All in a postdoc journey...

When I first envisioned writing this blog, I imagined a kind of field journal - shared with others. The first time I sat down to write, though, that left me feeling very vulnerable and so I have written a couple posts that are more removed from the field. In this post, I’m going to share a bit about what my day-to-day has been like this past month on the postdoc journey.

I’ve been on the road a lot in October. I arrived in Regina - from where I live with my family in Hamilton - at the beginning of the month. I was present for some meetings at U Regina, happy to do my part in showing the flag for the IMP (Interactive Media and Performance) team! Then I flew to Edmonton for some meetings related to an interactive multimedia online educational project I’m working on - and was also able to spend some time driving in the area core to my current ethnographic work. Landscape is a powerful (and currently intellectually hip) aspect of culture and identity. I also met with a research participant and colleagues while in the Edmonton area. Then I returned to Regina for some meetings with research participants and colleagues in research centres - my favourite part of the job, and always an intense and productive learning experience.

I flew back to Toronto to have a meal and an evening with my family - before flying out the next morning to Cape Breton. There, I took some time to return items from the exhibit that had been on loan to us for that project - as well as touch base with some primary research participants and colleagues in partner institutions. I gave a talk, together with a couple colleagues, to a educational tour group that came through the area - and led a debriefing session the next day. After that, I flew with them home to Toronto.

All of that was accomplished before October 11.

Since that time I’ve been busy working on administrative matters - trips that like (there are others coming up) are productive and they require a lot of careful planning in order to make them so. (I am grateful for time in airplanes and airports - which means I can do things like transcribe interviews...something else I accomplished on this last trip!) I’ve written a proposal for a dance workshop I’ve been asked to give at U Regina in January (watch for notifications on the IMP website - join us if you can) - which dovetails with recent research on Aboriginal/Ukrainian relations and expressive culture. I’ve also spent time researching literature for my postdoc work - a topic largely unaddressed in ethnomusicology, but which history and sociology (and I’m looking for other material, too) have more extensively addressed. This has involved attending lectures at McMaster U campus here in Hamilton as well as reaching out to scholars in various fields.

In addition - I’ve finally managed to pick up some cheap bookshelves (moving is expensive) and make my books more easily accessible. (In case anyone's wondering - IKEA has some great sales on their bookshelves...the red ones are among the least expensive and make a peppy office!) I’ve recently been communicating with various editors in different regions of the country who have requested material for publication from me - now I can access my research materials as I continue to think through and write about my research.

All in this ethnomusicologist’s postdoc journey!