Reflections on her research in Nigeria from Kim Perez

Kim was awarded a prestigious Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad (DDRA) Fellowship and, after she arrived in Nigeria, a second National Science Foundation Sociology Dissertation Enhancement Award.

After completing her comprehensive examinations in December 2005 and her oral Ph.D. dissertation defense in January 2006, she arrived in Nigeria in February. She immediately made contacts with sociology faculty at Bayero University, offered to assist them with sociology teaching and a conference they were organizing, found a room to live with a Muslim polygamous family, and began her immersion in the Hausa cultures of Northern Nigeria.

In order to keep her MSU Ph.D. committee informed and to make certain that they were not lost if her computer disappeared, she sent her field notes back to her advisor.

Her notes, of course, were changing reflections and were not edited. They should not be judged as finished academic work but as the rough notes of a serious worker in the field.

These messages and reflections span the period February 2006 to August 1, 2006, when she sent her last email to MSU.

• Download some of Kim's reflections from the field (33 pages, 24MB, .doc)