On March 16, the American Pharmacist Association and Student National Pharmaceutical Association hosted “International Night”, where Dr. Gina Zanolini Morrison, professor and Fulbright Program advisor within the Division of Global Cultures, presented on her research abroad opportunities, experiences and relationships in Southeast Asia.
Morrison began her presentation expressing her favorite traits of the cultures in the areas she studied that are not as commonly seen and experienced in the individualistic-oriented United States. Collectivism, was discussed as a main topic, where the individuals are culturally obligated to look out for a collective group and make decisions based on what is good for the group, and respect for elders, where they are “seen valued and asked for advice and guidance,” as described by Morrison.
“I’m hoping talking about this will open a door of knowledge for you,” said Morrison. “And that you might consider pursuing knowledge that has been introduced to you.”
In 1982, Morrison started her first teaching job abroad where she taught students from all over the world. There she learned a lot from everybody but particularly from Southeast Asian students. When they got sick they had two choices: eastern medicine and western medicine. She remembered three forms of eastern medicine the most: coining, cupping and massaging. Despite their longstanding importance in these treatments, there is still controversy in their methods.
“There have been many cases of child abuse charges against loving, caring southeast Asian parents in this country who are simply trying to help their children get better the eastern way before going to the western doctor,” said Morrison. “Their sick children were taken from them till the charges could be dismissed.”
Two years after returning to the states, and two years before coming to Wilkes, Morrison met her husband, William, who was born and raised in Malaysia, in a coffee shop in Kingston. He had said she was the only one in the area who knew anything about Malaysia. Following their marriage and a trip to Southeast Asia, she began her “29 love a air with Malaysia.”
After Morrison thought about how much she loved the country and her frequent visits, she chose to complete her sabbatical in Malaysia, and she was accompanied by her husband and daughter. There, she worked for a government university in Kuala Lumpur from 2010 to 2011. At the international school her daughter attended, the president reached out to Morrison and offered to pay all expenses for Morrison to come back every year for three years and bring along student teachers where they completed their practicum for free.
“They experienced a real multicultural place and it was a real edge for them when they went to get teaching jobs,” said Morrison.
Four of those students returned to Malaysia to teach post graduation, and two went on to marry Malaysians.
Approaching 2016, Morrison was getting to learn Malaysian culture well enough that she supposed others started to see her as “one of them” and were opening up about subjects that they never had before, like their spiritual practices and beliefs. This sparked her interest in examining the ways in which modernity takes shape.
“I realized, because I have lived in this futuristic city of Kuala Lumpur, and then in areas that are not as developed also, I knew that a country doesn’t have to look like America to be a modern society,” said Morrison. “The researcher in me thought: these countries are still very modern but they base their values more on the values of the very ancient, indigenous peoples of the region. They respected the land and they incorporated that into their everyday life and into the modern world.”
Meanwhile, in the United States, Morrison believes that we have almost completely forgotten about indigenous knowledge.
She then started to conduct empirical research as to how spiritual beliefs and practices exist with modernity because it does not exist here in the same way. That is not to say that one is better than the other, but rather that they are different. To obtain this knowledge, Morrison started talking to Southeast Asian women because she saw these working women keeping one foot in the modern world and then going home and maintain traditional values in the family.
Over three years, Morrison conducted three studies on the question: What are your spiritual beliefs and practices? She had conversations with roughly 70 women who were all forthcoming about their experiences.
She began her pilot study in Malaysia and then, with the help of a Fulbright specialist project, she returned in 2018 to conduct the rest of the study.
“They told me their stories about spirituality, rituals, dreams, visions, trances and spiritual phenomena just like we were talking about the weather,” said Morrison. “There was no shame, no whispering, no drama–this was their life.”
Morrison noticed that it didn’t matter what religion they were, Christian, Pagan, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, or Pagan–many of them did the exact same practices and thought the same way.
“They all felt that we are living on this earth now but we are living with the spirits of ancestors who lived before and we need to be respectful to those ancestors,” said Morrison.
Constructs of healing were brought up in all of her studies and she went on to share a few: aloe, tiger’s footprint and sweet flag, the latter of which is used for many remedies and is often sewn into the clothes of Southeast Asian children and found in homes for its healing properties.
Overall, from Morrison’s travels and research, she found that the Southeast Asian people make a “space” for you. In several instances in which she had felt as though things were slipping through the cracks or was worried about finding contacts she needed, locals were constantly connecting her with specialists and were willing to go out of their way to help her, some even becoming co-authors of her papers.
“It was a great event to help plan and hear about Dr. Morison’s experiences,” said Alexa Ruzicka, P2 pharmacy major. “I enjoyed learning about western medicine and healing techniques.”
For students interested in conducting similar research as Morrison or traveling abroad to teach English in another country through Fulbright, reach out to Morrison at [email protected], as she will advise and assist students through their Fulbright application process.