I’ve been thinking a bit about what I want to end up writing about; I’m having difficulty not scoring potential topics on the basis of how many Maoist poster titles I could work into the chapter titles. My current not-actually-going-to-use title is Taking Tiger Mountain By Strategy: Action and Utopia in Post-enlightenment Political Thought. I’m trying to figure out how to work the utopian socialists, Marx, Agamben on dynamis, Butler and Mahmood on agency, maybe Lenin, maybe Spinoza, maybe Kant, into some kind of critical take on the centrality of action to most (particularly radical) political theory. I think it’s fair to say I need to figure out a way to restrict the range of my interests here.
Owen at 1:09 pm, October 18, 2006
Restriction of interests is the enemy of good research! Or at least this is what I’m currently trying to convince myself. Like the idea of headings from Maoist posters though, I may do the same with Soviet children’s books. Toying with calling the eventual thesis Let’s Catch up with the American Chicken…
voyou at 11:44 pm, October 18, 2006
You have a point - I figure there’s no point trying to decide in advance what to keep in and what to ignore. I’m hoping when I actually sit down and try and put together some kind of structure, it will become clearer what is actually relevant and what isn’t.
infinite thought at 3:57 am, October 19, 2006
Ah, PhD newbies! Both so sweet! The truth is - it is hell, terrible hell, and nothing will ever be clear or organised or finished! HA HA HA HA HA HA!
voyou at 1:01 pm, October 19, 2006
Thanks it. That really shouldn’t cheer me up, and yet somehow it does.
Moll at 7:11 am, October 20, 2006
“condensing over half a decade of your life into one sentance”? Half a decade? I should be so lucky. The average in my department has just gone up to 11 and a half years.
voyou at 3:47 pm, October 20, 2006
Ouch. I think most people get out of my department in about seven years. I do like this American system, with it’s complete lack of pressure to finish. I am beginning to dislike the hoops you have to jump through before they’ll leave you alone to do your research, though.
Also, if you like Bay-Area based comics about science PhD students, I’d recommend Nukees. More surrealism and less whining than Piled Higher and Deeper (and better jokes, too).
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