A variety of news very quickly

[rax]

First, the course I taught at MIT is now available via Open CourseWare. The person who put it together (attending most of the class sessions and taking notes, building the webpage, &c.) did a wonderful job and I'm really happy that it is now available. The delay, for the record, was mostly due to my being hosed and flaky. I have unflaked, and now it exists! (Relatedly, if I'm flaking on something you care about, kick me; it might not be on my tasklist, and if it's not on my tasklist, I can basically promise you it won't happen. This is not good, but it's likely to be true for a while, so I figure I should warn y'all.)

Second, is anyone interested in going to Transcending Boundaries? It's a conference Nov 20-22 in Worcester, MA focusing on trans, bi, poly, and intersex issues. That's a fascinating smorgasbord and relevant to both my life and research, and so I'm tempted to go even though I should be focusing on my thesis and PhD applications. I'm not made of money so I'd love to have people to share transit and/or hotel costs with. (Also they recommend vegans bring their own food. Seriously? Huh.)

Right, PhD applications. I'm not 110% sure yet but I am planning to seek a PhD in either gender studies or English with a gender studies focus. I'm selling myself as focusing on the process of identity self-construction through gendered narrative and the disruptions both caused and soothed by the trans and genderqueer movements. In other words, the stuff I talk about all the damn time. :) I'm looking for programs to apply to, and if you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them. I'm doing a bunch of research right now, but I know there's more still to come, and I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts on the matter.

Also, it is so cold why am I not in California right now.

Comments

[lhexa.livejournal.com]

As long as some of my comments are still on that tasklist, I'm happy. :)

I'm selling myself as focusing on the process of identity self-construction through gendered narrative...

Er, in what sense of narrative? Do you mean narrative as in literature, or in the technical sense of a story-like social construct, or...?

"Narrative" is, sadly, one of the words I avoid as broken.

From your course's reading list, what (barring Foucault) do you regard as the most essential? Chances are I will never become widely read in any subject other than philosophy, but it's always good to pick up the best of what other fields have to offer.

Monstrous Regiment: Have you read this? If so, what did you think of its main conceit (which I won't specify, to avoid spoilers)? While I liked the book, and really liked the last example of that conceit, on the whole it annoyed me.

"Kanun": While she's admittedly a pulp fantasy writer and I can guarantee that she'll be ignored by academia, Mercedes Lackey has actually done some very interesting things with gender and sexuality, and in a period when such things were comparatively unaccepted. In particular, there's a series of stories about a woman who, after being raped and having her tribe killed, gives up her sexuality in order to receive divine martial training, which the "Kanun" mention recalled.

I may go through and respond to/inquire about your lecture notes at some point, free energy allowing.