November 22, 2019
As the semester draws to a close, I’ve been reminded of what drew me to this program at Syracuse University and what I aspire to shape my career into going forward.
On November 20th, I decided to do the two things I enjoy most on any birthday: travel and visit a new art museum. It was a spontaneous decision, and I left campus in a rush without doing any research beyond a quick Google search. Cornell University is about an hour drive from Syracuse. In the heart of campus is the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art.
Upon entering the building, I was greeted by an exhibit on global migration; an artistic expression of migration’s impact on the human experience.
I was shocked. Here was the intersection what I cared about most: art and the study of human migration. During my time as a visual art major, I sought a way to use art as a platform to discuss international human rights issues. When I transferred to my undergraduate university, I studied anthropology and minored in international relations. I sought to understand the global factors that triggered these catastrophes and how they impacted culture, mental and physical health and government policy.
Art, policy, migration and data had always seemed to occupy different spheres. Here, I found, through the works of these artists, the areas that they can intersect to create impact. It was a physical representation of everything my life had been building up to over the past four years.
[Photo description: On the underside of the top floor of the Johnson Museum is a site-specific installation named after the late Cornell astronomy professor, Carl Sagan. Cosmos was designed by the New York-based artist Leo Villareal]
This exhibit is called how the light gets in and is based on a song of the same title by Leonard Cohen. A collection of work from 58 artists, representing 29 countries of birth and residence, the exhibit features themes of migration, immigration, displacement and exile.
I stood for a while before a tapestry that had the rights all citizens have, regardless of immigration status, under the U.S. Constitution sewn in bold letters. It wrapped around a spiral staircase, listing these rights in three different languages: English, Arabic and Spanish. The effect was powerful; stirring. I wanted to take the fervor I felt from this exhibit and turn it into action.
One of the reasons I came to Syracuse University was to explore more professional opportunities regarding migration and post-conflict reconstruction. I especially want to learn about the role of data and policy in this field.
Next summer, as part of my program, I am required to have an ‘internationally-focused’ internship. The options available to me are astounding.
This past month, I have been speaking with Georgios Terzis, the director of the European and Global Internship Program in Brussels program (formerly the Public Diplomacy Internships in Brussels program). Terzis is currently working on a policy paper regarding the role of art in conflict resolution. Since I am pursuing a certificate in conflict resolution through the law school’s Institute for Security Policy and Law, this is especially exciting to me. If I find myself in Brussels next summer for my internship, I will help turn Terzis’ work into an academic paper for publication.
Also, in line with data and migration, interning at the United Nations has been on my impossible-bucket-list since I was a tween and first heard about the IGO. Recently, I communicated with Adam Sawyer, a MAIR Maxwell student, like myself. He is currently finishing up his six-month internship with the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Geneva, Switzerland. The IOM became a related agency to the UN in 2016. It “provides services and advice concerning migration to governments and migrants, including internally displaced persons, refugees, and migrant workers”. Every year, the IOM produces a comprehensive report called the World Migration Report. The data and statistics presented in this report is used by governments and agencies the world over (including the UNHCR and U.S. Department of State). As part of his internship, Adam has been working on the report, checking for statistical errors and creating data visualizations for the final publication. For nearly six months, he has been working for the United Nations on the world’s best toolkit for understanding modern human migration. In many ways, it’s my dream job.
During my conversation with Adam over Skype, he gave me a look through the camera before saying,
“The field is, and I can tell you from experience, dominated by men.”
It instilled me with a sense of purpose. Through our conversation, I felt encouraged; that I had the right to take up space at their agency and that there was a need for women like me.
Moments like this in a semester, when things start to slow down (if only slightly), make me reflect on how much I’ve grown intellectually and professionally in the past 14 weeks. They also make me keenly aware of the fast-approaching semesters ahead. The next year will pass by in a sleep-deprived, caffeine haze, I am certain. Next summer, I have an incredible opportunity to explore migration and post-conflict reconstruction, professionally, through an internship abroad. It is a thrilling and humbling revelation. It also validates the work I have been doing up to this point.
Thinking back to the museum, and to my conversations with Terzis and Adam, I am reassured to find that the niche field I want to work in does exist, and that I have a right to be there.
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how the light gets in will be featured at the Johnson Museum of Art until December 8, 2019.
IOM’s 2020 World Migration Report will be available on December 5.
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