Things are moving right along with my new topic. I crafted an abstract that is essentially a literature review, but taking that literature and showing how it could be used to as a framework for research on the geographies of affect and poetics as they pertain to sacred spaces. I'm also working on developing a session for the AAG that would look at similar topics.
So, now that I have my abstract, I can set to work gathering books and articles on my topic. Last week, I read Methods in Human Geography (ed. by Flowerdew) as well as a book called Judgment Calls in Research that my outside committee member lent me. It presented decision making as a "garbage can model," rather than the scientific, rational models that are usually presented. Basically, the author argued that when we're crafting a research topic, we have all of these other outside influences, perhaps people or funding opportunities, and they all get thrown into this "garbage can." Further, the people who are involved in the decision-making likely don't really care about your research per se, but rather, are trying to get their own ideas and goals into the mix. It was certainly an interesting theory!
Next week, I plan on reading a few books I picked up from the library. One is Religion and Emotion, which I'm sure will be terrific. The other is a two-volume work on architecture and sacred space. I think both of these texts will be beneficial.
Additionally, I've been trying to be a bit better about making connections and networking. I e-mailed a colleague of my undergraduate professor who happens to study the geography of religion. No answer back, yet, but that's alright. I also e-mailed a couple of people in GORABS, one of whom is in charge of the newsletter e-mail list (which I've never been on) and is an author I'm very familiar with, and the other to see if GORABS can sponsor our proposed session topic. It's a bit scary e-mailing authors of works with which you're very familiar, but I need to get over my aprehension if I'm ever going to be able to carry on a conversation with them at AAG.
Overall, it's been a pretty good week!
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Oooo - religion and emotion - that sounds very good.
ReplyDeleteI got the Ashgate titles in geography brochure recently, some that I circled that might be of interest to you were:
Emotion, Place and Culture, Eds. Mick Smith, Joyce Davidson, Laura Cmeron, and Liz Bondi
Nature, Space and the Sacred: Transdisciplinary Perspectives, Eds. S. Bergmann, P.M. Scott, M. Jansdotter, H. Bedford-Strohm (authors from Norwary, Sweden and Germany - neat!).
Oh, yes, and this one for Brad, if you could remind me to tell him (made me think of the Ave Maria case study that he's doing):
Moved by Mary: The Power of Pilgrimage in the Modern World, Eds. Anna-Karina Hermkens and Catrien Notermans