I don't even know where to begin. I don't think I understand my emotions. On one hand, I am really looking forward to going home. On the other, I am not quite ready to leave summer in Chile. My perspective on this changes by the hour. Luckily, I have my adventure in Argentina and Uruguay as a sort of transition point.
I gave my research presentation yesterday. It went well, even though I talked fast in order to fit in all the information. We only had 15 min to speak, and considering how much I have worked on and learned about my topic, I have a lot more than that to say. It's just crazy that I am done now. I felt a little purposeless after the presentations ended. But, I guess it is just a lesson in enjoying myself when I am given the opportunity. And I would definitely say that I have been given the opportunity. I went to the beach all day today and it was wonderful. I rode the waves for a while and took advantage of the possibility of tanning in December. It was all lovely.
I think part of the reason that I feel ready to leave sometimes is because I have been realizing the last few weeks how irresponsibly and sporadic my host mom is. Sometimes it just gets hard to live in the middle of her chaos. Still, she is a great person and I feel so lucky to have lived here.Also, my host brother is currently trying to pass 8th grade for the 3rd time, which is adding some extra stress to the family. I think I am ready for my own family's drama and done with other people's.
Tomorrow, I go to the beach and go on my favorite Valparaiso run one more time while beginning to pack. I leave for Buenos Aires Monday evening, but I need to go to Santiago and such, so I will only have a bit of time to finish packing Monday morning.
It's crazy that this is all coming to an end. I have been dreaming about study abroad since I was like 6 and it has always been something in my future. No longer. I haven't really gotten my head around that. I am really going to miss speaking Spanish and learning so much in every day life. I am also going to miss all of the amazing fruits and veggies that are now in season here. I will also miss the wonderful people I have met here. For example, I have really come to appreciate my program's coordinator, Danko. We have had some really interesting discussions about his life and his incredibly knowledge of Chile. I like to think I will see him again one day.
Love to all.
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Abstract in English
Some people have told me that they are bummed that they won't be able to read my research paper because it is Spanish. Luckily, the abstract is in English. So here you go:
Resumen
No matter what other circumstances exist, there cannot be true democracy without the representation of all sectors of society, especially a sector that makes over half of the population. In Chile, women have suffered the consequences of unequal political representation since the creation of the state and unfortunately, this phenomenon continues today. In fact, Chilean women hold only sixteen percent of popularly elected offices. Thus, the agendas of Chilean women continue to be under-prioritised and the lack of women in political office remains unaddressed. Although there are groups of non-governmental organizations, activists, and politicians working to increase women’s political representation in Chile, their efforts are limited by lack of resources and social awareness combined with structural barriers.
This independent research project set out to examine the gap between what would need to be done in order to bring about equitable representation of women in the political realm and the steps that are actually being taken. The paper begins with a presentation of an explanation of the split between autonomous and political feminists and how that divergence affects the situation of today. In order to comprehend the environment in which the battle for increased representation of women is occurring. The essay goes on to discuss the major challenges, both structural and social, and the tendencies of feminine representation since the transition to democracy in Chile. From there, the findings of the report are demonstrated. First, the essay explains the circumstances, reforms, and campaigns necessary in order to make equal representation of women a possibility. In goes on from there to present the various actions that are actually being taken to bring about that goal. Finally, the paper compares the required and in-process actions in order to demonstrate the overarching breach.
The actions necessary to make a substantial change range from widespread social campaigns to reforms in the electoral system; however, these types of large scale steps are not currently under way in Chile. Thus, this investigation concludes that the breach between what would need to be done and what is actually being done is quite substantial and thus Chile is not currently set in the direction of gender equity in politics.
Resumen
No matter what other circumstances exist, there cannot be true democracy without the representation of all sectors of society, especially a sector that makes over half of the population. In Chile, women have suffered the consequences of unequal political representation since the creation of the state and unfortunately, this phenomenon continues today. In fact, Chilean women hold only sixteen percent of popularly elected offices. Thus, the agendas of Chilean women continue to be under-prioritised and the lack of women in political office remains unaddressed. Although there are groups of non-governmental organizations, activists, and politicians working to increase women’s political representation in Chile, their efforts are limited by lack of resources and social awareness combined with structural barriers.
