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"Can't you hear me, S.O.S.?": TLG's PhD study blog!

New blog can be found here: https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7614702

26 year old ethnomusicology student (University of London) researching ABBA fandom, seeks TSR peeps to act as cheerleaders as she battles her way through PhD studies. Apply for cheerleading position(s) by following/posting on this thread :biggrin:

A bit about my PhD topic

A bit about my specific PhD project: I am doing an ethnographic study of ABBA fandom in the 21st century :awesome:

(Ethnographic means that there's a practical element to the research, like going to fan meet-ups/conventions and interviewing people, etc, rather than just theorising ABBA based on my own guesswork/conclusions.)

I chose to do this partly because I am an ABBA fan myself, but also because I think ABBA are an interesting case study, since they continue to be part of mainstream culture despite having never reformed. (They have actually turned down $1 billion USD in the past to reform :headfire:

) I figured there must be some interesting things to say about them!

I have been doing participant-observation fieldwork with the UK branch of the Official International ABBA Fan Club, and have interviewed an ABBA biographer, as well as the curator/director of the ABBA Museum in Stockholm. I've also been keeping tabs on Facebook groups revolving around ABBA. So a lot of my work involves hanging round on Facebook. Such a tough life I lead :emo:

A bit about me/some housekeeping rules

A few bits of contextual info about me/my PhD, for those who don't know me that well:

1. I suffer from schizoaffective disorder and am registered as mentally disabled. This inevitably shapes how my PhD journey goes a lot

2. Ethnomusicology is (put crudely) the social anthropological study of music. It is the study of "music IN culture" and "music AS culture" (Alan Merriam). Traditionally it referred to so-called 'world musics' but now it encompasses everything

3. My undergraduate degree is in music from Woosta College, University of Oxford. My MA degree is in music (ethnomusicology pathway) from Goldsmiths, University of London. Had a **** time at Oxford for many reasons which I will not discuss here, but which again shape the way I approach my PhD. Goldsmiths was much better. I am currently at a different college of the University of London (would prefer not to name it here).

4. If you are one of these people who like to put two and two together and find my uni website page/academia.edu - please DO NOT refer to me on here by my full first name, or my full name (first name/surname). I prefer to keep a degree of anonymity on here

If you wanna call me something, you may call me Shan or TLG.

Posted from TSR Mobile

(edited 4 months ago)

Reply 4940

The_Lonely_Goatherd

OP

20

Original post

by Muttley79

I really hope and pray you can enjoy tomorrow - you deserve a wonderful day :grouphugs:

Thank you so much :redface:

Reply 4941

Interrobang

20

As Muttley said, you deserve to enjoy the day, so I hope you manage it :hugs:

Reply 4942

The_Lonely_Goatherd

OP

20

Original post

by Interrobang

As Muttley said, you deserve to enjoy the day, so I hope you manage it :hugs:

Thank you so much :penguinhug:

Reply 4943

5hyl33n

Volunteer Section Leader, Clearing and Applications Advisor

21

Original post

by The_Lonely_Goatherd

It's tomorrow :headfire:

I will report back on the weekend to let you all know how it went, as we're going for a family dinner after leaving campus :colondollar:

I know it feels like a lot right now, but you have pushed through so much to get here and that is something to be really proud of. Take things one step at a time tomorrow. I will be thinking of you, and I am looking forward to your weekend update. You’ve got this. 🤍

Reply 4944

The_Lonely_Goatherd

OP

20

Thank you so much for the support. I really appreciate it! :colondollar:

Reply 4945

Euapp

21

Original post

by The_Lonely_Goatherd

It's tomorrow :headfire:

I will report back on the weekend to let you all know how it went, as we're going for a family dinner after leaving campus :colondollar:

Exactly!! You will report back at the weekend!! Which means you will have got through it unscathed and will quite likely have enjoyed it.
I’m looking forward to hearing from you. You’ve come this far and deserve to really enjoy your victory parade!

Reply 4946

The_Lonely_Goatherd

OP

20

Original post

by Euapp

Exactly!! You will report back at the weekend!! Which means you will have got through it unscathed and will quite likely have enjoyed it.
I’m looking forward to hearing from you. You’ve come this far and deserve to really enjoy your victory parade!

Thank you very much :hugs:

Reply 4947

The_Lonely_Goatherd

OP

20

I did it

And without falling over on the stage (though my sister commented I walked across it very fast, lol) :colondollar:

I was very nervous beforehand and quite dazed afterwards but had a good day with my family, three supervisors (past and present, out of the five) and two of my best uni mates. All went fairly smoothly, though I did get a bit grumpy with all the photo taking/posing :redface:

Will try and upload some pics here in a bit