Louisa Pavlik

Dr. Sullivan
COM 490
3/8/2017
Interdisciplinary Paper

The massive portrait of Mao Zedong hung on the far end of the ominous gray public

square where we stood. It was sectioned off with golden fences to prevent people from coming in

outside of the allotted entrances where guards waved their metal detectors over the limbs of

eager tourists. It felt strange to stand under the domineering gaze of Chinas celebrated past

leader, knowing that his successor was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of protesters who

wanted nothing but democracy. I tried to keep an open mind while touring Tiananmen Square,

aware of my American tendency to quickly judge other cultures. Still I wondered, how did one of

the most iconic photos of the twentieth century showing a peaceful man standing in front of a

tank, seconds from losing his life, come from a place that literally translates to gateway of

heavenly peace? As a young woman who believes in the power of peace and collective

struggle, it is hard to read about the military crackdowns of today let alone travel to the site of an

atrocity like the Tiananmen Square massacre. Yet, I am thankful for the POL 215 course I took

that explored Chinese Nationalisms sites and stories, despite the fact that the Chinese case study

contradicted much of what I learned in my REL 115, Introduction to Peace and Justice Course.

The two courses differed greatly in content yet covered similar political and social issues in

different academic disciplines, they helped me examine my public relations major through a new

lens, and ultimately helped me gain a more holistic understanding of the world through

processing the contradictions.

 During the fall semester of my junior year, I enrolled in REL 115, Introduction to Peace

and Justice, a course that would soon be one of my favorites taken at Loras College. It is the

foundational course for students intending to minor in Peace and Justice and it examined the

critical concepts, methods, and challenges facing individuals who aspire to help bring peace to

persons whose lives are marked by injustice. The course provided a foundational exploration of

social justice concepts, issues, and remedies thereby developing the necessary analytical tools

and information to assess injustice and inequality and to suggest changes that need to be made to

better these situations. We focused heavily on collective struggle and its many success stories of

creating positive social changes. Much of the course focused on how society is shaped from the

grassroots up in REL 115 while POL 215 offered a completely different look. Chinese

Nationalism covered much of Chinese history dating back to ancient times to help us understand

the deep pride of the Chinese people and the struggles they have been subjected to by other

nations. I learned of the strong tradition that peace has in Chinese ancient empires and how that

mindfulness toward peace eroded as the country was forced to modernize by the Western powers.

This course examined nationalism, one of the most powerful political forces shaping the modern

world, by looking at modern China as a case study. As China steps into a more prominent role on

the world stage through rapid industrial development and social transformation, understanding

the dynamics of Chinese national identity is increasingly important. Finally we traveled to Xian,

Chinas ancient capital, and to Beijing, modern Chinas capital, to explore Chinas historically

recent transition from empire to nation-state.

The starkest difference between REL 115 and POL 215 was the way that Chinese society

is dictated today by an almost completely top-down approach. Public protests are prohibited

throughout most of China and when they do happen, people gather often as a means to reinforce
the seemingly unshakable Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Tiananmen Square is seen as a

source of national pride where Mao Zedong, founder of the CCP, is dead on display. The killing

of pro-democracy protesters in 1989 is not taught in schools and goes unknown to many Chinese.

Leaders like Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Dorothy Day were highlighted as examples for

how to live out a life of seeking inner peace and social progress through leadership in peace. We

even watched a TED Talk given by Erica Chenoweth, a scholar who devoted much of her career

to exploring civil resistance. The talk suggested that Tiananmen Square was an anomaly in her

compilation of data that analyzed the overall success of collective struggles against

authoritarianism. Having visited China with a perspective shaped by the concerns of social

justice and peacemaking, I was truly baffled to see how little room there seemed to be in China

for independent social movements to take shape for government reform.

Interestingly, my public relations background helped me filter through what I was

learning about the Chinese Communist Partys rule. The top-down approach in Chinas

government is probably one of the best ongoing PR campaigns I have ever witnessed. The

propagandized history of China as told through government approved textbooks, the event-

planning of festivals that take place on government-mandated holidays and the impressively

clean, behemoth structures dedicated to honoring Chinas fallen heroes all play a massive role in

curating the ongoing campaign of Chinese nationalism. Stories of China being bullied into unfair

trade agreements and the burning ancient structures serve as emotional appeals to the Chinese

people that succeed in creating a Chinese inferiority complex to bolster current national pride. As

I read the loaded sentences on plaques in Chinese museums, my public relations background

gave me a critical eye to stop the rhetorical devices implemented to evoke patriotism. I was also

able to see the parallels between planning a strategic public relations campaign with measurable
objectives for a nonprofit or corporation and the Chinese governments efforts to bolster

nationalism and unity. In stark difference to the nationalism course, Introduction to peace and

justice helped me see some of the communication skills I have already learned through a new

view. My public relations courses have focused on effective interpersonal communication

techniques for clarity and effectiveness while REL 115 focused on listening and conflict

resolution. Macro-level conflict resolution between nation-states and micro-level interpersonal

conflict resolution both require effective communication skills. However, I was able to enhance

what I already knew about communication by looking more deeply into the needs of

communicators on an emotional and need-based level. We learned the acronym CLARA to help

remember the steps involved in conflict resolution, non-violent communication. Communication:

Listen, Affirm, Respond, Add. One must first listen deeply to the other communicator, affirm that

what was said was heard and understood, respond thoughtfully to try to meet the needs of the

other side and let the other side add their input further. Though POL 215 focused on the Chinese

governments patriotic education campaigning and REL 115 focused on non-violent

communication in conflict resolution, I felt I was able to more deeply understand the two classes

with my background knowledge provided through my study of public relations.

With majors in public relations and Spanish and a minor in peace and justice, I thought

that my view of the world was dynamic before taking the POL 215 Chinese Nationalism course

and I think that it was. However, I still had much to reconcile about the world we live in with the

Chinese case study of society and the knowledge I gained on progressive social movements from

the Introduction to Peace and Justice courses. Its important to be aware of the progress made by

collective non-violent movements and the spirituality that drives leaders like Dorothy Day,

Martin Luther King Jr. and Gandhi but it is also vital to examine the cases where collective
action was violently suppressed by a militarized state, in the case of Tiananmen Square. The

theoretical concepts of pacifism, nonviolence and equity helped me see the world through fresh

eyes as I move forward beyond my liberal arts education hoping to responsibly contribute to the

world. The immersive experience of traveling to China to see where such theories failed to

deliver the promises of social freedom and progress is difficult to wrap my mind around, but it

makes me want to think harder and reflect upon the contradictions between what Ive learned

and the world as it is.

China is a beautiful, resilient and fascinating country in terms of politics that I hope to be

able to visit again someday, yet I have seen the place where pro-democracy protesters, students

near my age, were killed after weeks of peaceful organizing. I might try to practice non-violent

communication in my daily life and read up on grassroots social movements around the world,

but there are some situations that dont follow a pattern. Nonviolence is not always reciprocated

in this militarized world, and not every conversation I have will end with successful conflict

resolution. I cannot reconcile why an atrocity like the Tiananmen Square massacre was carried

out on protesters in a place whose name translates to gateway to heavenly peace, but after

gaining perspective from two disciplines, I feel even more called to try to make sense of this

world. Peace and communication can be seen through a million lenses; I am fortunate to have

been able to examine them through at least the two of politics and religion.