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Karl Andersson

Anthropologist

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Advice from current PhD students

November 10, 2021 by Karl Leave a Comment

When cleaning my desk today I found some notes I had scribbled at the welcome event back in September. Three current PhD students gave the following advice:

  1. There is no fixed way! It is my research and that’s exciting.
  2. Don’t go too hard on the books in year one. Days, weeks, months without progress is normal. You don’t have to work evenings.
  3. Year one is for experimenting, it probably won’t end up in my thesis. See it as an opportunity to get settled in – and for reading!

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Choosing a reference manager

October 20, 2021 by Karl Leave a Comment

I’ve been using Zotero for reference management so far. I like that it is open source. However, I have not used it integrated with a word processor (in my case, Libreoffice or even Apple Pages). I’ve copied my references manually, which (as I’m realising now) means a lot of work, especially if I want to change the reference style, but also when just adding or removing references.

Yesterday I attended a session on reference management, and it turned out that the University of Manchester provides Endnote to all students, and that Endnote is really well integrated into Microsoft Word, which is also provided.

The session convinced me to switch from Zotero + Libreoffice to Endnote + Word.

But then I attended another session the very same afternoon, on how to use the Latex editor Overleaf, which is also provided by the university. I’ve always been curious about Latex, it seems so clean and lightweight. It turned out that Overleaf has reference management integrations for Mendeley and Zotero – but not for Endnote!

So now I think my solution will be Zotero + Overleaf!

I can at least try it for my shorter papers that are coming up, and if it’s working well I can use it for my dissertation.

I think it’s a question of attitude and identity. It empowers me not to have to resort to proprietary software giants. Like Zotero, Latex is open source and so is the whole Overleaf platform, I’m just finding out. So the choice is really simple. And fun: These are the paraphernalia that add good energy to your research!

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PhD week 4: 11-17 October 2021

October 17, 2021 by Karl Leave a Comment

Mostly reading and seminars this week. I also got two rejections: Of the abstract i submitted for a special issue (admittedly a stretch) and of the article I submitted to a journal in August 2021.

PhD on a distance: Week 4 (11-17 October 2021).

I’ve been a PhD student for one month now, so I recorded a little update of what it’s been like.

Reading

  • Jagose, Annamarie. 1996. Queer Theory: An Introduction. Lots of overlaps with Sullivan 2003, which I read last week, but that’s good, it means the subject is graspable (despite everyone’s insistence on the ungraspability of ‘queer’).
  • Rubin, Gayle S. 1984. ‘Thinking Sex: Notes for a Radical Theory of the Politics of Sexuality’. A classic essay, and deservedly so: Just wow, what a positive and sound piece of writing!

Seminars

  • Tuesday: The second session about a Data Management Plan, this time Q&A so I asked: When are we supposed to create our DMP? The answer: As soon as possible. It will live with you throughout and after your research project. The library helps in reviewing it.
  • Wednesday: Optimise your PhD journey. Started off from the text ‘Swimming with sharks’.
  • Thursday: Critical analysis. How to read critically. Nothing new but good repetition.
  • Friday: Enhance your public speaking skills using improvisation techniques. Fun and useful!

Japanese

Anki, kanji, news, anime, and:

  • Try N2, chapter 13-1, 13-2 and 14 = finished the book!
  • Sōmatome N2 reading, from 5-2 to 6-2.
  • Saitō Tamaki, a couple of pages of close reading and translation.

I’m at episode 34 of Macross and might finish it tonight – it’s 36 episodes in total. I love it and relate to it on a personal level.

TV

Finished The White Lotus, such a perfect piece of entertainment!

State of mind

It’s fun! I can be sick of the book I’m reading at the end of the day, but next day I’m excited to start the next chapter and learn more. It’s almost like taking classes, but by reading chapters. I think it’s the intensity of the reading that creates that feeling. I wake up by myself at 7 or 8 in the morning. I keep studying eight effective hours per day. I want to keep this going.

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PhD week 0: The pre-week

September 19, 2021 by Karl Leave a Comment

Tomorrow is the official start of my PhD programme, so this week I have spent days and hours browsing the university’s website, trying to get some overview and structure.

