Looking Back

We've delved into various fascinating texts and topics over the past year. Each and every unit has changed my worldview in some way, and I'd like to highlight some that I have found intriguing or conflicting.

Most Challenging: Surrealism

Surrealism was definitely the most challenging unit, but also the one where I grew the most. At first, I had a hard time trying to come up with interpretations for the artworks, as I initially thought of the art movement as purposefully meaningless and random. As somebody who likes having a concrete answer, I had to get comfortable with the fact that almost any interpretation could go because art is a subjective experience. I was incredibly lost when it came to planning for essay four, but I gained focus as I began to study the formal elements of art closely and in relation to one another. I got better at writing warrants during this process, which is something I've struggled to get right. It was very fun and satisfying to draw connections between the two pieces, even more so when they used the same concept but executed it differently. Going in I thought I would hate these pieces after analyzing and writing about them for hours, but they turned out to be some of my favorite works of art.

Most Troubling: Dehumanization

Professor O'Toole's lectures were extremely eye-opening, as she focused on dispelling myths about colonialism and exposing the hard truth of how the Europeans conquered different groups of people. Her arguments subverted many of the things I learned growing up about the history of the Americas, such as the Myth of Desolation and how indigenous peoples continued to fight against colonial expansion. What troubled me the most was the mechanisms used to dehumanize people. I found it shameful that the colonizers perpetuated false conceptions about people of color in order to gain some sort of justification for persecuting them. It was further unsettling to recognize how dehumanization operates in modern America against black communities. The process of writing essay 3 and reading through various secondary sources about canines and policing was jolting, but I was glad that I was able to educate myself on such a critical issue. I hope to extend what I learned into different forms of activism that will include holding people accountable for the ways in which they code marginalized communities.

Most Impactful: Animal Ethics

I was thoroughly challenged by our unit on Animal Ethics. Each lecture asked me to evaluate my own relationship to animals and made me rethink my consumption practices. I have always been aware of and made uncomfortable by inhumane modes of animal production, but after discussing animal sentience and how nonhuman beings are often denied of it, I knew I needed to reconsider my own morality and how my respect needed to be extended to all animals. Although I enjoyed that Professor Donaldson drew the focus on the animals themselves, it was interesting to learn about how the demeaning of animals is tied to that of women through the absent referent. This unit paired nicely with our discussion of insects, as even the tiniest of earth's creatures deserve our consideration. Although I felt a pang of guilt every time I squashed a bug, I had never full thought about their consciousness and ties to the human world. Not only were Professor Schwab's lectures fascinating because she called attention to insects, but because they created a sense of urgency about anthropogenic destruction. Moving forward, I aim to be more conscious about my practices and engage in ethical consumption while continuing to educate myself about both animal ethics and ecology.