This independent research project set out to examine the gap between what would need to be done in order to bring about equitable representation of women in the political realm and the steps that are actually being taken. The paper begins with a presentation of an explanation of the split between autonomous and political feminists and how that divergence affects the situation of today. In order to comprehend the environment in which the battle for increased representation of women is occurring. The essay goes on to discuss the major challenges, both structural and social, and the tendencies of feminine representation since the transition to democracy in Chile. From there, the findings of the report are demonstrated. First, the essay explains the circumstances, reforms, and campaigns necessary in order to make equal representation of women a possibility. In goes on from there to present the various actions that are actually being taken to bring about that goal. Finally, the paper compares the required and in-process actions in order to demonstrate the overarching breach.
The actions necessary to make a substantial change range from widespread social campaigns to reforms in the electoral system; however, these types of large scale steps are not currently under way in Chile. Thus, this investigation concludes that the breach between what would need to be done and what is actually being done is quite substantial and thus Chile is not currently set in the direction of gender equity in politics.
waiting time
I have been doing a lot of waiting recently. Waiting for my research advisor to get back to me with her comments on my paper so that I can take those into consideration and make edits and all that good stuff. Currently, I am choosing to wait by doing some sun bathing on my roof. I have to get some color and appreciate the sun before I go back to winter. It is just so gorgeous here, but it seems like it is always the most beautiful on days that I have to do the most work. This option is perfect because i can appreciate the gorgeous port city I live in while staying close to my computer to see if my advisor has gotten back to me. I am also listening to some Manuel Garcia, which I recommend to everyone. I saw him live a week or so ago and his songs are wonderful.
The paper is going well. A very close to finished draft is due tomorrow. I feeling good about it. And i am definitely not worried about the academic standards of my program. I have decided that my new standard is to be confident enough in my final product to send it to my favorite professor at Oxy and the women I have interviewed here in Chile. A bunch of them has asked to see my final product and they definitely deserve to, considering they have offered me their time and expertise. I feel really lucky to have been able to spend time with the group of women I interviewed. They are incredibly smart and dedicated to improving the lives of Chilean Women. I guess they were glad to see that a young woman was so interested in their work and what they have to say because tehy were incredibly generous with their time.
María de los Ángeles, a boss of a woman that I had the honor to interview, was super duper amazing and actually got me invited to the annual presentation of the National Service of Women at the Presidential Palace. We went together yesterday and it was really cool. The Minister quoted Mar´â while I was sitting next to her so I was obviously sitting with the right crowd. Once the presentation was over, María and I waited for the Minister and she came over the say hi. María told her taht I was here researching political representation of women in Chile. The Minister told me to come back to Chile and run for political office here. That might be pushing a whole other level of imperialism. It was overall just a funny experience.
My friend Emie is coming on Thursday night and I am super stoked. It is really out of the blew, we decided the whole thing on Saturday, but now it's happening it it will be great. I am looking forward to showing someone around this city that I love so much. I currently have exactly 2 weeks left in Chile. Which is absolutely crazy, but I want to make sure and take advantage of my last days here. Once i turn in my project, I will really feel free to live the Valpo life.
My advisor just sent me an update so I am going to go up to my friend Rose's house to do some writing. She lives close and has a good space to work in. Plus, I get to look over the whole city and ocean as I wor, which is pretty awesome.
Love from Chile!
The paper is going well. A very close to finished draft is due tomorrow. I feeling good about it. And i am definitely not worried about the academic standards of my program. I have decided that my new standard is to be confident enough in my final product to send it to my favorite professor at Oxy and the women I have interviewed here in Chile. A bunch of them has asked to see my final product and they definitely deserve to, considering they have offered me their time and expertise. I feel really lucky to have been able to spend time with the group of women I interviewed. They are incredibly smart and dedicated to improving the lives of Chilean Women. I guess they were glad to see that a young woman was so interested in their work and what they have to say because tehy were incredibly generous with their time.
