Thesis

Katie D.

April 28, 2009 - 10:00 AM

I am currently in the planning stages of a thesis project that will inevitably be the consuming factor of my senior year. An undergraduate thesis is a requirement for graduation from the Clark Honors College. Your thesis is usually written in your area of interest, using original research and providing a new scholarly work in your field.

Yikes.

They tell us to shoot between forty and five hundred pages. That's quite a range, don't you think? Science majors sometimes write their thesis on the research they have participated in during lab work at the UO. A friend who is a Spanish major is doing original translations of Chilean short stories. Creative writing majors might write a first novel, students who have been involved with overseas internships might publish studies based on their experiences.

The honors college gives a huge degree of flexibility in choosing our thesis topics. We have three advisors: a specialist in the field, a second reader frm your major, and an advisor from the honors college. Your thesis should have something to do with your major. Beyond that...

So, on to my specific thesis plan.

I will be writing my senior thesis with a focus on the Inside-Out Program. I have previously blogged about this program, but just to catch people up, this is a national program that takes college classes into prison settings. College students and prison inmates participate in classes as peers and academic equals, with facilitation by a professor who has been trained in this specific area. I took an Inside-Out class my freshman year: a literature class in which we read House of the Dead and Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky. I am participating in this class again, this time a class on literature and ethics: studying the books Don Quixote by Cervantes and The Idiot by Dostoevsky. We are also reading excerpts from the philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas.

The experience of participating in a literature class with prison inmates was an incredibly transformative one for me. I came to see all the members of my class as my peers: as academic equals despite the fact that society generally warns me to stay away from convicted persons. We have so much to learn from every individual person we encounter, if we can only overcome our prejudice and fear of the unknown Other.

My prospectus class professor gave us worksheets to help us refine our topics. So here are the four questions and the four planning areas I am currently working on.

1: What do you want to know? The central question, the specifying questions:

Humanity is incredibly divided: segregated by race, religion, culture, habit, location, and social boundaries. Yet, in the course of daily existence in this globalized world, we inevitably encounter these "Others" in our lives. How, then, do we construct these zones of contact in ways that allow for peaceful and productive interactions? How do we dissolve conflict, encourage understanding, and allow for a plurality of perspectives and experiences in this varied world that is so volatile and in which we have more and more opportunities to encounter strangers?

And now a more specific question: Why does the Inside-Out Program function so well as a medium of successful dialogue? How does this class lead to deeper understanding between usually separate groups of people? And, as an extension of this question, how can these techniques be extended beyond the program itself?

2. Why should anyone care?

The peaceful resolution of conflict, or the mediation of meetings with "the Other," is a hugely important issue in this globalized and crowded world. How can we, as individuals, learn to see our Others as our peers? And how can we, as institutions, create systems that are inclusive and equal when dealing with diversity and competing interests?

If the Inside-Out class can bring students at institutions of higher education and introduce them to our incarcerated peers, and then have these people work together in a classroom setting, participating as equals toward a goal of greater learning, then there is hope for resolution to some of these other social justice concerns. If college students and convicts can see each other as equals and peers, then what else could be accomplished? Or, more specifically, if college students and prison inmates can peacefully collaborate to achieve academic goals, then how can we expand that model to encourage collaboration between more diverse groups?

3. Thesis and working hypothesis

A key part in creating a safe and equal space for communication is to recognize the humanness of the other individual. It is to see the self in the Other. The Inside-Out Program utilizes a variety of mechanisms to encourage this, including

-The use of ice breakers during the first session in order to introduce each student to every other class participant, and to remove some of the nervousness of the circumstances.

-Collective creation of and enforcement of classroom rules and procedures

- An academic purpose (most Inside-Out classes are focused on the criminal justice system. The classes I have participated in are literature and ethics classes, and I find this focus on a non-justice oriented subject to be very helpful)

-A time limitation

I plan to utilize conflict resolution and dialogue theory in the research for this thesis project. I hope that the application of this theory in an Inside-Out setting will allow me to identify the particularly helpful elements and strategies.

4. Sources and Methods

I will utilize social theory on conflict resolution, dialogue, and peacemaking to theorize on effective methods. This will hopefully include not only professional research and publications on the topic, but also academic coursework in the field.

I will also be informed by the Inside-Out Program and the training, philosophy, methods, and teaching styles utilized by classes taught in the program. How are strategies different than most teaching styles? What techniques of conflict resolution theory are employed? How did they develop their style and format?

As a participant, I will also be informed by my observations and reflections. I also hope to survey other participants (students Inside, Outside, and professor/facilitators). I am also participating in this spring's course as a participant-observer, serving as both a class member and as someone interested in the format and structure of the course. What works? Why? And do participants feel that the experience has remained relevant in their subsequent encounters with "Others," or with experiences outside of their comfort zones?

Hopefully the majority of this work will be focused on theories of conflict resolution and dialogue, but I will use the program as a focus and illustration of dialogue "done well" that leads to comfort and at least partial understanding of the Other.

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So there you have it: my thesis plan. I am extremely excited to learn more about all this, and to have an opportunity for continued participation in the program.

I am extremely excited to be working in this field, and to have the chance to explore this program and this topic more deeply. I feel very strongly on the topic of peaceful interactions and conflict resolution. Because of my previous experiences with the Inside-Out Program, I am also very excited to continue working with them. If all goes well, I will be attending a training session for the Inside-Out Program this summer, which will allow me to gain a more complete understanding of the program's philosophy and methods. In any event, I will have the opportunity to work with many people who are involved in conflict resolution in general, and the issue of prisons in particular.