Multimodal Composition #1: Defining Our Wicked Problem

Introduction 

We are partnering with Missouri Botanical Garden (MOBOT) to repair the injustices of garden owner and notable community member, Henry Shaw. As we seen on our field trip Henry Shaw’s Garden is beautifully cultivated and nurtured, but it is upsetting to know that this beauty started on the hands and knees of enslaved people. As we already know Shaw neglected the hard work of the enslaved people and took the credit for how well kept the garden was. As explained in the MOBOT website, the recorded documents of the enslaved people Shaw owned have no details about the specific duties of the enslaved people, but they are aware that their duties varied from outdoor lawn care to cooking in cleaning inside of the Tower Grove house. Even though Shaw wasn’t married and had no children the legacy of the garden remained, but how the enslaved people that contributed to his legacy story goes untold.  

What is our Wicked Problem? 

Our research team textbook, Sustainable World defines a wicked problem as “difficult problems that cannot be addressed using only traditional approaches, such as scientific technological advances, and that require continuous attention because they can never be completely solved.” This leads me to identifying our wicked problem which is that we want to publicly communicate the hidden injustices of Henry Shaw and acknowledge how those enslaved people impacted the botanical garden, making it what it is today. To better identify a wicked problem Sustainable World, highlights six general characteristics of a wicked problem: 

  1. Vague Problem Definition  
  1. Undefined Solution 
  1. No End Point 
  1. Irreversible  
  1. Unique  
  1. Urgent  

All the six general characteristics above can be used to characterize our wicked problem. I will be using each of them to dive into exactly how wicked our problem is and what ideas can consider moving forward. Even though the characteristics were at first difficult to understand these were the ways that I was able to connect them to our problem. 

  1. Vague Problem Definition 

Our problem is vague because exactly how do we address the public about the notable yet shameful history of Henry Shaw, we must consider that not everyone will be as willing to hear the truth about who Shaw was and the enslaved people he owned at the garden. Sustainable World explains that in a vague problem definition there is diversity amongst stakeholders, meaning that everyone may not agree with the issue or even view the problem as an issue. This fact reminds me of the discussion question held in research team with Dr. Jack, “What if at the Garden we begin publicly telling the stories of the enslaved people stakeholders and people who fund the garden no longer want to contribute?” To challenge this question, we entertained the thought that even if the MOBOT’s loses stakeholders and funding there is usually another group of stakeholders or means of funding that may be attracted to the truth of enslavement at the garden. 

  1. Undefined Solution 

With our problem in particular there is no specific solution. There isn’t any certain way to communicate with the public and address the injustices of Henry Shaw, the problem is how it’s been kept a secret from the public for so long and is only known to those that are impacted directly. On the Missouri Botanical Garden Website there is a page that attempts to approach the truth of slavery at the garden and further explains that the garden is working toward diversity and inclusion, this work is followed up by the goal of trying to tell the stories of the enslaved people at the garden. With the garden seeking to make a change they acknowledge that they are making their best efforts to involve the stories of the enslaved people stories as a part of the visitor experience. There’s no exact model or display of how the enslaved people’s stories are to be told, we don’t know if it’s a statue, plaque, article, brochure, no matter what we come up with it must communicate to the public about the truth. 

  1. No End Point 

This characteristic reminds me of a ripple effect once we implement a solution to the wicked problem, new problems can arise and cause cascading effects and unintended consequences. Even though we don’t intend for negative things to happen it is possible that they could. As I mentioned in vague problem definition even if the MOBOT loses its stakeholders and funding by telling the stories of enslaved people it could be detrimental to the functioning of the garden. Addressing the truth of Henry Shaw and the garden will be an ongoing process. The fact that the solution to our problem is undefined entails that there is no distinct form of resolution making it never ending. Sustainable World voices the idea that solutions must be continually adapted to new conditions, what may look like a resolution, may not look like a resolution later and more of a step either in the right or wrong direction. 

  1. Irreversible  

Just like posts made on social media once they are made public, they can’t be taken away, even if they are deleted after the fact, they are still accessible to the public. This same analogy works to represent the effectiveness of a solution or social media post, that will not change once it’s been implemented or posted. Sustainable World seconds this notion by indicating that implementing a solution creates changes in the world that can’t be undone and will have real consequences. The coolest yet scariest part about presenting this problem is that once we start finding solutions it won’t stop. Even if our entire cohort were to drop this project all together the MOBOT can review all our e-portfolios and see what our thoughts were and where they could start finding solutions. The irreversibility of resolving this problem and finding solutions is impactful and no matter what we do it will affect how the gardens present the truth to the public. 

  1. Unique  

The reason why we can characterize our problem as unique is because in most prominent places that involve enslavement there are museums, plaques, statues, or other forms of physical display to tell the stories of the enslaved people. Not to say that the gardens won’t one day have those forms of physical display but to tell the stories we can find many other ways to communicate the truth to the public in ways that are interactive or even digitally engaging. The uniqueness of our problem is carried by the idea that we are dealing with the truth of Henry Shaw and enslavement and as uncomfortable as this topic may seem MOBOT wants to make it a part of the visitor experience. We also may have to meet specific confidential requirements that can make our approach toward the truth look different from other places. We want to amplify the truth of the enslaved people without offending their families and making them feel uncomfortable about being in the garden. The uniqueness of our problem is weighed on by the means of people directly and indirectly affected by the garden and the garden’s history. 

  1. Urgent 

At first, I didn’t view this as a characteristic for our problem because we don’t have to meet any specific deadlines or due dates. With urgency we automatically think date and time it wasn’t until I read in Sustainable World, “Problems are urgent because of failure to act will result in permanent harm to human and natural systems.” This indicates that the problem is urgent in the matter of if we decide to do nothing about the truth, we put future generations in danger of being oblivious and ignorant of the truth. MOBOT’s website already communicated that they have no distinct way they want to communicate the truth to the public, but they’d like to try. As we partner with them in this project, we make their try into an effort induced push to think about possible solutions so that they don’t have to hide the truth any longer.  

Inconclusion 

Overall, our wicked problem is that we want to publicly communicate the hidden injustices of Henry Shaw and acknowledge how those enslaved people impacted the botanical garden, making it what it is today. Sustainable World introduces us to six characteristics of a wicked problem including: vague problem definition, undefined solution, no end point, irreversible, unique, and urgent. Our problem is vague because exactly how do we address the public about this hidden truth, which then makes the solution undefined. The irreversibility of resolving this problem and finding solutions is impactful and no matter what we do it will affect how the gardens present the truth to the public, this makes our whole problem unique. The urgency of this matter lies in the impacts we make in the present that will affect the future possibilities beyond MOBOT but the region’s historical enslavement background.