In the class, I asked my students that “how does the increasing degree of urbanization change the next generation’s view on localized cultural identity? And how should we as anthropologists collaborate with the community?”

In the class, I discussed on the concept of urban life and then I asked the students to think about the ways in which they all could engage with Taungthaman Village to understand the impact of urban life.

In the initiation ceremony, people borrow horse cart from me. But they prefer the bullock cart that is well decorated with the crystals and golden paint over my horse cart. In the last 20 years the bullock cart has become more valuable and fashionable.

This was shared by a lady who is one of people who lends cart to others.

I found that the people are still proud to use the bullock cart for the initiation ceremony. 

In order to link the classroom with the real world for the course of Urban Anthropology, our department decided to interact with the community elders to find out about the Taunghtaman Village Tract. 

Our group met the village head and community elders of Taunghtaman Village in the village administrator’s office. The elders shared that nowadays most school children who grow up in Taungthaman do not know much about their home village and don't cherish it; and because of this, they are forgetting their cultural heritage.

Traditional handicrafts are a kind of embodied local knowledge, so does indigo. On the course of "Blue Across Boarders", students had a chance to talk with artisan Tang Wen-chun (湯文君), who is also an educator, motivator and researcher on indigo. Tang introduced the plants of indigo which are harvested in her farm, the practice she was conducting on also the process and tips for harvesting plants of indigo. Students had a field visit to the farm that grows the plants of indigo dye.