In the Box

Students created shoebox-sized dioramas for a pop-up exhibition at the Lyman Allyn Art Museum

Students in Professor Salma Siddique’s first-year seminar, “Psychoanalytic Anthropology in Human Development,” went back in time to create shoebox-sized dioramas for a pop-up exhibition at the Lyman Allyn Art Museum, Timeless Ties: The Art of Childhood.

Siddique, who joined the faculty in 2022, taught the seminar with Kathryn O’Connor, director of the Child Development Lab School at Conn. Throughout the semester, they taught students about the anthropological concept of indigenous epistemologies, defined as the knowledge or understanding possessed by people who are native to a place.

Siddique explained, “We feel and think about our place in the world with objects, like a child with a toy or an adolescent with their first shiny new iPhone. The significance of these cultural artifacts in expressing and preserving the richness of lived experiences within indigenous communities is intrinsically linked to ways of seeing and encountering the world. The objects serve as a form of cultural revitalization, fostering a deeper understanding of ourselves in relation to others.”

For the diorama project, Siddique prompted students to reflect deeply on their personal narratives and their own ways of interpreting the world as passed down through their families and as they relate to a sense of place.

“Culture holds a profound meaning within indigenous communities, encapsulating narratives, traditions and collective memories,” Siddique said. “Through the deliberate use and arrangement of cultural objects, the diorama method provides a medium for indigenous communities to articulate their histories, values and worldviews.”

Alina Khan ’27, whose diorama is titled “Apricot Garden” and is decorated with green and red paint, miniature turtles, Legos and sprigs of colorful florals representing trees, said she was “fairly intimidated” by the project at first. 

“Almost everyone, it seemed, had decided to make their childhood rooms, which was something I had never had—or perhaps had too many of,” she said. “In the end, I decided to go with the garden for one reason: It had made me realize for the first time that every time I moved, I left something behind. The garden is, in a way, a symbol of all the things I’ve ever had to leave behind.”

Khan added after that after grappling with the impact of her transient childhood, she plans to study psychology at Conn. That’s exactly the type of outcome Siddique was hoping for. 

“In its first year, the psychoanalytic anthropology seminar has proven to be a transformative experience for the participating students, who have discovered their personal ways of seeing and experiencing the world and have honed their self-reflection skills through exploring alternative narrative styles,” Siddique said.