Something I have been looking forward to the most in regards to the Brackenridge experience is how I might be able to mutually learn with and from researchers in fields ostensibly very different from my own (literary studies/gender & sexuality studies). More specifically, I eagerly anticipate letting myself be open to how my research can both figure and be figured by approaches from surprising places. How might my own investigation in queer theory and literary critique benefit from, and in turn benefit, insights and approaches from fields like ecology or moral philosophy?

In terms of how my project relates to others I’ve seen so far, I’ve noticed that my work is definitely on the more theoretical side of the spectrum. By this I mean that my work is more similar to other humanities students’ projects in that I am analyzing cultural objects (in my case, literary/artistic works) in order to gain or produce insight into a broader philosophical conversation. Though because of this very nature, I am realizing my work is not dissimilar to the STEM projects that also seek to learn from a highly specific scientific context. Particularly, projects in AI visual recognition systems are both fascinating and relevant to my own work in visual studies. Talking to some other Brackenridge fellows about their work in this field has been informative and exciting, since it has forced me to take stock of the ways in which technologies of visuality are not necessarily always serving explicitly oppressive means, but can be utilized in extremely beneficial ways, such as disease recognition and prevention. On the other hand, a critical assessment of how such technologies exist in relation to trans/queer subjectivity might in turn also affect how visual technology research is (or is not) conducted.

Putting my research in conversation with my cohort has already expanded my own thinking, but the challenging part of the Brackenridge’s community aspect has been relating to certain projects. While I have been genuinely engaged and interested by my cohorts work, sometimes it is difficult to draw any lines between a project and my own; though this space of uncertainty, of perceived incompatibility, often times ends up being the most interesting or generative space to forge connection.