The city:
1. Is gorgeous. It's modern and ancient, crowded and spread out, lost in time and plunging into the future all at the same time. It's glorious.
2. Is filled with Americans. I don't remember hearing English very much when I lived in Madrid; here, you're surrounded by it (as well as German, I've found). It can be a bit unsettling, when you are deep in Spanish thought only to be interrupted by a lovely southern drawl saying, "I wunder what they cawal thayat?" :-)
3. Is relaxed. In Madrid, I always felt like I had to be somewhere; here, though I have far less time to work, the culture is much more laid back. It likes resting. It also appreciates the notion of eating helado (ice cream) for lunch and dinner (sometimes with nothing else!). I appreciate that!
4. Is communal. Don't believe me? Go check out Plaza Alfalfa around 8p.m. any night of the week. Or Plaza del Salvador around lunch time, especially on a Sunday. These people *get* the idea of community. Maybe that's why they have so many plazas - yes, they're pretty, but they - as well as all the sidewalk tables are partly designed for people to be with each other. Isolation is seen as a strange thing here. You go to a restaurant alone? Go to the bar; at least then you'll be next to others who are alone. You really want to see the community, watch a funeral procession. I did. It cuts straight to your emotional core. It involves the entire community - it can't not.
5. Has bells ringing constantly. This is partly because there is a mass going on pretty much every hour, because there is a Catholic church on almost every other street. And before every misa, you'll hear their bells ring a good 20-40 times. The church I tried to go to rang its bell 41 times to announce the beginning of mass. Then, of course, it had to ring the bells for the hour.
6. Has captured part of my heart, yo creo. I've been here for only 11 days, and already I know it very well. Twice I have been mistaken either for a local or for someone who has been here often. I think my heart will be here for a little while...
The worst part of hostel life:
1. Obnoxious roommates - the ones who come in at 3 a.m., turn the lights on, TAKE PHOTOGRAPHS!!!, slam the doors, eat, and talk without regard to the fact that you have been sleeping for three hours at that point. And then leave the room a certified disaster area later in the day.
2. Flooding showers - due to the fact that some roommates cannot figure out how to use handheld shower heads, my room has been flooded at least 5 times since I got here. I'm a little tired of mopping up after them.
3. Bad hostel songs. I've been keeping a list. So far, the worst offenders have been:
*Hungry Eyes (at least twice)
*It Must Have Been Love (but it's over now)
*Maneater
*All Girls Just Want to Have Fun
*I'll Be There for You (the song used as the theme from Friends - and I didn't even watch that show!)
*The Show Must Go On - very bombastic version
*Rod Stewart, Have You Ever Seen the Rain?
*Madonna - Like a Virgin
*Ska version of Don't You Want Me, Baby?
*Reggae version of I Got You, Babe
*Reggae version of Come on, Baby, Light My Fire
The best part of hostel life: Meeting interesting people, such as:
*Guy from US who runs a hostel in Portugal and was here doing research on management
*German woman who came to Spain to work a horse farm in Cadiz for 3 months before starting PT training back home - we saw flamenco together.
*Austrian woman working as an Au Pair for a very rich Spanish family at their hacienda
*A Brazilian historian and a British historian, both working on the 16th century, using the Archivo de Indias
*Junior from Penn St. here to do a study abroad before returning home to finish her studies in Speech/Language Pathology - we went to the Catedral together.
*German woman doing language studies in Valencia here on vacation
*Two Argentineans with whom I watched the Barcelona-Manchester United futbol match
*Three women travelling together - one from Greece, one from Romania, and one from France, though I've no idea how they all met
*Two college kids from TN (though they go to college on the West coast) who just borrowed my Mac plug since they didn't bring a proper adapter for theirs)
My favorite archive tidbits:
*Constantly having to write the name "Mr. Cow-face" (translated) in documents and not laugh.
*Reading the heated exchanges in the press when a reporter dared insult a member of the Exposition Committee; their exchanges went on for a good month!
*Reading these awfully written letters from manufacturing companies in the US to the Expo Committee in 1911; their grammar, in English, was worse than most of the Spaniards. And these were Americans writing to offer their services! My favorite was Avery & Co. offering the use of their "Dump Spreading Car" that would assuredly "give satisfaction." Ay!
