Un petit intellectual existential crisis

One thing that frustrates me about the senior thesis is that it doesn’t necessarily “do” anything. I am asking people for their time, to enter into their lives, but at the end of day, the findings don’t go anywhere. They sit on my laptop, and, if I do really well on my thesis, in Harvard’s archives.

It feels like almost-real-but-actually-practice research that helps only me, personally, with no reciprocity. The usual benefit that subjects get out of an interview is the chance to reflect on personal experiences, but I’m talking to people who have already been interviewed by researchers and/or journalists, sometimes numerous times.

One could argue a long-term reciprocity if this influences me personally, and down the line affects what I do in the world. Or that in speaking to so many people about my thesis, even if the written work itself is not public, I am spreading knowledge about the issue. Something like that.

But I think, as usual, I am taking myself too seriously. My methodology book, Recit de vie, says this: “You aren’t stealing or exploiting anyone’s stories; you’re just talking to them.” And if your interview subjects are happy to do it, and you’re happy to listen, then the most important criteria have been met.