On Wednesday, we had our first meeting with Eric and Zhihong, and luckily, it cleared things up a lot. Even though I ended up changing my topic, I’m happy with it and our project now seems a lot more coherent and connected. I was also reassured by the fact that we are able to focus our research on modern times, though we must still use research to contextualize.
 
My topic changed because, the more we talked, the more clear it became that it no longer fit. I think this is mainly due to one of our members dropping the class. When she was part of the project, my topic of healthcare meshed well with her topic of education. But after she left and our topic continued to evolve, my topic didn’t make sense with the other subtopics. So, due to our focus on aesthetics, using sources like pictures and music videos, to prove our point, I have shifted my focus to the fashion of Uyghur women. I’m really excited about this: I think it will be fun to look at trends and analyze what they represent.
So, the first meeting went well. My whole team agrees that we feel a lot more focused, and like our project has finally come together. Since all three of our topics are so related, I’m sure a narrative will emerge.