Caitlin Baulch Examines the Persistence of Old Wives’ Tales

While old wives’ tales about pregnancy have been around for generations many have been resurfacing on social media and spreading inaccurate medical advice. Graduate student Caitlin Baulch’s specialty focuses on analyzing the rhetorical history of these tales and why they are so captivating on social media today. Alternatively she also looks at how experts in the medical field combat this misinformation via online communications.

What do you study and how did you become interested in it?

I investigate the rhetoric of expertise, particularly within the contexts of science, technology, and medicine. That means I work on investigating how scientists and physicians (as well as other experts) communicate on social media, particularly how they communicate technical information and combat mis/disinformation. I've been interested in expertise since my master’s degree program, but coursework at the U has helped me hone those interests.

What brought you to the University of Minnesota?

The excellent faculty! There is a wide variety of professors both in and out of my primary department that do engaging research and teach excellent courses. I have had opportunities to work on summer research projects with faculty that have led to publications and conference presentations. I have found great mentors in the faculty in my department who support me as a person and researcher and I am so glad it's where I ended up.

What current or recent projects have you been working on?

Right now I'm working on my dissertation that is a rhetorical history of old wives' tales. In recentyears, old wives tales related to pregnancy have surged on social media. Ideas like "if you're craving salty food, you'll have a boy," "drinking raspberry leaf tea will start your labor naturally," and "you can't get pregnant while breastfeeding," have become common phrases for influencers and pregnant folks. But an old wives' tale often means that although it was once traditional knowledge, now we have data that tells us the advice is false. 

My project traces different pregnancy old wives tales over time to investigate how they have changed and why they are so persuasive today in the context of social media. This summer I conducted research at the UMN Wangensteen Historical Library, Smith College's Women's History Archive, and the Wellcome Collection in London, UK.

What class or classes do you teach? And how has teaching influenced your own education?

I teach writing courses like First Year Writing, Technical and Professional Communication, and Business and Professional Communication. It has helped me really dig into the technical communication scholarly community, which is an interdisciplinary field closely related to rhetoric, my "home" field. 

It's also helped me connect to my teaching because these courses are "required" for many students and they often are not looking forward to it. By the end of the semester, I am often able to see a shift in student's attitude about writing, and they are excited about some of the skills they picked up and can take into their career, despite their major and goals.

What do the awards or financial support you have received mean to you?

I have received several fellowships this summer to support my archival research and travel. These include: a CLA Graduate Summer Research Travel Grant, the Affiliates 21st Century Summer Research Fellowship in Scientific and Technical Communication, and a COGS Summer Research Travel Grant. 

These awards have all made it possible to give me time to spend in the archive (an often time consuming research method) as well as funds to travel to two different archives in Massachusetts and London. It makes my dissertation project possible to complete this year, allowing me to do an academic job search twice in the last years of my program.

This story was written by content creator Joy Edwards in CLA.