Tufts Blogs

Whenever someone asks me what my minors are, I always prepare for the long statement I have to recite and a reaction of either confusion, or a blank stare paired with a soft smile to follow it up. I mean, I completely understand, as I don’t think I’d be able to process “I’m minoring in Ancient World Archaeology and Race, Colonialism, and Diaspora Studies” on the first try either.

So, what are these minors and how did I even decide to study them? 

It took only a single class to convince me that studying archaeology was something I wanted to pursue further. I had always been interested in the topic, but I didn’t really understand the specifics in what it meant to study archaeology, so I decided to take the course “Ancient Egypt: Civilization of the Nile and the Near East,” taught by Professor Matthew Harrington. This class was absolutely transformative- being able to combine sociology and tie it to artifacts and art felt like connecting pieces of the puzzle of human reasoning, behavior, and history. Ancient World Archaeology is really about looking at material goods and culture from the ancient world, and understanding how the shape, size, material, and build of an artifact can translate to how people may have lived their lives in the ancient world!

Whenever I was in class, I was always on the edge of my seat, eager to learn more. One of my favorite facts to tell about the formation of Egyptian religion is about the Egyptian sun god, Ra: the reason why baboons were such a sacred animal in Egyptian religion is because they were loud in the morning, just as the sun was rising, making Egyptians believe that baboons were worshipping the rising sun/Ra himself! Just being able to piece together that reasoning and see how elements of the natural world were incorporated into Egyptian belief systems to try and make sense of a person’s existence and purpose was so fascinating, and I hope to learn about it even more in the future. This class also helped me learn about human hierarchy and social systems, and I can still see these patterns in our current society today.

My Race, Colonialism, and Diaspora Studies (RCD) minor came about a little differently. I took a class through the Tufts Experimental College program called “Indigenous Arts” with two student teachers, Sam and Vanessa. While still acknowledging atrocities done to Native Americans in the past, the class had a main focus on Native joy and survivance (survival and resistance). It was so amazing to get this new perspective and see how Indigenous culture flourishes today. We got to do hands-on activities including beading, painting, and drawing that all reflected culturally significant mediums of Indigenous art, while also studying active Indigenous rights movements, such as LANDBACK. All of the activities in class were extremely interesting to study, and have since made me more passionate about studying RCD. 

Most importantly, though, Sam and Vanessa not only served as my mentors, but they quickly became my family as well. They both have degrees with the RCD Department, so naturally, they were one of my main inspirations when it came to pursuing an RCD minor. I look up to them both so much, and they helped me realize how important it is to study what you’re really passionate about, even if that means giving a long speech every time I explain my minors.