COURTNEY STEWART/Daily Bruin Joanna
Ursal, a world arts and cultures graduate student,
performs with an Afro-Cuban Band in Westwood Plaza on May 7.
By Chris Young
Daily Bruin Staff
Lecture halls are not the only place where graduating students
have learned something valuable over the past several years.
Through offerings of music, dance, food, visual art and
dialogue, various campus culture groups have fought stereotypes and
attempted to create mutual understanding between people of
different backgrounds, as well as learn more about their own
cultures.
“We think we’re so different that we don’t
want to talk to each other or interact with each other, but little
do we know that we’re always influencing each other by
sharing the same space,” said Ikemefunna Asimonye, student
coordinator of UCLA Worldfest. “To acknowledge, appreciate,
and be grateful for different cultures ““ that’s a key
for combating stereotypes and prejudices that really hurt our
microcosm at UCLA.”
“The culture shows allow groups to show the complexities
of their culture, and how it’s continually evolving,”
Asimonye said.
To reveal some of the complexities of Islamic culture, the
Muslim Student Association (MSA) puts on an annual Islamic Cultural
Awareness Week.
Held each spring quarter, the week presents a series of
discussions and presentations on Islam, gives samples of ethnic
food, and hosts cultural shows.
Demonstrating Islam’s far-reaching influence, a Pilipino
Muslim drumming group performed this year.
“We really try to educate people about the heritage of
Islam and dispel some of the stereotypes out there,” said
Ghaith Mahmood, president of MSA.
Mahmood, a third year business economics and international
development studies student, said for MSA’s presentation,
“Jesus (peace be upon him): The Red Letters,” they
invited different Christian groups to attend.
 Daily Bruin File Photo Children enjoy the annual UCLA Pow
Wow held on the North Athletic Field on May 3, 1997. “Half
the crowd was Muslims learning about their own heritage, and the
other half was people wanting to learn about Islam,” Mahmood
said.
One of the goals of the week was to change media-influenced
views of Muslims.
“In the mass media, with the way that Muslims are often
portrayed as bombers or terrorists, we wanted to portray a more
healthy image of who Muslims are and of Islam, with the cultural
awareness week,” Mahmood said. “Perceptions have
definitely improved.”
Mahmood said that culture shows aren’t supposed to
segregate members of a community from other cultures, but simply to
help them reflect upon and understand their roots.
“From talking to people in culture shows, I found out that
they really learn more about who they are and where they come
from,” Mahmood said.
In addition to providing a learning experience, culture shows
can provide a forum for political discussion.
Korean Culture Night, an annual event produced by Hanoolim, a
Korean cultural awareness group, focused this year on proposing the
reunification of North and South Korea.
Tim Chung, a fourth-year English and philosophy student,
developed a skit for the event that symbolized the separation
between the two countries. It was a parody of Star Wars, with two
opposing Jedi masters dividing a family and taking their twin sons.
Separated at birth by the masters, the sons grow up having opposite
perspectives.
Eventually the parents are able to reunite the family, and the
sons reconcile their differences. The sons, of course, symbolize
North and South Korea.
 JESSE PORTER/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Jonathan
Hong plays the Bok, a traditional Korean drum, during a
rehearsal for the Korean Culture Night held in April 1999.
“Reunification is an ideal but realistic future for
us,” Chung said. “That was what I was trying to show.
It’s more of an idealistic thing than a political
thing.”
While individual culture shows emphasize one culture, the
Worldfest event brings cultures together in a week-long series of
performances, art exhibitions and food selections in Bruin Plaza
and at the dorms. The week culminates in a four-hour long concert
Friday night.
Asimonye, a second-year communications studies and
ethnomusicology student, said the administration created Worldfest
in the “˜80s to try to unify the student groups on campus by
highlighting their similarities and distinctions through dance,
music, food and art.
Asimonye said the process of recruiting groups for Worldfest was
easy because the groups were willing to come together.
“I sent a letter out to student performance groups asking
them for something that would enrich and educate the campus and
appeal to the nature of unity,” Asimonye said. “The
response was very good. Lots of people loved the idea.”
However, the general reception of Worldfest was not as strong,
with turnout each day ranging from mediocre to well-attended,
according to Asimonye.
“Most people had a conscious awareness of it, but it just
shows how big Worldfest needs to get,” he said. “It
should be a process where groups come together on a regular basis
throughout the year that culminates in Worldfest.”
Asimonye said that Worldfest is a unique experience because it
brings together a diverse group of performers and audience
members.
“With Worldfest, people come out to watch their group
perform and also see other groups,” Asimonye said.
“It’s a way to fuse groups together by sharing the same
stage.”