a) How has the reflection undertaken so far in Module 2 shifted and/or deepened your emerging or already chosen research topics, and the ways you envision proceeding? Has one of the suggested topics, or may be a new one, emerged as the more compelling option?

Throughout module two, my ideas and concepts about future tutorials have been refined. After some thought, I have fathomed that, in order to reach a wider audience, I have to not only include my culture’s mythology in my tutorials but also write about relevant issues that are impacting Mexico today. This realization emerged when the wonderful guest speaker from UBC visited our classroom and spoke about the road being built in the Amazon and how this project was affecting South America. His talk awakened my awareness of the possibilities for my graduating project. Through focusing on both mythology as well as reality, my stories will have the possibility to guide and compel people to talk about relevant topics while also enjoying reading them. With response paper number two, I learned how important it is to interpret data in a critical way even if it is data that you are creating yourself, which is what I will be doing when I visit Mayan towns in Mexico. It is crucial to know that photographs are only displaying one side of the story. Single-story mentality can be dangerous when trying to be biased towards a topic, and this is another lesson I learned from Module two. There are various angles humans can observe the world from and numerous ways people will interpret stories. Yet, for centuries, history has been focused on single perspectives rather than a global view. Thus, when observing photographs and data, I shall be extra cautious in their interpretation.

b) Taking on this film, and reflecting on previous materials and discussions, do you foresee new ideas to approach your research going forward with your tutorials and/or Graduating Project? Include for example a reflection on your personal history, limitations, normalized assumptions on the field, and other contextual considerations that you want to be mindful of as a way of engaging in a situated dialogue with your topic.

After watching Arrival, I discerned that “the language you speak determines how you think,” and that “if you immerse yourself into another language you can actually rewire your brain.” I speak Spanish and English; the languages I speak can alter my perception towards research and the world. Hence, when investigating academic topics, I have to be mindful of this and regard it as a factor that will affect my work. Moreover, another question emerged from this realization: how did learning English change my perception towards life and research? After watching the film, I began to wonder: how differently would I think if I spoke Spanish and Russian instead? This can be an interesting topic to discuss within future projects. From my bilingual nature came my interest in mixing both Canadian and Mexican cultures, thus my stories have been influenced by the languages I speak. In order for more people to relate to my characters and tales, I decided to combine these two cultures. Altogether, Arrival made me question my research and my mentality due to the languages I can read and speak. As well, the idea of non-linear orthography opened my mind to the assumed limitations of humanity. Oftentimes, because we don’t understand something, we discard it as impossible. Though what is possible or not is relative to the person who is perceiving the world at that moment.

c) How do you foresee adapting methods or creating new procedures for your project? The final way will be up to your negotiation with the situation, but what do you imagine happening?

“Memory is a strange thing, it doesn’t work like I thought it would. We are so bound by time. By its order,” (Arrival). This quote incited me to regard memory in a different way for future projects. In terms of adapting methods, I believe I should take more notes to record the experiences I wish to include within my projects. Memory works in a very fragile way. Thus, it is important to keep track of what really happened in a specific situation, rather than remembering it with vague details. This is what photography will help me do, recording reality will be crucial for my research. I also thought of using images as inspiration for my final project. When I visit the Mayan villages in Mexico, I can use the photographs I take as a template for the illustrations I will create throughout my final project. Overall, Arrival inspired me to be more skeptical as well as open towards the world.