Crossing borders—whether by traveling away from home or encountering new people where we live—can confirm or upend our viewpoints on race, racial stereotypes, and racism, according to Global Cornell. In a collection, Global Cornell has assembled prose, poems, and visual art submitted by Cornell students and alumni who gained new knowledge about racial dynamics by crossing a literal or figurative border. The collection includes work by Arts and Sciences students Maxwell Zheng '23, Kristi Lim ’21 and associated graduate students Ekaterina Landgren and Manasicha Akepiyapornchai.
"From a young age, my Russian parents instilled in me that there are few things worse than not having the right papers," Ekaterina Landren Ph.D. '22 writes in her essay "Entering America." "My father traveled with thick folders of supplementary materials. A passport was just the beginning."
Cornell Rare and Manuscript Collections
Top: Johnson chats with Earle in the A.D. White Reading Room, as University Librarian Elaine Westbrooks looks on.
Jason Koski/Cornell University
Adam Heisler (left), project manager for Cornell’s Facilities and Campus Services office, leads Peter John Loewen, the Harold Tanner Dean of Arts and Sciences, during a tour of McGraw Hall.