Plea for academic assistance

[bironic]

Anyone who knows anything about pursuing Master's or doctoral work in a field that might support a thesis on fanfiction, particularly fanfiction as text -- preferably English, as that's what my background is in, but also perhaps cultural or popular culture studies (e.g. Bowling Green U.), (new) media studies (though not so much in the vein of Jenkins' Comparative Media program at M.I.T., I don't think), sociology, gender or queer studies, interdisciplinary programs, etc. -- please, please, please email me, or drop a comment and I'll email you. Please. One of my plans for saving my sanity is to apply to programs in the 2008/9 school year -- I assume it's too late at this point for 2007/8 -- and I would really appreciate any advice you can offer in finding programs to apply to or people to contact. I have a couple of lists to start with, but they are rather meager. At this point I don't mind where the school is -- anywhere in the U.S., U.K., Canada, or, hell, Australia; you guys don't seem to have as many hang-ups about academic work on fannish subjects as we do here.

(More on this soon.)

Comments

[thedeadparrot.livejournal.com]

Hmm, I don't know enough about these sorts of things in great detail, but I know Brown has a Modern Culture And Media department that would probably be willing to do that, and there is the Comparative Media Studies department at MIT, which is the one Henry Jenkins founded.

I can't give you much more than that, but hopefully that helps. :)

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Hey there! Thanks for pointing me to the Brown program. I'm not too keen on Jenkins' M.I.T. program, since I'm mostly interested in looking at fanfiction as text rather than in studying the multitudinous forms of new media in general. But it's on the list...

[thedeadparrot.livejournal.com]

Hmm, then I don't know if the Brown program is for you. They'd probably take fanfiction study as "this is how fans react to X source" rather than "these are the tropes in fanfiction that pop up most often". But yeah, you should probably call up people in those departments, see if they'd know more.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

*hug* Thanks for the encouragement!

Master's in vampire literature, excellent. :) I was considering that for a while after I did my senior work for distinction on 'em.

What would you be applying for, if I might ask?

[purridot.livejournal.com]

I am delighted and not one bit surprised to hear that you are already a très cool vampire expert. (My chum is now a professor of English, so vampire lit can be hot ;-)

Um, er, eee, grrr, I'd be applying for a PhD in Classics (classical language learning and epic are my areas of interest.) My passion is to make ancient stuff exciting for students ('cause it can be), not ass-numbing boring as is often the case (voice of experience talking here). Okay, not as thrilling as vampire lit, but at least they had werewolves.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Hee. That sounds lovely -- and an admirable goal. I had wonderful classics teachers in high school and college who knew how to make Latin and Greek fun and educational all at once, with special projects and lively reading and songs for easier memorization, and of course, weirdly charming senses of humor. With your passion and eloquence, I'm sure you'd be excellent at it!

[purridot.livejournal.com]

Ah, another classicist! *feels even more kinship than before*

Unfortunately I am filled with absolute terror at the prospect of applying. But you! Nothing frightens you, not even aliens! Thing is, though, if you don't do what "calls" you, you'll never be happy.

[unsymbolic.livejournal.com]

I umm... might be in a position to offer something like advice here. :p
Drop me an email at tathren [at] earthlink [dot] net if you'd like, or you can find me on AIM (Minos54) or Y!M (Tathrendil).

I can certainly, at least, share my own process of applying to graduate schools. As a starting point, Smith's Women's Studies department keeps a list of MA and PhD programs in WS and Gender Studies, both in the US and international. There's also a the Artemis Guide to Women's Studies Programs (http://www.artemisguide.com/). Both are very helpful resources.

The choice between a program in an English dept, a Sociology dept, or a more interdisciplinary dept (like WS) is a really major one. A lot more major than I think I would have ever appreciated before I started graduate school. I have lots to say about this, but it'd be easier to say it via chat. .... also, are you going to Sectus? We could be doing plenty of chatting there, if so.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Hey. Yes, I had you in mind for brain-picking! I'll write you or try to sign on to AIM later for chattage. (Not going to Sectus, unf.) I don't have any experience with Women's Studies or Sociology, except what you absorb through fandom participation and reading pop culture texts. I'd really like to hear about your experience and what you think about the differences between programs and how they might affect one's work.

[catilinarian.livejournal.com]

A friend of mine (whose LJ username is fides, btw) just finished a doctorate in Human Computer Interaction, looking at fanfic authors and communities and how readers and writers of fanfic find and connect to one another. It's defintely a different tack from fanfiction as text, but if you think it would be at all useful to talk to her, I'll track down her email. (She's at a UK university.)