María de los Ángeles, a boss of a woman that I had the honor to interview, was super duper amazing and actually got me invited to the annual presentation of the National Service of Women at the Presidential Palace. We went together yesterday and it was really cool. The Minister quoted Mar´â while I was sitting next to her so I was obviously sitting with the right crowd. Once the presentation was over, María and I waited for the Minister and she came over the say hi. María told her taht I was here researching political representation of women in Chile. The Minister told me to come back to Chile and run for political office here. That might be pushing a whole other level of imperialism. It was overall just a funny experience.
My friend Emie is coming on Thursday night and I am super stoked. It is really out of the blew, we decided the whole thing on Saturday, but now it's happening it it will be great. I am looking forward to showing someone around this city that I love so much. I currently have exactly 2 weeks left in Chile. Which is absolutely crazy, but I want to make sure and take advantage of my last days here. Once i turn in my project, I will really feel free to live the Valpo life.
My advisor just sent me an update so I am going to go up to my friend Rose's house to do some writing. She lives close and has a good space to work in. Plus, I get to look over the whole city and ocean as I wor, which is pretty awesome.
Love from Chile!
Monday, November 21, 2011
So much time with my tape recorder...
Actually, that is what I should be doing right now. Basically, I should always be transcribing. But that will end soon. I have my last interview tomorrow. I shouldn't complain because it's only because I have had so many successful interviews that I have to spend so much time transcribing. One interview was an hour and a half long. This is all in Spanish remember. Transcribing takes forever and it's all really interesting and all, but it can also get tedious.
I have also been able to attend some really cool events related to my topic. On Friday I went to a Chilean Senate briefing on women in politics women's rights. It was super cool and I got to use my US House of Reps pen (that can write in outer spacer) to take notes at a Chilean congressional event.
I am going back to Valpo to do a bunch of writing and see friendly faces either Wednesday afternoon or Thursday morning. I am still figuring that out. Santiago has been good to me but I am looking forward to being with the other students again in such a cool city that is so much easier to get around. Santiago is just so much bigger and although my house and host family are great, our house is a bit detached. Anyway, going back will be good but there will also be more distractions. But at the same time, we will all need to be writing a lot.
I am gonna go back to transcribing now.
I have also been able to attend some really cool events related to my topic. On Friday I went to a Chilean Senate briefing on women in politics women's rights. It was super cool and I got to use my US House of Reps pen (that can write in outer spacer) to take notes at a Chilean congressional event.
I am going back to Valpo to do a bunch of writing and see friendly faces either Wednesday afternoon or Thursday morning. I am still figuring that out. Santiago has been good to me but I am looking forward to being with the other students again in such a cool city that is so much easier to get around. Santiago is just so much bigger and although my house and host family are great, our house is a bit detached. Anyway, going back will be good but there will also be more distractions. But at the same time, we will all need to be writing a lot.
I am gonna go back to transcribing now.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Research, research, research
I am pretty sure that is all I do these days. I read a lot and write a good amount (that amount is on the uprise) and interview people after writing a bunch of interview questions. This is by far the hardest I have worked during this semester. The first 2 months were pretty low on the work level, but that has all changed. I also think that living in Santiago has made me really focus on my project but sometimes I feel like I am making up work for myself, but I am learning a lot so who cares. I have read everything that I can get my hands on that has to do with the political participation or representation of women in Chile. Both in English and Spanish. I have actually begun to learn to skim in Spanish, a new feat.
