Abby Arthur Smith

UofM sociology PhD candidate studying morality & STS. Dissertating on eugenics. Demography fellow gone qualitative. Undergrad @UIowa. Detrans 4 trans rights.

[Abby Arthur Smith @abbyarthursmith]

Every time I read Black Skin / White Masks I find something new to cry about.

[Abby Arthur Smith @abbyarthursmith]

I got a haircut!

[Abby Arthur Smith @abbyarthursmith]

Jumpscared by the transition from Born This Way to Sufjan's "Will Anybody Ever Love Me" at this Starbucks in Alsip, IL

[Dan Stevenson @dbsiowa]

Told my family this is just a regular weekend in Iowa City.

[Abby Arthur Smith @abbyarthursmith]

Not sure what I found so hard about The Body Multiple on my 1st read. I am following it really clearly now. This is one of the things I really enjoy about being a graduate student: the opportunity to notice myself actually learning, becoming a stronger reader and writer over time

[Abby Arthur Smith @abbyarthursmith]

I do think it's my last visit to the Des Moines archives -- I have only a half-day of work left, if that, and 2 full days left in the AirBNB. I'm taking the day off to reread Mol's The Body Multiple. Then I go to Chicago to get a haircut.

[Abby Arthur Smith @abbyarthursmith]

I don't think I mentioned this here, but my dissertation prospectus--on U.S. eugenic sterilization professionals’ evaluations of morality, body, and society--is officially due December 15th. The deadline was moved back 7 months because my house burned down. (I am fine! lol)

[Abby Arthur Smith @abbyarthursmith]

Fun fact: the archive I work in only allows digitization via transcription. In 2024 I copied SO MANY patient case files (>60) verbatim with redactions. Was just typing mindlessly. Now that I know better what I'm looking for, I can summarize and shorten, but I wasn't able to then.

[Abby Arthur Smith @abbyarthursmith]

Fun thing about being back in Des Moines for my (last?) archives visit is getting to work on my prospectus in the same exact place I finished my prelims. Smokey Row cheesburger chowder my beloved.

[Abby Arthur Smith @abbyarthursmith]

I do think it's my last visit to the Des Moines archives -- I have only a half-day of work left, if that, and 2 full days left in the AirBNB. I'm taking the day off to reread Mol's The Body Multiple. Then I go to Chicago to get a haircut.

[Abby Arthur Smith @abbyarthursmith]

Someone asked me today if I'm a fashion intern

[Abby Arthur Smith @abbyarthursmith]

Now that I've been out of Iowa for so many years, every time I see someone in Iowa merch, I have the bad habit of almost saying "omg I'm from Iowa too!" ☠️

[Abby Arthur Smith @abbyarthursmith]

Nowhere I'd rather have a $3200 car breakdown on a research road trip than Iowa City, IA.

Car is fixed. I'll be in Des Moines until the 21st and I'll be passing through IC again on that day so lmk if you'd like to get lunch or a coffee!

[Abby Arthur Smith @abbyarthursmith]

Every semester I do this little flex, I know---but it's really meaningful to me, probably the most meaningful part of my job. I have the kindest and most generous students, and it's what keeps me going as a teacher.

[Abby Arthur Smith @abbyarthursmith]

I am also still writing fantasy fiction in my free time, and still developing the course I get to teach to freshmen as instructor of record in the fall. I am also trying to read more. To balance all of this, I created a schedule for myself. Let's see if I can follow it!

[Abby Arthur Smith @abbyarthursmith]

After many twists and turns, I am ACTUALLY locked in on a prospectus (and dissertation) on the data I came to grad school with: ~700-1000 case files belonging to people sterilized by state eugenics boards from the 1920s through the 1970s, alongside those boards' meeting minutes.

[Abby Arthur Smith @abbyarthursmith]

I am still working on my project on redressing eugenics, but I capped out at around 30 interviews with actors involved in apologies/monumentalization/compensation/curricula/journalistic coverage (etc etc etc), which is paper-sized rather than dissertation-sized.

[Abby Arthur Smith @abbyarthursmith]

The duality of beth.....

[Abby Arthur Smith @abbyarthursmith]

@SHerreraTenorio omg I am sorry you are also going thru it but tbh I'm also glad I am not alone!! if it happened to both of us... I think that scrapping a prospectus before landing on a workable one is probably way more common than people talk about!

[Abby Arthur Smith @abbyarthursmith]

I have had a frustrating go with my prospectus -- I've changed topics like 3 times, always getting feedback that the project was too small or insignificant for a dissertation. So I pitched a version that combines all 3 ideas, and FINALLY my advisors have urged me to stick w/ it!

[Abby Arthur Smith @abbyarthursmith]

I like this version because it allows my work on the previous pitches--eugenics history, eugenics reparations, pronatalism--to contribute to my dissertation rather than feeling like a "waste" (or a mythic "postdoc project"). It is also thematically related to my first/only paper