My favorite moments in the past 11 days
1. Biking across the Puente de Isabel II into Triana, and viewing Sevilla from the other side of the river
2. The view of the city from the top of La Giralda
3. Sitting in Plaza del Salvador on Sunday afternoon, just enjoying the crowd and watching little kids teaching their little brother Fabio how to throw a ball
4. Looking out from the second story of Plaza de España and taking in the view
5. Sitting in Parque Maria Luisa and listening to the birds, the fountains, and nothing else
6. Standing in awe of Francisco de Zurburán in the Renaissance hall at the Museo de Bellas Artes
7. Wandering through Barrio Santa Cruz without a map, and not caring where I was
8. Accidentally ending up in the Jardines de Murillo during that wandering adventure!
9. Listening to flamenco, for free, at an awesome club at 11p.m. at night with my German roommate
10. Wandering into a fairly well hidden plaza by the Catedral where, during the week, they sell goods made by the convent
11. Eating helado in Plaza Cristos Burgos and watching the little kids play on the playground
12. Finding the coolest book ever for my friend Adam at the bookstore, Beta - a book in Spanish on Rome, Carthage, Iberians, and Celt-iberians: War in the Peninsula (he studies the Roman empire and warfare, and wants to look into Iberian warfare)
Tomorrow I'm going to try to make it out to Italica, out in Santiponce - this was the old Roman city where Hadrian & Trajan were born. Supposedly, you can tramp around the ruins of the ampitheatre that held like 25,000 people. I'm going to try to take tons of photos for Adam. Woot!
So, after almost two weeks, that is how I feel about Sevilla. Four more proper days in Sevilla, then I travel to Madrid on Wednesday, and then it's the long trip home on Thursday.
Fin.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Monday, May 11, 2009
A Plan?
I might have a plan for the rest of the year. I'm not sure that I'm entirely happy with it, but it looks to be one of the only logical answers. So here goes:
May 17th - head to Sevilla, Spain, for 19 days to do research at the Archivo Municipal, and try to get as much as I can done
June 4th - head back to the US
June 8th - teach my summer course
July 11th - turn in final grades for summer course
July 31st - move out of my apartment (hopefully with help), put most belongings in storage here in town, and drive East to my parents' house
August - live at my folks' house, hopefully doing at least part-time work somewhere, and doing dissertation research (either secondary sources or analyzing whatever I get from this upcoming trip), and prep for heading back
September - head back to Spain, hopefully to Barcelona, for as much of the 90 days my visa will allow, as long as my money holds up. Do research at the Arxiu Administratiu and other sites around the city
December - back to the East coast, perhaps offering an online class during winter session, if I can design one and my department thinks it's a good idea
January - ideally: head back West to Home, find a new apartment, and hopefully have a teaching position in the department for the spring semester. Work on analyzing sources from research trip, working with my committee and figuring out what I still need. And, of course, begging for more money from people.
Sometime in the late spring - head back to Spain to do more research.
Academic year 2010-2011 - hopefully find some sort of funding, and write the dissertation here in town
Spring 2011 - hopefully graduate, and find a job.
That's the plan. I am not thrilled with the idea of being away from home for 5 months, esp since I don't have any support system back East. Most of my college friends are not still in that area, and my parents' house hasn't been "home" for 10 years. The pros to this plan are: 1) not having to pay rent in August and December, though I'll be paying for storage here; 2) my folks are working away from their house, so it is possible me and my cat would have the run of the house for a while, so I'd actually have some privacy; 3) I wouldn't have to send my cat on a plane back East, and I could plan my flights to/from Spain from the East coast, cutting out most of a day's worth of travel like when I have to fly from current Home; 4) My parents' house is available, and I'd have my own car.
The cons are the isolation, especially from my church here, my bible study, and the couple of friends I spend time with. But it seems like the only logical solution. I don't have a paycheck after July 12th, and so I can't afford to pay rent for a month or two without income. I can't get another job for a month, knowing I'd be leaving. And this way, hopefully someone can come out and help me pack up the apartment so I can move out. My hope is that I could then come back after Christmas and find a decent apartment for January, before the undergrads come back.
I'm not sure if I like the plan, but it seems logical.
