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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:

: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:

: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:

: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:

:emo:

:tongue:

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 5 months ago)

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1000

The_Lonely_Goatherd

OP

20

ONLY JUST REALISED I'VE HIT 1000 POSTS IN THE POST ABOVE! :facepalm:

:facepalm:

:king1:

:woo:

Going to campus tomorrow and am determined to take laptop and do something. What exactly, I've no idea. But need to get going on my Aberdeen paper somehow :work:

:work:

Reply 1001

The_Lonely_Goatherd

OP

20

Didn't end up taking my laptop to uni on Weds :facepalm:

:facepalm:

I fail at life :frown:

:frown:

Today I'm looking at how I structured my upgrade (transfer of status from MPhil to PhD) paper, to give me ideas on how to structure my Aberdeen paper (they're based on the same chapter and using the same fieldwork/literature). Sifting through it, I'm just like "ZOMG HOW DID I PASS?!?!?!?!" :lol:

:lol:

:erm:

:dontknow:

Reply 1002

21

Original post

by The_Lonely_Goatherd

Didn't end up taking my laptop to uni on Weds :facepalm:

:facepalm:

I fail at life :frown:

:frown:

Today I'm looking at how I structured my upgrade (transfer of status from MPhil to PhD) paper, to give me ideas on how to structure my Aberdeen paper (they're based on the same chapter and using the same fieldwork/literature). Sifting through it, I'm just like "ZOMG HOW DID I PASS?!?!?!?!" :lol:

:lol:

:erm:

:dontknow:

You do not fail at life. You're very good at life, despite everything it throws at you.

You did pass and it was well deserved! If you think you could do better now though then that's great- that's the point of it. Well done for doing some!

Reply 1003

The_Lonely_Goatherd

OP

20

Original post

by furryface12

You do not fail at life. You're very good at life, despite everything it throws at you.

You did pass and it was well deserved! If you think you could do better now though then that's great- that's the point of it. Well done for doing some!

:redface:

Thank you

:colondollar:

:lovehug:

Reply 1004

The_Lonely_Goatherd

OP

20

OK peeps, I'm setting myself the somewhat ambitious target of saying that by the time I have a Skype supervision on 18th March, I'll have a full first draft of my Aberdeen paper! :headfire:

:headfire:

Wish me luck :afraid:

:afraid:

Reply 1005

The_Lonely_Goatherd

OP

20

Insomnia last night, so wrote about 360 words of conference paper introduction! After much writing/chopping/deleting on repeat, I think I'm happy with how it stands for the moment :biggrin:

:biggrin:

Haven't done any work on conference paper today due to exhaustion :redface:

:redface:

Hoping to do more work tomorrow :work:

:work:

Reply 1006

The_Lonely_Goatherd

OP

20

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZjJGMeTIW4

Watching this counts as thesis work, right? :ninja:

:ninja:

Reply 1007

21

Original post

by The_Lonely_Goatherd

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZjJGMeTIW4

Watching this counts as thesis work, right? :ninja:

:ninja:

:yes:

Reply 1008

The_Lonely_Goatherd

OP

20

Original post

by Obolinda

:yes:

PRSOM. Bloody TSR :shakecane:

:shakecane:

Reply 1009

The_Lonely_Goatherd

OP

20

Think I've worried main supervisor (the LA-based one). She suggested a last-minute Skype which happened on Friday evening, and then during that she said she'll Skype me again tonight (Monday evening) :eek:

:eek:

Feeling terrible health-wise today so have just emailed her, asking to not Skype tonight. Feeling horrendous :cry:

:cry:

Reply 1010

11

I hope you're feeling better now! Was just popping in to ask if you'd seen the Comic Relief Mamma Mia spoof but then saw the youtube link. I only saw it yesterday and laughed so hard I had tears in my eyes. And yes, definitely counts as thesis work, just like when I watch bad Viking movies :smile:

:smile:

Reply 1011

The_Lonely_Goatherd

OP

20

Original post

by Anndee

I hope you're feeling better now! Was just popping in to ask if you'd seen the Comic Relief Mamma Mia spoof but then saw the youtube link. I only saw it yesterday and laughed so hard I had tears in my eyes. And yes, definitely counts as thesis work, just like when I watch bad Viking movies :smile:

:smile:

Haha, it's good, isn't it?! :biggrin:

:biggrin:

:hugs:

Reply 1012

The_Lonely_Goatherd

OP

20

Just had a Skype supervision with LA-based supervisor. She was so lovely and encouraging as always. Made me feel a lot better about being behind on my Aberdeen conference paper :redface:

:redface:

Gave some good ideas about how to get things going again :work:

:work:

Reply 1013

The_Lonely_Goatherd

OP

20

Changing the word "Aberdeen" to "ABBA-deen" on my conference paper PowerPoint slides counts as work, right? :ninja:

:ninja:

Reply 1014

The_Lonely_Goatherd

OP

20

Just sent off a first draft of my ABBA-deen conference paper to my PhD supervisor :woo:

:woo:

:danceboy:

:king1:

Reply 1015

11

Original post

by The_Lonely_Goatherd

Just sent off a first draft of my ABBA-deen conference paper to my PhD supervisor :woo:

:woo:

:danceboy:

:king1:

Yay, well done! Also, I'll never be able to get on the ABBA-deen ferry without a big grin on my face any more :biggrin:

:biggrin:

Reply 1016

The_Lonely_Goatherd

OP

20

Original post

by Anndee

Yay, well done! Also, I'll never be able to get on the ABBA-deen ferry without a big grin on my face any more :biggrin:

:biggrin:

Thank you

:hugs:

And

:ahee:

Reply 1017

20

Well done

:woo:

Reply 1018

The_Lonely_Goatherd

OP

20

Original post

by Interrobang

Well done

:woo:

Thank you

:hugs:

Reply 1019

The_Lonely_Goatherd

OP

20

OMG PEEPS, LA SUPERVISOR REALLY LIKED MY ABBA-DEEN PAPER DRAFT!!! :headfire:

:headfire:

:lolwut:

:dontknow:

:ahee:

:king1:

Needs a few tweaks but I don't think I need to show it to her again :awesome:

:awesome:

So chuffed. Honestly wasn't sure how good the draft was. And thought she'd hate my introduction and tell me to scrap it but she actually liked it :woo:

:woo:

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