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(Team) Gen Z Went to Brazil!
186 Plays7 years ago
Corey and I recently collaborated on some Generation Z research with a university in Brazil. In this episode, we reflect on that process, our experience working with our research team, and our time we spent in Brazil. We chat about the similarities, differences, food, and the wonderful people we met on our trip.
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Transcript
Introduction to Hashtag Gen Z Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to Ashtag Gen Z. I'm your host, Megan Grace.
00:00:18
Speaker
Hashtag Gen Z is a podcast about, as you guessed it, Generation Z, the generation of young people born between 1995 and 2010. It's about who they are, what they believe in, why they do what they do, and what makes them different than any other generation. In this episode, we'll be sharing more about our recent trip to Brazil. Yeah, did you know we went to Brazil? We worked with the research team to conduct a comparative study on Generation Z college students, and it was an incredible experience. But how did we get there?
00:00:45
Speaker
In late 2017, Corey received a message from a faculty member at a university in Porto Alegre, Brazil, inquiring about our research with Generation C. What started as an email exchange led to multiple months of planning, a few Skype calls, conducting a study, and then eventually spending a few days working with the team down in Brazil.
00:01:01
Speaker
Along with spending some time in Porto Legre, analyzing data, and developing a plan for our future work together, Corina were actually able to spend a little bit of time in Rio de Janeiro. And as we were wrapping up our time in Rio, we were reflecting on an incredible experience we had. So we decided to record a podcast from our hotel room in Rio de Janeiro.
00:01:23
Speaker
Corey, we are in Rio de Janeiro, and we're finishing up a great week in Brazil. I would love to hear from your perspective how we got here. This is definitely not our typical work week, to say the least. So what led us to us spending the week in Brazil?
Collaboration with Brazilian University
00:01:36
Speaker
Well, since we've written our book, we get a lot of inquiries through the website that just say, hey, we love your book, or we want to have you come talk. And I got an email back in December from a faculty member at an institution here in Brazil. And he had written me and said,
00:01:51
Speaker
Hey, listen, we did a study last year where we asked students to talk about their learning environments and we made some changes around their responses. And at the institution and now we're interested in doing like a follow up study, but we want to focus on Generation Z and I read your book and really interested in talking with you further about it and thought this was really interesting and we I had had someone from Brazilian periodical back in
00:02:17
Speaker
right when we wrote the book. So I remember having this conversation and she had written this article in Portuguese and so I didn't really know much about what was finally written, but we do have a link on the website about it. So I thought, you know, there is an interest from other people, at least I'd seen, to
00:02:32
Speaker
to find out more about Generation Z in Brazil. So when I got this email, I thought, oh, well, this is a really interesting opportunity. So I was able to follow up with him and just get some more questions answered. And he really was looking at potentially replicating the studies that we had done in the US down in Brazil. And so through a variety of emails back and forth, and then Megan pulling you in shortly thereafter, we started setting up Skype meetings. And my contact was able to put together a research team. And then that next thing, there were three of them and two of us.
00:03:01
Speaker
And here we are, after having replicated the study, they moved really, really quickly on it. The first outreach was in December, and here we are now in June finishing up some analysis.
Cultural Comparisons: Brazil vs. US
00:03:12
Speaker
So really, that's how we got here. And it seems like there's a real interest from some of the folks we've talked to here in Brazil of learning more about Generation C. So this has been a really great opportunity for us to look at some of these findings. Absolutely.
00:03:26
Speaker
Couldn't have said it better. And it's been, I mean, I remember sitting in class in January and You being like, hey, we got this inquiry from Brazil. What do you think I was like, let's go I meant like, let's go do this. And they were like, no, come to Brazil, which has been an incredible, incredible experience and the
00:03:44
Speaker
people in Brazil, the people we've worked with at Unicinos and the people we've interacted with just touring the country has been incredible. I know from my perspective I felt like I've learned a lot about the culture in Brazil outside of what we found in our study and we'll kind of get to the study in a little bit but what has been you know some of the most interesting things that you've learned about the culture since we've been in Brazil?
