Obama thesis obtained by Politico

[katty]

more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0208/8642.html

Obama thesis obtained by Politico

By: Jeffrey Ressner
Feb 22, 2008 04:20 PM EST



Michelle Obama's senior thesis at Princeton University shows young woman grappling with race and society.


Michelle Obama's senior year thesis at Princeton University, obtained exclusively from the campaign by Politico, shows a document written by a young woman grappling with a society in which a black Princeton alumnus might only be allowed to remain "on the periphery." To read the entire thesis, click here.

"My experiences at Princeton have made me far more aware of my 'blackness' than ever before," the future Mrs. Obama wrote in her thesis introduction. "I have found that at Princeton no matter how liberal and open-minded some of my White professors and classmates try to be toward me, I sometimes feel like a visitor on campus; as if I really don't belong. Regardless of the circumstances underwhich I interact with whites at Princeton, it often seems as if, to them, I will always be black first and a student second."

[babylonsister]

1. Thanks! She's overcome and accomplished so much since her

college days. No wonder she's so gratified now. :thumbsup:

[katty]

2. yes, indeed

[ananda]

3. You know what I want to know?

Why is writing and thinking about on the par
of a kindergartner given thesis level material?

Amazing...

[joeybee12]

5. It does sound pretty amateur...

...if I had an inclination to know anything about her, I'd read the whole thing to see if this is indicative of the entire of the entire thesis...but, alas, I have no inclination.

[DemBones DemBones]

6. Ivy League schools aren't quite what

they're cracked up to be?

[iconoclastic cat]

10. Unfortunately, you wouldn't believe the tripe that is turned in to thesis committies.

And it's not always the writer's fault. Thesis advisors can give some utterly ridiculous advice, and oftentimes the committees will require ridiculous changes. Writing by committee never works unless you're in television.

[wpelb]

21. "Writing by committee never works unless you're in television"

I'm not even sure it works there.

[blitzen]

23. Hey, this is an undergraduate "thesis"....

which basically means a 20-25 page paper. As such, it's average for an Ivy school. Trust me, I'm a college prof with an Ivy degree.

[Joshua N]

4. I know how she feels. I want to take the time to say

that I will be proud of America if they elect Barack Obama as president. It does not end the problems of race and racism, but it will signal that we have come a long way, maybe halfway? I will really be proud that the American people did not let race get in the way of choosing Obama as president. Of course it does not end the entrenched racism but it will mean something for me as a black person. I will feel a positive way about America, not just its ideals and promises or certain people or groups, but about the majority of the nation if that many people all across the country can look past his skin color.

That does not mean that I think everyone should vote for him because he is black. It means that everyone who did vote for him did not let race get in the way (obviously) because they voted for him. And that would be good to me.

[chknltl]

7. Well stated and I concur.

I also like that this is but a harbinger of further much needed change. :thumbsup:

[babylonsister]

8. Joshua N, welcome to DU!

We've come a long way and have a long way to go, but I feel like you do. I'm glad race isn't getting in the way of this election. It gives me hope!

[Joshua N]

17. Thanks babylonsister! I'm happy to be here with concerned, informed citizens.

I thought I would try to add a positive note because it feels good to be positive about something for a change regarding race relations in America. Again, thanks for the warm welcome! I really appreciate it.

[shain from kane]

9. "underwhich" --- Her Princeton education gives her the authority to invent new words.

No results found for "under which"



Multiple Words
The words "under which" do not appear together, but you can try a search on the individual words.

[jkshaw]

12. It might have been the typo of the person copying off

the statement.

On the other hand, thesis advisers and editors attached to graduate schools rarely read theses submitted to them carefully enough to catch typos like that.

[shain from kane]

13. I guess "white" being capitalized in the second sentence was a copying error, too.

She also finished the first sentence with "before", a preposition if there ever was one.

[Igel]

19. There it's an adverb.

"Before" can be a preposition, an adverb, or a conjunction.

"Have you been here before?" (Note the lack of ellipsis.) Temporal deixis. Adverb.

"I stood before the threshold of my new life." Preposition.

"I stood up before he did and dumped my soup in his lap." Conjunction.

Not hard. One just has to remember that the prescriptive grammarians of the 16th and 17th centuries, being dead, are no longer around to enforce their belief that English grammar must comport itself in as Latinate a way as possible. Or one can consult a competent dictionary, if an authority is needed to validate one's native-speaker judgments.

[RuleOfNah]

20. DU is scary.

Even the grammar police have sharp teeth. :)

[trthnd4jstc]

15. Yes. I invent new words often. Bush does too!

Inventing new words proves that the English language is flexible. Pres. Bush has an MBA and has invented more than 500 new words, all entertaining.

[shain from kane]

18. Never misunderestimate a good edumacation.

Edumacation is the process by which one becomes edumacated, the achievement of which is generally marked by a gradumacation ceremony. Edumacated people know a lot of things, though the process of how they came to know them remains a mystery.

[From The Left]

11. Michelle Obama Will Make a Splendid First Lady

Expect great things from her.

[enid602]

14. Michelle

Boy, it's really all about her!

[Joshua N]

16. If this is what her comments get on DU of all places, you have proven her point well. n/t

[nealmhughes]

22. A few comments on some critics' treatment of Mrs. Obama's senior thesis:

Some is warranted, but much is not. Her writing style is obviously not mature as of the writing, and that is to be expected, as she was probably around 22 years old at the time.
The overall theme is sound and actually rather "interesting." However, I was thrown back at her very long Chapter One which was a rather rambling autobiographical section, and could (actually, it probably should) have been within the acknowlegements or a separate introduction to before the actual text. It took forever for the second chapter to get around to a simple laundry list of unique or redifined or defined terminology and the methodology -- almost as if she were padding, not an uncommon or altogether conscious decision for many authors.
The scholarship appears sound enough, if hardly on the novel edge of what one might expect from a Princeton senior. Those who supervised the work are to blame for that.
One of the key points for a thesis advisor is to keep the author on track and push them in the dircetion of originality as well as sound scholarship: this is a marrige that is hard for many to accomplish. A better editor -- most likely a friend or colleague was who she chose -- could have helped, but that again, to a senior's eyes was probably brilliant.
Overall, I would term it sound work, but not brilliant, and the autobiographical aspect is a bit hard for a scholar to work through. It is very much more preferable to be a disinterested outside observor than a participant when conducting research. For example: I am an academic librarian, but rarely treat academic topics because of my closeness to the topic, instead, I opt for treating public libraries, or even the entire process of information flow and its iterations and "spin" involved therein.
It wasn't "bad," but it wasn't great, either. All in all, a pretty good paper, but not drawing any unexpected analyses at all, so what was the point of writing it? The point was obviously to have the faculty see life as a black Ivy Leaguer through her eyes as well as those of similar circumstances. My main criticism has to be summarized with a simple gripe: why only black Ivy Leaguers as respondants? Would not treating female white, Latina, Latino, Asian-Americans as well have given her work a broader area for comparison?
I give it a solid B-, to be honest. I have edited much better theses and dissertations, but I have read many, many worse.
I don't think that even commenting accomplished anything at all, save a typing exercise: she got her BA then her JD. Then followed her law practice. Not her scholarship in sociology as an undergraduate!