  • I’ve set up my university email account and subscribed to various mailing lists.
  • I’ve scheduled a first meeting with my supervisors for next week.
  • I’ve connected the Orcid account I registered when submitting to my first journal a month ago (still “under review”) to the university library.
  • I found a mandatory course called Research integrity, which I’m taking online and am halfway through. It’s really interesting and important. I’m learning things that I think should be part of the basic education for all postgraduate students at all universities.
  • I’ve signed up for various seminars, mainly in October 2021.

My thoughts before I begin

I’m very confused. I don’t know what it will mean to be a PhD student. Should I sign up for courses? Where do I find them? What are the “training programmes” that it’s my responsibility to attend? Or will it from day one only be about reading a lot and doing my own research? These are the questions I need to ask my supervisors, and maybe the separately assigned advisor, which I guess I will be informed about.

Note: There will also be induction events next week. So things will get clearer. But I wanted to record my honest feelings at the moment.

Other stuff

On Tuesday I had Indonesian dinner at Mabuhay with M&B, and my friend O.

On Wednesday I visited my classmate and friend A and had my first yoga/breathing exercise/mantra chanting. And then we talked. Walked home, 7 km, just before the rain started pouring down.

On Thursday night I had a walk and dinner at Paolo Pinkel with A: We had delicious Bibimbap from their Korean kitchen (they have three kitchens, so we’re coming back). And then we also talked.

On Thursday and Friday I participated as a listener, and quite selectively, in the Enqa workshop 2021.

On Saturday I had my first insect burger with friends and neighbours at H/O’s place. Not too bad! I guess I’m now an ento-vegetarian. Earlier in the day I spontaneously ran a bit in the park where I usually walk:

And today I had a walk in the same park with my friend A. It was 16 degrees and chilly – I need to dress warmer when I’m not alone and can adjust the temperature by my walking pace.

In the mornings I watch Japanese news – it’s exciting now with the candidature to LDP leader – and in the evenings I’m watching Macross: Tonight will be episode 9. I like it very much.

PhD and university related

My Manchester News:

  • What you really need to know as you prepare to start your PhD
  • How campus is operating; a guide for PGR students
  • Starting a PhD – what is it really like?

SALC Academic Advising Community:

  • Making the most of now and planning for the future

SALC PGR Handbook

  • Development
    • ProGRess@humanities
      • ProGRess@humanities (site)
      • methods@manchester (site)
      • artsmethods@manchester (site)
    • Researcher development
      • Researcher development (site)
  • Support
    • Library and resources
    • Supervision
    • Attendance and engagement
    • Wellbeing

Subject specific

  • Daniel Skentelbery: ‘I Feel Twenty Years Younger’: Age-Bending cosplay. (2019) – tip from my supervisor. Very interesting aspect of cosplay, which has relevance for my own research. I also found some new references.

ENQA Workshop 2021: Futures beyond Crises

16–17 September 2021.

Nothing of direct relevance to me but I like Enqa and it’s interesting to hear about various queer research projects. Although Zoom presentations are very hard for me to follow, as noted earlier. One block per day will have to suffice.

  • Keynote address: Omar Kasmani (Freie Universität Berlin)
  • Panel: Crises, refusals and insurgencies chaired by Tunay Altay
    • Suparna Roy: Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation: A Reflection on Indian Politics for a Future ‘Beyond Crisis’
    • Maya El Helou: In the verge of something, anything, Maybe nothing and maybe life or the lack of thereof: Queer and Feminist insurgencies in Urban Beirut
    • A. Berkem Yanıkcan: Queering the Administration Crisis at Boğaziçi University: Sexual Politics and the Public University in Turkey
    • Manuel Bolz: Queering Revenge: Medicalization and psychologization of emotions and affects of crisis

Articles

  • Spotlight East Asia @ Sheffield: Emailing Japanese organisations: four pieces of fieldwork advice for PhD and early-career researchers (very useful fieldwork tips!)
  • Ali Abdaal: The Feynman Technique (study/memorisation)
  • The Economist: Sweden is being shot up (24 July 2021)

Video

Today I summarised my impressions of my favourite Japanese study book 真日本語 500問 N2.

Let the new adventure begin!

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Week 2: 7-13 January 2019

January 13, 2019 by Leave a Comment

It was a very active and study-focused week.

