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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 1180

The_Lonely_Goatherd

OP

20

Original post

by Anndee

Wow, congratulations, sounds amazing! And it shows that your advisor really appreciates your work and believes you can do this!

Thank you so much :redface:

Reply 1181

The_Lonely_Goatherd

OP

20

So it's been a bit of a quiet week on the PhD front. I took 2 books out of the library nearly 3 weeks ago, still haven't even opened them, let alone read/made any notes :getmecoat:

LA supervisor is in India atm. We're trying to see if we can Skype while she's out there but she's very busy and her timetable is in flux due to fieldwork/arranging interviews. We'll be meeting in person in London on 6h November, which will be lovely.

Met internal supervisor on Monday 14th last minute. Was really good to get her input. She used to work as a journalist before going into academia, so interviewing doesn't really faze her the way it does me :redface:

and she's often got good tips. Think I'm slowly getting used to having two supervisors :colondollar:

It's my birthday on Weds, so I don't anticipate getting much done this week either :ninja:

Reply 1182

The_Lonely_Goatherd

OP

20

Had a study day with my friend today. Wrote up the notes from my supervisions (had one with LA supervisor on my birthday :lol:

) into log form and sent them to both supervisors. Also sorted out my reading list, which had been stressing me out massively. When I say "sorted out my reading list", I mean that put headings for each chapter of my thesis and then slotted in the relevant readings beneath. Still a lot of reading to go :erm:

but on the plus side, I've done more reading than I thought :h:

Not enough considering I've been doing this PhD 5 years (!) but still :colondollar:

The reading list isn't 100% complete so I need to figure out what needs adding to it now. Internal supervisor keeps on banging on about how I need to read literature from K-pop studies :ninja:

Reply 1183

The_Lonely_Goatherd

OP

20

I wish it wasn't so anxiety-inducing to just open a goddamn academic book (or any book, for that matter) and try and read it :emo:

Reply 1184

The_Lonely_Goatherd

OP

20

My DSA mentor made me draft AND send some scary emails during our one-hour meeting today :eek:

Already had one person reply, saying they'd be happy to be interviewed (again, in their case). Scared about getting the other replies :afraid:

Reply 1185

The_Lonely_Goatherd

OP

20

Just got accepted for a student conference jointly held by two major music research associations :eek2:

Now I actually have to do some work before Christmas :ninja:

Reply 1186

Anndee

11

Congratulations on the conference acceptance! Reminds me I need to send a conference abstract in this weekend ... I'm sure you'll be great!

Reply 1187

PhoenixFortune

21

Original post

by The_Lonely_Goatherd

Just got accepted for a student conference jointly held by two major music research associations :eek2:

Now I actually have to do some work before Christmas :ninja:

That sounds great TLG! I'm presenting a poster at a conference myself in a few weeks, so hoping it goes well!

Reply 1188

The_Lonely_Goatherd

OP

20

Original post

by Anndee

Congratulations on the conference acceptance! Reminds me I need to send a conference abstract in this weekend ... I'm sure you'll be great!

Original post

by PhoenixFortune

That sounds great TLG! I'm presenting a poster at a conference myself in a few weeks, so hoping it goes well!

Thanks both! Good luck with both your things :grouphugs:

Reply 1189

Interrobang

20

Woop woop! Well done :smile:

Reply 1190

The_Lonely_Goatherd

OP

20

Original post

by Interrobang

Woop woop! Well done :smile:

Thank you! I'm a bit alarmed about it getting accepted, ngl, but hope to have a full draft before Christmas. Need to get working then eeek :work:

Reply 1191

The_Lonely_Goatherd

OP

20

The depression is def back :frown:

Was asleep most of yesterday daytime coz being awake felt like too much :s-smilie:

Then was up all night coz I slept during the day :emo:

On the plus side, I skim-read almost a whole book during the insomnia, in about 3-4 hours max. Feeling quite good about that :biggrin:

Seeing LA supervisor tomorrow in person :woo:

Can't wait. She's not coming to the UK for Christmas :frown:

so this will be the last face-to-face meeting of 2019! :h:

