Scottish Programme of Advanced Training for Social Anthropology PhD Students, STAR 2 (2017)
Location
The Burn
Glenesk Brechin DD9 7YP United KingdomDescription
The Scottish Graduate School of Social Science welcomes postgraduate research students to the following advanced training event:
Scottish Programme of Advanced Training for
Social Anthropology PhD Students, STAR 2
15-18 May 2017
STAR2 is a residential training event for post-fieldwork writing up PhD students in Social Anthropology in Scotland that combines master classes focused on writing up PhD research projects with sessions preparing PhD students for careers in anthropology within and beyond the academy.
All STAR2 sessions will be specifically designed for post-fieldwork writing-up students of social anthropology. Dr Adam Reed (St Andrews), Dr Lotte Hoek (Edinburgh) and Dr Jo Vergunst (Aberdeen) will attend for the full 4 days. Other staff from Edinburgh (Dr Delwar Hussain), will attend for all or some of the days.
Master Classes in PhD writing over 3 days will be given by distinguished international social anthropologists, Professor Birgit Meyer, University of Utrecht; Professor Garry Marvin, University of Roehampton; Professor Michael Scott, University of LSE. These master classes provide writing-up PhD students with the opportunity to conceptualise and rethink their ongoing research work and writing practice with a recognized ‘master’ of the discipline and alongside peers from the three departments.
Single sessions on career training; publishing; impact and knowledge exchange; and non-academic careers with appropriate experts on these themes will be held (Henrietta Lidchi, National Museums of Scotland [will speak on careers in museums & galleries]; Lucy Pickering, University of Glasgow [will speak on applied anthropology and contract research careers]. We also have a representative from Scottish Government or Third Sector come every year to attend and lead a session on knowledge exchange.
2017 STAR 2 Programme Schedule
MONDAY 15th
2.00-2.30
Introductions, Ice-breaker and Masterclass allocations
(Adam Reed, Lotte Hoek, Jo Vergunst, Delwar Hussain, Aimee Joyce)
2.30-4.30
Masterclass 1
4.30-5.00 - Tea
5.00-6.00
Your Brilliant Career (1)
Delwar Hussain: ‘Getting Published’
6.00-7.00
Talk: Garry Marvin
7.00 - Dinner
TUESDAY 16th
9.30-1.00
Masterclass 2
(Coffee/tea at 11.00)
1.00-2.00 - Lunch
2.00-4.30
Your Brilliant Career (2)
Anthropological career paths
Joe Long, Katy Fox
4.30-5.00 - Coffee/Tea
5.00-6.00
Your Brilliant Career (3)
Lotte Hoek: ‘Getting Grants’
6.00-7.00
Talk: Birgit Meyer
7.00 - Dinner
8.00-8.30
‘The PhD Viva’
An after dinner event
WEDNESDAY 17th
9.30-10.30
Masterclass 3
10.30-11.00 - coffee/tea
11.00-1.00
Masterclass 4
(all present)
1.00-2.00 - Lunch
Afternoon
Free!
(walk up valley, stroll in garden, play a game, drink disconsolately while looking at horizontal rain through window etc . . .)
4.30-5.00 - Tea
5.00-6.00
Talk: MIchael W. Scott
6.00-7.00
Your Brilliant Career (4)
Open Q&A: Inside Academia
(Adam Reed, Jo Vergunst, Delwar Hussain, Aimee Joyce and Lotte Hoek)
7.00 - Dinner
THURSDAY 18th
9.30 -10.00
Check out and clear rooms
10.00-10.45
Your Brilliant Career (5)
Decolonizing the Academy (Delwar Hussein)
10.45-11.15
Wrap up & Feedback
11.15-11.30 - Tea/Coffee
11.30
Departures
Master-classes
Participants will be divided into 3 groups, each of which will be lead throughout by one of our distinguished guests. The format and structure of each class will vary but there should be space for all who want to present their work. Come prepared to talk about your project in a loose way, but don’t bring a formal powerpoint-type presentation.
