The main focus of this quarter is the big research project. Virtually our entire grade depends upon the paper and the process leading up to it. Which isn't intimidating at all. But you've got to start somewhere, right? This is that start. In these next four blog posts, I'll be outlining and struggling (mostly struggling) through my journey for this humcore capstone. This one specifically will cover my initial thoughts as to what I would like to write the paper about. In my mind, this is the hardest and most vulnerable stage of the whole process. I feel like picking the wrong primary source and encapsulating topic right now could derail the project at large. But no worries; I promise consistent complaining throughout the whole process. And hopefully a bit of insight along the way as well.

My first "epiphany" came during spring break as I was watching an interview between a former CIA officer and a Navy seal. Instead of all the juicy action you might expect from a discourse between the two, the conversation mainly revolved around empathy and the victory of humanizing our enemies as opposed to responding to conflict with sheer violence. I've always been really interested in the world of espionage and the CIA, but hearing this interview immediately screamed humcore to me. I recognized this recurring theme of dehumanizing or animalizing others in order to justify action against them whilst retaining our own morality. But the notion that we should strive to understand one another's humanity rather than denying it, really clicked with me. So my natural progression was this: I would love to do my paper on a film (or show or documentary) that covers an international conflict in which two adversaries are advancing militarily by animalizing each other - the concept that dehumanization can be a militaristic strategy, and how this perception gets ingrained into the collective unconscious. To me, the most fascinating content of humcore thus far has been its exploration of this implicit bias, especially in works like those of Johnson and Boisseron who elucidated on the tradition of dogging. So the notion of how an explicit conflict can shape our intrinsic biases generations down the road is, I feel, a truly crucial and relevant topic to explore. To the left is the interview I mentioned and a google doc of me brainstorming. As you might read, international phenomena like the Hutu / Tutsi conflict of Rwanda and even the Holocaust would capture this theme well. Connecting global issues to dehumanization occurring domestically would also be an interesting correlation / causation process - how different sides of the aisle animalize each other in order to advance their own views and push those of others down.

My ideal choice would be to pick a source connected to my encompassing general interest around international conflict and espionage. I'm really fascinated with how geopolitical opponents animalize one another for their own ends, and the notion that dehumanization is a militaristic strategy. That being said, I would love to do a research project on one of my favorite TV series, Jack Ryan. While based on the work of Tom Clancy, the series is actually set in the present day. I would like to rewatch the show and evaluate variances in how a classical American protagonist who works for the CIA is represented alongside the antagonists, who come from both domestic and international backgrounds. I would also be interested in how degrees of dehumanization compare between the original novels and the series.

My second idea (since everyone ends up at Disney at some point during this project) is Zootopia. I've always loved this movie and I think it would be interesting to explore how it both exposes and perhaps even undermines implicit bias. I hadn't thought about it critically before humcore, or how the Disney film might actually neglect or not fully do justice by important social topics like racial bias. It feels like an obvious choice to me in examining how animals can be used as proxies for humans in media and help shape our perception through defamiliarization. In hindsight, Zootopia presents a really kumbaya narrative of different species (perhaps anthropomorphically, races) arriving at a common ground and the dissolution of any inherent conflict between them. It would be interesting to deconstruct how the film does that, and if there's any validity to this happy-ever-after tale.

I have to remind myself as a sanity-check that I have so much external support as I embark on this project. My main help will be my seminar professor, Dr. Short, and I will definitely be needing her guidance as I enter into these upcoming planning stages. But it was also nice to receive instruction from our librarian who walked us through the motions of dissecting a primary source, making observations and inferences, contextualizing it, and so on. I know there will also be a great deal of online assistance for breaking down the research process at large (like in the video to the left). At the end of the day, I know I'll make it out alive, and hopefully I'll produce something that I'm proud of, have learned a lot from, and has even shaped my own perception of the world.