Emily Nonnamaker

What is your hometown?

New Orleans, LA

What were you doing prior to enrolling at Notre Dame?

Before enrolling at Notre Dame I was working at a remote field site in Kenya in the Mara Triangle, as a researcher for the Mara Hyena Project. I collected daily demographic data on hyenas, ran a field site, and assisted PhD students with their data collection.

What obstacles did you overcome to attend Notre Dame?

I have a long history of depression and had a very hard time getting through college. At one point my grades plummeted and I couldn't get out of bed to attend class. I never thought I'd be able to attend graduate school, yet here I am.

What do you research?

I study social behavior in baboons.

Which Notre Dame clubs or activities do you enjoy?

I am involved with the Graduate Students against Racial Injustice at Notre Dame (GSARIND) club.

Do you live on campus or off?

off campus

What do you like to do in your spare time for fun? What hobbies do you enjoy?

I have many hobbies: I knit, I make candles, I like to cook and bake, I like to spend time in nature and collect plants and insects, I like to bird-watch (I have over 500 birds on my life list), and I also like to spend time with friends and my community.

How do you unwind after a long day of work?/How do you practice self-care?

I think the current popular concept of self-care, as these individual behaviors, is not as healthy as we think it is. Simply taking a bath, meditating, doing yoga, etc., might help us in the moment, but it is not going to eradicate the bigger issues that we are facing, the reasons we need to practice self-care in the first place. Individual actions are not going to save us. It's like putting a band-aid on a bullet wound. This can be harmful when we push the idea that if you simply practice "self-care" you'll be all right, and if you're not all right then you're not practicing enough "self-care." In Belly of the Beast, Da'Shaun L. Harrison writes, "irrespective of how much internal work one does for themselves, the systems under which they live that actively lay claim to their bodies are not and cannot be reversed through any introspection or outward radical self-love. These socioeconomic political structures do not need the type of reform that a radical self-love would suggest, but rather they need total destruction." Now while the author is talking about the practice of self-love, and not self-care, I believe their ideas hold true.

After you graduate, what would you like to do?

I would like to do work that makes me feel fulfilled, that allows me to participate in my community and that feeds my body and soul.

Why did you choose Notre Dame?

My boss is at Notre Dame. I wanted to work for my boss, so I had to come to Notre Dame.