Free time/Student-led activity
Wednesday afternoon has been left free, either for student-led activity, or simply to explore the landscape. If you want to explore the countryside you must bring waterproof clothing and good quality walking shoes or boots. Exploration is not a required part of this programme, so all outdoor activity is done at your own risk, and you are strongly advised to familiarize yourself with basic rules of outdoor safety before setting out.
Master-class leaders
Professor Garry Marvin:
His main focus of research is that of human / animal relationships and he has written on bullfighting, cockfighting and zoos. For the past few years he has been conducting anthropological fieldwork on foxhunting in England and he is now writing a book on the culture(s) and meaning(s) of foxhunting. His other main research projects are a study of the cultural history of the wolf; the experiences and activities of sports hunters; taxidermised hunting trophies. https://pure.roehampton.ac.uk/portal/en/persons/garry-marvin(0224d8f0-6b12-452f-9cd7-fb0a4471b93f).html/
Professor Birgit Meyer
Trained as a cultural anthropologist and working on lived religion in Ghana for more than 20 years, Birgit Meyer studies religion from a global and post-secular perspective. Her research is driven by an urge to make sense of the shifting place and role of religion in our time, and to show that scholarly work in the field of religion is of eminent concern to understanding the shape of our world in the early 21st century. In so doing, she seeks to synthesize grounded fieldwork and theoretical reflection in a broad multidisciplinary setting. Her main research foci are the rise and popularity of global Pentecostalism; religion, popular culture and heritage; religion and media; religion and the public sphere; religious visual culture, the senses and aesthetics. https://www.uu.nl/staff/BMeyer
Professor Michael Scott:
His area of study is Oceania with a primary focus on Melanesia. Since 1992 he has been conducting fieldwork in the nation-state of Solomon Islands in the southwest Pacific. The people with whom he works, the Arosi, live mainly on the island of Makira. Currently, his chief theoretical interests lie in anthropological approaches to questions of being (ontology), including classic ethnographies of indigenous cosmologies and contemporary developments such as the 'new animism', 'perspectivism', 'relationalism', 'non-dualism', and the study of human-nonhuman relations. In recent and forthcoming publications, he has contributed critical analyses to debates within the anthropology of ontology, exploring, for example, the relationalist assumptions implicit in much of the literature in this subfield. Additionally, he is engaged in a comparative study of wonder as both an index and an instrument of ontological crisis and transformation. This project emerges from talk among his Arosi consultants that their island, Makira, may contain a marvellous subterranean urban-military complex, but also tracks the pursuit and production of wonder in modern Euro-American contexts, including anthropology itself. http://www.lse.ac.uk/anthropology/people/scott.aspx
The venue
We will be staying at The Burn, a lovely old estate in Aberdeenshire. Please take time to familiarise yourself with The Burn by looking at their website: http://theburn.goodenough.ac.uk/
A few key things to note:
- Alcohol is on sale at The Burn. They do not allow guests to bring their own alcohol. Please respect this rule!
- The grounds of The Burn are great for walking or running, so feel free to bring your gear. There are also outdoor sports and indoor games.
- Mobile reception at The Burn is spotty, and while there is WiFi, it is not the fastest. So, please be prepared to be less connected than normal.
Contact
For any enquiries regarding the event please contact Mhairi Aitkenhead in the first instance.
Organised by
The Scottish Graduate School of Social Science is the UK's largest facilitator of funding, training and support for doctoral students in social science. By combining the expertise of sixteen universities across Scotland, the school facilitates world-class PhD research. The school is funded jointly by the Economic and Social Research Council and the Scottish Funding Council.
SGSSS is a highly attractive environment for doctoral research. Not only do our partner universities offer an excellent research environment, we also offer comprehensive and world-class research training in a number of discipline-specific and interdisciplinary pathways. In addition, the school manages a programme of advanced training courses and an annual summer school which together offers our students further opportunities to develop their research, knowledge exchange and transferable professional skills.
At the heart of the SGSSS is the Doctoral Training Partnership (formerly the Doctoral Training Centre) in Scotland. The SGSSS was established in 2011 and is the biggest of 14 Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC) accredited DTPs in the United Kingdom. The bid for renewed funding has been successful and from 1 October 2017 the SGSSS will be one of the ESRC's 14 Doctoral Training Partnerships (DTP).