Keywords in Context
When I was applying to ISS I was concerned the broadness of the program would produce a disjointed experience.Fortunately, my fears were quelled almost immediately. By constantly tracing back and adding to key terms, my understanding of social justice evolved. The social justice subjects I researched varied greatly, but the key terms served as a conceptual bridge between courses and projects.
Inequality, identity, and empathy are the three key terms that appeared most often within my work. I used the concept of inequality, the uneven distribution of resources and power, as a foundation for all my research. For example, in my Ignite Talk on homelessness, I point to economic, social, and political inequalities in order to explain why rates of homelessness are rising in western countries. Expanding my definition of the key term inequality exposed links between the problems I saw at home in Seattle and socio-economic strife as far away as Bangladesh.
Identity dovetails with inequality because the characteristics that shape individual identities--gender,ethnicity, race, age, religion, and class--help explain divisions between populations of people. My paper on the issues of economic inequality in Lesotho elucidates this connection. Lesotho gender politics over control of female sexual identity furthers a cycle of abject poverty.
Empathy, the complex and participatory experience of contemplating the emotions of another, was perhaps the most important key term. Empathy is paramount to becoming a conscientious global citizen. Studying the potential empathy has to affect social change allowed me to take what I was learning about global inequality and become more civically engaged. Encouraging empathy among UW students in order to inspire action is one of the tenets of the Tent City Collective campaign I’ve helped build. We facilitate empathic conversations between students and people experiencing homelessness. These conversations raise awareness of how global structural inequalities are personal for people within our communities.
Inequality, identity, and empathy are the three key terms that appeared most often within my work. I used the concept of inequality, the uneven distribution of resources and power, as a foundation for all my research. For example, in my Ignite Talk on homelessness, I point to economic, social, and political inequalities in order to explain why rates of homelessness are rising in western countries. Expanding my definition of the key term inequality exposed links between the problems I saw at home in Seattle and socio-economic strife as far away as Bangladesh.
Identity dovetails with inequality because the characteristics that shape individual identities--gender,ethnicity, race, age, religion, and class--help explain divisions between populations of people. My paper on the issues of economic inequality in Lesotho elucidates this connection. Lesotho gender politics over control of female sexual identity furthers a cycle of abject poverty.
Empathy, the complex and participatory experience of contemplating the emotions of another, was perhaps the most important key term. Empathy is paramount to becoming a conscientious global citizen. Studying the potential empathy has to affect social change allowed me to take what I was learning about global inequality and become more civically engaged. Encouraging empathy among UW students in order to inspire action is one of the tenets of the Tent City Collective campaign I’ve helped build. We facilitate empathic conversations between students and people experiencing homelessness. These conversations raise awareness of how global structural inequalities are personal for people within our communities.