The Cellphones and Food That Sustain Us: An ENGL 102 Field Trip

by Professor Teresa Lew

After unending days of hurricane season rain, the cool crisp air of a blue-skied October arrived along with the grandeur of aurora borealis nights.  Naturally, there was an excitement for being outside, so it was perfecting timing for an ENGL 102 class field trip to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History and the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.  Within these museums, we had two exhibit destinations: Cellphones: Unseen Connections and Food: Transforming the American Table.

Upon entering the first exhibit, an older brother accompanying his sibling asked curiously, “So why the cellphone and food exhibits for this field trip?”  It was a fair question as the exhibits, housed in neighboring museums, had seemingly little connection to each other.  Yet, that decision had taken me months to settle on, and when I finally narrowed down the bountiful and inspiring Smithsonian exhibits to just two, I determined they were a perfect pair.

Both topics are so infused in our daily lives; we are undeniably dependent on cellphones and food.  While one is artificially made, we have adopted it into our lives so seamlessly like an extra appendage and second brain.  In contrast, the other is the natural gift of earth, a source that sustains us and reconnects us to the sacred dirt and soil we often take for granted.  The two exhibits also made sense in relation to our faculty fellowship theme of “creating classroom conversations that foster a hopeful future to meet the challenges of a rapidly changing world.”

Most would agree that the past four decades of cellphone technology has rapidly changed the way we communicate, socialize, and engage with the world around us. In the last century, we have also seen the way industrialization, a world war, migration, and technical innovations have changed the way food is farmed, manufactured, preserved, transported, commercialized, made, and consumed, and thus, changing our very relationship with nature.  With these things in mind, I hoped my students would generate meaningful conversations about the objects, topics, and issues on display in each exhibit while also searching for inspiration for their upcoming exploratory essay.

Exploration, curiosity, and an open mind are some of the best intentions to set when entering a museum space, which is the way I hoped my students would enter their museum experience.  Immediately, as we entered the Cellphones: Unseen Connections exhibit, the glitz and glimmer of the space drew my students in with giant cellphones greeting us at the entrance and each of us on display donning cat and smiley face emojis as the pinging of text messages went off in the background. While we had discussed some of the exhibit’s contents prior to the field trip, the reality of seeing these things left many students amazed. “I was really surprised to see how many elements and different parts went into our cellphones,” Rebecca noted.

Students peered into the central display of the 65 elements that create our cellphones.  They considered questions of the labor and production of cellphones as they stared intently at the picture of the massive mining site where copper is extracted. “It is much larger than I imagined!” Megan gasped.  They scanned their eyes up and down the large data server, networking system, and streetlight with 5G radio cells atop.  “Our phones are connected to everything for better connection like streetlights.  I never expected that,” Matteo observed.

The wonder continued as students examined the other parts of the exhibit that highlighted the social and cultural impact of cellphones and the implications of electronic waste in all the discarded cellphones. “It was interesting seeing the evolution of phones over decades and learning about how it is a Chinese tradition to burn paper money for the dead as offerings.  It was compelling seeing how the creation of cellphones has created methods for similar traditions to lessen their carbon emissions by digitally burning instead of physically burning paper money,” reflected Tommy. Upon examining the posters and displays on e-waste, Anthony pondered, “What are the consequential effects of ‘improved’ cellphone production?”

After an hour in the exhibit and a ton of information to process, my students took a short break and then reconvened at the National Museum of American History.  As we walked into Food: Transforming the American Table, the ambience was a different type of welcoming. On our left was Julia Child’s full kitchen on display. “It surprised me to see the actual kitchen of a famous person,” Aileen commented.  Then straight in front of us was a long dinner table with enough room for the entire class, a brightly lit open space beckoning us to commune and slow down. It felt like entering a home, and my students surely made it one for the next hour as they explored the exhibit and chatted around the table.  Gathering around food sure sparks conversation and slows us down in this bustling fast-paced world, I thought to myself as I watched how naturally my class gravitated toward and grouped around the table.

As some enjoyed conversations about the exhibit around the table, I admired the other students who were peering into each of the displays curious about the tortilla press, the circle of dieting books, the description of food additives, a branding iron, a picture of braceros farmers, a copy of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, and so much more. “The vintage packaging of the 1960s Pringles can and original Gatorade can were pretty nifty,” Arhum shared.  “I was fascinated by the counterculture movements involved in the process of making food and the way in which manufacturing changed throughout the decades,” mused Eric.  By the end of our trip, it felt like our mission was accomplished.  “Seek inspiration for your research topic and start a conversation on an object you find meaningful,” I had prompted them. When they returned to our class the next week with fresh questions and motivation to begin their research, I knew we had met our aim.