- Last week the trainings and discussions we had cut across the disciplines. How does the interdisciplinary nature of this program, the fact that students are focusing on such a diverse range of projects, help you think about your project and/or your academic interests more broadly?
It makes me realize, even more than I've already realized from the work I've been doing, how many academic problems are approachable from many, many different perspectives. The universe doesn't come premade with objects that are fit to be studied by sociology, history, literature, etc, obviously, and learning about the methodology being used by some of my peers helps me imagine how I would approach my own work from their perspective. Additionally, I've thought about how I would approach my project with methodology I've seen my peers using.
- As you begin your individual research projects this week, do you anticipate any challenges in getting started? If so, what are they?
I anticipate my biggest challenge to be overcoming the emotional sense of overwhelmedness that comes from seeing my project towering up in front of me. I know the individual steps that I need to take, and have already began taking them, but I'm a person that's much more comfortable looking at things in total, instead of in pieces, and so it's often easy for me to get overwhelmed trying to figure out how every small thing I do connects with the broader whole which still seems like such a mystery to me.
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I really appreciate that the challenge you chose is an emotional one, rather than a strictly technical one that is specific to your project. I think the emotional challenges are perhaps the most universal yet at the same time the most taxing, as they require overcoming internal hurdles and reconstructing our own mindsets in order to open the opportunities surrounding us. Rather than having an easy fix that the Internet or the help of our mentors can provide, the issue of connecting your research with a broader whole requires some of our own introspection and reflection on how our passions can be connected to the interests of social good. I admire and totally agree with your honest reflection!
I really like how you described the idea that the universe isn’t naturally split into academic disciplines, It’s a good reminder that our fields of study are just different lenses we use to interpret complex, interconnected problems. I think that while keeping research within these fields can make it easier to categorise if the arbitrary borders are limiting there is a lot of merit in working across them. I look forward to seeing what new methodology that you come up with!