research paper
I began the Narrative Unit in English by delving into a research topic of my choice, which led me to write a research paper that opens up a discussion on my inconclusively debated research topic – the most “effective way” to approach South Asian representation in the media. I embraced this project as an opportunity to explore my culture, while learning about the history behind a subject with continual widespread impact on various communities. It wasn’t long before I grew desperate to find an answer to the following question:
“Which approaches to increasing South Asian representation in the media have been most effective, and which have repeatedly fallen short?” In order to address this, it was necessary to understand how widespread reach, stereotypical portrayals, and other conflicting factors have differed among these methods, and compare how they have been received by their respective audiences. This research project was eye-opening for me in so many ways, and allowed me to grow familiar with parts of my cultural history that I had never looked into prior. My final research paper, titled “Miss Representation” is inserted below. I hope readers find the merging of diverse history and modern shifts as interesting as I did when I wrote this paper, and that it inspires more advocacy regarding diversity and representation.
world building project
The world-building section of this unit entailed meticulous construction of a custom world, including the fabrication of every possible aspect that makes it unique – from environmental flaws, to character personalities and even corrupt politics. Inspired by the recent shift our world has taken to welcome AI into numerous parts of personal and working lives, I created a futuristic, dystopian world called Quantium Heights to represent the dangers of mindlessly embracing new technologies without considering how they might affect humanity as we know it. I then wrote a narrative, titled The Artificial Revolution, which takes place within my world and encouraged me to develop it further I also created visuals of locations and scenes to bring my world to life. My final product included a presentation pitching an animated show based on my narrative, which included several of the visuals, and a manuscript presenting the text for a series of acts that would ideally be included in this show. I worked in a group of four, including myself and three others: Mia, Arthur, and Lexi. The following text is my narrative treatment, and the video is my world-building pitch presentation.
Visual Presentation
To compliment my world-building pitch, I crafted a visual presentation with my group. As we presented to our audience, these pieces helped bring our world and proposed narrative to life.