Every spring the Kofi Annan Institute for Global Citizenship invites Macalester students to share their photographic talents and reflect on their involvement with global citizenship at the local, national, or international level. Winning pictures are displayed in Markim Hall, home to the Kofi Annan Institute for Global Citizenship.

This year’s winners are:

  • Nie Wider by Amy Pascoe, Grand Prize
  • Finding Peace by Jennifer Eng
  • Metro by Eli Ratner
  • Sticky Rice by Stella Wang

Nie Wider by Amy Pascoe, Grand Prize
Nicholas Chun ’19, Geneva Gaukel ’19, Isaac Ward ’19, and Luke Bishop ’19 beside the reflection pool at the Memorial to the Sinti and Roma Victims of National Socialism (Sinti und Roma Denkmal) in Berlin, Germany. Nestled in the shadow of the prominent Reichstag building and only a few steps from the Brandenburg Gate and the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, a visit here reminded us of some of the most triumphant and most tragic moments of German, European, and global history. In person, this stark historical memory has more resonance than textbooks or photographs could ever convey.

Finding Peace by Jennifer Eng
Studying abroad in Singapore has allowed me to reflect on my Asian-American identity and experience Chinese culture that is affected by a different type of the diaspora. The ethnic majority in Singapore is Chinese and seeing the cultural differences has complicated my perception of Chineseness. However, I found solace in this elderly man I encountered in Singapore’s Chinatown. Chinatowns meant a lot to me and shaped much of my experiences. Growing up in San Francisco around a large Chinese population, I was familiar with elderly people reading the Chinese newspaper in common spaces to start off their day. This hawker centre reminded me of Portsmouth Square in San Francisco’s Chinatown where elderly people utilized it as a common space for social and individual use. Despite some distinct differences from my experiences of the Westernized Asian diaspora, there were also cultural intersectionalities that transcended beyond country boundaries.

Metro by Eli Ratner
In Shanghai, a city of 24 million people, it is easy to blend into the hubbub. As an outsider in such a bustling megalopolis, with limited communication ability and cultural fluency, you can easily feel isolated among all the noise. However, every so often, in the most ordinary places, you can make a connection with someone- -whether that be a smile, a thumbs up, or a half understood question–and a brick from the barrier of language, custom, difference gets knocked down.

Sticky Rice by Stella Wang
This photo shows my host mother preparing sticky rice, a staple food that characterized much of my time abroad. While on study away I was able to learn about organic farming and organic rice production in the northeast of Thailand. After seeing negative health effects from using pesticides, our host mom was one of the first in the community to switch to organic farming practices amidst backlash and doubt from neighbors, friends, and family about the feasibility of producing food without the use of pesticides. Throughout our stay I was in awe of the care that she took in growing and preparing food, and I soon found that despite the language barriers, cooking and sharing meals together functioned as a way to communicate and learn from one another.

March 25 2019

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