This summer, Boden will pursue a travel fellowship centered around intentional community building in Tokyo and Konohana ecovillage. In Tokyo, he will be immersing himself in street art and freegan communities, and in Konohana he will work as a volunteer in a value system that is community oriented and environmentally focused.

Boden hopes to produce two ethnographic pieces to document his experience, as well as a collection of poetry and audio recordings to creatively document his travels.

Urban Citizenship in a Digital Society

Jincong and Sambhav are deeply interested in public policy initiatives and digital transformation. They will travel to Tallinn and Helsinki to explore how digital society initiatives impact governance, political engagement and  every day experiences of citizenship.

Jincong wonders how the Soviet past of Estonia shapes the country’s politics, social life and technological innovations today. Sambhav is most curious about Estonia’s national ID initiative, and plans to build on what he learns to critically analyse the recent ambitious national identity initiatives of the Indian government. Together, they hope to organize a seminar to share their experiences and learnings, and write opinion articles on the applicability of digital governance in China and India after conducting follow-up research in Singapore.

Identities in Motion

Anmei and Nicole’s journey will take them across Singapore, Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, Jakarta, and Manila. They seek to explore the question: To what extent does migration alter the national, ethnic, and personal identities of the ethnically Chinese in Southeast Asia?

Anmei is a second generation Chinese immigrant, who grew up as a Chinese-American. She wonders how familial and societal context can shape one’s perceptions of cultural identity. Nicole is a fourth generation Chinese immigrant. Her family adopted new traditions in this transnational movement and she questions what parts of their Chinese ethnic identity are kept, lost, and created anew. Together, they hope to film their interviews and compile them as a series of screen tests, or a short film of immigrant stories. They also hope to create an interactive exhibition, asking fellow students to write or draw about their own personal and cultural relationships with transnational movement.

This summer, Yi Ming, Zi Gi, Joseph and Rui Qi will travel through spiritual institutions and natural landscapes in Chongqing, Xi’An, Qinghai, Tibet, and Chengdu to explore what it can mean to live a well-lived life.

Inspired by the concepts and investigative methods introduced by the Common Curriculum, they will ask questions such as; Is the good life specific to the individual, or to humans collectively? How exactly does one cultivate oneself? How is power and social control employed within religious institutions? How has Chinese society in turn shaped religion? And on the medium of travel – is there a correct way to travel?

Avery and Melody will spend three weeks on the Trans-Siberian railroad, travelling through St. Petersburg, Moscow, Yekaterinburg, Krasnoyarsk, Ulan-Ude, Ulaanbaatar and Beijing. Fascinated by stories both real and fictional, and the feeling of the sublime, they seek to contrast their own intial encounters of place with their experiences of place through the many stories of  people they meet.

They hope to produce a series of blog articles, vlogs, and photographs covering the journey, and a long-form story essay in the style of Maptia, a collaborative platform for stories that aims to foster empathy through storytelling.