Speaking of new feats, I TALK IN MY SLEEP IN SPANISH NOW!!! The most recent time apparently I sounded like I was conducting an interview in Spanish. I guess that shows what is on my mind. It was Lauren Wemple who told me about this particular incidence since she spent Friday night here. We had a very lovely time together considering that we can talk for hours and hours and still find things to converse about and analyze. I needed that so it was much appreciated. It's also really exciting because we are both so excited about our research projects, but at the same time I think that made our days off together that much more needed. We had a failed attempt on hiking on Saturday but we still ended up climbing a mountain so it worked out. We both agree that my host parents in Santiago are incredibly generous, welcoming, and wonderful. They fed us well and think of anything we could possibly need. Ceci, mi mama, took us on the failed attempt to go hiking on Saturday and wasted 2 hours in the car with us looking for the national reserve and was trying to cheer us up. She even found us the other park to go hiking in! We just chatted the whole time and she was so incredibly positive and happy!
I spent today writing my introduction and the intro-context to my paper along with my methodology. So far so good. Tomorrow I have 2 more interviews at Corporación Humanas, the main organization I am working with. Things are rolling along quite nicely but sometimes research is just intense, especially in my second language in a foreign city/country. I go back and forth from incredible highs to lows, but overall, I feel so lucky to be here living with such a welcoming family and spending all of my days learning about what I want to learn about.
Speaking of new feats, I TALK IN MY SLEEP IN SPANISH NOW!!! The most recent time apparently I sounded like I was conducting an interview in Spanish. I guess that shows what is on my mind. It was Lauren Wemple who told me about this particular incidence since she spent Friday night here. We had a very lovely time together considering that we can talk for hours and hours and still find things to converse about and analyze. I needed that so it was much appreciated. It's also really exciting because we are both so excited about our research projects, but at the same time I think that made our days off together that much more needed. We had a failed attempt on hiking on Saturday but we still ended up climbing a mountain so it worked out. We both agree that my host parents in Santiago are incredibly generous, welcoming, and wonderful. They fed us well and think of anything we could possibly need. Ceci, mi mama, took us on the failed attempt to go hiking on Saturday and wasted 2 hours in the car with us looking for the national reserve and was trying to cheer us up. She even found us the other park to go hiking in! We just chatted the whole time and she was so incredibly positive and happy!
I spent today writing my introduction and the intro-context to my paper along with my methodology. So far so good. Tomorrow I have 2 more interviews at Corporación Humanas, the main organization I am working with. Things are rolling along quite nicely but sometimes research is just intense, especially in my second language in a foreign city/country. I go back and forth from incredible highs to lows, but overall, I feel so lucky to be here living with such a welcoming family and spending all of my days learning about what I want to learn about.
Monday, November 7, 2011
This whole research thing
This personal research thing in such a short period of time is quite something. I don't really know how to approach it, but I am doing my best. Which, usually means that I spend most of my day reading whatever I can get my hands on (in English or Spanish) that has anything to do with the political participation of women in Chile. I have now found two Oxy professors in the bibliographies of my secondary research, Jaquette and Heldman. It's nice to know that I have such awesome people around me at Oxy that care about a subject I currently have so much passion for.
Scheduling things in this time frame is one of the largest challenges, especially because I am trying to talk to some very busy women. Obviously, they are busy with very interesting things, which is why I want to interview them. Still, I feel lucky to have any contact with them. I visited Humanas for the first time today (it is not easy to find) and talked with the women who basically runs the political participation project. She invited me to an event on Thursday and we are going to have a more-formal interview in the near future.
I have hope and I am so excited to be literally studying what I want all day every day, but at the same time it is sort of intense. Mostly, it is just far out of my comfort zone, but that is a good thing. And this research is a large part of the reason that I choose this program.
It helps a lot that my Santiago host family is really wonderful. I just finished a conversation with my host mom about women in politics and it was really interesting to hear her perspective. I told her about Michelle Bachman and how sad it is that she is the type of women we have trying to get to the top levels of government. Apparently my host mom's father was a mayor for a while and her mom and sister have both run for political positions as well. In the 70s, she was very active in MIR, the leftist revolutionary movement that worked to bring about the "proletariat of the workers." I can't believe these are the things I get to hear about on a daily basis. It's like living in a library.
Night night!
