The Chester workshop – Sue’s reflections

A message from Sue

Dear Alke and all,

Another stimulating, inspirational and useful seminar day in Chester last week ! I was particularly intrigued by the ideas about literally ’working into’ academic text, creating new understandings and breaking the shiny, polished and finished sense of the ideas. Attached are some images for the blog, of the tunnel bag I made from ‘found’ collage materials supplied at the seminar. I first found words in a Joseph Conrad story which expressed the panic which surrounds the current process of writing my PhD, and, in the second layer, words which made some of that clear to me: it’s partly my reluctance to let go of the ‘vague’ and complex, “that idea kept back” (as Conrad says), and commit to claiming my representation of the world is ‘the truth’ !

Finally, in the last layer, by spooky serendipity, a map supplied showed the house I was born in … it made me think hard that I must start from ‘myself’, keep myself in the writing somehow… A helpful way in to thinking a little bit about the barriers I face when trying to write up complex ideas in an academic way and to remind me not to lose myself in it.

Thanks! Sue