Curious by nature; a research endeavour

I have reached the conclusion that passions and curiosity are inherently intertwined, a friend speaking to me recently of a quote that passions should not be thought of as concrete objectives, but considered in the same manner with which we view our feelings — A confident fact we know about feelings; they change. Likewise, our curiosities change and often in a manner of side-tracked seconds. Like many I am sure,narrowing my aspirations has never come easily, though I have always considered myself somewhat of a humanitarian, a forever unwavering motive to advocate for women’s rights. This task stimulated me to contemplate when and why my passion began –

 

My intrigue emerged when reading the confronting, beautiful book Gogo Mama by Sally Sara, a collection of real-life events faced by twelve astonishingly brave, selfless African women. Undermined by the circumstances she fell victim to a particular harrowing story of one of these women struck me, and still does when I recall it today – A Rwanda genocide survivor asked by a young rebel boy whether she would rather smile or frown. Smile, her lips would be cut by a hunting knife, frown, they would by pierced and padlocked shut; She chose to frown.This remarkable woman recalls her own agony and fear, accompanied by the terror of the young boy himself, yet never hostile nor resentful throughout her recollection. To me, that is the greatest display of courage. Through this reflexive thinking I recognised the subconscious inspiration this story has provided and the subsequent meta-narrative discovery it has sent me on.  

 My research at a preliminary stage was to be on young women today and the role they play in improving the lives of those less fortunate. I acknowledged that this was an extremely broad topic that encountered too many research restrictions in terms of scope and availability. Therefore, following voluntary participation in the International Women’s Day Breakfast in Sydney, as part of the UN Women AU. Committee on the 9th March 2017, I chose to focus on the role of young women in volunteering and ‘what motivates, or deters, young women from participating in voluntary programs?’. I intend to do so through conducting primary research in the form of focus groups, surveys and one-on-one interviews with my female peers. I have not yet fully fleshed out my research modes, yet aim to reveal why volunteering it geared towards foreign exchanges and academic programs rather than philanthropic purposes. I hope to influence young women to take charge in a manner beneficiary for themselves while equally to fellow women in need of a voice. 

References:

Sara, S 2013, Gogo Mama; a journey into the lives of twelve African women, Macmillan, Australia.

Image; Gogo Mama book cover, http://www.Goodreads.com ,viewed March 11 2017.

The Catalyst that is Curiosity

Curiosity is the foundation of research & research is the foundation of knowledge; This is a slogan I mustered up when considering curiosity and the role it plays in fostering research and thus knowledge. I consider myself to be a highly inquisitive individual, forever reading articles, scrolling through web feeds, constantly caught up in my own thoughts. This happens to be my best trait. Not to mention my biggest downfall. My curious ways have led me to an abundance of knowledge on a wide scope of topics from high-brow politics to pop-culture fandom. For example did you know the worlds oldest woven garment is an Egyptian dress known as the Tarkhan dress, or that Brad has been texting Jennifer following his sudden split from Angie. Scandalous. My point is, curiosity can take you anywhere. It helps you immerse yourself in culture heightens your senses and stimulates memory intake at a rate you wouldn’t believe. 

At times we all become caught up in the marvelous swirling cacophony we know to be our thoughts. We often consider spending much of the day  day-dreaming, fleshing out these strange entities as a waste of our valuable time, but how can kneading and molding and changing a puzzle of ideas into something succinct and meaningful hold no stature of importance?

Behind great epiphany’s, astonishing scientific discoveries and mere everyday findings, there is one raging catalyst. Curiosity.

All great knowledge stems from an individual or groups curious nature. The want of greater self awareness and a belief that there is always a greater power, a broader understanding of how things work in there current state or how things should work in a Utopian society. It is a characteristic embedded in the human condition. Many scientists who have examined curiosity in relation to research have come to the conclusion that curiosity is an instinctive feature of humans and animals alike.

In their publishing The Psychology and Neuroscience of Curiosity Hayden and Kidd use a working definition of curiosity “as a drive state for information,” in other words, we are curious because we want to learn. They present curiosity as a form of information seeking  and go on further to state that this state of seeking can be observed in mundane circumstances and in organisms as simple as nematode worms.