May 17th - head to Sevilla, Spain, for 19 days to do research at the Archivo Municipal, and try to get as much as I can done
June 4th - head back to the US
June 8th - teach my summer course
July 11th - turn in final grades for summer course
July 31st - move out of my apartment (hopefully with help), put most belongings in storage here in town, and drive East to my parents' house
August - live at my folks' house, hopefully doing at least part-time work somewhere, and doing dissertation research (either secondary sources or analyzing whatever I get from this upcoming trip), and prep for heading back
September - head back to Spain, hopefully to Barcelona, for as much of the 90 days my visa will allow, as long as my money holds up. Do research at the Arxiu Administratiu and other sites around the city
December - back to the East coast, perhaps offering an online class during winter session, if I can design one and my department thinks it's a good idea
January - ideally: head back West to Home, find a new apartment, and hopefully have a teaching position in the department for the spring semester. Work on analyzing sources from research trip, working with my committee and figuring out what I still need. And, of course, begging for more money from people.
Sometime in the late spring - head back to Spain to do more research.
Academic year 2010-2011 - hopefully find some sort of funding, and write the dissertation here in town
Spring 2011 - hopefully graduate, and find a job.
That's the plan. I am not thrilled with the idea of being away from home for 5 months, esp since I don't have any support system back East. Most of my college friends are not still in that area, and my parents' house hasn't been "home" for 10 years. The pros to this plan are: 1) not having to pay rent in August and December, though I'll be paying for storage here; 2) my folks are working away from their house, so it is possible me and my cat would have the run of the house for a while, so I'd actually have some privacy; 3) I wouldn't have to send my cat on a plane back East, and I could plan my flights to/from Spain from the East coast, cutting out most of a day's worth of travel like when I have to fly from current Home; 4) My parents' house is available, and I'd have my own car.
The cons are the isolation, especially from my church here, my bible study, and the couple of friends I spend time with. But it seems like the only logical solution. I don't have a paycheck after July 12th, and so I can't afford to pay rent for a month or two without income. I can't get another job for a month, knowing I'd be leaving. And this way, hopefully someone can come out and help me pack up the apartment so I can move out. My hope is that I could then come back after Christmas and find a decent apartment for January, before the undergrads come back.
I'm not sure if I like the plan, but it seems logical.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
ABD
ABD. Three letters. Just three letters. Three measly letters that mean *so* much.
Over a year and a half of readings for comps.
Four years of doctoral studies.
Six years of graduate work - including a Master's Thesis.
Ten years of undergraduate and graduate work.
Twenty-two and a half years of being a student.
And more prayer, tears, stress, and doubt than I ever thought possible.
But ABD now belongs after my name. I had my PhD oral exams today. Three hours with five professors in one small room. I had no idea what to expect, or how to prepare, and so... I didn't. Last night I made K go get ice cream with me after my advisor told me I wasn't allowed to study. :-) The only thing I did was skim over my written exams this morning once I got to work. And prayed a lot.
It was actually enjoyable. I had a few times where I honestly had no idea what to say, and floundered on a few questions, but overall it was fairly easy to answer their questions. One of the other profs in the department, Dr. M (whom I love; it's hard not to love her, honestly) had seen me before and after the orals, and said she was impressed with how calm I had been. (So not like me normally... I can only speculate that all the prayers I had coming my way were being answered.)
After the three hours, they signed everything, my advisor gave me a huge hug, and we went to lunch. And I got at least two more hugs. :-)
And, finally, I am ABD. It feels kind of good.
Over a year and a half of readings for comps.
Four years of doctoral studies.
Six years of graduate work - including a Master's Thesis.
Ten years of undergraduate and graduate work.
Twenty-two and a half years of being a student.
And more prayer, tears, stress, and doubt than I ever thought possible.
But ABD now belongs after my name. I had my PhD oral exams today. Three hours with five professors in one small room. I had no idea what to expect, or how to prepare, and so... I didn't. Last night I made K go get ice cream with me after my advisor told me I wasn't allowed to study. :-) The only thing I did was skim over my written exams this morning once I got to work. And prayed a lot.
It was actually enjoyable. I had a few times where I honestly had no idea what to say, and floundered on a few questions, but overall it was fairly easy to answer their questions. One of the other profs in the department, Dr. M (whom I love; it's hard not to love her, honestly) had seen me before and after the orals, and said she was impressed with how calm I had been. (So not like me normally... I can only speculate that all the prayers I had coming my way were being answered.)
