Make America Curious Again: Integrating Feminism Into Undergraduate International Relations Studies

Tambria Schroeder '17

B.A. Political Science, International Studies, and Women & Gender Studies

Tambria currently works as a Program Specialist for the U.S. Department of State.

What fabricated you want to pursue your major?

"For as long as I can recollect, I wanted to find a career that would let me to travel and help people. I came to Brockport thinking that majoring in Social Work and minoring in International Studies would lead me to that. During my second semester, I took Comparative Politics and International Relations, and chop-chop realized that I was pursuing the incorrect major. Cantankerous-Cultural Perspectives on Women and Gender changed my life by revealing to me that I also had a passion for feminist issues. Over the course of the next three years, I changed and added majors a number of times until I settled on triple majoring in Political Science, International Studies, and Women & Gender Studies with a Certificate in French Language Studies. I was able to combine all of my interests to craft a challenging, but incredibly rewarding undergraduate career."

How did SUNY Brockport influence you to accept the path you lot're on now?

"When I came to Brockport in 2013, the campus was in the middle of its "Pursue Something Greater" entrada. It may sound platitude, but I took this on as a personal mantra of sorts – that in everything I practice, I volition always pursue something greater. At the time, I had likewise just joined the Leadership Development Program, with Monique Rew-Bigelow equally my mentor, and she encouraged me to consider the Washington, D.C. Internship Plan. I decided that, if I was going to do the program, I was going to reach as high as I could. For me, that meant reaching for an internship at the The states Department of Country. Nigh four years later on, I can proudly say that I non only completed an internship in my junior year, but also went on to be hired every bit a contractor after graduation."

What kind of special experiences accept yous had at Brockport?

"Given where I am today, I would take to say that my internship was by far the most life-changing thing to happen to me during my fourth dimension at Brockport. All the same, a number of other experiences also come to mind that were just equally of import to me. Studying away in Russia, speaking at Convocation, being awarded a $5,000 Campus Action Projection grant past the American Association of University Women, and receiving the SUNY Chancellor's Award are some that stand out."

What did y'all remember of your Study Abroad opportunities? What did you take away from them?

"During the summer after my sophomore year, I studied in Russian federation for a month and loved every second of it. We lived on Vasilievsky Island in St. Petersburg and crossed the Neva River every day to become to class. I took two incredible courses – Islam, Women, and the West and Bodies, Labor, and Reproduction – and had plenty of fourth dimension to explore the city, equally well. I've always found Russian history, architecture, and culture fascinating, so it was so cool to experience information technology in person. I learned a lot almost myself and about a society that nosotros, as Americans, are often taught to fear and exist skeptical of. I think that no matter what happens between our two countries (or any country for that matter), it'due south important to take time to get to know the people and come across beyond our politics."

How has your life changed since leaving Brockport?

"It'southward been quite a whirlwind – merely definitely a skillful i! I'one thousand fortunate enough to have the job of my dreams in the capital of our country. I go to support programs that accept a meaning impact on people's lives around the world. In less than i year, I've been able to work on three different portfolios, travel to 6 countries, and meet countless inspiring individuals. I learn something new everyday – information technology keeps life interesting and exciting. I tin't wait to come across where life takes me adjacent. Through it all, I will e'er retrieve and exist thankful for the part that Brockport had in setting me on the path that I'm on now."

What is the best function near your job?

"The all-time part of my job is exactly that – I get to leave work feeling like I've helped to make a deviation in the life of at to the lowest degree ane person each mean solar day. Sometimes it'south but delivering skilful news to my co-workers, while other times it's finding out that our partners accept accomplished incredible things in the field to assistance promote human being rights and republic in their countries."

What are your future goals?

"This is actually something that I've been asking myself a lot lately. Working at the Department of Land was e'er an cease goal for me, but then I was fortunate enough to start my career there. Deciding where to go from here is tough. I would like to stay in my current position for a couple of years, but I would also like to work on getting my masters caste in that time. So I'll be weighing a couple different options – going to piece of work for an NGO, trying to move up within the Department, or applying for the Foreign Service. I'm not in too large of a blitz and I'thousand excited to see where life takes me.

Publications

Why Women? Gender Mainstreaming in Undergraduate International Relations Soapbox

Abstract: Over the final 30 years, feminist international relations (IR) and gendered approaches to foreign policy and security have been gaining attention in both the academy and in government. All the same, the systems and institutions that be in our country are strategically designed to maintain patriarchy and privilege masculinity, and then this work isn't necessarily permeating into what is taught to students in undergraduate classrooms. Using a feminist lens, I analyze if and how women, gender, and feminism are being integrated into undergraduate IR courses at various public higher didactics institutions upstate New York. I consider the various arguments cited past professors for not teaching feminist IR and the potential consequences of continuing to exclude feminism and gender from undergraduate international relations courses. I conclude that the only way to subvert the patriarchal dominance of both cognition and practice is to become more curious about what we're teaching and learning in international relations.

Make America Curious Again: Integrating Feminism into Undergraduate International Relations Studies

Abstract: The systems and institutions that exist in our country are strategically designed to maintain patriarchy and privileged masculinity. Complacency of the majority ensures that these structures remain intact. In this paper, I consider the exclusion of feminism and discussions of gender from undergraduate political science and international studies courses, and why it is critical for us to be paying attention to it now peradventure more than ever before. I suggest that this exclusion merely helps to ensure that patriarchal authorization continues into the hereafter. We have the potential to change past adopting a more curious mindset.

Disrupting the Lean: Performing a 2016 Announcement of Sentiments

Abstract: Memory. Disruption. Presidential. Underrepresented. History. Empowerment. Sustaining. Intersectionality. Transfeminism. These words capture the breadth and scope of essays in book two and bring us back to the 2016 Biennial Seneca Falls Dialogues conference. Photojournalist, activist, and 2016 Seneca Falls Dialogues keynote Brenda Ann Kenneally uses her artistic piece of work to explore the how and why of grade inequity in America. Her projection, Upstate Girls, fix in Troy, NY, followed 7 women for v years as their escape routes out of generational poverty led to further entrapment. Pictured on the periodical cover, one of 7 upstate girls, is Kayla and mom before their morning ride to work in Troy NY in 2007. This image and the essays that follow ask united states to recognize the large spaces of inequality in which nosotros live and work and to reconcile the gendered and racial dimensions to these inequalities. Written into the goals of The Seneca Falls Dialogues Journal is the importance of creatively engaging various tools for feminist activism, particularly those that support dialogues across difference. Inspired by Brenda Ann Kenneally'south Upstate Girls, and drawing on the Lean Out, Gender, Economics and Enterprise theme, The Seneca Falls Dialogues Journal honors the work of those who came before us as we build an accessible and inclusive publication in our continued pursuit of enlightenment and equality.

Last Updated 3/11/22

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Source: https://www.brockport.edu/academics/political_science/profiles/schroeder_tambria