Since I’m sans- PhD program acceptance right now but still want to pursue research I hope a PhD program will someday help me finish, I’m using the time left over from teaching to do some research. At the very least, I want to really flesh out my thesis in some detail; while it’s more than a general interest at this point, it is yet to become a legitimately detailed argument.

A quote from my statement of purposes gives you an idea of how my thesis is, at the moment, slightly more than a general interest and less than a detailed, feasible thesis:

My dissertation plan is to examine how performances of privacy and its opposite function within and inform these topics (economy, the state, and the family) as areas of transformation and transition. In particular, my proposal is to interrogate how privacy and domesticity functioned as a facet of performing constructed gender, and the ways in which women’s performance of privacy or its opposite informed constructions of domesticity, class, and state.

I’m not sure, yet, since I need to do more research, whether or how much of a role gender is going to play – although my feeling, as a feminist, women’s studies instructor, and early modernist, is that gender has a role in everything (but especially privacy and its’ opposite).

Again, though, this post is really aimed at outlining the basics. So I got very basic: dictionary basic. But of course, I went classy with it…classy like the Oxford English Dictionary.

The best approach for formulating a thesis centered on the interaction of privacy and domesticity with economic, state, and familial structures seemed to be to pin down exactly what I meant by privacy and domesticity (I may continue with this in another post and set out what I mean by privacy’s opposite). Here are the time-specific definitions I found relevant to my research, at least for the moment:

Privacy

  1. The state or condition of being alone, undisturbed, or free from public attention; as a matter of choice or right; seclusion; freedom from interference or intrusion.
  2. The state of being privy to some act.
  3. Absence or avoidance of publicity or display; secrecy, concealment, discretion; protection from public knowledge or availability.

Private

  1. Not open to the public; restricted to one particular person or group of people.
  2. Concerning, involving, or affecting a particular person or group of people apart from the general community; individual or personal, rather than communal or shared.
  3. Of or relating to a person as an individual or in a non-official capacity; not connected with one’s work or official position.
  4. Not officially recognized or authorized.
  5. Belonging to or forming the exclusive property of an individual, company, etc.
  6. Of a person: retiring, reclusive; living a quiet or secluded life; reserved, unsociable.
  7. People who hold no public office, as a class.

Domestic

  1. Having a character or position of the inmate of a house; to be of the household of.
  2. Of or belonging to the home, house, or household; pertaining to one’s place of residence or family affairs.
  3. Of or pertaining to one’s own country or nation.
  4. A household servant or attendant.

The emphasis added above was mine, of course; bolded portions or words are those aspects I found particularly suited to application for analysis. And there we have it, really: the above are the instances of privacy, private, and domestic I’ll be looking for in my research from this point on. Any critiques of the above in terms of whether this constellation of definitions is too broad/narrow/general or otherwise, AND/OR other suggestions/comments are welcome. I’m hoping this will generate discussion that will function as food for thought as I continue my research. Thanks for reading!

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