Reply 1192

The_Lonely_Goatherd

OP

20

Had a really productive supervision with LA supervisor yesterday. So good to see her :gah:

I miss her :frown:

Mainly writing a post in here today to update you on the fact that I've found THE coolest conference to attend/present at. It's about the Eurovision Song Contest, and it's taking place in Rotterdam in early May, around the time the ESC will happen in Rotterdam itself! :nutcase:

I have no money to go to Rotterdam with and I don't think supervisors will want me to do this conference. But how cool is that that you can have a whole two-day conference on Eurovision? :ahee:

Reply 1193

PhoenixFortune

21

Original post

by The_Lonely_Goatherd

Had a really productive supervision with LA supervisor yesterday. So good to see her :gah:

I miss her :frown:

Mainly writing a post in here today to update you on the fact that I've found THE coolest conference to attend/present at. It's about the Eurovision Song Contest, and it's taking place in Rotterdam in early May, around the time the ESC will happen in Rotterdam itself! :nutcase:

I have no money to go to Rotterdam with and I don't think supervisors will want me to do this conference. But how cool is that that you can have a whole two-day conference on Eurovision? :ahee:

OMG that sounds amazing! If only grants were readily available to do these sorts of things... :moon:

Reply 1194

The_Lonely_Goatherd

OP

20

Original post

by PhoenixFortune

OMG that sounds amazing! If only grants were readily available to do these sorts of things... :moon:

Apparently all students who put forward an abstract will be part of a draw and the person who 'wins' will not have to pay the conference fee of 80 euros. So that's good at least that the conference organisers are doing something like that. But yeah, does suck that there aren't more grants for this kinda thing :moon:

Reply 1195

The_Lonely_Goatherd

OP

20

As predicted, main supervisor doesn't want me to do the EURovision conference :sad:

I know she's right (no way I can afford it), but still... :sad:

Reply 1196

PhoenixFortune

21

Original post

by The_Lonely_Goatherd

As predicted, main supervisor doesn't want me to do the EURovision conference :sad:

I know she's right (no way I can afford it), but still... :sad:

I guess she's saving you from the financial commitment, especially if they know they can't help you with costs.

Reply 1197

The_Lonely_Goatherd

OP

20

Original post

by PhoenixFortune

I guess she's saving you from the financial commitment, especially if they know they can't help you with costs.

Yeah that's probably a better way of looking at it :colondollar:

On an entirely separate note, later today (Mon) I will be emailing ABBA's manager (who has agreed to be interviewed by me in Stockholm!!!), being like "so as I'm coming to Stockholm, would any of ABBA like to chat to me? :innocent:

"

Not sure whether to be like :ahee:

or

Reply 1198

Anndee

11

Ooohhhh the ABBA manager interview sounds so exciting! Fingers crossed! As for conferences, sadly that's part of being a PhD student. I had to pull out of two conferences I really wanted to go to, and I am sure they would have been great for developing my research and networking, but I simply couldn't get the funding together. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to get any better as an ECR - was accepted for a nice conference in spring in Shetland, but my current contract is teaching only, which means I would have to pay for the conference out of my own pocket, and I can't afford that.

Reply 1199

The_Lonely_Goatherd

OP

20

Original post

by Anndee

Ooohhhh the ABBA manager interview sounds so exciting! Fingers crossed! As for conferences, sadly that's part of being a PhD student. I had to pull out of two conferences I really wanted to go to, and I am sure they would have been great for developing my research and networking, but I simply couldn't get the funding together. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to get any better as an ECR - was accepted for a nice conference in spring in Shetland, but my current contract is teaching only, which means I would have to pay for the conference out of my own pocket, and I can't afford that.

Thank you. I'm sad to hear that things are still tough conference-funding-wise as an ECR :frown:

(for you rather than for me, I don't think my health would withstand an academic career!) Hope you still have some interesting academic things planned for the year, nonetheless.

Still haven't sent that email lol :afraid:

But yeah, it should be quite exciting, even if it's only their manager I get to interview :biggrin:

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

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