Uncertain Journeys

By Carlin Liu Zia

Uncertain Journeys is an oral history and epic poem documenting the life of Paul Zung Teh Zia, as told to and heard by his granddaughter, Carlin Liu Zia. These are the first pages

 

 

Carlin Zia is a recent graduate of OHMA and current Teaching Assistant with the program. Her thesis, an epic poem in an invented form, records the life story of her Chinese-born grandfather while simultaneously charting her own project of self-historicization within that inter-generational and inter-cultural context. Carlin came to OHMA from a literature background, having graduated with distinction in English from Yale College. She brought with her a love of words and narrative and writing, and diversified her languages at Columbia to include more audio/visual mediums. She has since freelanced as a film editor (for Facing Whiteness, a collaboration between Columbia’s Interdisciplinary Center for Innovative Theory and Empirics (INCITE) and the documentarian Whitney Dow, creator of the “Whiteness Project”) and videographer. Carlin plans to continue her own oral history practice in the pursuit of a PhD in Ethnic and American Studies.