An Obsession With Making

It is not, of course, that there is anything wrong with making (although it is not all that clear that the world needs more stuff ). It is that the alternative to making is usually not doing nothing — it is nearly always doing things for and with other people, from the barista to Facebook community moderators (Chen 2014) to the social worker to the surgeon. Describing oneself as a maker — regardless of what one actually or mostly does — is a way to accrue the gendered capitalist benefits of being a person who makes products. 

Debbie Chachra, “Beyond Making,” in Making Things and Drawing Boundaries: Experiments in the Digital Humanities, ed. Jentry Sayers, Debates in the Digital Humanities (University of Minnesota Press, 2017).

I found the quote above in Debbie Chachra’s chapter “Beyond Making” in Making Things and Drawing Boundaries: Experiments in the Digital Humanities. In this chapter, Chachra explores the bias that we have built as a culture towards making. People value innovation, creation, and production over communication, teaching, and caregiving. Chachra emphasises the very apparent gendering of this skew.

This quote resonated with me because I can relate to it. I relate to the tunnel vision on making. Coming into Hacking the Humanities, I was ready to build 3D models or develop code to analyze text, always envisioning taking a project from start to finish and putting my name on it. Chachra reminded me about the fulfillment and importance outside of making, the acknowledgment that not everything important is wrapped in building something new. This led to a moment of self-reflection: what am I proud of outside of making?

The answer is teaching. Currently, I work at a local public library near my college, teaching Spanish, English, and Technology to seniors. I find myself so fortunate to have the opportunity to help impact my local community, and yet I don’t think of it as something to be very proud of. There was somebody before me who taught these classes, and somebody will likely pick up where I left off; however, I have come to appreciate my role in the maintenance of these classes.

Coming back to Hacking the Humanities, I am curious to find an area outside of development and creation where I can still have a positive impact and find fulfillment. I want to break out of my focus on making, maybe spend more time discussing, re-packaging tools, teaching, and collaborating with others. This could take the form of maintaining software as open source, as is common in the field of digital humanities.