- How have the workshops and discussions on leadership this week changed your understanding of what leadership means?
Through the different activities and diagnostics we were given, I now have a better grasp on how to enter new spaces in a way that ensures my leadership style can effectively move a team forward or advance a project. By being introduced to a variety of leadership styles, not just the ones most relevant to myself, I’ll also be better equipped to understand how others work best, and how we might work best together. I think leadership is something adaptable and ever-changing, and I look forward to seeing how my own style develops in the future as I take on different roles.
- How might you imagine applying one of the four ways of leading during your summer on campus?
Out of the four ways of leading, the one that most applies to me and my intended project is leading from within. During a discussion with my professor today about the direction of my project, he emphasized how much I could expand it in any way I saw fit. While I originally wanted to start with a smaller literature review, my professor pushed me to think about broader timelines and the extent of the support I’ve received from the Laidlaw Foundation to truly pursue what I want. With this realization, I’ve decided to include a photography supplement to my project. This addition means I’ll need to motivate myself even more to consistently return to NYC’s Chinatown / Little Fuzhou to take photos once or twice a week. This will require leading and motivating myself, which I hope will better prepare me to adopt one of the other leadership styles (from behind, beside, or in front) for future projects.
- What is everyone most excited about engaging in as part of their summer research project?
As described above, my new photography project! Besides that, I just picked up some of the works I plan to base my research on at the library today, so I’m excited to spend this summer diving into the different narratives these texts present and really engaging with them.
Please sign in
If you are a registered user on Laidlaw Scholars Network, please sign in
The photography portion of your project sounds so cool! That's inspiring me to potentially include some of my own creative media into the project that would fit well with the topic of my research, such as journalistic writing. I think photography and incorporating an artistic medium in general goes wonderfully with your research project, which innately revolves around the human experience of assimilation and alienation, emotions statistics alone cannot convey a effectively as when they are juxtaposed with art. Do you have a specific idea in mind of what you will take photographs of, and how you intend to use photography to illustrate the feeling of alienation or assimilation among Fuzhounese communities? I am so curious to learn more!
I’ll be focusing on storefronts of Fuzhounese-owned businesses! A large part of the assimilation process for the Fuzhounese community in NYC has taken place through business ownership (restaurants, nail salons, and similar ventures) so I’d like to reflect that in my supplementary photography project. These shops have, to some degree, become a caricature of the Fuzhounese experience, so I want to show how varied these individual experiences really are. Through that, I hope to highlight the diversity within the community and push back against the ways these caricatures can contribute to the Fuzhounese community’s alienation from other Chinese groups.
I would love to see you incorporate your own journalistic writing into your research! That would be such a meaningful addition, and I really appreciate your comment on how my new project helps balance the rest of my research.