- Project Summary: In no more than 200 words, provide a brief description of your project, including the key questions your project attempts to answer and a brief discussion of how you intend to answer those questions.
- Deadline: March 1st Friday, 11:59 pm
For my final project, I am interested in exploring the ways in which neoliberalism and its impact on the healthcare sphere in particular commodifies the female body. Last semester, I studied reproductive health and politics with Professor Nancy Riley, and we touched on neoliberalism in many of our discussions. With my research this semester, I would like to dive deeper into the neoliberal concept of choice in women’s healthcare. Because the neoliberal landscape puts the onus on the individual to act rationally and make decisions to maximize their (economic) productivity, it becomes crucial to acknowledge the disparity in the number and quality of options that are available to women of differing backgrounds (race, socioeconomic class, etc.). I know that I need to greatly narrow my research topic and develop some more nuanced questions, and I am in the process of deciding what aspect of this complex issue I want to zero in on.
In addition to sociology, photography has been the other focus of my studies at Bowdoin, and so I am excited about the photo essay option for this project. I have never done this for a non-visual arts course before, and this would be a great opportunity to combine my two passions in one product. Right now I am working to brainstorm how I could best use photography to accompany my research.
Comments:
This is a great topic, Meghan. Initially, I was going to say “but you need to narrow it down” but you are already working on it. If you need help with it, let me know. We can brainstorm how you can narrow your focus down together after the break.
It would also be great if you could talk to Prof. Riley about your topic and ask for some recommendations. In the meantime, I can recommend you the following book:
Also, doing photo essay sounds wonderful. Do you know Octavio Castro, another senior in Sociology? He is in Prof. Lopez’s class and I know that he was planning to do photo essay for his final project too. I am saying this in case the two of you would like to chat about it.
I look forward to reading and seeing your final project.