After the three hours, they signed everything, my advisor gave me a huge hug, and we went to lunch. And I got at least two more hugs. :-)
And, finally, I am ABD. It feels kind of good.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Uncertainty
I have finally finished grading all of my students' papers and midterms. In fact, despite the fact that I was out of commission for 2.5 weeks taking my written doctoral exams, I have finished grading exams ahead of 3 of my coworkers. Hm.
Anyway, today I'm taking the day off from work. The only thing I need to do is plan for my class tomorrow, but I needed a day away from the office. Unfortunately, by 8 a.m. I was already fretting over finances and the future. This next year after June is all completely uncertain right now. Here's what I know:
1. My lease is up at the end of June.
2. My paychecks stop as of the middle of July, once my summer course is over.
3. I have no grants so far and need to fund dissertation research in Spain on my own.
4. The likelihood of getting any substantial support from my university is slim to none.
I have estimated the likely costs that I'll incur over the next year, between tuition/registration/fees at the university, health insurance (not counting my $20 per pill prescriptions), living costs in the US for six months, and living costs in Spain for six months. My not-so-scientific estimate is that all of this combined might add up to around $28,000.
Keep in mind that I have never made more than $13,000 per year, and after July I will have no paychecks coming.
The very sketchy plan is that I would head to Spain for up to 90 days sometime after July, come back to the States and work through the spring (at least for another 90 days, until I can return on a new visa, but also will have to find more money to go back), and then return to Spain in the late spring or summer for another 90 days, then come back for good.
Problems with this plan:
1. As of right now, I don't have the money to do any of this. Even with loans, I'm not sure how to get up to $28,000...
2. I would have to either move out of my apartment or get my landlord to extend my lease after June until I can leave for Spain.
3. When I would return from Spain, I would have no place to live.
4. I have absolutely NO idea what to do with my cat for these 12 months. One negative of being constantly alone and having virtually no support system in town is that there is no one who can take care of him here, and shipping him off to live with my parents is less than ideal for many reasons. But I have no other real options right now.
5. When I would return from Spain, I have no idea if there would be any job available. Because my department is 97% dependent on state funds, they're cutting GTA funds, and since I have already had 4 years of funding, it is possible that they will be unable to give me any financial support (in employment or otherwise) for the rest of my doctoral program. The economy stinks here right now, and I am not sure what, if anything, would be available for a 28-year old, A.B.D. European history expert who has been in academia for the last 23 years and has a number of physical limitations on the kind of work she can do.
6. When I would return from Spain, I am not sure if I would have to rent an apartment for more than 3 months - would I have to be paying rent on an apartment while also paying for research in Spain in the summer? I am not sure if it would be easier or harder to do it this way.
7. If I send my cat off to my parents' apartment in the fall, could I bring him back to live with me in the spring? If so, would I have to ship him away again in the summer? That seems awfully traumatic for such a scared and untrusting creature. But could I live for 12 months completely without him? He's my baby. He's my only companion many days.
I'm sure there are more problems that I'm not thinking about. Things like dealing with my medicine, trying to apply for grants while in Spain, trying to *find* new grants to apply for that haven't already rejected me twice, etc.
Everything is just so uncertain. It's awful, but for a brief minute I wished I were married. Most of these problems would either not exist or would at least be lessened if I weren't having to do it all alone. I wouldn't have to worry about a place to live, wouldn't have to try to fund everything myself despite no job, wouldn't have to worry about Dominic... I know that's awful. Married couples have just as many if not more concerns. But sometimes it gets very old being one of the only single people in my office. Almost everyone I work with has a partner to go through all of this with, while I... I have to deal with chronic migraines and fatigue and all the physical crap, plus the work, and the funding issues, and everything else alone.
So yeah, with all of this (which I worked through between about 7:30 and 10:30 this morning), I'm taking the day off. I'm stressed out.
Anyway, today I'm taking the day off from work. The only thing I need to do is plan for my class tomorrow, but I needed a day away from the office. Unfortunately, by 8 a.m. I was already fretting over finances and the future. This next year after June is all completely uncertain right now. Here's what I know:
1. My lease is up at the end of June.
2. My paychecks stop as of the middle of July, once my summer course is over.
3. I have no grants so far and need to fund dissertation research in Spain on my own.
4. The likelihood of getting any substantial support from my university is slim to none.
I have estimated the likely costs that I'll incur over the next year, between tuition/registration/fees at the university, health insurance (not counting my $20 per pill prescriptions), living costs in the US for six months, and living costs in Spain for six months. My not-so-scientific estimate is that all of this combined might add up to around $28,000.
