The Brackenridge Fellowship has been such a rewarding experience. Upon acceptance to Pitt in 2021, I never knew how many resources the Honors College had to offer. I always knew that I would study abroad, but I never imagined myself conducting research. Even after I was awarded my Brackenridge Fellowship, I thought that it would just be a temporary project over the summer. Instead, we were encouraged to take our research projects further and develop them in the future. 

One of the most valuable parts of my research experience has been the weekly seminar meetings. The seminars prepared me very well for my research project. As fellows, we learned about different types of worldviews and research methods. We were also given career development resources such as surveys to identify our interests, skills, and values. We were taught the basics of grant writing and purpose statements to aid us in future research proposals. We were encouraged to apply for national scholarships, research grants, and graduate school.

As the fellowship comes to an end, I have reflected on the ways that my project has evolved. At the beginning of the fellowship, I was very intimidated. I always thought that research had to be completely objective, involving statistics and lab work that were free of bias. Since my project was in the humanities, I did not know if I could be completely objective as I interpreted my findings. I was worried that my own negative experience with TikTok “What I Eat In A Day” videos had clouded my judgment. However, my scholar mentor Dr. Keown helped me work through it. I made my positionality very clear as I wrote my research paper, and realized that even “objective” research cannot be completely free of bias. We approach research with our own set of values and a worldview that will influence our findings. Acknowledging our position is an important step!

I thought that my research would follow a linear track from question to answer. Instead, identified areas for future research, such as diet media that targets men, and diet media in other cultures. I also learned to embrace the gray area of research. TikTok “What I Eat In A Day” videos are not just a short-lived trend that female content creators participate in. They are the product of a culture that values thinness above all else. I uncovered a long history in American mass media in which dieting was pushed onto women through food media and advertisements. As one of the most powerful tools in creating and spreading cultural messages, media is a rich site for research. Social media in particular is constantly evolving, with new trends and changes to the algorithm cropping up. I see so much potential for developing this research project in the future.