Finding Intersectional Creativity through Interdisciplinary Student Experiences
Introduction
Nikita’s first exposure to interdisciplinarity was when she took the IATL module on Design Thinking in her final year of studies at Warwick. Nikita shares that “the fact that I did pure econ I don't think I had that space for creative exploration and developing my creative confidence... it was just that need for something more that led me to exploring what's on offer outside of my home department.” Nikita then went on to do a MSc in Humanitarian Engineering after her module leader for Design Thinking, Dr Bo Kelestyn said that she “would be a great fit for this course.” Further reflecting on the impact of Bo’s encouragement, Nikita offers “you can have the fanciest sort of webpages and the newsletter signposting students, but I think at the end of the day it's a human being telling you.” Nikita is now working on a project called Designing Together, where colleagues around the UK are creating a toolkit on how design thinking can “enhance student experience in higher education.” Throughout her interdisciplinary experiences, Nikita has been able to exercise her creativity and confidence, giving her the tools to be able to develop her own concepts such as “intersectional creativity,” discussed more below.
Nikita Asnani
Principles of Practice
Intersectional Creativity
Nikita asserts, “Intersectional creativity is about bringing your whole self to the table.” She shares an example from her Humanitarian Engineering Course where students were required to design a “refugee camp that truly embeds the human values of connection and empathy.” Nikita thought about the impact storytelling has had in her life and referred to a Turkish Netflix show she was watching at the time that featured storytelling circles. She adds that it “made me think about concepts such as place-making and what makes a place feel like there's that sense of community.” Drawing from her past and current experiences growing up in Dubai and India allowed her to think about “what aspects of storytelling and narrative building...can be transferred to this concept of place-making and making this refugee campus city.” Nikita concludes, “Putting myself within the assignment was really useful.”
Equity, Diversity and Inclusion: Decolonising the Curricula
Nikita reflects that for people of colour and people from underrepresented backgrounds, it is more common that “we leave parts of ourselves behind in certain spaces because we feel that those won't be welcome, appreciated or understood in other spaces.” During her time in her Master’s course, Nikita participated in a WIHEA-funded project called “Empowering Authentic Student Voices.” The aim of the project was “to speak to students as well as staff members in all three faculties” to “talk about their experiences of feeling like they belong or they can see themselves within their curriculum, in their department, in their faculty.” After realising that sending emails was not a viable way to garner student input on the project, Nikita and the team decided to host a podcast series, where they were able to speak to other women of colour about “how underrepresented we can sometimes feel within the curriculum at Warwick.” Relating to Nikita’s previous discussion on intersectional creativity, interdisciplinarity offers spaces where students can bring all aspects of their identity to their experiences at Warwick, and can perhaps be one way to work towards decolonising the curriculum.
Moving Forward
Fostering Interdisciplinarity at Warwick
Nikita offers that “we’re not hearing enough” of the voices of students who may not be actively seeking out interdisciplinary experiences as Nikita did. She says, “It just doesn’t come to you, but I think it should, just being a Warwick student.” For staff members to promote and engage with interdisciplinarity in their teaching practice, Nikita encourages staff members to listen to one another and to share challenges and successes as “it's very human to see comfort in someone else's experiences.”
Creative Confidence and Gratitude
Nikita is developing a project on creative confidence and gratitude in the form of a children’s storybook. She was inspired by conversations with her IATL professors discussing “how it's important to feel safe with your ideas.” Now, motivated by her personal encounter with interdisciplinarity at IATL, Nikita hopes to foster a spirit of creative confidence in young people even before they reach university.