Keep in mind that I have never made more than $13,000 per year, and after July I will have no paychecks coming.
The very sketchy plan is that I would head to Spain for up to 90 days sometime after July, come back to the States and work through the spring (at least for another 90 days, until I can return on a new visa, but also will have to find more money to go back), and then return to Spain in the late spring or summer for another 90 days, then come back for good.
Problems with this plan:
1. As of right now, I don't have the money to do any of this. Even with loans, I'm not sure how to get up to $28,000...
2. I would have to either move out of my apartment or get my landlord to extend my lease after June until I can leave for Spain.
3. When I would return from Spain, I would have no place to live.
4. I have absolutely NO idea what to do with my cat for these 12 months. One negative of being constantly alone and having virtually no support system in town is that there is no one who can take care of him here, and shipping him off to live with my parents is less than ideal for many reasons. But I have no other real options right now.
5. When I would return from Spain, I have no idea if there would be any job available. Because my department is 97% dependent on state funds, they're cutting GTA funds, and since I have already had 4 years of funding, it is possible that they will be unable to give me any financial support (in employment or otherwise) for the rest of my doctoral program. The economy stinks here right now, and I am not sure what, if anything, would be available for a 28-year old, A.B.D. European history expert who has been in academia for the last 23 years and has a number of physical limitations on the kind of work she can do.
6. When I would return from Spain, I am not sure if I would have to rent an apartment for more than 3 months - would I have to be paying rent on an apartment while also paying for research in Spain in the summer? I am not sure if it would be easier or harder to do it this way.
7. If I send my cat off to my parents' apartment in the fall, could I bring him back to live with me in the spring? If so, would I have to ship him away again in the summer? That seems awfully traumatic for such a scared and untrusting creature. But could I live for 12 months completely without him? He's my baby. He's my only companion many days.
I'm sure there are more problems that I'm not thinking about. Things like dealing with my medicine, trying to apply for grants while in Spain, trying to *find* new grants to apply for that haven't already rejected me twice, etc.
Everything is just so uncertain. It's awful, but for a brief minute I wished I were married. Most of these problems would either not exist or would at least be lessened if I weren't having to do it all alone. I wouldn't have to worry about a place to live, wouldn't have to try to fund everything myself despite no job, wouldn't have to worry about Dominic... I know that's awful. Married couples have just as many if not more concerns. But sometimes it gets very old being one of the only single people in my office. Almost everyone I work with has a partner to go through all of this with, while I... I have to deal with chronic migraines and fatigue and all the physical crap, plus the work, and the funding issues, and everything else alone.
So yeah, with all of this (which I worked through between about 7:30 and 10:30 this morning), I'm taking the day off. I'm stressed out.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Comps questions
Comps are over. I finished all 9 exams and submitted them at 7 a.m. Tuesday morning. (And no, I haven't been resting, since I came home to my Fulbright rejection letter and now that my plans for the fall are utterly crushed, I'm reeling. But that's another post.)
I thought, just for posterity's sake, that I'd share what my questions were. Here are the 9 exams that I answered:
1. Describe what a social, cultural, AND intellectual history of the Enlightenment could offer a 21st century student who seeks an ethical compass for the future. How have these modes of historical inquiry segregated and unified components of ‘the Enlightenment’? How might Kant’s notion that ‘Do we live in an enlightened age? … ‘No, but we do live an age of enlightenment’ transcend the 18th century and be relevant today?
2. What defines “lieux de mémoire”? Choose three specific ‘sites of memory’ and discuss how they have figured into the political, social and/or cultural discourses surrounding collective memory in the twentieth century.
3. Write an essay identifying six works on your reading list that make particularly large or substantive contributions to the historiography of comparative women’s and gender historiography. Search widely for these books within your reading list, including theory, and with emphasis on Latin America and Imperial Spain, and drawing texts from a range of subfields. Then, place each book within its proper historiographical context, explain precisely why it is of such importance. In what way has it shifted or influenced scholarly debate? In what way is or was it new at the time of its publication? How have subsequent works built upon or diverged from this text? Finally, using these texts as markers or signposts of historiographical change, assess major trends in this scholarship. Where has the field come from, where is it going, and how have your chosen texts facilitated that transition?
