Leina Fieleke OC ‘21

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J.F. Oberlin University, Japan (2021-23)

Leina Fieleke '21 is majoring in East Asian Studies, Psychology, and Art History. Leina spends much of her time at Oberlin engaging in and facilitating cross-cultural learning as the chair of the Japanese Student Association, a Luce Initiative on Asian Studies and the Environment (LIASE) student assistant, and the Curatorial and Education Assistant in Asian art at the Allen Memorial Art Museum. As a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Research Fellow, Leina also has conducted independent research on museum accessibility for two years. With the support of Shansi's In-Asia grant, Leina furthered her knowledge of Japanese art and museums by interning at the Maruki Gallery in Saitama, Japan. Leina first discovered her enthusiasm for teaching as a docent, which she then grew as a Ninde Scholars Program Tutor. As a Shansi Fellow, Leina is excited to bring her commitment to education and accessibility to J.F. Oberlin, where she will work towards her goals of becoming a better educator and improving her knowledge of Japanese language and culture.

Featured
The Power of Joy
The Power of Joy

By Leina Fieleke ‘21, JFOU Fellow 2021-2023

I’ll let you in on a secret. I used to hate learning Japanese.

On Misunderstanding and Being Misunderstood
On Misunderstanding and Being Misunderstood

By Leina Fieleke ‘21, JFOU Fellow

An art history professor I had at Oberlin would always take a moment after the class laughed at an artwork. “Why is this funny?” he would ask. Until then, not many people had asked me to explicitly express why something was funny. This is now, however, one of the most common questions I find myself asking while navigating a new country and culture.