00:04:08
Speaker
Well, I've never been to South America. And so this is my first trip anywhere in South America. And certainly I don't know much about Brazil other than just kind of basic things that I had learned pretty much in my world geography class. And so for me, I think some of the really neat things that I experienced here was that there's a lot more similarities between both the structure of kind of society as well as
00:04:34
Speaker
the culture of society with some of the things that are familiar to me in the U.S. And of course, you know, Brazil has a very rich, unique, diverse culture that is so variant from the United States at the same time. I definitely don't want to undermine that, but at the same time, talking with folks about how the health system is structured and how retirement works and how people get jobs and how the education system works.
00:04:59
Speaker
It was really interesting to find connections where we had similar context, more similar than I think I was expecting to do that too. Oh, it's sort of like that in the United States. We could find some semblance of cultural connection that I just wasn't anticipating. And while there's also, like I said, vast differences, which has been really, really enlightening, I just think I was surprised as to how many things we just sort of kind of societal norms just have in common when it comes to just people and people.
00:05:27
Speaker
And so for me, I love that, being able to have connections and learning and broadening my scope of what I know. And there's so much more. I think I'm leading here, having gone to museum after museum and saying, wow, I want to know more, I want to know more. And you know, you and I talked, Megan, about trying to go back and find, you know, what are some books we can read about, you know, more about Brazil and understanding its history. And now I have this piqued interest in understanding more of the history and the culture.
00:05:54
Speaker
Absolutely, I think that learning so much about the history, we're also saying so much is aligned. I mean, we are walking around with one of the hosts from our team at Unicinos and learning about some of the history of Porto Alegre, but also learning about the history of Brazil coming together as a country. And there's so much that is similar to the timeline-wise of how America was formed, but how we do have such differences. But there have been some eerily similar timelines in the histories
00:06:23
Speaker
of both of our countries and now we're seeing in the modernization of those countries some very similar things. We talked a lot about politics and we talked a lot about the economy and we talked about health care and some of these things that you brought up have been so similar and I think that that's going to be interesting when we start to release findings about our study that
00:06:42
Speaker
I've shaped some of the both the perspectives of Generation Z in the United States as well as Generation Z in Brazil and I think it's just it's been a fascinating and enlightening and enriching experience this week. I think one of the things was even today when we were at the Museum of Tomorrow and I mean you pointed out so well of some of the things we're finding in our studies that are the the future concerns of Generation Z which we go into in our next book.
00:07:06
Speaker
But some of those things we talked about at this museum and how that's so parallel and looking forward to the future and how people in Brazil are thinking about taking care of our world. So I think that it's interesting that if they're having almost a monument, but an institution such as a museum that's talking about how do we look forward to our future and take care of our world is something that is sending messages to young people that are visiting that museum and maybe having influence on generations in Brazil.
00:07:34
Speaker
Oh, yeah, absolutely. And, you know, it was fascinating to me because, you know, as we were standing in line and there was a description about what the purpose of the museum was, it hit on three main aspects of what we need to be thinking about for the future. And as I was reading it, it was the three exact same responses that showed up as themes in our United States study on the issues that we'll be facing
00:07:57
Speaker
generation z in 30 years what are going to be the biggest concerns in 30 years and I thought well that is so fascinating we haven't I mean I haven't been to a museum in the United States that laid something out that clearly but here it is in Brazil and we're seeing some of these shared contexts and I remember on the very literally the first day that we were here in Porto Alegre at Unicinos we were asked to give a presentation in English and
00:08:20
Speaker
part of the presentation was talking about the context of what shapes generations, these perspectives.
Global Perspective from Brazilian Experience
00:08:25
Speaker
And I was, you know, I, I did, I went over this part. This was my, my part in talking and I, there's, you know, 30, 40 people out in the audience. And I'm wondering to what extent is the context that I'm talking about? Does it even, does it even connect? Is it even relevant? Is, does it even relate? And as I was talking, there were lots and lots of heads nodding and people had come up afterward and said,
00:08:45
Speaker
Yes, in Brazil we're experiencing so many of these similar similar things. So there was some validation from people as well. So I thought between those kind of the visits in the museum today and really that validation
00:08:58
Speaker
through the presentations, seeing a lot of shared context. Absolutely. I think that, and we talk about this in our next book, this idea of an increasingly global world, that we start to experience similar social issues, but we also have a better understanding for more people and more cultures. And I think that this trip has been definitely something that's motivated me to want to go back and read more and start to have a more global perspective in taking in news and taking current events.
