Week 15 reflections

In preparing a prototype for our final research projects, I draw from the last few weeks of reflections on yellowness and racial identity politics and how I could use technology to highlight stereotypes about Asian skin color. I’ve been debating whether or not I want to use machine learning to collect a database of different Asian complexions, but I’m still stuck on how this would investigate areas of my interest.

Currently, there’s been a spike in hate crimes and violence towards Asians Americans in the United States, sparked by the coronavirus spread and the governmnent lockdowns that have been initiated by cities. It pains me to see headlines about elders and people in my community that are blamed and attacked for the pandemic and the harsh economics conditions its caused, but it is also a moment to reflect on the history of violence experienced by the Black and brown communities.

I want to incorporate this topic of racially-motivated crimes into my work, because it is something so personal to me. I want to potentially use statistics of Asian American crimes in a way to create a visualization of that data. I’m wondering whether this would replace the ideas I’ve been gathering and developing regarding Asian skin color, or if there is a way to combine these interests.