Discover Top Posts Tagged with #marginsci

Marching for science(s) of all kinds and asking Science to examine its politics.

#march for science #marginsci #ecology #multispeciesworlds #BraidingSweetgrass

“[But the problem is that researchers] do not want to be held accountable because that’s going to cost them some money, given the nature of the society that we live in... We sell death. We sell destruction. We sell corruption. We sell crisis for profit. And then we sell you everything that will save you from those things for profit. That’s how capitalism works, and a lot of scientists do not want to lose out on that. Do you want to save the scientific industry or humanity? You can’t do both.”

J. Ama Mantey, Ph.D., #MarginSci: The March for Science as a Microcosm of Liberal Racism, quoting Shay-Akil McLean.

#science #march for science #marginsci #racism #wight supremacy

My poster for the March for Science. [Front: #BlackLivesMatter is a Science Issue! #NoDAPL is a Science Issue! #Accessibility is a Science Issue! #Flint Water Crisis is a Science Issue! Back: #HB2 is a Science Issue! #MuslimBan is a Science Issue! #NoWall is a Science Issue! WE need to do Better! I Stand with #MarginSci] I may draw some symbols on the side but otherwise I think I am happy with it?

#marginsci #m4s #march for science

The March for Science at first seems to be a direct result of an election. Yet it is a reflection of how our U.S.A. has yet to truly face the scarred roots of its legacy. Nor the ignored ills of its present. The physicist, J. Robert Oppenheimer said after the first successful test of a nuclear bomb that he was instrumental in creating, “I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.” He was quoting the Vedas, from ancient scriptures of the main religion, Hinduism, of my family from India. I read this quote many times after I graduated proudly from the Campuswide Honors Program at UC Irvine in June 2002, Double Bachelors in Mechanical & Aerospace Engineeering. Summers working as a U.S. Space Camp California Counselor & Simulated Space Shuttle Mission Director- such joy! Senior Honors Thesis called “Flight Dynamics of Reusable Launch Vehicles” – the exploratory kind, NASA-related fun. But by the time of my graduation day, the reality of my being part of the first graduating class since 9/11 hit me hard. Job offers shifted quickly from exploration to defense. A “Destroyer of Worlds” I would not be. So when I gave my Commencement speech “Where Are All the Flying Cars?” I warned my fellow graduates to use their newly granted degrees & power wisely in the years to come.

Indeed, many bombs and missiles our world continues to endure. I could have been wealthy and “secure” by now. As the young, reluctant caregiver for my immigrant family right after my undergrad, money from the military industrial-complex would have been useful. Yet a more meaningful, albeit lonely path towards Intersectional Futurist Art over the next 15 years led me to my beloved Nima, & now here. We’ve all entered a new era of political turmoil. Not so new though. The questioning of U.S. bombings abroad and of how “American” we Americans of Color are escalates again. Haunting flashbacks to my early childhood staving off (most) bullies in Orono and Bangor, Maine as one of the very few children of color. Surviving through reruns of Original “Star Trek” to dream of Queer & Trans Brown & Black Female futures. Before such utopias, I March for a new Science amidst so-called “Science Bros” who would deny such visions to me and to other People of Color. And among well-intentioned allies who often don’t understand those of us who rep #MarginSci. That to #DecolonizeScience is not a metaphor. Earth Day 2017 is the next turning point toward the futures our species shall choose. Which one is yours?

#MarginSci = #FutureOfScience

#marginsci #futureofscience

Where do we go next? Science helps. Science harms. We choose the path. As an Intersectional Futurist, I juxtapose contrasting social elements into my acting. Like in the Posthuman-themed feature film "Devised.” And in my writing, especially my upcoming debut memoir "Rocket Scientist.” Art is how I share my own struggle as a Person of Color to survive in & challenge existing institutions. Art is where we can envision fair future societies that don’t remain dormant in our science-fiction dreams. Our species succeeds when we truly center Women of Color in & out of Science. To me, to “Decolonize Science” creates a healthy paradigm for humanity in which those most marginalized are central to Science. This is when Women Scientists of Color will have re-centered Science. A utopia worth striving toward, one that began with Indigenous peoples & can return to them. How does my beloved “Star Trek” have a ‘United Earth’ without having first resolved Colonialism and its continued negative impacts? May the March for Science be a turning point in that direction? I encourage this movement to dig even deeper toward Black & Brown Female Futures. In wishing so, I acknowledge my privilege as a Cis-Het-Male & my vulnerability as a Brown South Asian American. As a Santa Clara High School graduate, I proudly support my hometown Silicon Valley March for Science. As well as the other Bay Area MFS satellites, particularly San Francisco March for Science. Helping this movement better listen to our #MarginSci voices has been difficult. I’m encouraged by recent progress locally & nationally. Racial Equity trainers, like my sister, Baltimore’s ‘Charmingly-Hyphenated’ Rajani Gudlavalleti, MPP, inspire me. As do the courageous leaders of 901 Memphis March for Science. Without them, I’m not sure I’d have continued to lend my voice to this movement. After Earth Day 2017, may we human beings continue this crucial reflection and reform.

#MarginSci = #FutureOfScience

#marginsci #futureofscience