4. Most of Europe underwent a movement of intellectual examination and secularization of thought known as the Enlightenment that was prompted, in part at least, by the so-called Scientific Revolution of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. General histories of Europe focus primarily on the achievements of Scottish, English, German, and particularly French contributions to the cosmopolitan nature of the Enlightenment. Spain is, curiously but not surprisingly, left out of this history. Discuss the Spanish Enlightenment. How is it similar to Enlightenment elsewhere in Europe and how is it uniquely Spanish? What is the chronology of the Spanish Enlightenment compared to Enlightenment chronology elsewhere in Europe? Why should the Spanish Enlightenment be brought into the broader discussion and historiography of Enlightenment in Europe?
5. Revised in 1982, Raymond Carr’s Spain 1808-1975 remains a touchstone text in Modern Spanish history owing to the variety and depth of issues he raises about the ‘problems’ associated with Spain’s development during the nineteenth century that, in his narrative, led Spanish history directly to its problematic encounter with representative democracy (The Second Republic), a thoroughly tragic and modernization-retarding internal conflict (Spanish Civil War), and a long, brutally authoritarian dictatorship (the Franco Regime). Use your knowledge of the historiography of modern Spain to deconstruct Carr’s position and the relationship of his work to the current hypotheses about Spanish history. Be sure to point out where Carr is still relevant and where his formulations have been superseded by more recent work.
6. Historians and economists continue debating European women’s diverse experiences of industrialization. How have different scholars approached and interpreted these experiences over the course of the twentieth century? Which works marked major departures or revisions in scholars’ understanding of women’s roles and experiences? How have these works changed our view of the relationships among class, gender, and work?
7. Based on your readings, discuss the ways in which agricultural systems (choice of crops, techniques, labor systems) reflect the larger societies of which they are a part. In what ways are agricultural systems the front lines of political contests? Discuss moments when agricultural/land-use systems have changed radically. What are their causes and implications? What works speak to this question?
8. Many readings in world and environmental history try to address and answer the question, “How did ‘the West’ (Europe and its buds – the ‘neo-Europes,’ the ‘North,’ etc.) attain political and economic domination over ‘the rest’ (‘the South,’ ‘the Third World’)? Think back over your readings and discuss the crucial benchmarks and mechanisms of this process as identified by various authors. What are the strengths and weaknesses of these various explanations?
9. Design a syllabus for an undergraduate course in Modern European women's history. Specify and justify your chronology. What major themes would you emphasize and why? Which readings would be most appropriate for your students and why? Which themes would you omit and why?
After 14 days, 110 pages, and over 300 footnotes, I answered all nine questions and somehow am still alive. Now on to orals, grading, planning my summer class, and trying to figure out how to stay in school now that I have no real prospects for funding past July.
I thought, just for posterity's sake, that I'd share what my questions were. Here are the 9 exams that I answered:
1. Describe what a social, cultural, AND intellectual history of the Enlightenment could offer a 21st century student who seeks an ethical compass for the future. How have these modes of historical inquiry segregated and unified components of ‘the Enlightenment’? How might Kant’s notion that ‘Do we live in an enlightened age? … ‘No, but we do live an age of enlightenment’ transcend the 18th century and be relevant today?
2. What defines “lieux de mémoire”? Choose three specific ‘sites of memory’ and discuss how they have figured into the political, social and/or cultural discourses surrounding collective memory in the twentieth century.
3. Write an essay identifying six works on your reading list that make particularly large or substantive contributions to the historiography of comparative women’s and gender historiography. Search widely for these books within your reading list, including theory, and with emphasis on Latin America and Imperial Spain, and drawing texts from a range of subfields. Then, place each book within its proper historiographical context, explain precisely why it is of such importance. In what way has it shifted or influenced scholarly debate? In what way is or was it new at the time of its publication? How have subsequent works built upon or diverged from this text? Finally, using these texts as markers or signposts of historiographical change, assess major trends in this scholarship. Where has the field come from, where is it going, and how have your chosen texts facilitated that transition?
