases of all cultures and appeals to a humanity struggling to find solidarity in the face of historical revisionism, sweeping populism, the mounting fear of the “Other,” and terrorism? How can one transcend visceral manifestations of memory-- often informed from figural representations to which we imaginatively ascribe meaning-- to communicate at a present, personal level?
Studying abroad immersed me in what I can only describe as something akin to an out-of-body experience. Evaluating yourself through the socio-politico-cultural lens of another society is a form of introspection, a form which creates an instant comparative framework in which values are immediately challenged. Perhaps this introspection may only began with a dialogue; but to acknowledge that we all share certain anxieties means that we all share certain desires, and to me, that is an integral step in the process of international amelioration.
A poster for "Le Silence de la Mer" (or The Silence of the Sea), based on Resistance literary work of Jean Bruller, AKA Vercors. A theme evoked in the play questions the relationship between silence and complicity.
Maison Jean Vilar, or Jean Vilar's house. Jean Vilar organized the first Festival D'Avignon in 1947.
Avignon at at dusk, external court from the Palais des Papes.
Flyer for a photography exposition entitled "Body and Soul."