A Long Gap

The long gap between the last entry on this blog and this one is more to do with a technical problem than any lack of progress on my PhD. I had somehow managed to block cookies from blogger.com. This meant that I couldn't open the blog site. Now the problem is solved, I have no excuse.

In fact I have made some progress, even though it is much less than I would have liked. I have recorded 13 interviews with students from three different universities. I have three more to do next week which takes me up to my target of 16. Unfortunately, one student has now dropped out of university which leaves me with 15 for the next year. I am also making some progress in getting my participants to send me their essays. My most interesting interview was with a student who had done no reading whatsoever during her first semester. Sod's law was operating that day and I failed to tape record what was said. I have tried asking her to come for another interview, but she's not replying to my e-mails.

I have been reading lots of Foucault in the last weeks. In particular, I am slowly working my way through The Archaeology of Knowledge and (even more slowly) The Order of Things. Foucault is not a man who can be rushed! The more I read, the more convinced I am that he and Bakhtin will be my two central theorists. I have also got a lot written. I was surprised when I re-read what I had written last summer: it was better than I thought it would be. I'm also now managing to write new material. The aim is to get to the MPhil stage by the end of the summer. I certainly like to be in the position where I had enough materials ready to be able to start talking and presenting my research.