emiliewouters_DESMA9

-

(U1) A Look Into Two Cultures- Literary Humanities and Science 

Depiction of the choice between the cultures

    As someone who has hopped between the two sides of literature and science her whole life, I can see many connections and disparities between these two cultures. From a young age, this idea of being a “science person” vs being a “humanities person” is drilled into us, and leads us to believe that we must be one or the other. Early on, we sort of decide that we belong to one of the two cultures, and we base our futures and our studies around this idea. Those of us that enjoy both then choose one and neglect our passions and talents that could be helpful in the other. The spread of a third culture as described by Kevin Kelly in his article “The Third Culture” and Victoria Vesna in her article, “Toward a Third Culture: Being In Between” could be useful in bridging the gap between literature and science. As C.P. Snow suggested in the second edition of his book, a third culture would do just that. The separation of cultures is even seen in UCLA with "north campus vs south campus". The arts and humanities vs the STEM majors. There is rarely any crossover.


 ⇾  
            Depiction of the term STEM                       Depiction of the term STEAM


 In my experience, growing up in the push for women to break into “STEM”, science seemed to be held in a higher regard than literature. Narratives such as “if you’re smart, you do STEM”, or “if you can do STEM, it is better for everyone that you make a career of it, it’d be a shame to waste such a good scientific mind on the arts” got strongly pushed.  Meanwhile, the scientific field is entirely unwelcoming to women. Recently, the term “STEAM” has cropped up, indicating a shift toward a third culture, or at least more communication between the two existing ones. When first I saw that acronym, it made me feel like maybe I didn’t have to neglect one side of me, one of the cultures, and I could use elements of each culture to make greater advances than I would make if I kept the two cultures divided. I even chose a major that is interdisciplinary, so that I can try to use my skills in both cultures. In the future, I may attempt to take it a step further with a minor in the arts, as my major leans toward STEM and I seek balance.




References

Snow, C.P. The Two Cultures: And a Second Look. N.p.: n.p., 1963. Print.

Vesna, Victoria. "Toward a Third Culture: Being In Between." Leonardo. 34 (2001): 121-125. Print.

 

Kelly, Kevin. "The Third Culture." The Third Culture. N.p., n.d. Web. Feb. 1998

Depiction of the Term STEAM. n.d., patch.com/img/cal/sites/default/files/users/109677/20190312144006/steam_image.png. Digital Image.

Depiction of the Term STEM. n.d., strictlybriks.com/product_images/uploaded_images/make-stem-learning.jpg. Accessed 2021. Digital Image.

Man Standing at a Crossroads Sign with Various Subject Options. 2014, nemisha8.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/6a012876c6c7fb970c01676913b1fd970b-500wi.jpg. Digital Image
Location: San Diego, CA

Comments

  1. Nico PedroncelliApril 4, 2021 at 11:38 PM

    Hi Emily, I greatly enjoyed reading your blog post this week as a lot of its sentiments resonated with me as well. I think your description of the shift from STEM to STEAM was a great real-life example of the "third culture" we discussed in class. The term STEM—a term praised and pushed onto students all too often in the past ≈ decade or so—inherently places emphasis on the "two culture" system, the separation between the arts and sciences. The term STEAM, therefore, looks past the past separation between these two cultures and embraces the interdisciplinary beauty of education that we will learn about more in this class. By including Arts with Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math, STEAM upends society's emphasis on a STEM education. I hope to see the term STEAM advertised more frequently and especially during elementary education. It is important for students to recognize the interconnectedness of these two cultures from a young age. In this way, both cultures can be enhanced and strengthened as one is not preferred over another by society. What are some more real-life examples of this Third-Culture shift described by Kevin King and Professor Vesna?

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

DESMA 9 Extra Credit Event 5

-
Image
  Extra Credit Event 5 The event for Biotech + Art was a watch party of the 1997 film Gattaca. The film is set in a time where eugenics are common, where children’s genetic traits are selected for. It follows the hardships of a boy whose parents chose not to follow the widespread practice of choosing their children’s traits. That society holds a ton of value to genetics, and attributes a large part of who a person is to their genetic makeup. Now. While it is true that genetics play an enormous role in our lives, they do not determine our destiny. You could be given a great genetic makeup, and still turn out bad. You could be dealt some crappy genetic cards, and end up happy and successful. It just depends on what you choose to do with what you are given, though it is also dependent on how a society treats and accommodates the “less desirable” traits. After all, in the end, it is the society that chooses what is considered desirable. Who decides what is a good trait and a bad trait,...
Read more

Unit 3 Emilie Wouters DESMA 9

-
Image
 U3: Robotics + Art      Robotics, accompanied by Machine learning and AI, are becoming increasingly human-like. Robotics experts have long tried to create robots that exhibit or mimic human emotion. Here, we will focus on the non verbal aspect of robotic emotion. Dr. David Hanson, in his Ted Talk presentation, discussed his work in creating realistic facial expressions on a robot.      Basically, the faces have materials that are similar to the major facial muscles, each of which are powered by tiny batteries. The face itself is made of a material called Frubber. Now here’s what’s interesting about that. There was a robot that went viral a few years ago, called Sophia. Her face is made of the same material.      Maša Jazbec, our guest speaker in class, talked about her. It takes some artistic skill to construct and color a realistic face that can move, stretch, wrinkle, and fold like that of a human. That is why Hanson Robotics made and...
Read more

DESMA 9 E1- Emilie Wouters

-
Image
EVENT 1: Watch Party of Metropolis (1927)       The 1927 film Metropolis left quite a mark, as it encompasses several ideas and beliefs I hold. I’ll only mention a few. This film highlights the downfall of industrial capitalism as it relates to classism. I recommend going and reading a summary of the film if you haven’t seen it. Though it’s a futuristic dystopian story, it is fully indicative of how society works, and the dangers of keeping the classes so incredibly separate. The themes in this film are reminiscent of the movies The Platform, Snowpiercer, and Us. It’s also very close to a few Black mirror episodes about robotics and class systems.     Lower class                                                                                    ...
Read more