Project Introduction
This image is of some lattices. Lattices are black/brown windows with small holes. Historically, Spanish societies used lattices in castles to hide women from public view. This is one of the things that inspired my research.
Hi!
I am glad that you are here. I am so excited to share my work with you. It is likely that you have already read some basic introductory information on the home page, so I will only give a brief introduction here. My name is Mattie (she/they) and I am an undergraduate student at Davidson College in Davidson, North Carolina, U.S.A. Next academic year, I will be starting my third year at Davidson.
Last summer, I traveled to Spain as part of the Davidson in Cádiz program with other students and Dr. Angela Willis, Ph.D. (one of my beloved academic advisors at the college). The experience lasted 5 weeks and during the program we traveled to many towns/cities in Spain. The image at the top of the page is from Granada. You can mouse over the image to learn more. I also took two classes there: Advanced Grammar and Spanish culture/art history. It was truly a fantastic experience. After the program ended, I stayed in Spain for 2-3 weeks with some friends who live in the north of Spain. I had the opportunity to think more about my academic interests and what I want to do in the future. These last few weeks inspired this project because I had opportunities to do cultural observations, and I learned that it is something I love to do. Below is a photo in Lugo, Spain with my friend Marina.
Research Questions
The main question is: What is it like to have dissident gender and/or sexuality-based identities (trans/sexually-dissident/queer...) in Spain today? There are many sub-questions, including but not limited to:
How prevalent is the concept of identity? Moreover, do people focus a lot on gender/sexuality labels or are they more focused on living their own lives? If there is a variation, what is it like?
Spain is a country with public (and more or less, free) medical care for citizens. How does this impact the lives of trans people in Spain? How many people access gender affirming medical treatment and how many do not? Are there barriers to medical care? If so, what are they?
The vast majority of studies on dissident gender identities in Spain have taken place in large cities such as Madrid and Barcelona. In my study, I will study 3 different sites... one small-sized (Sitges), one medium-sized (Malaga) and one large-sized (Madrid). Are there differences in the experiences of people with dissident identities/experiences in these sites? Is it due to the physical geography?
What are the spaces of community? What are the safe and unsafe spaces for people who embody dissent identities?
What are the thoughts of cisgender/straight people about these issues in Spain?
Research Methods
I will use a variety of methods during this research including, but not limited to:
Semi-structured 1:1 interviews
Semi-structured group interviews
Participant observation
General observation
Review of existing literature
The principal texts that guide my research practice are Imagining Queer Methods and Feminist Research Practice. You can learn more about my ethical and data protection practices here.
Research Dissemination
Each week, I will post on this blog with the latest news about my research. You can subscribe to the newsletter that I will publish each week with the latest publication and other notes as well.
In addition, I believe that the information gained through this research will be very valuable as I work on my Davidson thesis. I have not officially decided what I will do with my thesis yet, but I expect that this data will be very useful with this other project. I also plan to present my research at the Verna Miller Case Research and Creative Works Symposium in the spring of 2024. Finally, as I have done with my experience last summer, I will integrate the learnings from this summer into who I am as a person. They will inform every action I take and everything I do in the future.
Cudillero, España. agosto 2022
Do you have any questions? Thoughts you would like to share?
Please contact me! You can email me at hola@mattiebaird.com or use the contact page (in the navigation bar.)
With love,
Mattie