Location: MIT

Thursdays 5:30PM - 8:30 PM

September 7, 2017 - May 10, 2017

This workshop intends to establish a community of inquiry for graduate students in various stages of the dissertation writing process with status assessments taking place the first two weeks of class. The class in intended to provide a safety net for personal well-being, self-care, and spiritual focus during what may be one of the most intense and self-serving processes of one’s life journey. The seminar will cover the technical aspects of data sources and subjectives, writing proposals for research funding, publication practices, and navigating local institutional politics. Primarily, this is an opportunity for graduate students to obtain feedback on their writing in gender and feminist theory, critique, policy, and methodology, particularly interdisciplinary projects and individuals that embody the realities of ‘difference’. But it also aims to discuss the challenges, tensions, and politics of getting certain interdisciplinary projects through the institutional pipeline. The course will include mini-lectures, writing and review, assigned readings using the RL Model, and 15-30 minute guest ‘testimonials’ from seasoned scholars. For those doing fieldwork abroad, this workshop will highlight topics in international development, transnational feminism, and gender policy and practice updates that affect the research policies

Faculty

Robin Chandler is Associate Professor of Cultures, Societies, and Global Studies. She is an interdisciplinary social scientist and gender specialist. Her research in international development is focused on 21st century nations undergoing rapid social, political, and economic change. She is former director of Women’s Studies at Northeastern University and is an author of Women, war, and violence: Personal perspectives and global activism.