Pauline Mutumwinka: “Down the Rabbit Hole”

Student speech at Harvard College Class Day 2012

Pauline Mutumwinka

In her Harvard oration, one of four student speeches given as part of the Class Day ceremony, Pauline Mutumwinka ’12 compared her Harvard experience to Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass: "For starters, I think you'll agree that freshman year felt a bit like falling down a rabbit hole."

Mutumwinka is particularly far from home—she is from Rwanda—and she spoke of struggling to figure out where she fit in: was she "Black/African American" or "Other" on the U.S. census? Should she pretend to care about the Red Sox just to make nice?

She said she emerged from Harvard having learned that it "is not the Wonderland where things always work like magic," but "it is the Wonderland where we tirelessly questoin our beliefs and assumptions—a place where we try to make sense of a world that often seems quite absurd, knowing that hard work, not magic, will solve this world's problems."

Sub topics

You might also like

“A Game of Inches”

Harvard women’s basketball prepares for its rematch with Columbia. 

Nieman Foundation Leader Departs

Ann Marie Lipinski led the organization through a time of unprecedented change for journalism.

Most popular

“A Game of Inches”

Harvard women’s basketball prepares for its rematch with Columbia. 

Who Built the Pyramids?

Not slaves. Archaeologist Mark Lehner, digging deeper, discovers a city of privileged workers.

Explore More From Current Issue

The Needs of Dementia Caregivers

What it's like to look after a loved one with dementia

From Harvard-Trained Architect to Miniature Diorama Builder

Fred Gevalt’s astonishing and intricate diorama

Museum of Printing Massachusetts

A unique museum in Haverhill, Massachusetts, offers a history of graphic arts.