Claire Oberholtzer

Claire Oberholtzer is a Hampshire alum.

Biography
I graduated from Hampshire College in May 2011. I now live in Amherst, MA, right next to the police station, where everyone should come visit me because my house is awesome.

My Division III was an examination of gender and health care through a lens of narrative analysis. I looked at scientific and personal stories of gender and gender identity as narratives, and brought them together in an attempt to add a new perspective to the medical view of gendered care. This project was honestly a pretty weird experience for me, since before Div III I had no background in gender studies or public health. My Division II was entitled Culture Through Narrative and was an examination of stories and the roles they play in shaping lives (and vice-versa). It was throughg this Div II that I began to be interested in science as narrative, which was what prompted my Div III choice.

In regards to my non-academic life at Hampshire, I did a little bit of everything. I signed for a variety of student groups (see below), served on the Educational Policy Committee, was an Orientation Leader for Fall 2009 and 2010, and played soccer and basketball on the school teams (yeah, they actually do exist!).

Spring 2011

 * Oral Histories, Theory and Methods
 * Writing Against Culture, Ethnography Division III Seminar
 * Division III project: A Narrative Analysis of Personal and Scientific Gender

January 2011

 * Division III project: A Narrative Analysis of Personal and Scientific Gender

Fall 2010

 * Oral Histories, Theory and Methods
 * Ethnography of Law, Medicine and Science TA
 * Hindi I through the Five College Center for the Study of World Languages
 * Division III project: A Narrative Analysis of Personal and Scientific Gender

Summer 2010
Teaching work in Kiembeni Baptist Primary School, Mombasa, Kenya. I taught English, Maths, PE and Creative arts to Grades 5 and 6 in an attempt to gain teaching experience and improve my Swahili.

Spring 2010

 * Task of the Translator (final project: 19th-Century Swahili poems transations)
 * Storytelling as Performance (final paper: Villains and What We See in Them)
 * Gendered Bodies TA
 * Narrative Theory Independent Study
 * Children's and Young Adult's Literature EPEC
 * Facilitating/tutoring Jake Sweet in Introduction to Calculus Independent Study
 * Survey Data Entry and Analysis Independent Study in collaboration with Oregon Council for the Humanities

January 2010

 * Voice and Visibility (final paper: Hybrid Identities in Spoken Word)
 * Facilitating Grantwriting EPEC

Fall 2009

 * Landscapes of Indigeneity (final paper: Tales of Wao Kele O Puna)
 * Language in Culture and Society at MHC
 * Therapuetic Writing (final paper: Coping with Memory)
 * Geological Controversies TA
 * Swahili III-IV through the Five College Center for the Study of World Languages
 * Survey Data Entry and Analysis Independent Study in collaboration with Oregon Council for the Humanities
 * Fitness Training
 * Speed and Agility Training

Summer 2009

 * Writing Culture: The Lives of Others at Lewis and Clark University
 * Survey Data Entry and Analysis Independent Study in collaboration with Oregon Council for the Humanities

Spring 2009

 * Minority Languages and Linguistics (final paper: Names and Nature of Gods in Ainu Folklore)
 * Public Diplomacy (final paper: Public Diplomacy and Immigration)
 * Hybrid Identities (final paper: An Interview with a Friend)
 * ASL II (final paper: Sign Language Interpreters in Law Enforcement and the Legal System)
 * Swahili II through the Five College Center for the Study of World Languages
 * European Novel: course dropped with a W

Jan Term 2009

 * Norse Mythology EPEC/Indpendent Study (final paper: The Norns)
 * Blacksmithing EPEC (final paper: hey look, I didn't set myself on fire!)
 * Esperanto Independent Study

Fall 2008

 * Strength Training
 * Geological Controversies (final paper: Direct Carbon Capture from Air)
 * West African Literature (final paper: Experience of Sudanese Refugees)
 * Contemporary Germany (final paper: Resistence to Hitler in Germany)
 * Shakespeare and Woolf (final paper: Madness in the Tempest and Mrs. Dalloway)

Summer 2008

 * Science Fiction Literature at Portland State University (final paper: Hyper-commodification and Individuality)
 * Swahili I at Portland State University

Spring 2008

 * Nuns, Saints, Mystics (final paper: Same-Sex Marriage in Early Christianity)
 * Ancient Ireland (final paper: Languages of Ireland)
 * Brain Mechanisms (final paper: Learning Styles and Cognitive Remediation)
 * The English Bible (final paper: Angels, Archangels and Humans)
 * Abnormal Psychology (final paper: Gender Identity Disorder)
 * History and Culture of Tibet (final paper: Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama in History and Mythology)

JanTerm 2008

 * Welsh Language and Linguistics (final paper: Welshness in the Mabinogion)

Fall 2007

 * Dangerous Teaching (final paper: Transgender in the US)
 * ASL 1(final paper: Gallaudet University)
 * Myths, Legends, and Belief (final paper: Views of Christianity)
 * Color (final paper: Colour in Dreams)

Past Group Involvement

 * Asian Media: Member
 * QCA/TSA: Sometimes Member
 * Re-Rad: Signer
 * Polyglot Society: Signer
 * Chocolate Club: Signer
 * Magic Draft: Member
 * Historical Reenactment Society: Signer
 * ASL Collective: Signer
 * Hampshire Quaker Group: Signer 
 * SS Student Members: Signer
 * Girl's Soccer: Wing Defender
 * Girl's Basketball: Extremely confused