00:09:24
Speaker
to be able to understand how those kind of events are going to shape generations, these perspectives and behaviors to an extent, you know, I get an idea of where the U.S. is playing a role in some of these global issues, but really looking at it from a cultural perspective of how is a global issue taking place in France? And kind of, I feel more motivated now to go back and be a better consumer of information on a global scale. Yep, yep, I completely agree with you.
00:09:50
Speaker
So outside of our research, what do you think has been the most if you had to pick one of your favorite things we've learned about about Brazil culture, what has been one of your favorite things, be it food, be it at the museum, be it history, what is in one of your favorite things that we've learned so far?
00:10:07
Speaker
Well, of course, you know, I like the food aspect. I had an opportunity to eat pinions, which were, you know, are like these oversized pine nuts that you boil or bake, and then you take them out of the shell, put them in your teeth, and eat them. And they are so delicious. And I'm not really a big food experimenter. I would say I border on the idea that I would just eat buttered rice for dinner every night if I could.
00:10:34
Speaker
And so I've been pushed a little out of my comfort zone with food, but it's been fun to see what are some of the traditions, what are some of the things that just everybody eats. Walking by the Pizza Hut and taking a picture of Pizza Hut where there was basically a gentleman outside at like a concierge station where you go to make your reservations and dim lighting with like
00:10:54
Speaker
you know, really fancy tables inside. I mean, I had to take a picture of that. So some of the things around food have been really, really fun. But, you know, I also enjoyed, we had a particular conversation with one of the people we had met in Porto Alegre, and she's a physician. And we talked a lot about the health care system. And I thought that was really, really fascinating to see how health care plays out in, you know, both the United States and in Brazil in particular, and some of the similarities and some of the differences. And I really enjoyed that quite a bit.
00:11:24
Speaker
just learning literally from a doctor as to how it works. I found that to be really interesting. Of course, food and health, of course, my interests, but what kinds of things were interesting for you or fascinating?
00:11:41
Speaker
I really loved, we had a great host from Emesino's Simone, we both love her, she's great. Her spending afternoon with us and walking around downtown Porto Alegre and just you know she was just a wealth of knowledge and she didn't feel like she was like oh I'm not like some history buff but she knew so much about the history of the country and sharing that with us was I think a really unique experience and we went to the cathedral and we went to this great museum and just walked around and she I loved
00:12:06
Speaker
getting her perspective as someone that lives in the country and to understand it from her perspective to achieve so much about, you know, the formation of the country and the different migrations of people throughout the country, throughout the history of the people that came and settled in Brazil and the interaction with the indigenous people. So I love to kind of, you know, that more anthropological understanding.
00:12:28
Speaker
Then I think a highlight for me has definitely been we had dinner at Gustavo's house and that was fantastic meeting his family and meeting his daughters who are a Generation Z. It was kind of funny to talk a little bit and start to see some of our data kind of come to life. They'd be like, no dad, why would we ever send you an email? Some of the things we kind of joke about in our sessions, but seeing these two really bright, intelligent, vibrant, young Generation Z, like right in front of us and having that conversation and connecting with one of his daughters who goes to the
00:12:58
Speaker
college in the U.S. and talking with her about her experience both being in the U.S. for most of the year but also having such a strong heritage and being from Brazil. So I think those would be my two highlights of the trip so far.
00:13:13
Speaker
Oh, yeah, those are those were wonderful. There's been so many highlights. And, you know, I think one of the things that's so Important as important lesson. I think it, you know, as researchers is thinking about, you know, this researching from the outside versus reach researching from the inside and while we had, you know, have
00:13:29
Speaker
Our research liaisons here who actually were on the ground doing the research of the students here. We didn't conduct that ourselves, but the analysis was done together and jointly and it was done with us here. You know, the people that we had worked with all of them have been to the US on a number of occasions to spend a great deal of time there.
00:13:46
Speaker
Yet, you and I have never been to Brazil.
Role of Cultural Immersion in Research
00:13:48
Speaker
And for me, I think that shed a whole new perspective on how we analyze and look at this data. While we've only been here, you know, what, four, five, six days, you know, and we can't possibly understand a culture in that period of time, at least just a little bit of it.
