Mom always says I've never done things the easy way. I keep thinking I'll "grow out" of this seemingly instinctual default button to take the road less traveled, the road with a rusted sign that says, Enter at Your Own Risk. Maybe this time all that effort that I make spending months researching, downloading maps, and packing my bag to hike that less traveled road, will mean I won't have so many halting surprises. Maybe once I arrive at the cross roads I'll indeed take that less-traveled option and carry on my merry way. But no. More often than not I arrive at the road and then decide at the last minute to take the overgrown, almost-invisible deer path that's not even on the map and will mean that my journey will probably take twice as long in the end. Sigh. I guess it's a good thing I'm always over-prepared with tall boots and a spare pair of socks!
So what does all this rambling have to do with this blog and what I plan to do with it? I am in the middle stages of applying to PhD programs with a focus on anthropology, material culture, gender studies, and digital humanities. I'm looking into how studying of the material culture (objects/artifacts) of women can recover their missing stories, factual details that have been misinterpreted, ignored, and silenced from the global historical record (see my About page for more details).
I have spent the last few months using all my spare time researching and solidifying research topics that have now become a research proposal. It turns out that along the way, I have had some epiphanies that are new ideas not only to myself, but (possibly) also to wider academic scholarship. What?!
And while I'd love to divulge all the juicy details of these concepts to you, dear reader, I cannot. Not yet. Just like a film festival might only select your movie if they get the honors of screening your premiere, so too do scholarly journals and universities want those first-publication privileges. I, therefore, will not be publishing my official findings and working definition here, stay tuned to upcoming blog posts and my social media where I bet you can glean some insights if you read between the lines. While I bet you thought that by reading this far you would be rewarded with the definition of this "unique" academic term that I boasted about in the title but, alas, I must disappoint you. Fear not, I still have interesting information to share!
Let me explain what this whole blog business is about in the first place. I want to communicate my future research using adaptable digital platforms, such as blogs, to build on well-established anthropological methods and practices. Researchers, especially anthropologists, should utilize all the resources at their disposal in the pursuit of knowledge. This blog is one such resource. It will be only a portion of future doctoral study and at the moment, it is still in a "prototype" phase that will evolve as my findings evolve and my opinions expand. I haven't even been accepted into a PhD program, so much work is still to be done.
Until formal study begins the blog acts as a testing ground to demonstrate ways of organizing and archiving cultural data into categories, allowing cross-referencing and preliminary analysis. It also tracks the progress of my investigation and role as participant-observer in telling the story of my research. The blog acts as a self-reflexive, auto-ethnographic record (using charted personal experiences to inform cultural understanding) of my anthropological “fieldwork”.
All of this is code for using a blog to throw my metaphoric pasta thoughts against a wall and see what sticks. Hopefully, my ambition won't speak louder than my logic, and I won't get too much sauce in my eye in the process. Welcome, and bon appetite!