I’m quite excited about phenomenology, which was the theme of this week’s unit in Qualitative Methods. In the always perfectly curated window display of The Berlin Book Nook I found Robert Anton Wilson’s Reality Is What You Can Get Away With from 1993/1996. I didn’t know that book of his, but have read many of his other works. Since the theme of phenomenology is that reality is always subjective, it was a nobrainer to grab it (God has a plan for you!) despite its relatively hefty price of 36 euro, apparently it’s a rarity.

Digital Anthropology Unit 8 had an art focus and included a discussion on works by Hito Steyerl. Incidentally she would have a talk at HKW this very week, so I went there to see her. Berlin delivers. The whole event was like a mini-Re:publica full of interesting talks and an interested audience – the auditorium was full.

For Digital Anthropology Unit 9 next week we got an assignment which I loved, it played right into where I was in my research right now and the lecturer’s attitude made me very inspired. I therefore started working on it immediately and was finished the next day, but I will post it in next week’s study diary since it belongs to Unit 9. I was also quite taken by Brian Larkin’s text, which was dense and hard to get through, but at the same time gave me a totally new perspective on the concept of infrastructure.

Ethnographic Film Unit 8 was about observational cinema and Frederick Wiseman’s first film Titicut Follies from 1967. By accident I checked the calendar of Arsenal Cinema and saw that they screened his latest film Monrovia, Indiana from 2018 this week, as part of an American independent film festival. I didn’t know the guy was still alive. He’s 89 now. The film was brilliant in many ways, mainly in its idea: Here is finally a guy who treats Americans in the same way that American anthropologists have treated people from various places in Africa. Again, Berlin delivers. I was excited to have found two amazing complements to this week’s studies.

I finished the first season of Dogs of Berlin. The series feels groundbreaking in a way, although I don’t watch many TV series. It feels like a turn driven by new technology. I can’t speficy exactly what it is, but the series feels so fresh, the feeling is like “so this is how it can be done”. The Netflix era. I had a similar feeling when I first watched 24: Not the idea of making each episode an actual hour (minus commercials) – that I considered mainly a gimmick – but the dramaturgy of having important characters suddenly turn on you, be revealed to be traitors. And then turn again. That trope was used extensively over the next decade or so until we viewers couldn’t care less. So something new had to be done. Dogs of Berlin is one of those things. It’s local, brutal and as exaggerated as a comic. Perfect entertainment. The letterbox on my 16:9 TV made me read up on the 2:1 (or 18:9) aspect ratio that Dogs of Berlin and several other high profile TV series are apparently filmed in.

I’m also rewatching season 2 of Mr Robot, which also felt groundbreaking now that I think of it. Maybe it’s just that I’m not used to watching TV series and they’re always this good nowadays! But Mr Robot also makes use of spectacular camera work which breaks the traditional cinematic rules in order to convey the feelings of Elliot. I’m watching on Amazon Prime on my old PS3 since I got Prime for free for a year as a student.

I finally reviewed WordPress’ new Gutenberg editor, which I must admit I hate. If anything looks strange, especially in terms of extra space where there should be no extra space – stuff like that – Gutenberg is to blame:

  • Gutenberg review: Slows down my writing severely

Study

Digital Anthropology Unit 8

Artistic Practice in the Virtual Age // Post-internet Art

  • Olson, Marisa (2008): Lost Not Found: The Circulation of Images in Digital Visual Culture. In Mass Effect: Art and the Internet in the Twenty-First Century, pp. 159-166.
  • Henrot, Camille (2013): “Grosse Fatigue”
  • Tortum, Deniz (2016): September 1955
  • Mecca Kaaba Masjid 360° 3D VR Video 4K HD BEST QUALITY (Makkah/UMRA/HAJ/TAWAF Walk) SaudiArabia 2018

Digital Anthropology Unit 9

Aesthetics of Infrastructure : Practise-led-(Re)Search between the Virtual and Material Worlds

  • Larkin, Brian (2013): The Politics and Poetics of Infrastructure. In Annual Review of Anthropology 42, pp. 327-349.
  • Mirzoeff, Nicholas (2014): Visualising the Anthropocene. In Public Culture, pp. 213-232.

