A Cultural Inventory
An exploration of a classmate’s cultural background.
Background
DT (shortened for privacy) is a senior Design major at the University of Texas at Austin. She is originally from Beijing, China, and moved to the United States in her sophomore year of high school. Right now, she is at her home near Richmond, Texas with her family. Through this project, I was able to interview DT and virtually explore her room to create a cultural inventory of her life.
Diving In
As we began conversing, DT informed me that her family had recently moved into the house she was currently living in. We talked for a bit about moving, and how she felt about it.
“I don’t like it, but I’m used to it.”
We dug a bit more into that, and that’s when I found out DT had 5 major moves in the course of her life.
Rural outskirts of Beijing -> Beijing -> Sugarland -> UH (Houston) -> UT Austin (Austin) -> Richmond
It’s a lot for one person to have to continually adjust to new physical, social, and cultural settings. The rest of the interview became about how DT was able to continue to adjust to these new places and truly thrive.
How did she adjust? What did she have to give up? Were there any constants? How does she feel now?
Over the course of getting to know DT, I found that finding comfort, feeling at home, and pursuing growth kept DT on the right track.
As we didn’t get to meet up in person, a lot of puzzle pieces came together as we worked through different objects, photos, and topics of conversation. Since there wasn’t really a rhyme or reason to how we moved through these different elements, I’ve chosen to narrate the majority of this essay chronologically moving through DT’s life in chapters.
Pictured above are DT’s archives. These drawers hold photo albums, letters, cards, and journals. We dove into these as we chatted and uncovered more about her life.
DT’s story begins in a small, rural village on the outskirts of Beijing. Soon after DT was born, her grandparents took her to that village to live with them as they wanted the company of a young child. Her parents reluctantly agreed, and this is where she lived throughout elementary school. (Since the education system is slightly different there, that translates to her being about 14 years of age.) Although it seemed like an unsettling start, DT loved her time in her grandparent’s small town and even thrived in school which was a large part of life at the time.
Chapter 1: Feeling Comfort
Comfort
| noun. the easing or alleviation of a person’s feelings of grief or distress
Moving to a New City
Closer to the end of elementary school, DT’s parents became worried that she wasn’t receiving the best education in her current setting, so they brought her to live with them in Beijing. This was a hard time for DT because she missed her friends and the familiarity of her old home. Also, the coursework at her new school was rigorous, and DT had to work extra hard to catch up and perform on par with her peers.
Luckily, on the first day of middle school, DT had befriended a little girl that she met in line at orientation training. This friend would end up becoming someone that DT considers her best friend to this day.
In addition to her newfound friend, DT sought comfort in her stuffed animals. When she felt stressed and missed her old life, she was able to physically hold onto the stuffed animals and relieve her stress. DT still has most of the stuffed animals she has bought or received in her life and cherishes them dearly.
“They’ve been by my side for a long time. They give me comfort.”
She has a system of writing the given name on one side of the stuffed animal’s tag and the date she received it on the other side. The names and “birthdays” show just how much they matter to her and how much she cares for them.
Finding comfort was important for DT to feel like she could handle the stressful changes going on in her life. She found this comfort through her family and friends but also through stuffed animals that she kept from her time living with her grandparents. These stuffed animals provided her stability in many unstable times in her life.
Chapter 2: Finding Home
Home
| noun. the place where one lives permanently, especially as a member of a family or household
Coming back to DT’s story, after a rough first year, DT excelled in middle school and was able to enter her top choice high school.
Just as DT was preparing to enter her dream high school, her parents told her that they planned to move the family to the United States. She was crushed. She had been working hard throughout middle school for a chance to attend this high school. Fortunately, DT was able to attend a month of school before she moved. She recounts it as an amazing experience that she wishes she could go back to.
Moving to a New Continent
When DT and her family came to the United States, they stayed with family friends before moving into their own house in Sugarland six months later. While the physical transition wasn’t too rough, DT had many challenges at school due to a language and cultural barrier. One example she brought up was taking the PSAT a week after joining her new high school and not knowing how to answer the ‘Male’ or ‘Female’ question. In China, she said, they only had ‘man’, ‘woman’, ‘girl’, and ‘boy’, so she found this question to be confusing.
It took DT a year to get adjusted, but eventually, she did. She was also able to branch out and enjoy time with new friends.
As she was telling me this, I asked if she had begun to feel at home in her house, and she said that home was wherever her family was. She didn’t feel too attached to a place, but yes, this was home.
Even her collectibles have found a place of their own.
DT got this shelf when she moved into her current house. She said she’s taken time to give each cubby a different purpose. In many of them, she showcases a variety of her design projects while in others she houses different types of supplies. It seems that she is deliberately giving her prized possessions a home.
DT moved so much that home became a feeling rather than a place for much of her life. She felt most at home around her family and friends. She believes that her family will live in their current house for a long time as it’s her mom’s dream home. (There was definitely a relieved look on her face as she said that.)
Chapter 3: Growth
Growth
| noun. a stage in the process of growing
Growth came at various paces through DT’s life. When she moved to a new place, it came all at once. After settling in, her growth rate stabilized. Regardless, DT never stopped. She continued to blossom where she was planted to grow to adapt to her everchanging circumstances.
Pursuing growth was a constant theme in DT’s life and room. In her first move to Beijing, DT had to work incredibly hard to sustain herself at the new competitive middle school. The same occurred when she moved to the United States. DT had to take her sophomore year to just learn English and catch up with her peers.
Amidst that transition, she also had to focus on her college decisions and figure out what she wanted to major in. DT had a natural affinity for design, art, and creating new things. From origami to woodwork to sketches to paintings, she dabbled in a variety of crafts. As a result, she chose to major in Studio Art at the University of Houston.
Her true passion was, however, for Design, and as UH did not offer that program, DT made it a goal to come to UT and major in Design.
She was accepted, and again, she had to spend her first year in a new setting ramping up and catching up.
“It’s very tiring. I always feel like I’m behind no matter where I go. Everywhere I go, I start behind and have to rapidly catch up. By the time I’m caught up, it’s time to head somewhere new.”
While DT may feel like she’s running behind, I feel like she’s running far ahead. If the resiliency and determination with which she’s handled her previous challenges are any indications, DT is going to do amazing things.
In the desk above, we can see two laptops, an iPad, a craft mat, and a variety of school supplies. DT is clearly very invested in her work and surrounds herself with all the proper tools. She also has a special lamp that she can control the brightness and color of allowing her to personalize her workspace. She purposefully creates an environment that allows her to grow and thrive as a student and a designer. This is also in stark contrast to the area of her room with lots of stuffed animals. This area is studious and focused. It shows a side of her that’s ready to get down to business and get work done.
In Conclusion
The items that we collect over time, whether it be small collectibles, stuffed animals, or photos, paint a rich picture of who we are. In DT’s case, these items helped her find comfort in unfamiliar situations, feel at home in new environments, and show her growth over time.
