Here, there is an imperfect attempt of a poem, still incomplete that summarizes a part of my dissertation.

Research findings in the format of a poem

The motivation
The promise of modernity
installed in colonial times
was a project of European minds.
They have made us to believe
that more sciences will make us free.
But, colonial roots are strong!!
Main exports are still raw!
Technology is not much used.
Private firms & government excuse
Create science capacity costs a lot.

But wasn’t knowledge the engine to grow?
In the south, foreign firms don’t invest
R&D in the north, they prefer.
While several statistics show
that more people with PhD
complain for the lack of jobs,
I’d like to dive a little bit more.
Knowledge for the public good
could inequalities reduce
but deeper work needs to be done.

The research
I got obsessed with measuring
the effects of education,
class, and social connections
on one’s chances to get a job.
I only focused on those
who succeeded, PhD completed.
Took me a couple years to
figure it out the equation.
Education can enable better futures
for those who grew up with less.
Yet,  social class groups are closed
and they prefer those who already belong.

Let’ me explain what I saw.
The power game. Your fruits
are because your roots.
Sometimes, merit could lead
to formal and upward succeed.
Truth. More people from low class
became professors at once.
Yet, they still earn a lot less
than the ones with foreign last names.
Not all got the same gains.

My research shows that social networks,
-the friends- are the real treasure.
You can use whatever measure
and the formula always works.
Meet the people who know
and ask the right questions.
They will give you the suggestions
you need to get the ideal job,
The space you sought for so long…

Then, be gracious and share your lessons.

Be intentional about it
and bridge, bridge, bridge the knots
the separated, distant dots
of the wounded, societal web.
In a colonized unequal place
You only get to meet a few
who are really different to you.
School, work, love and church:
all seem organized to just reproduce.
So, go beyond and break the rules.
Be skeptical of the power you got

The invitation
Visit and make friends with those
who do not have anything common to you.
Do not keep the secrets that brought you here,
Challenge the internalized ways of being
Unfold your truth, and praxis how you want to live.
Use your voice for challenging the mechanisms
that maintain us separated; use education to question
the chains that kept us small; use knowledge to unwire the places of oppression.
Then, remember the trees of your childhood and humbly plant new seeds

Perhaps, we can harvest relationships
in ways that recognize and honor
our intrinsic connection…