Hannah Fuller, a graduate of Missouri State University’s Department of History, recently published an article in the Journal of Urban History. This is the first time Fuller’s research has appeared in an academic journal.

“It’s really exciting to see people take interest in my work,” Fuller said. “I’m happy to share it with the world.”

Fuller earned her history bachelor’s in 2021 and her history master’s in 2022. She is now a fourth-year doctoral candidate in public and American history at Loyola University-Chicago.

Exploring rural and urban spaces through queer identity

Fuller said her doctoral dissertation uses an environmental approach to examine how queer women perceived rural and urban Midwestern spaces in the late twentieth century.

“Though my research interests have evolved throughout my education, much of what I take interest in as a scholar comes from my own experience growing up queer in the Midwest,” she said.

Fuller’s research reflects an interest in ideas about space and identity, especially where people assume queerness can live freely. “[This] is typically blue states and big cities — and those they assumed it could not — usually conservative areas and rural spaces,” she said. “I wanted to explore how the past could complicate these assumptions about present day identities, alongside explaining why we’ve come to hold these understandings in the first place.”

It surprises many people when Fuller tells them she has fond memories of growing up in Missouri.

“Usually, people assume that if you’re living as a queer person in the Midwest, you must be longing to escape from it — to move to a big city like New York or San Francisco to be happy,” she said. “But this wasn’t ever really the case for me, nor did I find that to be true in my research.”

Article takes closer look at urban Chicago

In her article, “Only in the Big City: Isolation, Rurality, and Leisure in Lesbian Chicago, 1971-1996,” Fuller focuses on lesbian perspectives on urban living in Chicago. She developed the idea in a research seminar course at Loyola.

“I expected to find a heavy distaste or distrust for rural areas,” Fuller said. “In reality, my source base totally flipped my expectations on its head. Instead, I found a lot of longing for rural places and a rich imagination about how they might benefit queer women’s community.”

World history class at Missouri State stirs passion for history

Fuller attributes her passion for history in part to the guidance of Associate Professor Dr. Julia Troche. Entering Missouri State as a theatre education major, Fuller instead fell in love with history when she took Troche’s introductory world history class.

“After that I was hooked,” Fuller said. “I think I took every class Dr. Troche offered until I graduated.” She even worked as a graduate assistant for Troche while pursuing her master’s.

Troche, meanwhile, said it was a “privilege” to work with Fuller. “Hannah was and is a truly exceptional student and scholar who brings curiosity and integrity to the research she conducts and to the work she performs,” Troche said.

Troche has remained a guiding influence throughout Fuller’s undergraduate, graduate and now doctoral studies. “She was always there with reassurance, advice, and so much knowledge that pushed me to become a better researcher,” Fuller said. “To this day, she is one of the most meaningful mentors I’ve ever had.”

Moving forward

Now that she is a published scholar, Fuller says her main priority is to complete her dissertation. Her long-term vision, however, stems from a desire to bring public history to life.

“I think I’d be happy working in any capacity that involved teaching people about history, whether that’s as a professor or working at a museum or cultural institution,” she noted.

Achieving that goal is easier, Fuller believes, because the skills she acquired and uses today stem directly from the “robust and fully honest humanities education” she experienced at Missouri State.

“I would not be where I am without the opportunities I had…to think about the past with curiosity, honesty and open reflection,” she said.

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Photo provided by Hannah Fuller.