The MIXED (Multiracial Individuals eXchanging and Encouraging Dialogue) student group at HGSE is hosting a really exciting event this coming March. Modeled after a project done by undergraduates in 2015 at Harvard, we are hosting OTHER: A Multiracial Student Photo Gallery in the Smith Campus Center in the Arts Wing from March 25th, 2019 – March 27th, 2019. Students at HGSE who identify as multiracial are having their portraits taken by our student photographer. Their portraits will be printed out, framed, and feature in our gallery. In addition to their portraits, each multiracial student will be answering questions, or writing their own story, about what being multiracial means to them. Some of the questions we’ll be asking them include:
- What does being multiracial mean to you?
- What do you want people to know about multiracial/biracial identity?
- What do you compromise or downplay about your identity?
- What “box” do you have to check?
- Are you a person of color?
- “What are you?”
- When did you come aware of your multiraciality?
- What settings prompt you to align with one of your racial identities?
- “Are you 50/50?”
We will also be hosting a celebratory reception and open mic night on Tuesday, March 26th. Students will be performing pieces about identity (poetry, art, music, etc) to celebrate the multiracial students’ openness of sharing their own identities with the public. This gallery is intended to complicate, investigate, and explore what multiraciality is and how it operates in our current society. The week following, on April 4th, we’ll be hosting a panel and community dialogue at HGSE to discuss reactions, thoughts, and questions that came up for people viewing the gallery.
MIXED is really excited to engage the Harvard community and the greater Cambridge/Boston community with the identities of multiracial students!
Blog post by Maddie Alvendia. Photo provided by Maddie Alvendia.
Hi! My name is Maddie Alvendia and I am in the Learning and Teaching program here at HGSE graduating in May 2019. At HGSE, I am currently leading the MIXED (Multiracial Individuals eXchanging and Encouraging Dialogue) student group and am a coalition leader at HGSE for the university-wide Harvard Votes Challenge. I am originally from the suburbs of Chicago and attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where I graduated this past May with a degree in History. In addition to history, I’m also very interested in critical race theory, anti-racist and anti-oppressive pedagogy, and using these to dismantle oppressive education systems. Outside of HGSE, I’m volunteering with incarcerated youth, hope to work with a program that works with immigrant families in the Cambridge area, and also hope to work as a Research Assistant in the History department. In my free time I love to watch Netflix/Hulu and read, and my favorite foods are a whole wheat bagel with cream cheese and ramen. 🙂
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