Edie Abraham-Macht
Today, I’m excited to spotlight another starred project by Jadyn Lewis, a student in the Social Sciences for Social Problems course. For her project, Jadyn explored the experience of motherhood during the pandemic from an interdisciplinary perspective. She used the lenses of anthropology and economics to critically analyze an article titled “Other countries have social safety nets. The U.S. has women,” in which blogger Anne Helen Petersen interviews sociologist Jessica Calarco.
Throughout her presentation, Jadyn offers unbelievably clear explanations, at once succinct and comprehensive, that demonstrate a far deeper knowledge of the issue she addresses than the article alone could provide. She thoughtfully discusses the limitations of the article’s perspective on motherhood, a choice that provides crucial context for listeners and demonstrates her close attention to the source at hand. This is exactly what I was looking for in student presentations!
As you watch the presentation, look out for Jadyn’s brilliant suggestions for how an anthropologist could expand on this existing study, and for how the study itself could expand to compare mothers' changing sentiments as the pandemic has progressed over the past two years. Both of these unique ideas reveal Jadyn’s mastery of the assignment, and add layers of nuance to the article itself. Jadyn’s choice to use the concept of trade-offs to approach the article from an economic perspective is also fascinating, and especially impressive given that Jadyn was only introduced to economics a week before she submitted her final project!
Finally, Jadyn’s attentiveness not only to the differences between various social scientific approaches to this issue, but also to their commonalities, speaks powerfully to the ways in which the social sciences can work together to help us reach greater clarity on pressing social issues. I strongly encourage you to check out Jadyn’s eloquent, original presentation—I’m willing to bet that it’ll prompt you to see the world around you differently, as all good education should!