Hi everyone,
Today is Juneteenth. I had to admit that it’s only recent since I have heard of this day.
I failed to introduce myself in the first blog under an emotional turmoil, as I was still experiencing the side effect with learning, understanding and trying the best to contribute to the recent movement. My name is Ceciel Zhong, a rising sophomore majoring in Women’s Studies and Computer Science. I’m enthusiastic about asking questions and finding answers, which led me to the enjoyment of research.
I was raised by my mother, who faced and overcame tremendous hardship during the years and had surpassed the limitations that others constantly put on her. I wrote about overcoming some difficulties in the unknowns when setting up in the first blog, while thinking of her empowers me to believe in my own ability, although her career is not related to research.
Growing up, I used to think of research as finding the truth, while the narrative is equally important when the research and findings are shared to the world. Today is Juneteenth, and It’s also very recent that I started to realize my divergence from the story told by my mom, that people are born distinct from each other. And I’m fixing that through conversation, although it has been difficult.
I came across “Ubuntu” in the Xhosa culture – “I am, because we are” – earlier in this project. It speaks of the fact that if one of us is injured, all of us are. It speaks about our interconnectedness. With the desire to see technology benefit under-served communities, I couldn’t stop but wondering since when did we fail to recognize this. Ubuntu is the reason for my enormous anger and grief when I look at injustice in this world. Ubuntu is also the reason that I joined my current lab to be a part of the work that addresses the threat from factory-made fakes to cultural traditions in weaving and other crafts. Supporting skilled laborers, those traditions are more sustainable in the long-term ecologically. However, produced value was alienated when automation started to exclude humans. Ubuntu let me realize that exploitation won’t happen if there’s no separation.
So there’s the past and present of people drawing the line and dividing people into different groups and extracting values from laborers. With the simulations and cultural meanings, I doubted how this project is not the new form of colonialism at the first sight. However, putting it to practice let me learn more about creating synergy through combining Indigenous tradition with western math. While the pandemic prevented me from getting in proximity with the real people, and doing this project remote feels like walking in the darkness at times, I also remind myself of a larger picture of automation under a new form. It’d be using the laser cutter – something that I have had the most struggle with – to apply the program simulations to all sorts of efforts. Without a solid engineering background, I have been learning a lot (to not be afraid of breaking things, to second-check the connector port, etc), and still have a lot to learn as I encounter more real-life scenarios.
Recognizing today as a holiday is only the first step to face that past that we have been trying to avoid talking about, and we still have lots of things to do. For the different challenges in research and emotions, I hope my poor descriptions could relate, and I hope that someday we could talk about this face-to-face. Stay safe, and well.
All the best,
Ceciel
Jun 19, 2020