Institution: New York University, Steinhardt
Degree Program: M.A. Educational Theatre in Colleges and Commuities (May 2022)
Advisor: Amy Cordilione, Ph.D

ABSTRACT:
On May 18, 2021,  I awoke to a New York Times article notification that sounded strangely familiar: " "A ''Community For All''? Not So Fast, This Wisconsin County Says." (Epstein, 2021).  I could not believe I was reading about my home county, Marathon County, WI, in a New York Times article.  The County Board of Supervisors were attempting to pass a resolution entitled "A Community For All," stating the county was a place that celebrated and embraced equity, inclusion, and diversity. Crafted using standard national talking points around this topic, the use of these three words set off a firestorm that divided the community.

This Aesthetic Intersubjective, Ethnographic Case Study asks the question: to what extent did tension around equity, inclusion, and diversity prevent the passing of Marathon County's "A Community For All" resolution? As a battleground county, in a battleground state with a history of polarization, most prominently the recall of Governor Scott Walker in 2010,  Marathon County provided a unique opportunity to examine the subject in a way that called upon a recent history to explore an immediate problem.  In this case study, it became clear the crux of the issue was national rhetoric, and solutions were used to solve a hyper-localized problem, ignoring the unique and fractal nature of the issues. Analyzing the data through the theories of Rural Consciousness and Politics of Resentment (Cramer, 2016), the study demonstrates the need for nuanced community-framed definitions of equity, diversity, and inclusion.

View Research Poster (updated 7.27.22)