![]() ![]() Thick description is the notion that in order to understand a social behavior, we need to understand its context. In doing so, McMillan Cottom also turned to thick description, a concept she encountered in her work in the social sciences, to make sense of her position. To express herself authentically, she had to stop trying to fit in instead, she decided to embrace her thickness. ![]() ![]() But when an editor deemed even her writing to be too thick – too complicated to be easily classified as academic, literary, or popular writing – she had a realization. She tried losing weight and disciplining her manners. This was especially true of her interactions with white teachers, white classmates, and white people in general.įor a long time, McMillan Cottom tried to change herself. Throughout her life, people had made her feel like she was too much – thick where she should have been thin, more when she should have been less. This statement wasn’t just true of McMillan Cottom’s appearance – it applied to her existence, too. Just before he asked for her phone number, he told her, “Your hair thick, your nose thick, your lips thick, all of you just thick.” One day, a man approached Tressie McMillan Cottom at a bar, and the two started to chat. ![]()
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