At last, it’s December. And along with that comes the end of the semester and the final draft of my contract. In today’s blog post, I want to solidify my final touches regarding my contract and thesis in writing. Through speaking with my professors and interacting with classmates, I am confident that I am more ready to take the following steps regarding my humanities studies. So, I’ll begin to lay out the contract details and present my thesis’s introduction.
The courses included in my contract generally fall along the three themes of my thesis: economics, philosophy, and Asian American studies. I intend to have economics act as the empirical source behind my claim. Because my focus is on the migration and development of a specific minority group, my courses emphasize the economics behind migrations and concentrated urban population centers like Chinatowns or Little Tokyos. Additionally, I’ll also be examining the relationship between economics and methods of social organizing, like governmental structures or grassroots movements. This is also significant to my writing due to the intertwined nature of government action and minority groups.
On the philosophy aspect of my contract, the classes I plan on taking concern an examination of societal structures and the modes of thinking they partake in. These courses are crucial to developing the framework section of my thesis, which I will elaborate on further in the latter part of this post. In addition, the general study of philosophy will do much to strengthen my critical thinking and writing skills, allowing me to make more nuanced claims and observations about the world. Together with philosophy, my thesis will discuss topics concerning Asian American studies. The courses that I’m taking on this subject look not only at the history of Asian Americans but also legislation passed for or against them, their current condition in the status quo, and their relationship to other minority groups and the government. Altogether, philosophy and Asian American studies cohere the more theory-based aspect of my thesis.
The introduction will also be separated into three sections. The first section is simple. I will explain the general topic territory. In other words, the ground that the thesis will cover. In this case, I’ll outline the three portions I intend to write about: the framework, the theory, and economic figures and their implications. Next, I’ll highlight the lack of studies between economics and Asian American studies. I intend to make clear that even though Asians and Asian Americans are such high earners in the American economy, the amount of literature or research devoted to that relationship is surprisingly scarce. I also want to isolate Chinese Americans and first-generation Chinese immigrants as the demographic being studied because Asian Americans are too broad of a group to be generalized (even then, 18.43 million Chinese people reside in the United States as of 2022, a relatively large number.) Lastly, I want to explain the importance of writing such a thesis and conducting research on this topic. Additionally, I intend to find a reason why there is an absence of study in this field while also leading the study myself.
As I go into the next semester, I will intently work on the introduction to this thesis. I understand that my current lack of knowledge limits me, but I’ll write as I continue my education. Although there is no class dedicated to writing the thesis until my senior year, it doesn’t mean I can’t get a head start. With the help of my current and future thesis advisors, this task can most certainly be accomplished.
