At Bowdoin, I’d say that we are generally aware that those in our community come from different backgrounds and areas, and I think it’s important to consider the implications that these differences may have on our time and experiences at Bowdoin.
I’ve always been interested in the concept of racial homophily. You often hear the phrase “birds of a feather flock together” or “like draws to like” in things like relationships or friendships. Homophily can be looked at as our tendency to gravitate toward those who seem to reflect our own personalities.
“The reason why we have narrative scarcity is because we have economic scarcity, and people don’t have equal access to modes of storytelling,” Pulitzer-prize author Viet Thanh Nguyen once said. In a discussion with author Maxine Hong Kingston, he delved into the immense weight and pressure placed on literature told by writers from minority cultures.