During my research, I attended a pro-choice protest in Mountain Home, Arkansas where I had the opportunity to talk to activists and learn about their beliefs, rhetoric, and experiences within the abortion debate.
Author: Nikki Gross | Major: Cultural Anthropology
My name is Nikki Gross, and I am a Cultural Anthropology major with minors in History and English. For the past year and a half, I have researched the individual experience of different women in Arkansas concerning topics of reproductive politics such as abortion under the associate professor Ram Natarajan in the Anthropology Department of the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences. I conducted this research from the Summer of 2021 until the Spring of 2022. My plans for the future include taking a gap year to gain practical librarianship experience before attending the University of Illinois Master of Library and Information Science program. Additionally, I intend to use my research to advocate for reproductive rights within the United States during my gap year.
My research, titled “Living Reproductive Politics: Legislating the Female Body in the Modern and Historical United States,” describes the individual beliefs and experiences regarding abortion of six different women from Northern Arkansas. The goal of the research was to articulate how the pro-choice and pro-life binary which is portrayed throughout the modern abortion debate is not a realistic depiction of the way women feel about pregnancy termination. By highlighting the individual stories of different women, my research shows how the abortion debate occurs on a spectrum, a spectrum that must be recognized in reproductive politics if the United States is ever to reach lasting legislation on the topic. The individual stories of the women are contextualized within a brief overview of the history of abortion within the United States. As the 1973 landmark ruling of Roe v. Wade heads back up to docket, this research can be used as a tool to help people understand the modern abortion debate as it currently exists, rather than how it is portrayed. During my research, I did fieldwork to help gather information. I visited pro-life and pro-choice rallies which helped me to craft a deeper understanding of how women were actively living with and through the modern abortion debate. While there, I took notes, spoke with participants, and listened to speeches and thoroughly read handouts to discuss the binary sides of the debate. It was a valuable experience for my development as a researcher and as an anthropologist.
Though I have always had an interest in the abortion debate and the culture surrounding reproductive health within the United States, this thesis was inspired by personal experiences that my purportedly pro-life mother encountered when helping someone try to access an abortion. Reproductive politics, and the debate surrounding it, were receiving local and national media attention, so I felt it was important to take a snapshot of the individual experiences of women as the debate evolved around them. After deciding on the topic, I began talking to various faculty members in the anthropology department to see who might best fit my research topics and needs. Dr. Ram Natarajan came highly recommended by several faculty members, and I had been in a class of his before, so I reached out to him via email to set up a meeting where he agreed to be my mentor. Dr. Natarajan would be constant support throughout both the process of researching and writing my thesis, as well as applying for grants.
Throughout the year that I researched reproductive politics, I learned many things about the world, research, and myself. Regarding my research, I now have a deeper understanding of the history of abortion within the United States and how some women today experience it. Throughout the experience, I learned about the nuances of beliefs surrounding abortion and the spectrum on which it occurred. I also learned how different experiences influence women’s ideas about reproductive politics. All the information I learned about modern abortion was also informed by the history of abortion and the legislation which has been crafted over the last two hundred years. This research has helped cultivate a continued passion for reproductive politics. While I gained much knowledge, I also faced several challenges. The biggest challenge I faced was learning to balance my thesis research with my other classwork as well as with my personal life. I also struggled to understand the technicalities of IRB approval and the art of conducting effective interviews. Though the challenges were numerous, I found that the best solutions for me were crafting personal deadlines for myself and talking with my mentor about anything I was struggling with. Dr. Natarajan provided encouragement, critiques, and advice to help me get through what was often a difficult experience for me. Alongside answering all my questions, my mentor also provided book recommendations, asked critical questions, and provided information on formatting and editing. Dr. Natarajan’s support was critical to the crafting of my thesis, and he pushed me to create quality work. Other faculty members, including people both on and off my committee, gave me advice, asked insightful questions, and connected me with sources to help get the information I needed to write my thesis.
As abortion continues to become a more and more controversial issue within the United States, especially with the increased questioning of the 1973 landmark Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade, I hope to use my research to help spread awareness within my community about the realities of reproductive rights and abortion. For me, it is important that my research does not stop because I finished my thesis. Reproductive rights and abortion are topics that means a lot to me, both because of and beyond scholastic purposes. I hope to keep expanding my understanding of them both personally and anthropologically as the debate continues to evolve within the United States.