PhD week 8: 8-14 November 2021

A bit of a jittery week as I prepared my presentation to the annual congress of the International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences (Yucatan 2021) – here it is:

I attempted to make my delivery clear, short, and focused on the key point: that drawing as a research method can add a crucial dimension to our understanding.

I often think that Zoom presentations are hard to follow, so I’m actively trying to think about how to make mine easier to follow and more enjoyable to watch.

The panel presentations were followed by an hour of interesting discussion.

The preparations meant I worked (read) less in the days leading up to my delivery on Friday, so that’s why I did a bit more in the weekend instead. Maybe this is something you get used to, to switch between tasks? I can’t lose a valuable week of reading just because I’m doing a presentation! In any case it will be nice to get back to reading again. Learning. Input. Until it’s time for the next output!

Schedule

I got up a bit later this week, but I always go directly to the desk, and after half an hour or more of morning study it’s time for breakfast and coffee. Looking at the schedule, I realise that I didn’t meet much people. The weekly walk with A on Saturday. And I got a haircut on Wednesday, my first visit to a hairdresser since Covid began – and this as the infections in Germany peak! The hairdresser didn’t wear a mask and was sniffling as if he had a cold. Fortunately he was done in about ten minutes. I got home and googled “incubation time covid”, cause that’s what you do! (It’s about five days.)

Inspired by the many seminars on data management, I spent some time on Monday cleaning up my research folders on my computer – it always feels so good.

I also cleaned the windows again. The outside this time. Part of the procrastination for the presentation, maybe.

Readings

Queer autoethnography session 2 (QA 2)

• Bochner, Arthur P. 2007. “Notes Toward an Ethics of Memory in Autoethnographic Inquiry”, in N. K. Denzin & M. D. Giardina (Eds.), Ethical Futures in Qualitative Research: Decolonizing the Politics of Knowledge. Routledge, 2007: 197-208.
• Dauphinee, E. 2010. “The ethics of autoethnography”. Review of International Studies, 36(3): 799-818.
• Lapadat J. C. 2017. “Ethics in Autoethnography and Collaborative Autoethnography”. Qualitative Inquiry, 23(8): 589-603.
• Pathak, A. A. 2010. “Opening my voice, claiming my space: Theorizing the possibilities of postcolonial approaches to autoethnography.” Journal of Research Practice, 6(1).

Queer autoethnography session 3 (QA 3)

• Pearce R. 2020. “A Methodology for the Marginalised: Surviving Oppression and Traumatic Fieldwork in the Neoliberal Academy.” Sociology 54(4): 806-824.

Japanese

I got notice that my test center in Brno has cancelled the JLPT (Japanese-Language Proficiency Test) this year too. I see SOAS in London has done the same. This is too bad, especially since I’m about to apply for something Japan related in the next couple of weeks.

Anki, kanji, lots of news, and:

• Shaman King (episodes 25-29).

TV

• Hackad 1-5, on SVT Play.