This year is the last in my PhD studies. It’s too early to be ‘summing it up’, and I’m probably not ready to write this post, but I’m not sure I ever will be. Because this post is about love. How can one ever be ready to write about that? My five years of academic […]
Tag: research
How I went beyond oil, or The echo chambers of academic conferences, or There is a crack, perhaps, in everything
It was nearly 8 p.m. when I started my descent from the mountain. It was dark and starting to get cold, and Bergen underneath burst into an incandescent shimmering show. I watched the ships dock and undock, I watched bergensar chatting and walking their dogs. It really was time – I could not hide out […]
What to wear to a half-time seminar, or On the power of initiation
On the day of my half-time seminar, I dreamt of wearing a wedding dress. Explanation: half-time (which apparently is a Swenglish term, as the English speakers seem to call it ‘midterm’) is a seminar in which the doctoral student’s work is presented, reviewed and discussed. Kind of a mock defence at an early stage to […]
On major revisions and their potential for radical liberation, or How to revise your first paper and not go mad(der)
This paper – sorry – blog post consists of two parts. One is confused ramblings of someone revising their first solo paper for an academic journal. The other is some practical advice – not from me, but from my peers, on how not to blow the word limit in the revision process and what to […]
On (not?) co-authoring, or The death of the author, or It takes a village to write a paper
Despite the death of the author having been announced a while ago (reference here – in case you missed it), a point in time comes when a PhD student needs to put some name(s) on their first paper draft (in progress, in progress, and still in progress – does the status ever change?). I did […]
On taking criticism of your work, or No post on Sundays, or Off to the garden
During a break on a ‘garden day’ at my son’s preschool on a fine October afternoon, sipping bryggkaffe from a paper cup, I see an email from my supervisor flash on my phone screen. ‘I have struggled with your draft. I found it difficult to read…’, she writes. This is as far as the email […]
What we [don’t] say to our supervisors, Or the price of a ‘really good work’
Student (Mon 8.46): Dear Supervisor. Would you have the time to look at my abstract if I sent it to you today? The abstract which I haven’t even begun to write. The abstract for a non-existent article which I haven’t begun to write and might not for a very long time. Supervisor (Mon 8.47): Yes. […]
On observing teachers
It’s a Thursday evening, and I’m so, so ready to call it a week, or almost. I plan to work from home tomorrow. I imagine how, after leaving my kid at preschool, I will enjoy the brisk snowy walk along the frozen inlet, to the rising sun and the music in my headphones, and make […]
On intellectual autonomy, bogs and jungles, or How I escape the bell jar
Doing your PhD is a solitary journey, I was told. And the intonation implied that it was somehow a bad thing. Yes right, thought I. But I LOVE solitude. Please leave me alone and let me get on with the thing. Lock me in an office, better a bunker. Give me some books, better a […]
On schools of fish, or Open-heart surgery as an encounter with (post-)Theory
What ifIt was as simpleAs the gentle terrorOf falling snow[…] The jury is in – I got the feedback on my Political Discourse Theory course assignment, and now I have no excuse not to write about the experience of my first head-on collision with theory. Despite discovering early on that Laclau and Mouffe go down […]
Fathom 