4. Most of Europe underwent a movement of intellectual examination and secularization of thought known as the Enlightenment that was prompted, in part at least, by the so-called Scientific Revolution of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. General histories of Europe focus primarily on the achievements of Scottish, English, German, and particularly French contributions to the cosmopolitan nature of the Enlightenment. Spain is, curiously but not surprisingly, left out of this history. Discuss the Spanish Enlightenment. How is it similar to Enlightenment elsewhere in Europe and how is it uniquely Spanish? What is the chronology of the Spanish Enlightenment compared to Enlightenment chronology elsewhere in Europe? Why should the Spanish Enlightenment be brought into the broader discussion and historiography of Enlightenment in Europe?
5. Revised in 1982, Raymond Carr’s Spain 1808-1975 remains a touchstone text in Modern Spanish history owing to the variety and depth of issues he raises about the ‘problems’ associated with Spain’s development during the nineteenth century that, in his narrative, led Spanish history directly to its problematic encounter with representative democracy (The Second Republic), a thoroughly tragic and modernization-retarding internal conflict (Spanish Civil War), and a long, brutally authoritarian dictatorship (the Franco Regime). Use your knowledge of the historiography of modern Spain to deconstruct Carr’s position and the relationship of his work to the current hypotheses about Spanish history. Be sure to point out where Carr is still relevant and where his formulations have been superseded by more recent work.
6. Historians and economists continue debating European women’s diverse experiences of industrialization. How have different scholars approached and interpreted these experiences over the course of the twentieth century? Which works marked major departures or revisions in scholars’ understanding of women’s roles and experiences? How have these works changed our view of the relationships among class, gender, and work?
7. Based on your readings, discuss the ways in which agricultural systems (choice of crops, techniques, labor systems) reflect the larger societies of which they are a part. In what ways are agricultural systems the front lines of political contests? Discuss moments when agricultural/land-use systems have changed radically. What are their causes and implications? What works speak to this question?
8. Many readings in world and environmental history try to address and answer the question, “How did ‘the West’ (Europe and its buds – the ‘neo-Europes,’ the ‘North,’ etc.) attain political and economic domination over ‘the rest’ (‘the South,’ ‘the Third World’)? Think back over your readings and discuss the crucial benchmarks and mechanisms of this process as identified by various authors. What are the strengths and weaknesses of these various explanations?
9. Design a syllabus for an undergraduate course in Modern European women's history. Specify and justify your chronology. What major themes would you emphasize and why? Which readings would be most appropriate for your students and why? Which themes would you omit and why?
After 14 days, 110 pages, and over 300 footnotes, I answered all nine questions and somehow am still alive. Now on to orals, grading, planning my summer class, and trying to figure out how to stay in school now that I have no real prospects for funding past July.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Comps day #2
Question #1 - my advisor's historiographic question - COMPLETE. (Well, I need to finish the last paragraph, but that's it.)
I wrote barely two pages last night and went to bed around 2:30 (though I didn't sleep until after 3). For whatever reason, I woke up at 7:30 and couldn't go back to sleep. I didn't start writing again until after 9, and basically wrote 14 pages throughout the day. Grand total: 45 citations, 15.5 pages, and most all of my energy.
I have been trying to take care of myself physically, so last night I made a really simple meat & potatoes casserole - just garlic mashed potatoes and ground beef, some mozzarella cheese, and some cayenne pepper on top. It was delicious, and so I ate half last night and the rest today for lunch. Tonight I made my mom's green bean casserole - french cut green beans, white corn, water chestnuts, mixed with mushroom soup and sour cream, with a dash of soy sauce and black pepper. It was delicious. I'm really happy that I made just exactly enough of both casseroles (neither of which I had ever made before yesterday) - I ate around half the green bean casserole tonight and will eat the rest tomorrow for lunch. It was delicious.
I also took a quick bike ride this afternoon when I needed to clear my head.... but that didn't turn out so well. I rode only 5.5 miles, but for over half of it the wind and dust was atrocious, and by the time I got home I had drunk my entire 24-oz bottle of water. I felt awful after that, and ended up with a decently bad migraine for about 4 hours. Ugh, so not fun.
