Web Paper or Special Event

Morine: I am one of the international students in Bryn Mawr College. I hail from Kenya, in the Eastern part of Africa. For the few weeks I have been here, I have been mesmerised by the diverse international community in the college. What struck me the most was the history of the college from the ‘Black at Bryn Mawr’ digital tour prepared by Emma Kioko and Grace Pusey; about the white supremacy vision during the foundation of the college and admission of students from solely affluent backgrounds.

We would like to focus on the way the health center treats LGBTQIA+ students at Bryn Mawr College. We want to do further research on the purpose of the health center, and the kind of things that they can and cannot do when it comes to dealing with student health on campus. We specifically want to focus on sexual health and the treatment of students here that may identify with different genders. We also plan on interviewing people from the health center and people of the LGBTQIA+ community, specifically transgender students.

For our project, we wish to expand our contact zones by exploring what it means to attend a women's college without identifying as a woman. This includes both transgender and gender nonconforming students at historically women’s colleges. We would like to look at the history of transgender and non conforming students at Bryn Mawr and other women’s colleges, and develop a timeline of milestones such as policy changes and student movements at these institutions to trace the extent of the history regarding this topic.

Eva: Introduction

                The bubbles that we grow up in shelter us from the realities of other parts of society as a whole. We are only truly aware of the societal norms that have influenced us and the struggles or privileges that come with those norms. In order to accept others without judgement we must understand where they come from and why their background differs from our own. This is done by bursting our bubbles or moving away from what makes us feel comfortable and safe and exploring our surrounding cultures.

The topic of our project is about how could two people from two distinct “contact zones”, as raised by Mary Louis Pratt, get along with each other and balance their relationship in order not to make either side think about breaking off the bond in between.

Our interests and goals: