My
project is evaluating the Cultural Context of Education among Homeless Youths
Ages 18-24 in the District of Columbia Metropolitan Area. I am in the process of working on this with
my co-researcher Robert Miller. We seek to find out how the cultural
understanding of education affects the long term quality of life in individuals
who are either currently or formerly homeless.
This
project stemmed from a case competition about the epidemic of homelessness in
D.C. that Robert and I participated in.
We chose to further explore this topic through independent research
because it is an acknowledged but incredibly misunderstood aspect of
homelessness.
As a
future anthropologist I have a sense of duty to use my understanding of culture
to benefit society therefore I consider this essential to my career plan. I am especially interested in the how
cultural constructs and disparities throughout society are correlated. Through project I have been able to further
explore the correlation and strongly believe that I have benefited in my
understanding of complex social issues.
Majority
of my daily schedule revolves around outreach to local shelters in order to
find participants for the study. Soon it
will comprise of of onsite interviews with participants in the study. This week I have discovered how there is
continually more work to be done when doing research and that with every step,
the project only becomes more complicated yet intriguing.
