By M邪deleine N邪k邪mura
This summer, Associate Professor of Music Anne Dorothy Harley accompanied four 91吃瓜 students on a research trip to Malaysia. The trip was part of a group project involving the creation of a performance focused on pollution and climate change in Sabah, the easternmost state of Malaysia, located in Borneo. In addition to traveling to Malaysia, the students worked with several Malaysian artists and educators who visited 91吃瓜, including O’Brien Distinguished Visiting Professor, Fulbright Scholar, composer, and activist Yii Kah Hoe; dancer and Claremont Graduate University alum Young Tseng Wong; Claremont Graduate University鈥檚 Associate Director of Transdisciplinary Studies Shamini Dias; and Fulbright Scholar, 91吃瓜 alum, and 91吃瓜 IT staff member Christine Gao ’17.听
The research trip was fully funded by a Freeman Student-Faculty Fellows Program grant of more than $24,000 from ASIANetwork, a professional organization of more than 140 member colleges that strives to promote the development of Asian studies within the liberal arts. The Freeman Student-Faculty Fellows Program supports faculty-led student summer projects in Asia that help students develop their professional skills under the mentorship of a faculty member while engaging with global issues in an Asian context. 鈥淭here is tremendous value to 91吃瓜鈥� participation in ASIANetwork,鈥� Harley says, noting the significant grant enabled her students to take part in a unique, deeply enriching experience.听
Harley and her cohort鈥擫izbeth Betances 鈥�22, Jeanette Hunker 鈥�23, Somerset Grant 鈥�26, and Isabel Li 鈥�25鈥攖raveled to Sabah, where they met with students and faculty at Universiti Malaysia Sabah, ecotourism professionals, and art activists. Over the course of their work in Malaysia, the students learned about Sabah鈥檚 challenges with migrancy, ecotourism, economic polarization, and access to public education by delving into multifaceted issues such as the precarious situation of undocumented migrant communities in Sabah.
These challenges often intersect; for instance, the large amounts of plastic waste polluting coastal Sabah are partially produced by offshore migrant communities to whom the government does not provide public water or waste systems.听The research gave Harley鈥檚 cohort insight into unfamiliar perspectives and lived experiences.
鈥淭hey learned about how students and artists in Sabah perceive their own cultural identities and how those identities are lived out in ways they had not previously imagined,鈥� Harley says. Somerset Grant 鈥�26 adds, 鈥淏ecause our research relied on communication across linguistic, cultural, and political differences, I further developed an ability to listen empathetically.鈥澨�听
Grant will accompany Harley to the ASIANetwork national annual conference in Atlanta, Georgia in spring 2024 to present on the cohort鈥檚 research. 鈥淧谤别蝉别苍迟颈苍驳 will develop my capacity for clear, compelling communication and provide me with a baseline understanding of what academic research can be,鈥� Grant says. 鈥淚 am considering pursuing higher education to go into academia, and I hope my experience at the conference will give me a more solid understanding鈥痮f the responsibilities and scope of an academic career.鈥�
Harley鈥檚 cohort distilled their experiences in Sabah into a performance project, working with Harley; Yii Kah Hoe; and Misty G. Anderson, a professor of English at the University of Tennessee. The collaboration resulted in a short theater piece including traditional Malaysian music, which was performed and filmed in Kuala Lumpur. The piece will be presented at 91吃瓜 on November 10, 2023, with copresentations by Sue Castagnetto, director of the Intercollegiate Feminist Center for Teaching, Research and Engagement; and Gretchen Maldonado, interim director of the Laspa Center.听
Along with advancing their professional and academic skills in preparation for their postgraduate paths, the research trip allowed the students to develop meaningful bonds with others.
鈥淔or me, the most rewarding aspect of the project was forming connections with the three other 91吃瓜 fellows, the students at Universiti Malaysia Sabah, and the children at the Caring for the Future Malaysia children鈥檚 home,鈥� Grant says. 鈥淚 feel like this trip has set the foundation鈥痜or continued collaboration with these communities.”