Background
From 1991-1993 my colleague Jessica Hirshorn served as a US Peace Corps Volunteer in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), also referred to as the Caroline Islands. The Federated States of Micronesia is an island nation located in the Western Pacific Ocean, just four degrees North of the equator, halfway between the Hawaiian and Indonesian islands.
Many islanders are finding their homes and way of life quickly disappearing by rising sea levels. The following 4 sources give different accounts of this problem.
After having watched/read the assigned sources on the Micronesian problem, the overall task is to identify some of the dimensions of the problem that make it complex, and to investigate the academic discipline(s) that would be most relevant to finding answers for each dimension of the problem.
Readings
Read the following:
CNN – Micronesia:https://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2015/06/opinions/sutter-two-degrees-marshall-islands/?sr=fb070515twodegrees330pStoryLink This is a good overview of the complex problem facing Micronesia. Note how many specific dimensions of the problem this article covers! Since you will need to make a list of these for this assignment, I’d start taking notes now. (Examples of different dimensions might include things like ‘global warming,’ ‘relocation,’ ‘disaster relief,’ ‘biology,’ ‘international relations,’ etc.) Look out for dimensions of the problem that are relevant to your OWN concentration areas!
NPR – Micronesia:https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10712509 Do the same for this story. (Note: You can either hit the ‘play’ icon on the left to listen to the story, or click the ‘transcript’ link below it to read/print it. I’d recommend listening to it at least once, as it makes more sense ‘live.’)
BBC – Micronesia https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-50614518 Do the same here. This is a very recent update to what is happening in Micronesia. No need to watch the video.
Videos
Watch the following: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfur8cUKAfk&t=218s
Micronesia: Again, note the dimensions of the problem that this video discusses – I’ve purposely included different ‘takes’ on the problem, to give you a sense of it’s complexity!
Assignment Instructions
Pretend the UN has contacted you to head up a committee to address the situation facing Micronesia. You are going to have to think like an IDS student. You will have to identify relevant and important dimensions of the problem to address, and find the specialists with the right DISCIPLINARY backgrounds to help you make an informed, integrative decision about what to do.
To elaborate,
Your first task is to make a list and describe in a couple of sentences the most important, specific, dimensions of the problem these sources discuss (at least 8):
This should be a list of the different ‘strands’ of the problem that make it complex. Some of it may have to do with weather, some with biology, some with politics, some with history, some with how change at the international level occurs, some with physical safety, some with immigration, some with moral responsibility…there are actually quite a lot of them. Be as specific as you can as to what the strand you’ve identified is. There may be many more than you realize at first! Ultimately, your goal is not to be comprehensive, but to ‘hone in’ on what you think are most important. Also, do your best to consider the problem from the perspective of one of your own concentration areas. Does your knowledge of your own field help you ‘see’ aspects of the problem?
Now is the hard part. Using Wikipedia and/or ASU and other academically-oriented websites, for each of the dimensions you listed, identify the academic disciplines/majors/fields/concentration areas that would most likely have accumulated useful knowledge relevant to it.
This task is a challenge, because you have to work backwards from the way you normally think. Normally, you would think of an academic discipline (‘biology’), and then think about what biology studies (‘living things’). But I’m asking you to think of each dimension of the problem, and go backwards. You are going to have to do some trial-and-error research here – you might find that there are more than one discipline that studies the specific dimension you listed.
Overall, the task of step 1 and 2 is to identify the important dimensions of the problem, and try to identify the academic disciplines that study them. I’d recommend either starting with the Wikipedia websites that outline academic disciplines in a huge list (hereLhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outline_of_academic_disciplines and herehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_academic_fields) as a guide, and then investigating any potential ‘hits’ you identify, or doing keyword searches on the problem itself, and see if that helps you identify academic fields that study it.
Important: if you find your own concentration area relevant, please identify it as such in this list.
For each academic discipline you identify, you need to briefly (2-3 sentences) describe why that field is connected to a dimension of the problem. Why do you think this academic field is relevant? You will have to research these academic disciplines like I asked you to consider doing in the optional assignment the other day, and then explain the connection to the problem.
Cite your source for each academic discipline by giving me the Wikipedia (and/or ASU) weblink.
The main thing I will be looking for in grading this is the quality of the connection you make between important dimensions of the problem and relevant academic fields.