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Oh, that sounds like a nifty paper. If nothing else, I'd like to ask her if I could read it! And yeah, I'll take any advice I can get, so if she's amenable, definitely I'd like to ask her some questions about her experience.

[bell]

Give NYU a look; I remember wanting to study there back when I was considering applying to grad school.

One of your best bets is to first look up the scholars you most respect in the field (say, Henry Jenkins) and look at where/what they study. Look at the footnotes of their works to see if you can't ferret out similar scholars. Go to their department's web page and see what they're doing, what they offer.

And then-- this is the scary part-- write to said scholars. (After doing a fair amount of research on who they are and what their programs offer, of course!) I wrote to a few professors myself explaining my interests, asking a few questions, and stating an interest in their work. They all wrote back quickly and with warm responses.

This is a new field so you'll have to build yourself your own corner, I think. Look for fellow academic fans and ask for their advice. Browse tons of grad school departments' website. And so forth.

Good luck on this!

[bironic.livejournal.com]

One of your best bets is to first look up the scholars you most respect in the field (say, Henry Jenkins) and look at where/what they study. [...] And then-- this is the scary part-- write to said scholars.

Heh. Yes, I'm doing this concurrently. I did a huge fanfic studies bibliography a couple of years ago and have a pretty substantial list of people to write to. By posting here, I'm hoping to hear from/about more "ordinary" people who have gone through or are going through MA or PhD work in a fannish subject and who could offer opinions on their program or other programs they applied to -- it's one thing to browse grad program PR websites, but it's quite another to hear candid opinions about them.

Thanks for the advice, the idea about footnotes, and the general support!

[bell]

Remembered afterwards that McGill also has an impressive department for modern-day studies. You should check them out too. :D

I also remember having seen a lot of commentators on fandom_meta saying things like "I'm writing a thesis on fic--" Not helpful, but next time I see such a poster, I'll point them out to you. ^^;; Or you could make a post with grad-school questions to fandom_meta?

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Hee, McGill. I could get a matching sweatshirt.

D'you mean metafandom? I've got one of those posts you mention bookmarked, but I've found that community to be fairly... well, hostile's not the word I want, but it's the closest thing I can think of right now. In the last post I saw over there with a request for recommendations about grad programs, most of the comments harped on the poster's word choice in her explanation of what she was studying, and many of the others were vague and fairly useless. I'd like to see what individual correspondences turn up before I head over there to be picked apart.

[bell]

I could get a matching sweatshirt.

Should've known that you'd remember. :)

Yeah, I meant metafandom. I didn't see that particular post about grad school choices, but-- I guess I'm not surprised that they tore the post apart. =_=;; For the most part, the comments I've seen them are helpful/"let's discuss!"-ish but some delight in the debate/fight.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

It was months and months ago; even then, I was tossing this idea around and wanted to make sure I could find it again when I wanted suggestions on programs. And when I did go back, I found it supremely unhelpful! Unfortunately.

But your idea about contacting people who just posted to say they're working on a project, rather than people looking for advice, is a good one. Just need to weed out the undergrads doing papers from the people doing advanced coursework.

[i-sanguinity.livejournal.com]

Georgetown University's MA program in Communication, Culture & Technology is the perfect place for you, madame. I just got my degree from there, and was able to do not just one, but THREE, very substantial papers/projects on fanfiction/fandoms during my time in the program.

You recall, perhaps, that behemoth paper I wrote on topics vampiric and fannish, hmm? It would've been accepted as a thesis in a heartbeat, according to every professor with whom I've spoken about it (the only reason it did not, in fact, become a thesis is because I opted for the coursework rather than thesis track toward the degree, regretfully in hindsight).

Website: cct.georgetown.edu

Questions? Email me (jessiec0981@gmail.com). Will be happy to give you some suggestions for professors & classes particularly amenable to the subject at hand. :-)

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Sweeeet. Yes, of course I remember your paper -- though, I confess with shame, I still haven't read it -- and also I remember being envious of whatever program you were in that let you study Anne Rice fic/fans. I will definitely look into this program and email you for details, details, details.

THANK YOU. :)

[renoir-girl.livejournal.com]

If you haven't yet found the ideal place, drop me a note at watson dot 385 at osu dot edu. Ohio State certainly has a variety of programs that would be compatible, but I don't know details. If you need them, though, I think I can hook you up.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I'll put Ohio State on my list of schools to look at over the next few days, and will definitely email you if I have questions.

What are those things in the basket in your icon? For a second there I thought it was Finding Nemo. :)

[renoir-girl.livejournal.com]

Those are buckeyes (http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=gmail&q=buckeyes). :)