The effects of being introduced to the concept of Interdisciplinarity are best defined as haunting revolutions. The thrill that is experienced when I notice the obvious interaction between two seemingly polar fields permeates my mind and truly allows me to embrace the subject with a newly found appreciation knowing it depends on another field for its own foundation. These connections between subjects can sometimes be noticed easily, but what about when subjects converse with social and cultural realities? I found myself questioning the interdisciplinary relationship the world has with different fields of study through how the interpretations and implications that ordinary tasks (like conjugating a verb, understanding a scientific theory or ambiguous metaphors hidden in a text) converse with the world around us. This was the beginning of how an organic chemistry class taught me about motherhood.
In his work Interdisciplinarity Joe Moran explains, “These areas of research offer the prospect of using scientific discoveries to provide insights into literary and cultural text…” He then goes on to explain why many literary scholars haven’t taken up this seemingly difficult task, “…the projects of evolutionary biology, genetics, and neuroscience can look suspiciously like intellectual imperialism rather than interdisciplinarity, in that they attempt to understand the concerns of other disciplines solely from the perspective of their own.” (pages 163-164). Immediately I realized that I was guilty of such a thought process. I’d never attempted to try to understand organic chemistry through a literary, historic nor musical lens. So, I took on the challenge the following day.
In that particular class we were discussing the idea of Mass spectroscopy. This is a means of determining the molecular weight by measuring atoms and molecules. When explaining this concept my professor used a metaphor that I found very interesting. She described the original whole molecule to be normally represented by the mother or Molecular ion peak. When undergone a specific process this molecule is broken into different fragments or daughter ions. The labeling of these processes caught my attention instantly. Essentially for a fragment (daughter ion) to be made the molecular ion (mother ion) must be broken apart.
I began to wonder if I was overthinking all this (perhaps I am), but the significance of the theory gripped me in a tight embrace and couldn’t be shaken. What was now being said about mothers? Daughters? Why not fathers and sons? In her work Meridian, Alice Walker speaks about this sacrifice and society’s assertion on women to endure it, “As divided in her mind as her body was divided, between what part was herself and what part was not.” (Walker, 42). During pregnancy, it safe to say that a woman’s body is not entirely her own, though physically it was still hers, she was now sharing this space that she has established as herself with someone else, a stranger who she did not yet know. This ‘invasion’ is expected to be received joyously but what if it wasn’t? Should every woman be thrilled at the idea of being broken apart? Of giving away a piece (fragment) of herself that she may have wanted to keep?
Though my observations were small, it explained motherhood in a way I hadn’t heard of in a science course. We learn of the processes, the beauty in being able to create a new life but never of the sacrifice, of the strength and bravery rather we learn of expectations.