00:14:05
Speaker
helping me be a better researcher of the knowledge that we have gathered. And I think that as we continue to look at international work, that we really spend time, even if it's a short amount of time, at least in the countries that we're working with studying, the people that live there. I think that that's an important and responsible move as researchers.
00:14:27
Speaker
Absolutely. And I think it, like I said before, it really just inspires me to be a better global citizen. And that's something that my college, Go Chapman, really instilled in me in college, but it's something I want to pick back up of, of better understanding of cultures that are not my own and thinking about things from other perspectives and experiencing with the people that are from that culture, I think is, is an incredible experience. And I look forward to any opportunities we have in the future working
00:14:50
Speaker
in an international setting because this has been such an incredible first experience. Kind of thinking about our research, which I know that when we got here we kind of hit the ground running starting to analyze with the team, but I don't want to give too much away because I know we have plans to eventually release that information from a high level or as best as we can share. What are some of your favorite findings so far?
00:15:14
Speaker
Well, my favorite experience of all of this was the process. You know, I know, Megan, you took tons of pictures of this, but these classrooms at Unicinos were unbelievable. And they had, you know, all the wall dry race boards. And I seriously thought I was, you know, working for some technology.
00:15:32
Speaker
company and coming up with solving the you know internet 7.0 or something on the walls because we had all of these you know the data and analysis and everything written all over the walls it was unreal and that just the feeling of being amongst literally flee amongst it was so empowering and we had you know we had one person you know right on the board and you know you were taking notes for reading results and
00:15:56
Speaker
all contributing and it was like this this machine it was unbelievable but putting all of this up on the walls we were able to look at the data and say wow there were a lot of similarities there were a lot of things that our students learned very similarly around you know learning and they they engage with others in a similar way and we while we did find some differences we did find a lot of
00:16:22
Speaker
a lot of crossover and in in ways that strangely that when we had gotten our data when we first collected it we were we were thinking wow that's an interesting finding I wasn't expecting that and then here we are with our with our team here and they get the same exact results almost you know even sometimes down to very close percentages
00:16:43
Speaker
And it's like, wow, that was an interesting finding when we first found it. Now it's an interesting finding when we find it again. And now it's even more interesting than it crosses cultures. So I think, again, the similarities to me were just striking, absolutely striking. And I'm really excited to explore that. And then where there are differences, I love to think about how that cultural context really plays out in differentiating some of the different preferences and some of the different styles of the generations of students.
00:17:11
Speaker
it is and it was at one point I was just staring at these again these incredible whiteboard walls that I just want to cover my house in but thinking at looking on all of this and I know once we like start to get the color markers on and start to really mark up this data and say like there's actually similarity here there's similarity here it was really I almost got like happy chills at one point I was like this is just I felt very humbled and blessed to be able to first do the work that we were doing like
00:17:37
Speaker
In a million years I never thought I would be doing this but to see the initial study that we did produce such similar results I think was it was incredible. It was just incredible to see that but as you said Recognizing those differences
00:17:55
Speaker
I think that there's going to take more of this understanding of the culture and understanding of the context of what might be influencing those and also taking into context the fact that they did their study in 2018, we did our study in 2014, both provides an area for that similarity and difference to emerge. So it's been, it's been incredible to understand that maybe Generation Z taking into consideration country
Generation Z's Global Networks
00:18:18
Speaker
They might be more similar in some areas than they are different, which is so interesting from a demographic standpoint to be able to say. Yeah. Well, in some instances is as surprised as we are in some ways now that we've learned a lot about some of the cultural contexts that are similar across both the US and Brazil, but also the fact that these Gen Zers have such global networks nowadays. I mean, a lot of their friends aren't even
00:18:40
Speaker
within 100 miles of where they live. I mean, they're connected with people online all over the world. And so while it's not necessarily likely that, you know, a whole bunch of people in the US have, you know, most of their friends from Brazil and vice versa, the fact is, is that the global social networks is creating an opportunity for dialogue and for sharing of
00:19:00
Speaker
of context and experiences and opportunities for people to say, hey, I'm having that too. Or no, I'm not having that, but I'm aware of that. Or how are things going when it comes to this particular situation in your cultural context? I'm not experiencing that. People are much more, I mean, not just like, we're not just global in our economy and trade and those things, but we're global in our social connections in ways we've never been. And so these similarities might just be the fact that there's just a lot of young people that are connected to each other.
