Coming into college, one of the tasks many upperclassmen and professors suggest that I should do is to conduct research on campus for one summer. Hence, since my first year at Bucknell, I have been striving to work as a research assistant or a research fellow at a center. I was engaged and determined to explore those topics for the most part, but a tiny part of me has always felt a little unsatisfied, feeling like I hadn’t done enough. I felt like I committed to research just because it is a culture to do research as an undergrad. Over time, I also came to realize that this discontent might be because I had this pressurizing expectation upon myself to make a discovery that is trailblazing or groundbreaking, because that is the kind of work academia has long focused on celebrating. Unless I had an outcome that is really interesting, then my ending has always been the same: roll up my posters and keep them under my bed until I have to throw them away when I move out of a dorm.
This is why I am interested in and applied for this Digital Scholarship program. After talking with a friend who did it last year and scrolling through the fellows’ final websites, I see that I might enjoy doing research more if I could incorporate other forms of information visualization and present my research in a different way. For instance, I can portray my findings in a different font or color scheme, rather than sticking with Times New Roman, 12 pt. I am thinking of including video clips and audio recordings on my website, which would be less accessible to do on a poster or paper. This program reminds me of the opportunity and importance of the humanities, while some research fellowships tend to undervalue it.
My project ideas for this summer are to explore the gender dynamics in the culinary world. I am interested in learning why women, who society expects to be cooks in household kitchens, have a harder time becoming professional chefs or experience damaging burnout. With some prior knowledge from the courses I took in the Women’s and Gender Studies department, I think it might have to do with the larger patriarchal system, so I want to learn more about the critical discussions surrounding it through scholarly articles, books, and popular media. I am interested in examining the misogynistic, sexist, microaggressive, and macroaggressive statements and behaviors exhibited toward marginalized groups in this industry because I want to have a final project that helps anyone, ranging from cooking reality TV show fans to those who dream of becoming a chef, recognize signs of abuse and violence.
With these thoughts in mind, I am excited about the upcoming workshops that will teach me new skills, such as creating a website, timeline, map, and other digital tools for research. I hope to reflect by the end of this summer on how digital scholarship changes the way I view research and see how the skills I gain will support my future academic work.