I found out about the program through the speakers that the SWGS program was bringing
to campus because it would go out to, you know, all the departments in the Social Sciences
and Humanities.
And I was really interested in the talks that were being given.
And so that's what kind of attracted me to the program.
At the beginning of these talks, they would talk about this program and please take these
courses, and my department really encouraged us, those were really into gender studies,
you know, these are really good courses to take because the department only offers so
many.
So I took the intro course, which is Feminist Debates taught by Susan Lurie, and it was
a whole new realm of literature that I really had never explored before and in a really
interdisciplinary setting, and I thought that that was awesome because you really got to
hear about the perspectives that the different disciplines brought to the table.
I think we all bring something very different to the table, and had it not been for the
SWGS program, and the interdisciplinarity, and the course that I took, I would have a
much different paper than what I went in originally thinking that I was going to write in for
the course.
And it was really strengthened through that course and through the certificate.
On top of that, we have a symposium and that was a really cool because it's a friendly
setting to present your paper that you're eventually going to go to conferences with
or send out for publication, and you're able to get feedback and field questions in a friendly
but very helpful environment.
I mean, it was probably one of my favorite conferences that I've attended.
So my current dissertation project is examining sort of the intersection between race, sexuality,
and masculinity.
The psychology literature is showing that in regard to employment, so getting a job,
a promotion, pay, gay black men are more likely than straight black men to be hired, promoted,
and paid higher wages.
But, there's very little explanation as to what exactly is going on in there that is
fueling that, right?
Because we - what we think about sexuality in the workplace is that for men, at least,
we know that straight men make more, and are more likely to be promoted, and are more likely
to get jobs than gay men, in regard to white men, right?
But that's not what's taking place among black men, so I think there's a really interesting
story to be explored there, so what I'm examining is notions of - how notions of black masculinity
combined with notions of gay masculinity to maybe produce some interesting arrangements,
right?
I mean, like, is that black gay men are perceived as less of a threat in the workplace than
straight black men?
Because research, I mean, I know at least by Kristen Schilt, is kind of showing that,
you know, when you're a straight black man, you are perceived as threatening in the workplace,
right?
Like your shows of passion are seen as shows of aggression, but is gay masculinity off-setting
that?
And are gay black men seen as less of a risk in the workplace, and so are they more likely
to be hired?
Is that why they're more likely to be promoted?
I don't know, but that's what my dissertation is going to be examining.
I think that one thing that I really appreciate about the SWGS program is that we're - it's
a small program at a small university, right?
So, you are working with leading faculty in this realm of research in a very intimate
setting.
I mean, you're really able to get great feedback, network yourself really well in these faculty,
and get really great advice that I don't think you'd get at other universities.
I just don't.
Because the programs might be much larger and so I think that the size of the program
is something that is a really big draw for the SWGS program here at Rice.
And also, how much feedback you get and how much interdisciplinarity you get, I mean.
The example that I like to fall back on when I try and talk to people about this program
is that I was doing a paper in the Feminist Debates class on space and masculinity, so
how masculinity differs depending on the space in which that it's being enacted and I was
about two weeks out from presenting this and Baird, an anthropologist, was like, Well,
what space theory are you using?
And it kind of - I had no idea what to say because I don't have any literature in sociology
on space theory or at least none that I've been exposed to yet.
And he was like, Oh, well, I have a list of things for you to read.
And it was incredibly helpful and that - the space theory that I wound up using for my
paper laid the foundation and really gave me the theoretical argument to even complete
this paper.
So, the help that you get from interdisciplinarity of this program in a small program, I just
- I would be shocked if you could find that anywhere else.