Name: Raven Schwam-Curtis
Year: 2020
Majors: Asian Studies and FGSS
Hometown: Houston, TX
Fun fact about yourself: I fenced competitively in middle school!
1. How did you decide to major/minor in FGSS and how does it complement your field of study?
It happened very organically. After taking FGSS classes my freshman year with Professor Raskolnikov and then PhD candidate Marquis Bey, I realized those were the courses that really stretched me. It was the first time in my life that my education felt fundamentally intertwined with my person. So at the end of my freshman year I knew for sure that FGSS would be one of my majors. I happened to take this dope cross-listed FGSS/Asian Studies course with Professor Fuhrmann in the Fall semester of my sophomore year and that sealed the deal. FGSS is crucial for anyone dedicated to critically rethinking the world we live in. I often find drawing on questions of exclusions/inclusions, Black feminism, and intersectionality in virtually all of my other coursework. FGSS, in short, has been essential to my ethos and my academics. And that's on periodt!
2. What has been your favorite FGSS class?
What an impossible question! I tell people this all the time, but there's not a single FGSS class I have taken that I haven't absolutely loved. But I guess to take it back to my moment of epiphany, I would have to say Marquis Bey's FWS: Feminist Misogynoir Essays. This course was a comprehensive introduction to FGSS and forced me to think about my own subjectivity in ways I never had before. A total "ah-ha" moment!
3. What are your future career and/or educational goals?
I accepted an offer to join the incoming African American Studies PhD cohort at Northwestern University! As a Mellon Mays fellow my ultimate goal is to diversify academia by becoming a professor. Obtaining a PhD is the first step on that journey.
4. What is the best decision you've made at Cornell?
Honestly, the best decision I made at Cornell was the majors I chose. I can't tell you how many of my friends are in majors that don't fulfill them. I was lucky enough to find the perfect niche that feeds my mind and my soul.
5. As a senior, what is your most hilarious/embarrassing memory at Cornell?
Probably wearing heels to a party my freshman year and then totally wiping out walking down the stairs on the way home. There were definitely at least 15 onlookers (who politely refrained from laughing I might add). Not my finest moment haha.
