5 Questions with First Years—Jonathan A. Newby
We’re excited to kick off another year of our “Five Questions” series. This year, we’ll be featuring both first- and second-year students here at UT AMS. We look forward to sharing our amazing graduate students with you. Read on to learn more about Jonathan A. Newby.
Q: What is your background, academic or otherwise, and how does it motivate your research?
A: I completed my undergraduate degree in American Studies, with a double major in Digital Studies (self-designed), at William & Mary, in Williamsburg, VA. As a Black, Queer person, I am motivated to conduct research and engage communities in a way which increases authentic representation and full participation. I fully believe that there is a place for the blending of academia and publics - in fact, this blending is necessary for academia to survive and thrive and correct injustices committed by itself and others.
Q: Why did you decide to come to AMS at UT for your graduate work?
The financial support and the friendly approach of professors was a major contributor to why I chose AMS @ UT. I am on fellowship my first year here, under the mentorship of Dr. Gutterman, which has been helpful in allowing myself to settle into AMS and the University, as well as learn how the world of academia works. I will also be on fellowship my fifth year with the support of the Warfield Center for African and African American Studies, to go towards working on my future dissertation. And further, among the programs I applied to, UT Austin was the most approachable and accessible from the get-go, being able to reach a variety of different professors was very important to be towards making my decision, and the wealth of information I gained from them even before being admitted into the American Studies program helped cement my choice to come here.
Q: What projects or people have inspired your work?
A: I have most been inspired by work and research surrounding the internet, video games, and digital communities. I believe there is something special in digital spaces and in interactive media technologies that allow us to develop new ways of interacting, advocating, and learning.
Q: What projects do you see yourself working on at UT?
A: I see myself most looking at video game and internet communities and how they both reflect and affect American history and culture. I am interested in a variety of community-engaged research methods, including ethnography and oral histories, as well as policy and even development. I want to do work which uplifts Queer people, disabled people, people of color, and other communities of marginalized identities. I have other academic and personal interests, such as religion and politics, public transportation and urban planning, and higher education administration that I hope to pursue apart from and alongside my main research projects.
Q: What are your goals for graduate school? What do you see yourself doing after you graduate?
A: After I graduate, I would like to see myself become a professor or university administrator! I am forever grateful for the mentorship and support my past professors have been for me, both academically and personally, and I want to be able to share that with other future generations of students. If I did not work at a college, I would love to work in the video game industry or in digital marketing!
*Bonus Q: In your own words, what is American Studies?
A basic answer: American Studies is whatever you want it to be!
A longer answer: American Studies is the inter-, multi-, and transdisciplinary study of the United States of America, including (and essentially) its predecessors and successors, with a particular focus on the ways in which many American identities, cultures, societies, politics, and institutions are formed, entrenched, and dissolved, separately and all at once.
