Feminist Rhetorics & Thirdspace Portfolio

My goals for my work over the course of this semester changed a bit as my personal responsibilities and circumstances changed, but I knew from very early conversations with Dr. Gresham that I wanted my research project this semester to be a draft of a journal article and I built out the rest of my grading contract to consider what I would need to do in order to accomplish that. My research project for the semester changed when Dr. Gresham showed the class the Peitho “Small and Subtle Feminisms” CFP, and I decided to shift my project to align with that topic. For my weekly participation, I agreed to complete the readings, write at least three 250 words-a-day a week, and hold at least two conversations with Dr. Gresham to check in and help me with my progress. The intention of the words-a-day was to help me do some of the intellectual process work required to complete the paper at the end of the semester. When I learned I was pregnant early in the term and spent weeks struggling with first trimester pregnancy symptoms, I continued with those words-a-day somewhat sporadically but was consistent with the reading and check-in conversations, and shifted to using my words-a-day to check my progress on my research project as inspiration struck as well as working through the readings. While I wasn’t as consistent with the words-a-day as I would have liked, I did find that the process writing helped me make incremental progress toward my larger goals at key moments, and I used some of the writing I did directly in my presentation, abstract, and other more polished products.

As part of my contract, I agreed to write an abstract for the CFP, an annotated bibliography, and a draft of the research paper I planned to submit if my proposal was accepted. I geared the rest of my work for the semester toward these goals, and ended up shifting some of my deadlines either earlier or later to meet the Peitho CFP requirements. For my class presentation, I had intended to try a 20x20 (mostly out of curiosity, since it was a format I hadn't encountered in the past), but again, found myself limited by personal circumstances and after a discussion with Dr. Gresham, decided instead to present my research work thus far in order to check my progress and receive any feedback I needed at that point. I used the presentation as an opportunity to write what effectively became an extended outline of my journal article, and used a very similar structure in the draft. I wrote and submitted the abstract and working bibliography the next week, and the annotated bibliography a couple weeks later. Another goal I had for the semester was to write a conference proposal, and in October had an idea for a proposal in response to the Museum of Motherhood CFP that aligned with the work we had been doing for class but was distinct from my research project. That abstract is on “Thirdspace Feminist Practices for Embodying Motherhood in Academia.” In addition to the assigned reading and challenge articles for this class, I also read Ross and Solinger's book Reproductive Justice: an Introduction which was an important source for my essay.

One of the things I learned this semester was how to use my time and energy efficiently and effectively when facing occasionally extreme restrictions around my full-time teaching work, health, childcare, appointments, and other personal responsibilities. My time was already restricted before this semester, but pregnancy, a series of daycare illnesses, and other life circumstances made it even more so. I used project scaffolding (like the presentation, abstract, annotated bibliography, and words-a-day) to set manageable goals for myself in advance while also moving me substantively toward the work I wanted to do. I was also deliberate about using feminist practices like contemplation, especially while conducting care work like washing the dishes or putting my son to bed, and then harnessing those ideas using technology (usually my cell phone notes app), which I view as an intentional thirdspace practice. By using these practices, I was able to accomplish a lot in the limited time I had in front of my computer. I also made an intentional effort to space out the writing work for my research paper. I knew it would be an emotionally and intellectually challenging project for me to write, since it is analyzing a traumatic personal experience, so I started early and allowed myself to write in manageable chunks. I am very proud of the amount of work I was able to achieve this semester toward my larger research goals, and grateful for the ways this class helped me to expand theoretically while augmenting the work I was already passionate about. Even though I had to change some targets along the way and did not fully meet the participation goals for the words-a-day I had set for myself in the contract, I believe the amount and quality of the work I did this semester qualifies me for an A in the class.