Wednesday, September 16, 2009

What Should We Study?

Such a daunting task, narrowing research topics! I have to admit, when I applied to the African Democracy Project part of me expected to be handed a list of topics to be covered. How wrong I was about our ambitious class! 

Of course I cannot deny that I would really love to focus my research in Mozambique on gender issues, but after reading further into Dr. Pitcher's book I find that there is  no room for cut and dry feminist theory in Mozambique.  Not that I was audacious enough to assume that my western feminist ideals would at all translate to Africa, but I did think that women's issues would be prominent and pronounced enough to study. However, my interests are growing, and with them, endless possibilities for research.

As I learn more and more about my classmates, I am delighted at our diversity. We all come from very different scholarly studies, which I believe that we should highlight in our final product. I believe that we, as a class, should (of course) cover the 2009 elections throughly, but through the filter of all our interests. For example, with each of our individual groups the story of Mozambique's 2009 elections can be told through the eyes of an economist, a linguist, a biologist, a teacher, and so on. The final product will be a documentary focused on elections, but the story really can come from all the different areas of study and how each are directly effected. I am really looking forward to all the possibilities this project has presented for us. I think the final product will truly be great.

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