In a Ted-ex-like, engaging format, the Sciences Po student speakers of “Crossing Borders” captivated the audience by showcasing how they traversed limitations to find themselves through travel and exposure to different cultures.

Piroshin, a member of the Indian community in South Africa detailed the socially constructed borders and abuses due to race in South Africa. Piroshin’s experience and the country context of South Africa exemplify the sheer complexity of identity – skin color, race, ethnicity, experience, location of education/ work. Identity is indeed complicated, especially for those who have grown up in different countries, sometimes known as “third culture kids.” How this identity develops, and how one integrates her various experience is a truly personal journey  in which no one is alike.

Next, Marianna came up against her biggest fears when she started her own NGO at age 18 to assist victims of human trafficking in Latin America. Her parents gave her an ultimatum to leave this dangerous work or be forced to leave her family. When she refused to abandon the girls who she worked with, Marianna also left her home. She expressed her fear from the danger of the work that she was doing, and the pain of rejection from her family. Yet after grasping the impact that Marianna was making in empowering such victims of human trafficking, her parents became her biggest supporters.

Indeed some of the greatest borders that we face are those that we place on ourselves. One can fall into the trap of: I can’t, I won’t, I’ll never be good enough; pessimism and powerlessness are easy to come by. And it seems unrealistic or even impossible, until we finally make that trip to the opposite side of the world by ourselves, obtain that job after striving for it for 10 years, get accepted into our favorite school program, fall in love and watch the world open up. People are capable of much more than they think possible if they allow themselves. Marianna well put it,  “the only way we’re going to change things is when we start acting like we actually can.” 

Meanwhile General Desportes described a different kind of border. While working as a soldier and facing a deep conflict of interest, he left his mission at the height of an internal struggle. This is the border that one refuses to cross because it violates one’s beliefs. “Jai trouvé mon Mont Blanc. Vous devez trouver votre Mont Blanc, votre code finale, votre frontière dans des éspaces où vous ne ferez jamais de compromis,” said Desportes. This is the principle of never sacrificing or compromising what one believes in is right, especially when one is pressured to behave in a harmful way (such as negative peer pressure). In an often unclear world, we must set limits on what is acceptable and what goes against our beliefs and ethics.

Nadia, a French girl with parents from Algeria is constantly asked  “no, but for real, where are you from?” because French people assume that she is a foreigner. In such a case, we act on what the world expects from us, internalizing those expectations and finally creating a self-fulfilling prophecy on them. Recognizing labels, understanding their consequences, and seeing beyond them is thus critical. Labels are an easy and readily-available way of organizing the world, and our brain uses generalizations to make sense of the complexity constantly surroundings us – to make order of the chaos. But we must also be capable of critiquing or overhauling labels, not allowing them to take on a life of their own to the detriment of social cohesion (racism, negative stereotypes, ethnic hatred, etc.)

Mehrdad, a pharmacist, set off to travel the world and assist some of the people who are most marginalized in societies, those with HIV, transgendered people, and prostitutes. He challenged the norm of dualism by seeing a continuum of identities- especially in the concepts of gender and sex. Another personal border he crossed is that of age. At a relatively later age, he made drastic career change, even when others warned that he was “too old” to make it successfully.

Carolina removed the borders between academic disciplines in order to combine her love of dancing with her desire to use social sciences to tackle world challenges. She felt the difficulty of struggling with multiple identities, sharing that “probably many of us know what it’s like to belong to two places at once, but never quite belong completely to each… [there is] a lot of self doubt and soul searching…I accept that we are not ‘one thing’. We are a ‘multitude of things.'” One has to improvise beyond the structured setting. While we are forced to specialize in academia and work, we need not reject other parts of ourselves or interests; rather accept ourselves as whole.

Finally, Nikita’s first study abroad experience to France awakened the globetrotter in her. But as an Indian, the one forbidden travel was to Pakistan. Originally, from India, Nikita got the courage to cross to Pakistan, against the warnings of family and friends. War and political history had polarized Pakistanis and Indians against one another, similar to Albanians and Serbs. But what Nikita found when she visited Pakistan was more similarities than differences, and she established friendships there. We may be taught to beware of the “other” only to find that others share similar experiences and aspirations as us.

Travels, personal contact, and cultural exchange are the best ways to break down barriers. 

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Crossing borders of labels and personal fears, while setting limits where we see fit, help to more organically and accurately capture our complex identities. In interacting with borders, one always takes a risk – because venturing outside of where we are told, what feels like a comfort zone, towards what is misunderstood or unknown seems counter-intuitive. But it is this risk that often brings with it some for the greatest gains of all in the form of personal growth, understanding, wisdom, and better communion with the world.

For more info on this event and the speakers see: http://www.sciencespo.fr/psia/content/youth-leaders-talks-2016