{"id":{"repo_id":"mit","oai_identifier":"oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/157883"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/mit/oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/157883","repository":{"repo_id":"mit","name":"MIT","base_url":"https://dspace.mit.edu/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Figuring the Middle Ground: A Search for Authorship in Perceiving China's COVID-19 Lockdowns","abstract":"Witnessing and attempting to comprehend China’s controversial response to COVID-19 over the past three years from a geographically distant yet culturally and emotionally intimate standpoint, I have grappled with multiple perspectives, sometimes as an insider, sometimes as an outsider, and most of the time as an impostor to both. As I continually query the incoherence of my positionality, I find myself in an obscure middle ground where my voice is filtered as inauthentic and unheeded. I ask myself: What should I do? What can I do? This project is an effort to give myself a voice in the process of figuring out the “middle ground”—a gradient of unsettled propositions stretching between cultural identities, negotiating with constructed collective memories, and discursively evolving over a three-year-long uncanny journey trying to perceive the COVID-19 lockdowns in China. By accepting the “middle ground” as a valid stance, I was able to devise a set of methods for navigating the complexity of materials gathered at various times and locations. In addition, utilizing architectural representation tools, I curated a collection of works that reproduce the research process and exhibit the processed information. This endeavor is not intended to rationalize pandemic control. Rather, it cultivates a ground for reflection that deconstructs a dichotomous perception of right or wrong, drawing attention to individual lived experiences that provide a nuanced interpretation of the COVID-19 pandemic as an international health emergency that affected everyone. Although somewhat fuzzy and uneasy, the “middle ground” position indicates the possibility that a personal desire to develop one’s authorship can lead to a means of making sense of a global crisis.","abstract_html":"Witnessing and attempting to comprehend China’s controversial response to COVID-19 over the past three years from a geographically distant yet culturally and emotionally intimate standpoint, I have grappled with multiple perspectives, sometimes as an insider, sometimes as an outsider, and most of the time as an impostor to both. As I continually query the incoherence of my positionality, I find myself in an obscure middle ground where my voice is filtered as inauthentic and unheeded. I ask myself: What should I do? What can I do? This project is an effort to give myself a voice in the process of figuring out the “middle ground”—a gradient of unsettled propositions stretching between cultural identities, negotiating with constructed collective memories, and discursively evolving over a three-year-long uncanny journey trying to perceive the COVID-19 lockdowns in China. By accepting the “middle ground” as a valid stance, I was able to devise a set of methods for navigating the complexity of materials gathered at various times and locations. In addition, utilizing architectural representation tools, I curated a collection of works that reproduce the research process and exhibit the processed information. This endeavor is not intended to rationalize pandemic control. Rather, it cultivates a ground for reflection that deconstructs a dichotomous perception of right or wrong, drawing attention to individual lived experiences that provide a nuanced interpretation of the COVID-19 pandemic as an international health emergency that affected everyone. Although somewhat fuzzy and uneasy, the “middle ground” position indicates the possibility that a personal desire to develop one’s authorship can lead to a means of making sense of a global crisis.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Zhang, San"],"institution":"Massachusetts Institute of Technology","degree_name":"Master","degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":"Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 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As I continually query the incoherence of my positionality, I find myself in an obscure middle ground where my voice is filtered as inauthentic and unheeded. I ask myself: What should I do? What can I do? This project is an effort to give myself a voice in the process of figuring out the “middle ground”—a gradient of unsettled propositions stretching between cultural identities, negotiating with constructed collective memories, and discursively evolving over a three-year-long uncanny journey trying to perceive the COVID-19 lockdowns in China. By accepting the “middle ground” as a valid stance, I was able to devise a set of methods for navigating the complexity of materials gathered at various times and locations. In addition, utilizing architectural representation tools, I curated a collection of works that reproduce the research process and exhibit the processed information. This endeavor is not intended to rationalize pandemic control. Rather, it cultivates a ground for reflection that deconstructs a dichotomous perception of right or wrong, drawing attention to individual lived experiences that provide a nuanced interpretation of the COVID-19 pandemic as an international health emergency that affected everyone. Although somewhat fuzzy and uneasy, the “middle ground” position indicates the possibility that a personal desire to develop one’s authorship can lead to a means of making sense of a global crisis."]},{"key":"dc:description.degree","label":"Dc Description Degree","values":["S.M."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Figuring the Middle Ground: A Search for Authorship in Perceiving China's COVID-19 Lockdowns"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Shieh, Rosalyne","Ryan, Brent D."],"dc:contributor.department":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Architecture"],"dc:creator":["Zhang, San"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2024-12-18T18:18:28Z"],"dc:date.available":["2024-12-18T18:18:28Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2023-06"],"dc:description.abstract":["Witnessing and attempting to comprehend China’s controversial response to COVID-19 over the past three years from a geographically distant yet culturally and emotionally intimate standpoint, I have grappled with multiple perspectives, sometimes as an insider, sometimes as an outsider, and most of the time as an impostor to both. As I continually query the incoherence of my positionality, I find myself in an obscure middle ground where my voice is filtered as inauthentic and unheeded. I ask myself: What should I do? What can I do? This project is an effort to give myself a voice in the process of figuring out the “middle ground”—a gradient of unsettled propositions stretching between cultural identities, negotiating with constructed collective memories, and discursively evolving over a three-year-long uncanny journey trying to perceive the COVID-19 lockdowns in China. By accepting the “middle ground” as a valid stance, I was able to devise a set of methods for navigating the complexity of materials gathered at various times and locations. In addition, utilizing architectural representation tools, I curated a collection of works that reproduce the research process and exhibit the processed information. This endeavor is not intended to rationalize pandemic control. Rather, it cultivates a ground for reflection that deconstructs a dichotomous perception of right or wrong, drawing attention to individual lived experiences that provide a nuanced interpretation of the COVID-19 pandemic as an international health emergency that affected everyone. 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