Wayne Soon is a history and international relations major from Singapore who came to Carleton after completing two-and-a-half years of compulsory military service. He received a Chang-Lan Fellowship from Carleton to be a summer research assistant to history professor Jamie Monson, whose primary scholastic interest is the history of Chinese development assistance in Africa, particularly connected to the TAZARA railway in Tanzania. He has interned at Singapore’s Institute of Policy Studies and has written articles on politics for Singapore Today. He plans to pursue a PhD in history at Princeton University.

Tell us about the research you did with history professor Jamie Monson.

Last summer, I traveled with Professor Monson to China, Tanzania, Zanzibar and Zambia to help with her research on the TAZARA Railway, which was built by the Chinese in the 1970s in Tanzania. Our main focus was finding railroad workers from that time and interviewing them about the construction phase. We also spoke with diplomats and other railway personnel. We did some archival work, which was exciting for me, because I’m very interested in history. I’ve also never been to Africa, so it was a good opportunity for me to see the wider world.

What did you take away from that experience?

I appreciated the sense of adventure. Coming to America was an adventure, of course, but I had so much help. This trip was a blank slate because we didn’t know what to expect or who to approach. We went with our gut feeling and we did extremely well given the circumstances. We were able to interview 10 workers, many of whom were in their 80s and 90s. I did a lot of translation because I can speak Chinese. 

How did you decide to pursuer two majors?

When I first came to Carleton, I was interested in understanding society and politics today, so I took a lot of classes in the political science department, which I enjoyed tremendously. But some of those classes left me wanting to know more about the context in which political phenomena have occurred over time. In my history classes, I was amazed by the way that historians reconstruct the past from the perspective of the people. That is valuable – to understand a society or culture from the people’s perspective rather than from your own perspective.

How has Carleton changed you?

Carleton has been instrumental in shaping my professional goals and making me more aware of what I can do in life by giving me opportunities to succeed. In Singapore, I’ve been limited in what I can achieve because of personal or political reasons, but Carleton has given me room to grow and explore.

What advice would you give to international students who are considering Carleton?

The advice I give to myself, which is to be open-minded and to seize opportunities. Both are equally important because if you are not open to listening to other people, to taking different classes, to trying something new, you may not have the opportunities to seize in the first place.