AnubhavChandlaDESMA9

Walking the Line Between Two Worlds

Hello everyone, my name is Anubhav Chandla and I am a second-year Neuroscience student here at UCLA on the premed track. This week's readings on the "two cultures" was very interesting as it provided me with an awakening that I have faced throughout my whole life. As an immigrant within this country, I have constantly been tied to my culture in India through Indian Classical Music, but have also been passionate about pursuing medicine as a career. 

Figure 1: Living in Two Worlds as One 

Specifically, the articles by Victoria Vesna and C.P. Snow were most impactful as I navigated this theme. As Vesna touches upon in her article, while the cultures of science and art have constantly been divided as a taboo line that cannot be crossed, this "triangular bridge between science, technology, and art" has risen, leading to scholars negotiating between "the canon of rationality and the fluid poetic" (Vesna 2001). As seen in the figure above, I have personally experienced this conflicting bridge between the abstract and concrete as an aspiring physician who is not only passionate about curing disease but also using music as a form of personal solace. While my endeavors for scholastic achievement are regularly supported by family back home, creative endeavors incite a response similar to Snow's depiction of science scholars and non-science scholars seeing one another as blasphemous (Snow 1980). 

Figure 2: UCLA Campus -  An Education Divided 

Surprisingly, while I saw this depiction of two worlds on a personal level, I also experienced this gap again through UCLA and its delineation of the "south" and "north campus (Jung 2021). 

An example stuck with me was that some students are not even aware of certain landmarks or social gatherings within UCLA due to their lack of sociocultural familiarity with either South or North Campus (Jung 2021). This institutional ideology can also be preeminently seen in the scholarly discourse regarding the types of majors that are "financially" useful and whether art-based education is essentially a useless degree (Parker 2022). This further shows how this divide not only limits people from making key connections but further limits the ability to grow in a socio-economic setting as well. 

Bridging the Gap Towards a Third Culture

In regards to this delineation between two cultures, while I personally do see the normative behavior on a local and global scale, I also am a proponent to believe that the rise of the "Third Culture" as Vesna mentions, is highly applicable in current society. 

Figure 3: The Power of Music Therapy in Medicine

One example of this is the rise of music therapy in the field of medicine. As explained in this video by Dr. Deforia Lane, music, a subject historically known to be in the abstract and creative realm, has gained traction as a viable therapy for diseases that current medicine cannot even cure. This is further mirrored by scientific literature such as Dr. Michael Thaut, who explains that music therapy is applicable for incurable neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, Dementia, and Parkinson's (Thaut, 2005). 

Citations 

1) Vesna, Victoria. “Toward a Third Culture: Being in Between.” Leonardo, vol. 34, no. 2, 2001, pp. 121–25. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/1577014. Accessed 8 Apr. 2023. 

2) Thaut, Michael H. “The future of music in therapy and medicine.” Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences vol. 1060 (2005): 303-8. doi:10.1196/annals.1360.023 

3) Snow, C. P. (Charles Percy), 1905-1980. The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution. New York :Cambridge University Press, 1959. 

4) Jung, J. (2021). A campus divided. PRIME. Retrieved April 7, 2023, from https://prime.dailybruin.com/justinnorth&southcampus 

5) Parker, C. L. (2022, June 27). Stem vs. steam: Does arts education really benefit schools? BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved April 7, 2023, from https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/STEM-VS-STEAM-Does-Arts-Education-Really-Benefit-Schools-20220627#:~:text=STEM%20represents%20science%2C%20technology%2C%20engineering,directly%20focuses%20on%20scientific%20concepts.

Figure Citations

1) Gubar, Susan. “When Music Is the Best Medicine.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 26 Sept. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/09/26/well/live/music-therapy-cancer.html.

2) Jung, Justin. “A Campus Divided.” PRIME, prime.dailybruin.com/justinnorth&southcampus.

3) “Music Therapy & Medicine: A Dynamic Partnership: Dr. Deforia Lane: TEDxBeaconStreetSalon.” YouTube, 30 Mar. 2016, youtu.be/LGnWyS2Y4r8.

2) 

5)