Scheduling things in this time frame is one of the largest challenges, especially because I am trying to talk to some very busy women. Obviously, they are busy with very interesting things, which is why I want to interview them. Still, I feel lucky to have any contact with them. I visited Humanas for the first time today (it is not easy to find) and talked with the women who basically runs the political participation project. She invited me to an event on Thursday and we are going to have a more-formal interview in the near future.
I have hope and I am so excited to be literally studying what I want all day every day, but at the same time it is sort of intense. Mostly, it is just far out of my comfort zone, but that is a good thing. And this research is a large part of the reason that I choose this program.
It helps a lot that my Santiago host family is really wonderful. I just finished a conversation with my host mom about women in politics and it was really interesting to hear her perspective. I told her about Michelle Bachman and how sad it is that she is the type of women we have trying to get to the top levels of government. Apparently my host mom's father was a mayor for a while and her mom and sister have both run for political positions as well. In the 70s, she was very active in MIR, the leftist revolutionary movement that worked to bring about the "proletariat of the workers." I can't believe these are the things I get to hear about on a daily basis. It's like living in a library.
Night night!
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Check In
I have arrived in Santiago safe and sound and I am feeling much more confident than I was before. Danko, the coordinator of my program came with me to Santiago and not only did he show me much of the logistical/necessary things, we also had some lovely conversation and he reminded me of how well I am taken care of here. During on our conversation on the bus, he told me how he was kicked out of law school because he was a communist during the dictatorship. He was in the best school in the country, getting the best grades, but never finished his career because they expelled him and then changed his records to say that he was not allowed to attend any public university in Chile.
He took me to my new home, where I met my host dad and 12-year-old sister; took me to the office of my advisor; and showed me around Santiago some. Although I did not meet my advisor today, being in her office reminded me so much of my internship this summer. There is just a certain environment in political offices. Also, both offices are currently suffering the same problem where they work in a system controlled by a different party, in both cases, parties way to the right of them.
So far, I am loving this family. They are super easy to talk with and they remind me so much of my own family. My sister is incredibly well-informed for a 12-year-old and so opinionated and sounds a lot like me when I was her age. Within the first hour I was in the house, she told her dad that he was not allowed to smoke cigarettes, which reminded me of how I told me dad that he wasn't allowed to chew tobacco anymore at the exact same age. She makes fun of the right-wing government and reads political cartoons. It is hilarious to see her interact with her parents because so much of what she does reminds me of myself. The family is quite similar to my real family in other ways too. For example, my host dad is super attached and protective of his daughter (and I am not saying that is a bad things). I am really looking forward to getting to know the family more and discussing all kinds of things with them. I am becoming less sure of how often I will visit Valpo, not that I will even have the time to do so. I really need to get to work on a whole other level than I have been. Tomorrow's meeting with my advisor will help.
He took me to my new home, where I met my host dad and 12-year-old sister; took me to the office of my advisor; and showed me around Santiago some. Although I did not meet my advisor today, being in her office reminded me so much of my internship this summer. There is just a certain environment in political offices. Also, both offices are currently suffering the same problem where they work in a system controlled by a different party, in both cases, parties way to the right of them.
So far, I am loving this family. They are super easy to talk with and they remind me so much of my own family. My sister is incredibly well-informed for a 12-year-old and so opinionated and sounds a lot like me when I was her age. Within the first hour I was in the house, she told her dad that he was not allowed to smoke cigarettes, which reminded me of how I told me dad that he wasn't allowed to chew tobacco anymore at the exact same age. She makes fun of the right-wing government and reads political cartoons. It is hilarious to see her interact with her parents because so much of what she does reminds me of myself. The family is quite similar to my real family in other ways too. For example, my host dad is super attached and protective of his daughter (and I am not saying that is a bad things). I am really looking forward to getting to know the family more and discussing all kinds of things with them. I am becoming less sure of how often I will visit Valpo, not that I will even have the time to do so. I really need to get to work on a whole other level than I have been. Tomorrow's meeting with my advisor will help.
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