Mid Semester Essay Topics
As the middle of the semester approaches, I started thinking of different topics and themes to discuss for the mid semester essay. Our class provided interesting reads and videos, and I was mostly intrigued to discuss topics surrounding the movie Hidden Figures and about white supremacy culture that is a frequent occurrence in scientific workplaces. The three topics/themes that I have decided to think about for my mid semester essay are:
1. Minority struggles: How do people of color and other minorities struggle in their workplace? Use historic and present-day evidence and tie in the three main characters in Hidden Figures to support these ideas.
Although this was widely discussed in class, this topic is great for discussion and allows me to broaden my understanding of the movie and the struggle of working as someone who is not white or male. I will be using Tema Okun’s listed characteristics in White Supremacy Culture to show how minorities struggle in their workplace due to white supremacy and how some of these characteristics show up in Hidden Figures.
2. Perspectives: What is the importance of having diverse perspectives, and how does white supremacy culture suppress these perspectives? Use historic and present-day evidence to show the significance of difference perspectives.
This topic is the one that I am mostly interested in because I am able to incorporate Tema Okun’s White Supremacy Culture and Megan Halpern’s Feminist Standpoint Theory and Science Communication. In last week’s class, we were able to come up with songs that I think represent a perspective that is not often represented in popular culture. I was surprised that there was not a song that represented a perspective from the LBTQ+ community, and I thought this topic was perfect for me to include perspectives from this community. They are very much scrutinized in science, and I am interested in talking about how white supremacy culture suppressed the LGBTQ+ community and what kind of lens they have in the science community.
3. Art: How does art influence our understanding in science, and why is it important to always include art into science? Use the art in Lauren Redniss’ Radioactive: A Tale of Love and Fallout as examples of learning in the lens of Marie Curie, and why she should have not followed a traditional biography.
After reading Redniss’ biography, I was able to understand and put myself in the shoes of Marie Curie. I am claiming that art solidifies our understanding of science, and it is extremely significant to include art in our everyday lives outside of just science. To support this claim, I would use my personal engagement of Redniss’ biography on Marie Curie and Art as a Way of Knowing. Instead of relying on sources from our class, I am also able to include our general understanding of scientific data, graphs, and structures that engage our learning.
With all these three topics in mind, I hope I am able to create an essay that does not limit me from only using the sources in our class.