00:19:31
Speaker
So kind of leads me to my next question and probably last question, but because I mean we got other, we got to go do some more exploring after this, but what is, what do you think is next for us in terms of working with our team in Brazil and what are we looking forward to with this information and potentially in the future and working in international study?
Future Collaborative Research Plans
00:19:52
Speaker
Well, I think with our Brazil team, it was great. The last day that we were there, we were able to create an action plan for what we wanted to do with the data. And we found three areas of content that really lent themselves to moving forward with and around learning, communication, and social engagement.
00:20:09
Speaker
And, you know, it was nice to be able to kind of hone in and say, all right, what are we really going to be able to do? And so our next steps with our plan with our team is really to move forward on an article, a journal article, a scholarly article on learning and comparison of learning preferences. So that's going to be what we're going to get out of the gate or plan to get out of the gate first.
00:20:30
Speaker
and then come back and start looking at other aspects like communication and social engagement, where we also had a great deal of good data. But learning for us sort of emerged as something that was the strongest. It was also the area in which we both collected qualitative data. So our journal article will be mixed methods, which will be really nice. So I'm excited as we, not only do we continue to move forward with this publication,
00:20:57
Speaker
But we still have more analysis as they continue to analyze their data a little bit more closely. So we could be working over the next potential year with this team just on this data set. And then who knows, maybe more collaborations in the future as we continue to work with them. But I think for us what it did is it created a model for how we might want to set up comparative studies with folks from other places. What was nice is that we worked with a team from Unicinos, which is an institution in Porto Alegre, which is in the southern part of Brazil.
00:21:26
Speaker
But the connections of the folks that were in that area were fairly broad and they were able to get students from all over the country to take the survey. So it wasn't just focused on one institution. And so moving forward, it would be nice to work with potentially someone in another country who is willing to do what both Unicinos did and what you and I did.
00:21:47
Speaker
try to create a national survey or we're at least getting the information out and collecting data from people from more than one institution or at least several institutions. And so I think for us it would be which countries are worried about Gen Z, who's talking about it, who's writing about it, who might want to partner with us. Where are the social connections that we have? We'll probably look through our own social media connections to figure out are there people that might want to champion this and move forward.
00:22:15
Speaker
So I really see this as the beginning of a new era, or now that we have our book in, and we've finished up that. I think this is our international research era. Yeah, absolutely. And that is so true. I think this is really lit a fire in me personally to be like, we have to continue these conversations and work with these countries. It helps higher education across the globe get a better sense of the students that are walking through their hallways and engaging in their classrooms.
00:22:45
Speaker
It was, I think this has been an incredible experience for both of us and it has given us a lot of inspiration and for our future work, but I personally cannot say abrogada enough to our hosts that have been here making us feel so welcome and really engaging us in some really thought-provoking work and inspiring work and I'm so excited to see where
00:23:07
Speaker
It takes us with publication as well as just continuing this conversation whether that is taking place at presentations or continuing to write together. We really did get lucky with such a wonderful team. I will say that.
00:23:20
Speaker
Oh, I agree with you 100%. So hopefully they will be listening to this podcast and they will hear how thankful we are for their contribution as well as their hospitality.
Conclusion and Future Episodes Tease
00:23:32
Speaker
I can't agree more. And thank you, Corey, for letting me convince you to take some time during our days in Rio. But I'm going to say ciao ciao for now.
00:23:46
Speaker
We can't thank our research team and hosts at Unucinos enough. Being able to work on this project has been a nearly indescribable experience. They were incredible hosts and we're looking forward to better understanding the similarities and differences among Generation Z in the United States and Brazil.
00:24:01
Speaker
If you're enjoying your listening experience so far, do your girl a favor and subscribe, rate, and review this podcast on your preferred podcast listening platform. And get ready for my next episode where I'm kicking off a two-part series exploring the post-graduation plans of Generation Z young adults as they explore the world after high school graduation.
00:24:20
Speaker
In part one, I'll be chatting with a young man who decided to forego college and focus on his professional career right out of high school. Well, technically he started while he was still in high school. In part two, I'll be chatting with a young woman who decided to attend college right after high school and learn more about how she made that decision. But thank you again for tuning into this episode. Let's continue this conversation and we'll chat soon.