I had hoped to be asleep by now, but I'm still trying to finish the conclusion to this essay. I am a little worried I'm not going to sleep well. My migraine meds often make it hard to sleep at night if I had to take them after dinner. I am not sure if I'm going to try to answer my second Spain question in the morning or if I want to switch gears for a day and answer the European women's history & industrialization question I outlined. I guess I'll see in the morning if I'm sick of thinking about Spain or not.
My plan for the rest of comps (migraines willing, that is) looks something like this:
1. One day of planning, to outline as much as possible 3 essays - that was Monday the 16th
2. Three days of writing the essays outlined - today was day (and essay) #1; so Wednesday and Thursday should be writing days
3. One day of planning to outline second set of 3 major field questions - should be Friday, the 20th
4. Three days of writing the final major field questions - Saturday through Monday, the 23rd
5. One day of planning to outline three minor field questions - should be Tuesday, the 24th
6. Three days of writing the minor field questions - Wednesday-Friday, ending the 27th.
7. Final three days to review and ponder, if needed, or to continue any problematic essay - Saturday-Monday the 30th.
8. Submit questions via email and in person as soon as the office opens on Tuesday, March 31st.
I wrote barely two pages last night and went to bed around 2:30 (though I didn't sleep until after 3). For whatever reason, I woke up at 7:30 and couldn't go back to sleep. I didn't start writing again until after 9, and basically wrote 14 pages throughout the day. Grand total: 45 citations, 15.5 pages, and most all of my energy.
I have been trying to take care of myself physically, so last night I made a really simple meat & potatoes casserole - just garlic mashed potatoes and ground beef, some mozzarella cheese, and some cayenne pepper on top. It was delicious, and so I ate half last night and the rest today for lunch. Tonight I made my mom's green bean casserole - french cut green beans, white corn, water chestnuts, mixed with mushroom soup and sour cream, with a dash of soy sauce and black pepper. It was delicious. I'm really happy that I made just exactly enough of both casseroles (neither of which I had ever made before yesterday) - I ate around half the green bean casserole tonight and will eat the rest tomorrow for lunch. It was delicious.
I also took a quick bike ride this afternoon when I needed to clear my head.... but that didn't turn out so well. I rode only 5.5 miles, but for over half of it the wind and dust was atrocious, and by the time I got home I had drunk my entire 24-oz bottle of water. I felt awful after that, and ended up with a decently bad migraine for about 4 hours. Ugh, so not fun.
I had hoped to be asleep by now, but I'm still trying to finish the conclusion to this essay. I am a little worried I'm not going to sleep well. My migraine meds often make it hard to sleep at night if I had to take them after dinner. I am not sure if I'm going to try to answer my second Spain question in the morning or if I want to switch gears for a day and answer the European women's history & industrialization question I outlined. I guess I'll see in the morning if I'm sick of thinking about Spain or not.
My plan for the rest of comps (migraines willing, that is) looks something like this:
1. One day of planning, to outline as much as possible 3 essays - that was Monday the 16th
2. Three days of writing the essays outlined - today was day (and essay) #1; so Wednesday and Thursday should be writing days
3. One day of planning to outline second set of 3 major field questions - should be Friday, the 20th
4. Three days of writing the final major field questions - Saturday through Monday, the 23rd
5. One day of planning to outline three minor field questions - should be Tuesday, the 24th
6. Three days of writing the minor field questions - Wednesday-Friday, ending the 27th.
7. Final three days to review and ponder, if needed, or to continue any problematic essay - Saturday-Monday the 30th.
8. Submit questions via email and in person as soon as the office opens on Tuesday, March 31st.
Monday, March 16, 2009
D-day
Today is the day. I have my comps questions in an envelope on my end table by the door. They're sealed. I haven't quite gotten the courage up to open them yet.
I slept hard last night - from 10:30 until 7:30. My nerves are through the roof right now.... I have no idea how to start... I think I'm going to get dressed, make some hot tea, and take the plunge by 9. I'm hoping today will be a planning day - a day to outline and try to figure out basically how I should start.
Two weeks. *sigh* I have no idea what I'm doing. God grant me strength...
I slept hard last night - from 10:30 until 7:30. My nerves are through the roof right now.... I have no idea how to start... I think I'm going to get dressed, make some hot tea, and take the plunge by 9. I'm hoping today will be a planning day - a day to outline and try to figure out basically how I should start.
Two weeks. *sigh* I have no idea what I'm doing. God grant me strength...
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