Other

HKW: Stop Making Sense

  • The Language of Broken Glass. Hito Steyerl (filmmaker), Bernd Scherer
  • Language is a Slippery Thing. Luc Steels (AI scientist and opera composer)
  • Language Agents. Luc Steels in conversation with Giulia Bruno (artist) and Armin Linke (artist) 
  • If Everything is True—Knowledge and Manipulation. Felix Stalder (media and cultural theorist)
  • Datafication of Science. Kate Crawford (Distinguished AI Scholar) and Trevor Paglen (artist)

Articles

  • BBC: Kevin Fret: Gay rapper shot dead in Puerto Rico aged 24
  • Vashivisuals: The Aspect Ratio of 2.00 : 1 is Everywhere
  • Lithub/Kim Liao: WHY YOU SHOULD AIM FOR 100 REJECTIONS A YEAR

Film & video

  • Frederick Wiseman: Monrovia, Indiana (2018, 143 min)
  • Kevin Fret – Soy Asi
  • Netflix: Dogs of Berlin
  • Amazon Prime: Mr Robot

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Week 1: 1-6 January 2019

January 6, 2019 by Leave a Comment

I mostly relaxed this week, and started reading the texts for the next units of Ethnographic Film and Digital Anthropology.

Next week school will start again, and I’m also super excited to do some proper work as well. That feeling of January, start of the year and all. Yes, the days are dark and Berlin is miserable. But I see it as just another reason to increase my screentime.

Study

Ethnographic Film Unit 8

Observational Film and Beyond

  • Young, Colin (1974): Observational Cinema. In Hockings, Paul, ed. (2003): ​Principles of Visual Anthropology​, pp. 99-113.
  • MacDougall, David (1974, 1994): Beyond Observational Cinema. In Hockings, Paul, ed. (2003): ​Principles of Visual Anthropology​, pp. 115-132.

Digital Anthropology Unit 8

Artistic Practice in the Virtual Age // Post-internet Art

  • Ascott, R. and Edward A. Shanken (1995, 2003): Back to Nature II: Art and Technology in the Twenty-First Century. In Telematic embrace: visionary theories of art, technology, and consciousness, pp. 327-339.
  • Jon Rafman: 9-eyes.com
  • Spencer, Stuart (2013): The Readymade Moment: The Theory and Practice Behind Jon Rafman’s Nine Eyes of Google Street View Project
  • Steyerl, Hito (2013): How Not to be Seen: A Fucking Didactic Educational .MOV File
  • Henrot, Camille (2016): Office of Unreplied Emails

Other

Book

  • Roberto Saviano: La paranza dei bambini (2016, 367 pages, in Swedish translation: “Blodsleken”)

Articles

  • The Economist: Mini-mafiosi run amok in Naples in Roberto Saviano’s novel
  • The Economist: Disney goes back to the future
  • Gay Star News: Germany’s law recognizing a third gender comes into effect
  • Metro UK: Porn sites ‘will all require proof of age from April 2019’ – here’s how it’ll work

Film & video

  • Marques Brownlee: My YouTube REWIND 2018!
  • Marques Brownlee: HP Pavilion dv7t Media Center Remote Overview (2009)
  • The Verge: The tech MKBHD is bringing to CES 2019
  • Pewdiepie: YouTube Rewind 2018 but it’s actually good
  • Pewdiepie: I read 721 books in 2018
  • Netflix: Dogs of Berlin, S01 E05-08

Podcast

  • Alexandre Enkerli: Rapport: The Informal Ethnographer Podcast 4: Preparing for the field (2009, 96 min)
  • Alexandre Enkerli: Rapport: The Informal Ethnographer Podcast 5: Ethnography and The Ivory Tower (2009, 53 min)
  • Anthropod 46: Roundtable Discussion: Reading List for a Progressive Environmental Anthropology (2018, 42 min)
  • Bögministeriet: Det med analsexförtvivlan och faggot-tweets (2018, 90 min)
  • Nemo Möter En Vän: 212. Alexander Bard (2018, 99 min)

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Unreal Boys - a film about shotacon

Unreal Boys is my graduation film. It’s a documentary about three young men in Tokyo who like the Japanese comic genre shotacon. Read more.

Tiling short film

Tiling is a short film that I made as part of a semester paper. Read more and watch it here.

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