"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 780

The_Lonely_Goatherd

OP

20

Finalised the abstract with my supervisor's help and have sent it off :ninja:

Reply 781

Interrobang

20

Original post

by The_Lonely_Goatherd

Finalised the abstract with my supervisor's help and have sent it off :ninja:

Well done

Reply 782

The_Lonely_Goatherd

OP

20

Original post

by Interrobang

Well done

Thanks

Will keep you all updated. I should apparently hear back from them by 15th June (deadline for abstracts is 31st May) :eek:

Reply 783

The_Lonely_Goatherd

OP

20

Promised supervisor I'd try and do bullet points for my final chapter over the weekend, to capture the zeitgeist of fan reactions to the recent exciting ABBA news :ninja:

Got my ABBA playlist on and plenty of snacks. Now just to get past writer's block! :eek:

Let's do this ****! :work:

Reply 784

The_Lonely_Goatherd

OP

20

OK, so I didn't quite get to bullet pointing/overcoming writer's block today BUT I have finally got around to sorting out all my screenshots and photos since Sept 2014 into chapter areas, so that they're all in the right place for writing stuff up/inserting screenshots into various chapters :king1:

Took quite a few hours given how many screenshots and photos there were :work:

Glad to have that finally done.

Still need to brave going through all my Facebook 'saved' stuff. That 'Save' button has made me effing complacent over the years haha :hide:

Reply 785

Interrobang

20

Original post

by The_Lonely_Goatherd

OK, so I didn't quite get to bullet pointing/overcoming writer's block today BUT I have finally got around to sorting out all my screenshots and photos since Sept 2014 into chapter areas, so that they're all in the right place for writing stuff up/inserting screenshots into various chapters :king1:

Took quite a few hours given how many screenshots and photos there were :work:

Glad to have that finally done.

Still need to brave going through all my Facebook 'saved' stuff. That 'Save' button has made me effing complacent over the years haha :hide:

I save loads of stuff and go through it every few days. Maybe just set a target of looking at 5-10 a day and then if you go over that even better? You could focus on links/photos first

Reply 786

The_Lonely_Goatherd

OP

20

Original post

by Interrobang

I save loads of stuff and go through it every few days. Maybe just set a target of looking at 5-10 a day and then if you go over that even better? You could focus on links/photos first

Sounds like really wise advice - thank you! :hugs:

Reply 787

Interrobang

20

Original post

by The_Lonely_Goatherd

Sounds like really wise advice - thank you! :hugs:

That's ok

Reply 788

The_Lonely_Goatherd

OP

20

The final new Mamma Mia 2 trailer is out :ahee:

Reply 789

The_Lonely_Goatherd

OP

20

Current PhD supervisor and internal-supervisor-to-be have agreed to go see Mamma Mia! 2 with me once it's out, if we can find a convenient day and time :teehee:

Reply 790

Cathrela

7

That's great, I can't imagine going to a movie with mine! :tongue:

Reply 791

The_Lonely_Goatherd

OP

20

Original post

by Cathrela

That's great, I can't imagine going to a movie with mine! :tongue:

Haha! I was a bit nervous asking her, ngl - didn't want her to think I was being weird or inappropriate. She seems well up for it though :biggrin:

Reply 792

The_Lonely_Goatherd

OP

20

Managed to do a few more bullet points today :king1:

Reply 793

The_Lonely_Goatherd

OP

20

Haven't done any work on the PhD this week - been prioritising self-care :redface:

Met with my DSA mentor yesterday and she wanted to set some goals to have achieved by the time the new academic year starts in Sept :headfire:

So academic goals are:

1. Finish bullet pointing data for each chapter :ninja:

2. Start reading AND writing prose again :eek:

3. If my conference abstract has been accepted, get working on that promptly :work:

Reply 794

The_Lonely_Goatherd

OP

20

So today was the dreaded annual progress review (the one that supervisor was initially trying to get me out of) :headfire:

The panel members (including my supervisor) and I mutually agreed that, given how awful this year has been, the best thing to do is to apply for a retrospective interruption of 1 calendar year. A retrospective interruption, if granted (they only grant in exceptional circumstances, but my Department believes I fall into that category), will allow an extra calendar year to be added onto the end of my current PhD submission date (23rd Sept 2021) without me having to pay extortionate extension fees. More importantly, it will extend the PhD and allow me to carry on studying without losing any access to the disability office, chaplaincy and my DSA (Disabled Students' Allowance) mentor (the latter of whom I'd definitely lose for a year if I followed through with a standard interruption of studies).

It'll probably take a while to gather evidence and apply, so I won't know for a while what the outcome is. Please cross your fingers that it works out in my favour? :puppyeyes:

Thanks to everyone for all your support and encouragement over the past few months :grouphugs:

Reply 795

Interrobang

20

Got my fingers and toes crossed for you :smile:

Reply 796

shoshin

10

Original post

by The_Lonely_Goatherd

The final new Mamma Mia 2 trailer is out :ahee:

Did you notice which of the students weren't dressed in a genuine Oxford graduation gown, and why they were the exceptions? :smug:

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 797

The_Lonely_Goatherd

OP

20

Original post

by Interrobang

Got my fingers and toes crossed for you :smile:

Thank you

Original post

by shoshin

Did you notice which of the students weren't dressed in a genuine Oxford graduation gown, and why they were the exceptions? :smug:

I didn't!

I was too busy looking at the gowns of the tutors :colondollar:

Reply 798

The_Lonely_Goatherd

OP

20

In my eagerness to explain about the retrospective interruption, I forgot to update you all on the situation with my supervisor! As mentioned, she's leaving for UCLA and someone internal at my uni has to be appointed in order to do paperwork, even though my current supervisor will remain the primary supervisor.

Current supervisor wanted to appoint her departmental BFF to be my internal, and I agreed this is the best person and that I'd like to have her as my internal. Was a bit worried the Dept would kick up a fuss at my annual progress review about this, given that supervisor's departmental BFF is not my adviser. But the Dept are fine with it, so that's all being sorted now :biggrin:

Reply 799

Interrobang

20

Great news :biggrin:

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

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