I have been very busy (as always) but I have been making brilliant progress. Since I last 'checked in' to my blog, I have presented my research at the 'Blackness in Britain' conference hosted by Newman University in Birmingham (September 2013). I really enjoyed presenting here and I felt my confidence as a speaker improving. I was also very happy that after I presented my research Dr Carolyn Cooper said she anticipates a book from me! That was a massive compliment! I was also happy when a fellow presenter commented to me after our panel that she really liked my work on beauty. Considering I have never had feedback from my work on cyberspace I was flattered to be in an intellectual space where my work was valued.
I was also fortunate enough to present at the first International Black Doctoral Network in Philadelphia in October 2013. The plenary speakers were Dr. Cornel West, Dr. William Julius Wilson and Dr. Julianne Malveaux. I was fortunate enough to talk with Dr. West also! What an honour!!! To present at the same conference as these world renowned academics was truly amazing and humbling. My presentation here was a challenge given I had a short time to present and Grime is not really well known in the USA. Dr Mark Anthony Neal headed the panel and enjoyed my presentation. Even so my presentation was well received and I made great networking contacts and I am hopeful they will lead to other opportunities. I managed to get some sightseeing in the city of 'brotherly love'. So it was both a productive and enjoyable time.
I returned to the UK with even more zeal, and although I feel as though some opportunities that were in the pipeline may have been stifled in the short-term, I am determined. Working full time alongside my studies, I am making full use of the development opportunities available to me. I am learning to use software that will aid my fieldwork and also manage the ever burgeoning bibliographic data I acquire.
In relation to my field work which I started in mid-August, I have conducted interview and I am soliciting more. My observation and online research are paying dividends. Just last night, when discussing my research I was referred to as an #AlphaFemale, the guy thought I would be offended by the term but I actually quite like it. I am feeling very hopeful and feel as though I am on track achieving my mini targets along the way.
Wednesday 6 November 2013
Friday 9 August 2013
No rest for the wicked...
I must be very wicked as rest is something I have not been able to come by lately.
On 15th June 2013, I did my presentation (listed in the previous post) at Birkbeck College - University of London. Here, I covered research that I will include in my literature review. It was well received and I made some wonderful connections. It was a humbling experience and it was nice to know that my work is valued and that people really want to access things like this. There were approximately 50 people in attendance and the age range was quite diverse too. There were also teething problems in relation to the logistics behind the scenes but these things are learning curves.
25th July 2013, I presented and the 8th Colloquium on Ethnic Relations at UEL. This was for an academic audience but again it was received well, again I made wonderful connections and in some instances could put faces to names. Here I presented the overview of my actual research, what I am proposing to do. Many exciting development were discussed in the Colloquium in relation to the study of the Diaspora in the UK.
In between these presentations, I have followed up on networking leads and tweeked my research proposal and preparing for my field research e.g. consent forms, questionnaires etc. I have been busy attending talks and getting back into the Grime scene, fortunately the demand for it is increasing and there seems to be a space sociological space for it to flourish.
I am also gearing up to present elements of my research in Birmingham and Philadelphia - Good times!
Until next time
On 15th June 2013, I did my presentation (listed in the previous post) at Birkbeck College - University of London. Here, I covered research that I will include in my literature review. It was well received and I made some wonderful connections. It was a humbling experience and it was nice to know that my work is valued and that people really want to access things like this. There were approximately 50 people in attendance and the age range was quite diverse too. There were also teething problems in relation to the logistics behind the scenes but these things are learning curves.
25th July 2013, I presented and the 8th Colloquium on Ethnic Relations at UEL. This was for an academic audience but again it was received well, again I made wonderful connections and in some instances could put faces to names. Here I presented the overview of my actual research, what I am proposing to do. Many exciting development were discussed in the Colloquium in relation to the study of the Diaspora in the UK.
In between these presentations, I have followed up on networking leads and tweeked my research proposal and preparing for my field research e.g. consent forms, questionnaires etc. I have been busy attending talks and getting back into the Grime scene, fortunately the demand for it is increasing and there seems to be a space sociological space for it to flourish.
I am also gearing up to present elements of my research in Birmingham and Philadelphia - Good times!
Until next time
Tuesday 4 June 2013
Time to Talk
Hallowed be thy Grime? : A musicological and sociological genealogy of Grime music and its relation to black Atlantic religious discourse’
In the 90's we had jungle whereas now Dizzee Rascal, Tinie Tempah,Tinchy Strider, Scorcher. Dot Rotten and other young black musicians have infiltrated the Top Ten with what's called 'Grime'. What is Grime ? Is it still black music ? Do teenagers see any black history in the beats, is there any ? How is Grime connected to religion and the concept of the African cultural transmission across the Atlantic over the last 500 years ? Where's the black history in black British youth culture ?
Admission free if booked via eventbrite (location info in link):
http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/event/6796385171
In the 90's we had jungle whereas now Dizzee Rascal, Tinie Tempah,Tinchy Strider, Scorcher. Dot Rotten and other young black musicians have infiltrated the Top Ten with what's called 'Grime'. What is Grime ? Is it still black music ? Do teenagers see any black history in the beats, is there any ? How is Grime connected to religion and the concept of the African cultural transmission across the Atlantic over the last 500 years ? Where's the black history in black British youth culture ?
Admission free if booked via eventbrite (location info in link):
http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/event/6796385171
This presentation by Phd candidate Monique Charles
About the presenter -
http://iamyaaya.blogspot.co.uk/p/interview-bios.html#monique-charles
http://warwick.academia.edu/MoniqueCharles
Saturday 1 June 2013
Creatively cognisant
I don't blog much... but that is stating the obvious...
I have been working away producing my upgrade document, which in effect I pulled together in a year as a part time student, with a full time job. I recently had my interview and I am really hoping I have done enough.
Since last blogging, I have made some strides forward. I have joined a black women in academia group; this has been a lifeline for me in some respects because a PhD is definitely the 'self-imposed exile' I was warned about and pushing the idea of a study that focuses on a 'Black British' perspective in an academic capacity produces its own challenges.
Despite this however, I push forward. I was fortunate enough to guest lecture on contextualising Grime in March for level 5 (2nd year) undergraduates at Canterbury University. I contributed towards a final year dissertation on Grime for a student from City University. I was fortunate enough to have been offered a platform to be a role model in the Yaaya project. Lastly, I have been given two more opportunities in the near future to present aspects of my research. Slowly but surely I am establishing myself as a serious academic and my work online has consistently been accessed from around the world since being uploaded about 3 years ago... I just have to keep chipping away...
I have been working away producing my upgrade document, which in effect I pulled together in a year as a part time student, with a full time job. I recently had my interview and I am really hoping I have done enough.
Since last blogging, I have made some strides forward. I have joined a black women in academia group; this has been a lifeline for me in some respects because a PhD is definitely the 'self-imposed exile' I was warned about and pushing the idea of a study that focuses on a 'Black British' perspective in an academic capacity produces its own challenges.
Despite this however, I push forward. I was fortunate enough to guest lecture on contextualising Grime in March for level 5 (2nd year) undergraduates at Canterbury University. I contributed towards a final year dissertation on Grime for a student from City University. I was fortunate enough to have been offered a platform to be a role model in the Yaaya project. Lastly, I have been given two more opportunities in the near future to present aspects of my research. Slowly but surely I am establishing myself as a serious academic and my work online has consistently been accessed from around the world since being uploaded about 3 years ago... I just have to keep chipping away...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)