During the weekly meetings with our cohorts, I keep learning more from my peers than I could have expected. Our discussions have led to various insights about methodology, process, goals, and potential impact of our research in the future. With this, I want to keep learning about research strategies from the other Brackenridge recipients. It is easy to become fixated on certain aspects of our research or overwhelmed about the idea of completing our projects. I hope to learn what strategies others are using to propel their research forward and how they stay confident in their methodologies and processes.

Most of those who hold Brackenridge fellowships are conducting research that differs from my own. In terms of process/methodology, I am examining historical records and stories while also conducting interviews. I have only heard of a few other projects with a similar methodology. Most of the others in my cohort are interpreting historical texts or doing research in a lab. However, there are some Brackenridge holders who are conducting interviews. After reading the blog posts, one project that interests me is by Jasmine Al Rasheed. Jasmine is conducting interviews to examine experiences of integration, discrimination, and displacemnt among immigrants. My project is similar, as I am also attempting to link urban displacement with lived experiences and opinions. Jasmine’s project interests me because it ties in a global element by connecting the findings to international trends, while I am limiting my project to comparisons domestically. 

There are some obstacles to working across disciplines. For one, most of the methodologies of my peers’ projects differ from my own, so it is difficult to gauge how far along I am in the research process compared to everyone else. Also, I do not have much feedback to give to the fellow students in my cohort, because the subjects of their projects are quite foreign to me. However, working across disciplines has had more pros than cons. Hearing the motivation and passion that my peers have for their projects makes me feel better about the future of humanity! I can already tell that those in my cohort and the fellowship as a whole are going to have great success in their respective fields. Many of those I have spoken to take their projects very seriously and look at their work with a critical eye. Hearing the various experiences of my peers during their intellectual journeys has been extremely fulfilling, and I do not think I would have gotten this same experience if this fellowship was not interdisciplinary.