Name: Lillian Nagengast

Pronouns: She/Her

Title: PhD Student

Question (Q): What are your research interests, both academic and for fun, while in American Studies at UT!?

Answer (A): Broadly, my research explores the cultural history of gender in the rural United States. I’m interested in how rural women understand their identities and communities. I interrogate this field by engaging with a variety of sources, such as country music, memoir, and feminist zines. More recently, I’ve become interested in how rural women participate in their local economies. Some of my most generative research that came out of my coursework this fall was my final paper for Dr. Beasley’s U.S. Capitalism & Culture course. In that essay, I traced the emergence of multi-level marketing companies in the United States and their long history among rural women. Throughout my time at in American Studies at UT, I hope to continue researching these and other rural women’s economies.

Q: How did you make your way to American Studies as a discipline?

A: I majored in English as an undergraduate, and I have my Master’s degree in English. However, especially in my MA program, I felt that I had outgrown the discipline’s focus on “traditional” literature. I found myself gravitating toward professors whose work pushed the boundaries of the English discipline and whose research explored ideas that affect our daily lives. During my MA program, I also realized that my interests were not represented in canonical literature. I turned to other sources, like television, country music, and memoir. When I began researching doctoral programs, I realized that the professors whose research I admired—as well as my own interests—fell under the discipline of American Studies.

Q: What is the nature of your work? What method(s) do you utilize the most? How does your current work align with American Studies?

A: Although I’m only in my first year in the program, I feel as though my research has become much richer and layered because of the freedom of not being wedded to a particular method. I draw on a variety of methods in my research, but I engage in quite a bit of close reading of archival sources. This past semester, I conducted several oral history interviews which was new and exciting. Because my research is informed by my personal experiences growing up in rural Nebraska, I think ethnography could be very generative in my future research.

Q: Are you currently working on any projects, and if so tell us about them!

A: I’m excited to share that my essay,“‘Mamas, If Your Daughters Grow Up to Be Cowboys, So What?’: Women Refiguring Rurality and Class in Country Music,” was recently published in the Journal of Working-Class Studies—my first publication! I’m currently gearing up for my next—and final—semester of course work. I’m working on my presentation for the American Society for Environmental Histories Conference in March, “Representing Rural Environmental Histories in Jesmyn Ward’s Salvage the Bones and Behn Zeitlin’s Beasts of the Southern Wild.”

In terms of nonacademic projects, I’m collaborating with a group of rural undergraduate and graduate students to plan a virtual conference for rural students this February (follow me on Twitter @LMNagengast for updates).

Q: How does American Studies at UT make your work possible?

A: Although I’ve been in the program for less than a year, I’ve grown tremendously as a researcher, writer, and person. Every faculty member I’ve interacted with in AMS has furthered my research in some way, and I think that is unique to the department. American Studies at UT does not force me to fit my research into a box and encourages me to think broadly across methods and disciplines.

Q: What is your favorite thing about AMS at UT?

A: In American Studies at UT, I feel as if I have the support of the entire department. Because we have faculty and graduate students with such diverse interests, I learn something new from every conversation. I’m tremendously grateful to belong to such a kind, welcoming, and congenial cohort.

Bonus Q: What is a fun fact about you that you would like your colleagues, peers, and/or students to know about you?

A: I’m taking crochet classes this semester! If anyone is interested in setting up an ongoing crochet session, let me know :) .