I am leaning toward researching a day in the life of the Tennessee State Legislature for my ethnographic project. I believe that government is an integral portion of our lives regardless of whether you want it to be or not. It shapes so much of our culture, however very little is know about the actual workings of the government. It is my hope to spend a day in the Tennessee Capital Building and hopefully learn a little bit more about it and the people, specifically the women, that walk its halls.
I have thought a lot about focusing on the sub-culture of women in the state legislature. Do they face more problems than the men? Did they have issues getting elected? How are they treated? What is the ratio of men to women? Do they feel ostracized? I could also get a lot of other statistics about this. How does our ratio of men to women compare to that of other southern states? How do we rank nationally? Are there more women in the legislature in northern states?
In order to get this information, I am going to just spend some time in the legislative building, hopefully on a day when they meet in the chamber (I really need to research the security issues I might face gaining access to the building). My sorority has an alumnus who is a representative from Hendersonville. Hopefully I can contact her and maybe just talk to her for 5 minutes. She might also have some suggestions as to other people to whom I could talk. I am also going to see if I can watch a couple of committee meetings and maybe just sit in the halls and watch the interactions of the representatives and senators in the halls.
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