| dc.description | I spent half of my second semester of my junior year of college in Bloomfield Hills,
Michigan. Much of this time was spent at my kitchen counter, feet dangling, hands typing. In
early March, I was sitting at this counter when I received an email that thesis proposals for my
major were due soon. Feeling burnt out from the end of the semester and feeling overall
discouraged because of the state of the world, I told my parents that I did not want to write a
thesis.
I tried to justify this decision for the next few days. “I’m already in the honors college.”
“I don’t even know what I would write about.” “I don’t plan to go to graduate school.” However,
something was telling me that this was something I should do for myself and for my academic
growth (and to my surprise, I am now applying to graduate school). Then, it hit me that I could
use the current state of the world and my feelings about it as the basis of my thesis. I noticed how
Trump’s presidency changed everything. He created this notion of life before Trump and life
after Trump. Before Trump, I identified as much more liberal than conservative but I had no ill
feelings towards Republicans. Politics were something that we did not talk about at the dinner
table, and it was no one else’s business who you voted for in the election. Politics were personal
but that was okay because it was okay to be a Democrat, and it was okay to be a Republican.
After Trump, the Republican party became synonymous in my mind with racist, inconsiderate,
white, and only focused on money. It was now my business whether or not my friends and family
were Democrats or Republicans because I no longer wanted to be associated with people who
voted for Trump. Politics were no longer personal, but rather, a direct reflection of someone’s
morals and portrayed important information on whether or not it was okay to spend time with a
person. I needed to figure out how to capture this in my writing.
I initially began this project with the intent to research the ways in which Donald Trump’s
presidency has impacted the experience in the “othered” body. Since then and with the help of
my professor, I have narrowed down my focus. I now want to profile five different Vanderbilt
women from diverse backgrounds to tell their story and deeply understand how Trump’s
America has impacted their sense of security in their own bodies and their womanhood. How
does this impact dating and who we spend our time with? Personally, if someone has
“conservative” on their online dating profile, that is an immediate signal to me that I will not feel
safe around this person. Do others feel this way?
To get at these intimate insights, I decided I needed a more clinical frame for the asking
of questions. An ethnographic approach is essential for this task because I must understand not
only how they feel but I also must get to know each woman deeply to truly understand her
everyday experience. This will be beneficial because it will allow me to explore Trump’s
presidency and public safety in a way that has not been done before and will hopefully be
non-polarizing and evoke empathy.
Each participant will be asked the same general questions about their sense of security in
their body both before and after the 2016 election. They will also be asked a series of questions
specific to their cultural/ethnic identity and any additional questions that are necessary to gain a
full understanding of who the person is and how she has experienced Trump’s presidency. Two
of the interviews will be conducted prior to the 2020 election and three interviews will take place
after the public knows the results of the 2020 election. This will allow me to capture different
perspectives at different points in time in a way that traditional research cannot. I hope to end
with an in-depth understanding and portrayal of how Trump’s presidency impacted the
experience in the female body through the lens of the five participants. | en_US |
